The gospel according to John is the fourth account of the life of Jesus. The writer stated his purpose in his composition of his account, saying, “Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name” (John 20:31-32). It is also evident, though unstated, that the author had another purpose as well: he wished to supplement details, facts and events which were not to be found in any of the other three accounts of the life of Jesus.
Think of the many things we would not have if the writer not recorded this gospel. It is through his hand that we can know the approximate time of the personal ministry of Jesus. John mentioned four different Passovers and a fifth reference to “the feast of the Jews” which many believe is a reference to a fifth Passover. From these references we can conclude that the ministry of Jesus was approximately three and a half years. There are no accounts in the other three accounts of Jesus’ life which give one a hint of the length of His personal ministry. Were it not for John’s account of Nicodemus’ visit to Jesus by night (John 3), we would know nothing of this man whose growth in faith is reflected by two other references to him. In John 3 Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. John 7 records his very timid effort to defend Jesus. John 19 shows the maturity of his faith as he, along with Joseph of Arimathea, boldly provide an honorable burial for the crucified Son of God. There are nine miracles recorded in the book, three of these are reported by the other three writers: feeding the 5,000 and Jesus’ walking on water (John 6) and the resurrection of Jesus (John 20). John includes six miracles not found elsewhere: turning water to wine (John 2); healing the nobleman’s son (John 4), healing the man by the pool of Bethesda (John 5); giving sight to the blind man (John 9); raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11); and, the miraculous draught of fish (John 21).
Then, think of the marvelous sermons Jesus gave which John alone records: the new birth (John 3); true worship (John 4); the bread of life (John 6); Jesus’ discourse on the Holy Spirit and His work (John 14-16).
We are indebted to John for so many facts we know about Jesus: His marvelous prayer to the Father (John 17); washing the disciples’ feet (John 13); committing the care of Mary to “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 19); the identity of Peter as the “disciple who cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest” (John 18). In addition, think of the wonderful verses we would not have (John 3:5; 3:16; 4:24; 6:63; 6:68; 14:1-3;14:6; 8:24) — and so many others!
John, the brother of James, was surely the writer of this work. This was the universal belief of almost all first century Christians. Five books are attributed to this man: the gospel of John, the three short epistles (1-3 John), and Revelation. Identifying John as the writer of all three is due, in part, to the unique way in which John identifies the Savior: the Word. John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God, the same was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). First John 1:1 states, “That which was in the beginning … concerning the Word of life …” (1 John 1:1). Additionally, Revelation 19:13 says, “And his name is called the Word of God”. John alone identifies Jesus in this way. The gospel of John does not identify the writer by name, his only hint is that he was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20-24). The epistles broaden our knowledge a bit more. There he is called “the elder” in both 2 and 3 John. But Revelation is explicit: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ … sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John” (Revelation 1:1). The disciple whom Jesus loved was the writer of the gospel. It was to the “disciple whom Jesus loved” Jesus committed the care of Mary (John 19:26-27), and there was universal belief in the first century that John had the care of Mary until her death, thus necessitating that he was also the writer of the gospel.
It is almost impossible to identify a specific year the book was written. Some place its writing in the mid-years of the first century, but the majority of scholars and Bible students believe it was written late in the first century, perhaps even after Revelation was written. I share that belief. There is no way to know, of course. However, it is possible that help for determining the date can be seen from an incident which occurred the night of Jesus’ betrayal. All the gospel accounts record that when it was evident Jesus would be taken into the custody of Jewish soldiers, one of the disciples of Jesus, seeing what was occurring, took his sword and cut off the ear of a servant of the high priest. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record the event. However, none of them identify which disciple was responsible for that deed. Only John records that that disciple was Peter (John 18:10). The first three gospels who wrote that “a disciple” cut off the servant’s ear were written while Peter was alive. When Peter was dead, John identified him as that disciple. Perhaps the omission of the name of Peter by Matthew, Mark, and Luke was intentional, to protect him from authorities. But after Peter was dead there were no consequences he could suffer by the revelation of the fact that he was the disciple. There is no way to know, of course, and the preceding words present only a possibility. But they could add weight to the argument that John was written late in the first century.
The book of John is called the “Gospel of Belief” by some. We hope you’ll follow along with us as we study themes of significant truths from this wonderful book. I look forward to learning much more about this story of our Savior and increasing my own faith from another study of Him from the pen of John and I believe you can, too.
Jim McDonald