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a. |
The gospel contains a clear statement of purpose: "These
[signs] are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31). John brings
out the thought that the sole purpose of life is to know the Father and
experience life eternal through faith in the Son. |
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b. |
The Son has come from above to glorify the Father (John 17:1);
and He does so in His "hour" (John 12:23; 13:1) through His suffering on the
cross. |
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c. |
In the synoptic gospels -- Matthew, Mark, and Luke -- Jesus
utters short sayings. Longer discourses, such as the Sermon on the Mount (Mat
5-7), are either collections of sayings on various themes, or, like (Mat 13),
mostly parables. John, on the other hand, records no parables and few of the
brief sayings so common to the synoptics. Rather, he expands upon an
incident: * Nicodemus (John 3), * the woman at the well (John 4), * the man born blind (John 9), * Lazarus (John 11), * or footwashing (John 13). |
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d. |
In the first chapter, John introduces Jesus by seven key
titles, a perfect echo to the Book of Rev: Word, Lamb of God, Rabbi, Messiah,
King of Israel, Son of God, Son of Man. |
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e. |
In his Gospel, John stresses the importance of "believing."
The verb "to believe" is found nearly a hundred times in the gospel. |
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f. |
John does not record Jesus discussing questions of prayer,
fasting, almsgiving, swearing, marriage, or wealth as do the other gospels. He
rather concentrates on that all-important proof of discipleship --
Love. |
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