What Was John Trying to Convey in His Gospel?

In this post it pleases me to pass on some highlights from the article Hermeneutics in Action: Interpreting John’s Gospel, by N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird.

The first is that John’s gospel is different from the three other gospels in that he gives more theological reflection about Jesus’ life and mission along with humanizing Jesus even more than the others.

This is probably because he is writing later in life after the death of most, if not all of the other disciples. He knows what the others have written and fills in the gaps in his story. Not only that, but he has experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in his life and that of his colleagues and can write with that background.

We find much more explicit teaching about Jesus’ divinity in John’s gospel than in the others. John concentrates more on Jesus’ discourses than on his parables. Why might that be?

John’s purpose may provide the answer to that. In John 20:30-31 he states his overall purpose clearly. He writes about Jesus in order that the reader will believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God and that, by believing, that reader may attain eternal life in Jesus’ name.

No modern biographer or journalist would ever admit openly to that kind of purpose. The theological statements, anecdotes and eyewitness accounts are intended to persuade. But how is he to accomplish this?

He does so be relying on the one thing his readers have had exposure to: the Hebrew Scriptures. By John’s day many synagogues had both Hebrew and Greek editions of what we Christians commonly call the Old Testament. John tells the story in a way that reminds his reader of how Jesus recapitulates important Old Testament themes.

The first theme: A New Genesis

Jesus is Creator (John 1:1-14) and is therefore uniquely qualified to come to earth to repair his broken creation – sinful mankind. Even his resurrection hearkens back to Genesis in that it is proclaimed on “the first day of the week.” This intentionally suggests a new creation. When he says in John 20:21-23, “receive the Holy Spirit” he has just breathed on them, reminding the reader of God breathing the breath of life into Adam. Jesus has just breathed the breath of new life into them.

The second theme: A New Exodus

Even the word used to describe Jesus living among us, which literally means “tabernacled,” suggests an Exodus theme. Jesus is constantly telling people to follow him, as if he were the pillar of cloud and fire of the exodus from Egypt.

Jesus has come among them to reveal God’s glory, and so we see Jesus talking often about being glorified in his farewell discourses during the last supper (John 13-17).

The third theme: Pentecost

John’s memory is enhanced by the Holy Spirit, so he spends much more time with Jesus’ instruction about the “Comforter” than in the other gospels. As written above, Jesus breathes new life into them as he says, “receive the Holy Spirit.”

There are, of course, several other themes including God’s love for the world revealed in Jesus, about the self-giving love that raises the crucifixion to radiate the glory of God, and many others. I like how the authors of the article put what John has accomplished.

According to Wright and Bird, “John has written a theologically creative and spiritually rich fusion of personal memory and Pentecostal faith, suffused with scriptural motifs that together make the point: this is the fulfilment of Israel’s hope, which means that this is therefore the way creation itself is renewed, and, crowning it all, this is what it looked like when Israel’s God, the creator, came in person to do what only he could do.”

It is small wonder that many evangelistic programs begin new readers of the Bible with the book of John. Even so, the book becomes that much richer when we are immersed in the entirety of the biblical story and can see the threads coming together in this literary masterpiece.