Gospel of John: Christ’s return is now
This post covers a number of different aspects of John’s gospel. I especially like what is called John’s realized eschatology, his theory of the end time. We should not and need not wait for Advent. It appeared when Christ appeared. If we have faith in Christ and follow his commandments then we have already been saved. I’ll cover some other topics as well
Almost everyone agrees that John is unique among the gospels. While the other three gospels indirectly refer to each other or a common source, often using almost identical language, John doesn’t. For this reason, the gospels are often divided into the three synoptic gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke), and John. The opening of John’s gospel resembles none of the other gospels. Nor does John’s Jesus speak in parables. There are other differences.
John’s gospel was written no later than 90 AD, and possibly a decade or two before. It is sometimes argued that the apostle John was the author, but while this is possible (Christ was crucified around 30 AD), the main argument against it is that there is an intellectual complexity to John that seems unlikely in a fisherman with no formal education, even if he had learned to read and write Greek. John’s Greek is simple, but his story is not.
It is also argued that the Gospel was written in layers, often called form criticism. It’s probably true, but I’m not going to go into that.
God’s relationship with Jesus
God is identical with Jesus, but Jesus stands in a relationship to God. In which case they can’t be identical. I think this summarizes chapter 1, verses 1-14 pretty well. And it’s confusing.
