The gospel of John

The Apostle John wrote his gospel in exile on the Isle of Patmos off the Turkish coast around 95 AD when he was a very old man. John became a disciple of Jesus when he was a 17 year old teenager and became a part of Jesus’ inner circle along with Peter and his brother James.  John was once sentenced to the prison mines for preaching the gospel and evil men even attempted to boil John alive but he was rescued by God so he could write the book of Revelation. John was the only Apostle to die a natural death in old age.

As an eyewitness to the life of Jesus John wanted to write his personal account while he was alive. John read the other three gospels first and wanted to fill in the areas that were omitted in the ministry of Jesus. John is not a synoptic gospel because it didn’t focus so much on the life of Jesus as much as His divinity and His office. John also wanted to dispel the rumors by some sects that Jesus was only a man and not God in the flesh.  John was illiterate so he dictated his gospel to a scribe.  The gospel of John was written in Greek for the whole world. Consensus is that John was written around 95 AD give or take a year or two. The Encyclopedia of the Bible says 90-100 AD, Nelson’s Bible Facts says 90-100 AD, and the Bible Handbook says 80-90 AD. John’s goal was to show that Jesus is the Word of God send down from heaven and came to draw all people to faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The other three gospels are set in Galilee but John’s gospel is set exclusively in Jerusalem. The teaching methods of John’s gospel do not use parables but instead rely on longer conversations by Jesus to His disciples. There is more personal teaching of the disciples in John’s gospel.  The gospel framework of John utilizes seven miracles and seven sayings to show Jesus is divine which show the only way to eternal life is through faith in Jesus Christ. The gospel of John kind of ties up all the loose ends of the life of our Savior and the truth set before us in all the gospels shines like the noonday sun!  Praise God in heaven for providing us with His written Word for our salvation!