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The Book of John is not like the Book of Matthew, Mark, or Luke which cover the same period of time. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell of the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, but they stress more what Jesus did than who He is. In St. John, the entire book is showing that Jesus was, is, and always will be diety. It shows that God took on the form of flesh and dwelt among us. This book was written by the apostle John (the beloved of Jesus). He was very close to Jesus. He knew more about Him than anyone else.

John's gospel can be broken into four parts: a prologue, (John 1:-1:18), the Book of Signs (1:19 to 12:50), the Book of Glory (or Exaltation) (13:1 to 20:31) and an epilogue (chapter 21)

I. Evidence of this gospel reaches almost back to the 1st century

II. Who wrote it? (Quite possibly the Apostle John! …or one of his crowd?)

A) External evidence

1) Support from Irenaeus who lived at the end of the 2nd cent. and personally knew Polycarp (b. 70, martyred 156), bishop of Smyrna and pupil of John. Polycarp claimed the apostle John, the son of Zebedee (JsZ), wrote the gospel of John.

2) Argument against JsZ: Papias and the “two John” theory

3) But: Eusebius’ agenda

B) Internal authorship evidence: Who was the Beloved Disciple (BD)?

III. When was it written? (dates probably ~85-100)

A) Arguments for late writing: No mention of sadducees, well-developed theology and christology, tension with Jews

B) Arguments for early writing: If JsZ were the author of GJn or especially if he were the author of 1 Jn; P52 (quote from 1 Jn found in Egypt in 130), high christology, shmigh shmishmology

IV. Where was it written? (Probably Ephesus)

V. What makes it unique?

A) Style and content differences from the synoptics

B) High Christology: agency, or “saliah”

C) Ecclesiology: To retain eternal life, abide in Jesus

D) Eschatology: Jn has a realized eschatology

E) Pneumatology: the Paraclete (a term unique to Jn)

VI. What sources or traditions contributed to it (source criticism)?

A) Sources/influences/interwoven traditions postulated for Jn

B) Carson’s hypothesis: a Palestinian Jew, who was an eyewitness, and apostle, and specifically the apostle Jn

C) Brown’s hypothesis: Based on Acts 6-8

VII. For further reading

A) D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Eerdman’s, Grand Rapids) 1991

B) Joel Green, Scott McKnight Eds., Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (IVP, Downer’s Grove) 1992

C) Raymond Brown, The Community of the Beloved Disciple (Paulist, New York) 1978

D) Raymond Brown, The Churches the Apostles Left Behind (Paulist, New York) 1984

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Source: (The Bible Project, 2016)