No doubt the fourth Gospel, by the positive statement of the truth, is the most effective refutation of Gnostic dualism and doketism, which began to raise its head in Asia Minor toward the close of the first century. It shows the harmony of the ideal Christ of faith and the real Christ of history, which the ancient and modern schools of Gnosticism are unable to unite in one individual. But it is not on this account a polemical treatise, and it even had by its profound speculation a special attraction for Gnostics and philosophical rationalists, from Basilides down to Baur. The ancient Gnostics made the first use of it and quoted freely from the prologue, e.g., the passage: "The true light, which enlighteneth every man, was coming into the world" (1:9). [1045]
The polemical aim is more apparent in the first Epistle of John, which directly warns against the anti-Christian errors then threatening the church, and may be called a doctrinal and practical postscript to the Gospel.
2. The supplementary theory. Clement of Alexandria (about 200) states, on the authority of "presbyters of an earlier generation," that John, at the request of his friends and the prompting of the divine Spirit, added a spiritual Gospel to the older bodily Gospels which set forth the outward facts. [1046] The distinction is ingenious. John is more spiritual and ideal than the Synoptists, and he represents as it were the esoteric tradition as distinct from the exoteric tradition of the church. Eusebius records also as a current opinion that John intended to supply an amount of the earlier period of Christ's ministry which was omitted by the other Evangelists. [1047] John is undoubtedly a most welcome supplementer both in matter and spirit, and furnishes in part the key for the full understanding of the Synoptists, yet he repeats many important events, especially in the closing chapters, and his Gospel is as complete as any. [1048]
3. The Irenic tendency-theory is a modern Tübingen invention. It is assumed that the fourth Gospel is purely speculative or theological, the last and crowning literary production which completed the process of unifying Jewish and Gentile Christianity and melting them into the one Catholic church of the second century.
No doubt it is an Irenicon of the church in the highest and best sense of the term, and a prophecy of the church of the future, when all discords of Christendom past and present will be harmonized in the perfect union of Christians with Christ, which is the last object of his sacerdotal prayer. But it is not an Irenicon at the expense of truth and facts.
In carrying out their hypothesis the Tübingen critics have resorted to the wildest fictions. It is said that the author depreciated the Mosaic dispensation and displayed jealousy of Peter. How in the world could this promote peace? It would rather have defeated the object. But there is no shadow of proof for such an assertion. While the author opposes the unbelieving Jews, he shows the highest reverence for the Old Testament, and derives salvation from the Jews. Instead of showing jealousy of Peter, he introduces his new name at the first interview with Jesus (1:42), reports his great confession even more fully than Matthew (John 6:68, 69), puts him at the head of the list of the apostles (21:2), and gives him his due prominence throughout down to the last interview when the risen Lord committed to him the feeding of his sheep (21:15-19). This misrepresentation is of a piece with the other Tübingen myth adopted by Renan, that the real John in the Apocalypse pursues a polemical aim against Paul and deliberately excludes him from the rank of the twelve Apostles. And yet Paul himself, in the acknowledged Epistle to the Galatians, represents John as one of the three pillar-apostles who recognized his peculiar gift for the apostolate of the Gentiles and extended to him the right hand of fellowship.
Analysis.
The object of John determined the selection and arrangement of the material. His plan is more clear and systematic than that of the Synoptists. It brings out the growing conflict between belief and unbelief, between light and darkness, and leads step by step to the great crisis of the cross, and to the concluding exclamation of Thomas, "My Lord and my God."
In the following analysis the sections peculiar to John are marked by a star.
*I. The Prologue. The theme of the Gospel: the Logos, the eternal Revealer of God:
(1.) In relation to God, John 1:1, 2.
(2.) In relation to the world. General revelation, 1:3-5.
(3.) In relation to John the Baptist and the Jews. Particular revelation, 1:6-13.
(4.) The incarnation of the Logos, and its effect upon the disciples, 1:14-18.
II. The Public Manifestation of the Incarnate Logos in Active Word and Work, 1:19 to 12:50.
*(1.) The preparatory testimony of John the Baptist pointing to Jesus as the promised and expected Messiah, and as the Lamb of God that beareth the sin of the world, 1:19-37.
*(2.) The gathering of the first disciples, 1:38-51.
*(3.) The first sign: the changing of water into wine at Cana in Galilee, 2:1-11. First sojourn in Capernaum, 2:12. First Passover and journey to Jerusalem during the public ministry, 2:13.
*(4.) The reformatory cleansing of the Temple, 2:14-22. (Recorded also by the Synoptists, but at the close of the public ministry.) Labors among the Jews in Jerusalem, 2:23-25.
*(5.) Conversation with Nicodemus, representing the timid disciples, the higher classes among the Jews. Regeneration the condition of entering into the kingdom of God, 3:1-15. The love of God in the sending of his Son to save the world, 3:16-21. (Jerusalem.)
*(6.) Labors of Jesus in Judaea. The testimony of John the Baptist: He must increase, but I must decrease, 3:22-36. (Departure of Jesus into Galilee after John's imprisonment, 4:1-3; comp. Matt. 4:12; Mark 1:14; Luke 4:14.)
*(7.) Labors in Samaria on the journey from Judaea to Galilee. The woman of Samaria; Jacob's well; the water of life; the worship of God the Spirit in spirit and in truth; the fields ripening for the harvest, John 4:1-42. Jesus teaches publicly in Galilee, 4:43-45 (comp. Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:14, 15 Luke 4:14, 15).
*(8.) Jesus again visits Cana in Galilee and heals a nobleman's son at Capernaum, John 4:46-54.
*(9.) Second journey to Jerusalem at a feast (the second Passover?). The healing of the infirm man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, 5:1-18. Beginning of the hostility of the Jews. Discourse of Christ on his relation to the Father, and his authority to judge the world, 5:19-47.
(10.) The feeding of the five thousand, 6:1-14. The stilling of the tempest, 6:15-21.
*The mysterious discourse in Capernaum on the bread of life; the sifting of the disciples; the confession of Peter: "To whom shall we go," etc.; the hinting at the treason of Judas, 6:22-71.
*(11.) Third visit to Jerusalem, at the feast of the Tabernacles. The hasty request of the brethren of Jesus who did not believe on him. His discourse in the Temple with opposite effect. Rising hostility of the Jews, and vain efforts of the hierarchy to seize him as a false teacher misleading the people, 7:1-52.
[*(12a.) The woman taken in adultery and pardoned by Jesus, 7:53-8:11. Jerusalem. Probably an interpolation from oral tradition, authentic and true, but not from the pen of John. Also found at the end, and at Luke 21.]
*(12b.) Discourse on the light of the world. The children of God and the children of the devil. Attempts to stone Jesus, John 8:12-59.
*(13.) The healing of the man born blind, on a Sabbath, and his testimony before the Pharisees, 9:1-41.
*(14.) The parable of the good shepherd, 10:1-21. Speech at the feast of Dedication in Solomon's porch, 10:22-39. Departure to the country beyond the Jordan, 10:40-42.
*(15.) The resurrection of Lazarus at Bethany, and its effect upon hastening the crisis. The counsel of Caiaphas. Jesus retires from Jerusalem to Ephraim, 11:1-57.
(16.) The anointing by Mary in Bethany, 12:1-8. The counsel of the chief priests, 12:9-11.
(17.) The entry into Jerusalem, 12:12-19. (Comp. Matt. 21:1-17; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-44.)
*(18.) Visit of the Greeks. Discourse of Jesus on the grain of wheat which must die to bear fruit; the voice from heaven; the attraction of the cross; the opposite effect; reflection of the Evangelist; summary of the speeches of Jesus, John 12:20-50.
III. The Private Manifestation of Christ in the Circle of his Disciples. During the fourth and last Passover week. Jerusalem, 13:1-17:26.
*(l.) Jesus washes the feet of the disciples before the Passover meal, 13:1-20.
(2.) He announces the traitor, 13:21-27. The departure of Judas, 13:27-30.
*(3.) The new commandment of love, 13:31-35. (Here is the best place for the institution of the Lord's Supper, omitted by John, but reported by all the Synoptists and by Paul.)
(4.) Prophecy of Peter's denial, 13:36-38.
*(5.) The farewell discourses to the disciples; the promise of the Paraclete, and of Christ's return, 14:1 - 16:33.
*(6.) The Sacerdotal Prayer, 17:1-26.
IV. The Glorification of Christ in the Crucifixion and Resurrection, 18:1-20:31.
(1.) The passage over the Kedron, and the betrayal, 18:1-11.
(2.) Jesus before the high priests, Annas and Caiaphas, 18:12-14, 19-24.
(3.) Peter's denial, 18:15-18, 25-27.
(4.) Jesus before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, 18:28-19:16. Original in part (19:4-16).
(5.) The crucifixion, 19:17-37.
(6.) The burial of Jesus, 19:38-42.
(7.) The resurrection. Mary Magdalene, Peter and John visit the empty tomb, 20:1-10.
(8.) Christ appears to Mary Magdalene, 20:11-18.
*(9.) Christ appears to the apostles, except Thomas, on the evening of the resurrection day, 20:19-23.
*(10.) Christ appears to the apostles, including Thomas, on the following Lord's Day, 20:26-29.
*(11.) Object of the Gospel, 20:30, 31
*V. The Appendix and Epilogue, 21:1-25.
(1.) Christ appears to seven disciples on the lake of Galilee. The third manifestation to the disciples, 21:1-14.
(2.) The dialogue with Simon Peter: "Lovest thou Me?" "Feed My sheep." "Follow Me," 21:15-19.
(3.) The mysterious word about the beloved disciple, 21:1-23.
(4.) The attestation of the authorship of the Gospel by the pupils of John, 21:24, 25.
Characteristics of the Fourth Gospel.
The Gospel of John is the most original, the most important, the most influential book in all literature. The great Origen called it the crown of the Gospels, as the Gospels are the crown of all sacred writings. [1049] It is pre-eminently the spiritual and ideal, though at the same time a most real Gospel, the truest transcript of the original. It lifts the veil from the holy of holies and reveals the glory of the Only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. It unites in harmony the deepest knowledge and the purest love of Christ. We hear as it were his beating heart; we lay our hands in his wound-prints and exclaim with doubting Thomas: "My Lord and my God." No book is so plain and yet so deep, so natural and yet so full of mystery. It is simple as a child and sublime as a seraph, gentle as a lamb and bold as an eagle, deep as the sea and high as the heavens.
It has been praised as "the unique, tender, genuine Gospel," "written by the hand of an angel," as "the heart of Christ," as "God's love-letter to the world," or "Christ's love-letter to the church." It has exerted an irresistible charm on many of the strongest and noblest minds in Christendom, as Origen in Egypt, Chrysostom in Asia, Augustin in Africa, the German Luther, the French Calvin, the poetic Herder, the critical Schleiermacher, and a multitude of less famous writers of all schools and shades of thought. Even many of those who doubt or deny the apostolic authorship cannot help admiring its more than earthly beauties. [1050]
But there are other sceptics who find the Johannean discourses monotonous, tedious, nebulous, unmeaning, hard, and feel as much offended by them as the original hearers. [1051]