that He had previously remained continuously in Galilee or in the neighborhood, having taken up His abode there at the be- ginning of His public ministry.
In the Synoptists the scene of Christ’s work is almost exclu- sively Galilee, while John mentions only five events connected with the Galilean ministry. On the other hand, the fourth Gospel assumes a knowledge of Jesus’ activity in Galilee and Persea (vi. 1; vii. 1; v. 11, 52; x. 40).
The difference between John and the Synoptists also appears in the form of the narrative. The latter represent Jesus’ teach- ing as dealing mainly with the humble peasantry. It is pro- verbial, popular, abounding in parable, and the discourses are brief. John represents Christ as speaking in long and pro- foundly thoughtful discourses. While John has nothing an- swering to the Sermon on the Mount and the groups of par- ables, the other evangelists have nothing answering to the interviews with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, and the disciples before the Passover. In John the discourses are more dramatic and dialectic; in the Synoptists, proverbial, parabolic, and prophetic. Yet John’s account of Jesus’ teaching is not wanting in short paradoxical sayings, such as abound in the Synoptists (see ii.195; iv. 32, 34, 35; vii. 33; v.17; vi. 27, 33, 62); nor, though no parable is worked out by John, are para- bolic sayings wanting, such as the Good Shepherd, the Vine, the Living Water, and the Bread of Heaven.
In another and deeper aspect his Gospel stands related to the others as completing. He alone has seized and preserved cer- tain sides of the life and teaching of the Lord, such as His ut- terances as to His eternal relation to the Father and His eter- nal unity with Him (iii. 13 sqq. ; v. 17 sqq.; vi. 33, 51; vii. 16, 28 sqq.; viii. 58, and elsewhere). It is to John, in short, that we owe the view of the speculative side of Christ’s work ; while as regards the relation of believers to their Lord, John gives us those deep and comforting words concerning the mys- tical unity and community of life between Himself and His disciples, into which they will enter through the Holy Spirit.
Yet these deeper and more mystical views were not alto- gether the outcome of John’s characteristic personality. They