tion and the secret of the inward union of the believer with Christ ; to purge the Church from speculative error, and to hold up, over against the Gnostic caricature, the true image of the Son of Man.
The writings ascribed to John are the Gospel, three Epis- tles, and the Apocalypse or Revelation.
The nearly unanimous tradition of the Church assigns the fourth Gospel to John. It is unquestionably the work of a Jew, an eye-witness, and a disciple of Jesus. It was probably written toward the close of the first century, and therefore later than the other three Gospels. According to the earliest evi- dence, it was composed at Ephesus, at the request of John’s intimate friends, who desired to have his oral teaching recorded for the permanent use of the Church.
There are three theories as to the motive of its composition. According to the first, known as the “supplementary ” theory, John wrote the fourth Gospel as a supplement to its predeces- sors, in order to supply what was wanting in the synoptic narrative. This Gospel is indeed supplementary in fact, but not in motive. It is supplementary in that the writer con- stantly assumes that certain facts are already known to his readers, and adds other facts from his own special information. But the Gospel itself expressly disclaims all intention to be complete (xxi. 25), and is an original conception, both in form and substance, having a distinct plan of its own, and present- ing a fresh aspect of the person and teaching of our Lorde 1t is the picture of one who paints, not because others have failed to catch the ideal he would represent, but because his heart is full and he must speak.”
The second theory is that the Gospel is “polemical” or controversial, designed to oppose the errors of the Nicolaitanes and of Cerinthus. But the Gospel is polemical only incident- ally, as the presentation of the positive truth suggests particu- lar points of error. The point of view is not controversial. The writer is moved by the pressure of his great theme to set