The whole gospel of John is a progressive revelation of the glory of God’s only Son, who comes to reveal the Father and then returns in glory to the Father. The multiplication of the loaves is interpreted for the reader by the discourse that follows, where the bread of life is used first as a figure for the revelation of God in Jesus and then for the Eucharist. The gospel narrative contains a series of “signs”—the gospel’s word for the wondrous deeds of Jesus. It does not follow the same order or reproduce the same stories as the synoptic gospels. The Gospel according to John is quite different in character from the three synoptic gospels. Where the synoptic gospels say, “This is what happened,” John states with conviction, “This is the Son of God!

Summary of the Gospel of John

This summary of the Gospel of John provides information about the title, author(s), date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the Gospel of John. If you have any questions, please review our Privacy Policy or email us at By submitting your email address, you understand that you will receive email communications from Bible Gateway, operated by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 501 Nelson Pl, Nashville, TN USA, including commercial communications and messages from partners of Bible Gateway. 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.(BH) 45 Philip found Nathanael(BI) and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law,(BJ) and about whom the prophets also wrote(BK)—Jesus of Nazareth,(BL) the son of Joseph.”(BM) 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John.

• The feast day of Saint John in the Roman Catholic Church, which calls him “Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist”, and in the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Calendars, which call him “Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist”, is on 27 December.
• The gospel narrative contains a series of “signs”—the gospel’s word for the wondrous deeds of Jesus.
• In Roman Catholic tradition he is considered patron of Turkey, Asia Minor and Turkish people.
• Among them are the opposition to the synagogue of the day and to John the Baptist’s followers, who tried to exalt their master at Jesus’ expense, the desire to show that Jesus was the Messiah, and the desire to convince Christians that their religious belief and practice must be rooted in Jesus.
• • Dual motifs—light/darkness, belief/unbelief—provide an apologetic framework

Jn 21 seems to have been added after the gospel was completed; it exhibits a Greek style somewhat different from that of the rest of the work. After the account of the seven signs, the “hour” of Jesus arrives, and the author passes from sign to reality, as he moves into the discourses in the upper room that interpret the meaning of the passion, death, and resurrection narratives that follow. Lazarus is presented as a token of the real life that Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, who will now ironically be put to death because of his gift of life to Lazarus, will give to all who believe in him once he has been raised from the dead. This is a narrative illustration of the theme of conflict in the preceding two chapters; it proclaims the triumph of light over darkness, as Jesus is presented as the Light of the world. After a series of dialogues reflecting Jesus’ debates with the Jewish authorities at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jn 7; 8, the sixth sign is presented in Jn 9, the sign of the young man born blind.

After the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, only Peter and the “other disciple” (according to tradition, John) followed him into the palace of the high-priest. Many traditions identify the “disciple whom Jesus loved” in the Gospel of John as the Apostle John, but this identification is debated. On this basis some traditions believe that John was first a disciple of John the Baptist, even though he is not named in this episode. Also according to some traditions, Salome was the sister of Mary, Jesus’ mother, making Salome Jesus’ aunt, and her sons John the Apostle and James were Jesus’ cousins. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder, and the Beloved Disciple, and claim that he outlived the remaining apostles and was the only one to die of natural causes, although modern scholars are divided on the veracity of these claims. 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

The Word Became Flesh

45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. 29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

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Although the gospel presents its implied author as an eyewitness to Jesus, Mendez argues that this claim should be doubted given the amount of historically dubious content in the work and the commonality of claims to eyewitness testimony in forgeries at the time. According to Hugo Mendez, both the original text of John’s gospel and the epilogue (chapter 21) claims that the work was ‘written’ by an eyewitness. Church tradition has held that John is the author of the Gospel of John and four other books of the New Testament – the three Epistles of John and the Book of Revelation. Mark, Matthew and Luke do not mention any one of the twelve disciples having witnessed the crucifixion. While he remained in Judea and the surrounding area, the other disciples returned to Jerusalem for the Apostolic Council (c. 48–50 AD).

The bishops of Asia Minor supposedly requested him to write his gospel to deal with the heresy of the Ebionites, who asserted that Christ did not exist before Mary. The Gospel according to John differs considerably from the Synoptic Gospels, which were likely written decades earlier. Eusebius also goes to some length to establish with the reader that there is no general consensus regarding the revelation of John. However, Eusebius mentions that the consensus is that the second and third epistles of John are not his but were written by some other John.

Purpose and Emphases

Following the instruction of Jesus from the Cross, the beloved disciple took Mary, the mother of Jesus, into his care as the last legacy of Jesus. The “beloved disciple” alone, among the Apostles, remained near Jesus at the foot of the cross on Calvary alongside myrrhbearers and numerous other women. It john joseph kelly and amy carter was customary to recline on couches at meals, and this disciple leaned on Jesus.

The apostle and evangelist, John, seems to have been the youngest of the twelve. In the realm of popular media, this latter phenomenon was brought to notice in Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code (2003), where one of the book’s characters suggests that the feminine-looking person to Jesus’ right in Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper is actually Mary Magdalene rather than St. John. Other common attributes include a book or scroll, in reference to the writings traditionally attributed to him, and an eagle, which is argued to symbolize the high-soaring, inspirational quality of these writings. This symbol is interpreted as a reference to a legend from the Acts of John, in which John was challenged to drink a cup of poison to demonstrate the power of his faith (the poison being symbolized by the serpent).

The author is primarily interested in the significance of these deeds, and so interprets them for the reader by various reflections, narratives, and discourses. The Gospel of John begins with a magnificent prologue, which states many of the major themes and motifs of the gospel, much as an overture does for a musical work. To a much greater degree, it is the product of a developed theological reflection and grows out of a different circle and tradition. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’”

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Caroline Madison is a freelance editor and writer with a passion for the written word and a special interest in telling and reading stories that present biblical truths in fresh ways. And Bible scholars continue to debate whether this gospel was written later than AD 70. Like the synoptic gospels, John is a detailed account of the life of Jesus Christ. John owes its unique popularity to two highly revered saints, John the Baptist (forerunner of Jesus Christ) and the apostle John (traditionally considered the author of the Gospel of John);citation needed the name has since been chosen as the regnal or religious name of many emperors, kings, popes and patriarchs. 35 The next day John(AZ) was there again with two of his disciples.

The gospel of John contains less narrative and far more dialogue than the other gospels. Whatever the specific date of authorship, John probably wrote from Ephesus to an audience of both Jews and Gentiles as indicated by his focus on Christ’s fulfillment of Old Testament promises and descriptions of Jewish tradition. It’s unclear whether John wrote independently of the other gospels (AD 50-70) or with their already existing content in mind. This fourth gospel supplements the synoptics, focusing on details about Christ’s work and words that reveal a longer span of ministry (at least three years as indicated by three Passovers). The book of John is an eyewitness account of Jesus’ ministry (AD 29-33) enriched by the author’s understanding of Jewish traditions and accurate geographical knowledge of Palestine.

Popular Bible Verses from John 1

• Verses 1-5 The plainest reason why the Son of God is called the Word, seems to be, that as our words explain our minds to others, so was the Son of God sent in order to reveal his Father’s mind to the world.
• Jn 21 seems to have been added after the gospel was completed; it exhibits a Greek style somewhat different from that of the rest of the work.
• Lazarus is presented as a token of the real life that Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life, who will now ironically be put to death because of his gift of life to Lazarus, will give to all who believe in him once he has been raised from the dead.
• Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John.
• According to tradition, John and the other Apostles remained some 12 years in this first field of labour.
• He takes away the sin of the world; purchases pardon for all that repent and believe the gospel.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. However, the accuracy of much of the detail of the fourth gospel constitutes a strong argument that the Johannine tradition rests upon the testimony of an eyewitness. Other difficulties for any theory of eyewitness authorship of the gospel in its present form are presented by its highly developed theology and by certain elements of its literary style. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.”

According to The New Oxford Annotated Bible (2018), modern scholars agree that the gospel was more probably written by a disciple of John son of Zebedee; it could have been the Beloved Disciple or someone who recorded his dictation. The apostle John is believed to be the author of this gospel, though some Bible scholars have debated the author’s identity and proposed others—is it Lazarus, Thomas, John Mark, or some other unnamed disciple perhaps? Regarding whether the author of the Gospel of John was an eyewitness, according to Paul N. Anderson, the gospel “contains more direct claims to eyewitness origins than any of the other Gospel traditions.” F.

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9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. The final editing of the gospel and arrangement in its present form probably dates from between A.D. Among them are the opposition to the synagogue of the day and to John the Baptist’s followers, who tried to exalt their master at Jesus’ expense, the desire to show that Jesus was the Messiah, and the desire to convince Christians that their religious belief and practice must be rooted in Jesus. The fourth gospel is not simply history; the narrative has been organized and adapted to serve the evangelist’s theological purposes as well. To solve these problems, scholars have proposed various rearrangements that would produce a smoother order.

9 The true light(M) that gives light to everyone(N) was coming into the world. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John.(J) 7 He came as a witness to testify(K) concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.(L) 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 5 The light shines in the darkness,(H) and the darkness has not overcomea it.(I)

Supported by historical accounts from Irenaeus, Eusebius, and others, the case for the apostle John’s authorship is a strong one. It highlights His role as the Word made flesh, offering eternal life through belief in Him. John begins with the profound announcement that Jesus is the “in the beginning” creative Word of God who had become embodied (incarnated) as a human being to be the light of life for the world. 37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. He was not a dissembler, nor dishonest; he was a sound character, a really upright, godly man.