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Early in my Christian walk, I had a seminary student disparage the Gospel of John, claiming it was unreliable since it was written by an old man. Yes, the Apostle was about 90 years old when he wrote his gospel.
But is this challenge true?
Start reading the Gospel of John with the first and last verses of the book …
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1, ESV).
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written (John 21:25, ESV).
When we understand Jesus as both Word and God and that He did so many miracles, wonders, and excellent teachings that all the books in history couldn’t contain them, reading these two verses together, we witness a master wordsmith.
The Word as God (unlimited) at the beginning of the book and His deeds couldn’t be contained (unlimited) at the end of the book – correlates.
I make a point of this artistic nature of the Gospel of John.
Reading this Gospel, we see a skill of penmanship deeper than Shakespeare, more insightful than Mark Twain, a better story than John Grisham, and of more consequence than the writings of all other humans.
Someone frail of mind could not have written this Gospel.
It’s too creative, descriptive, and nuanced. The depth of teaching and the foreshadowing of character development were not only written by an artist but had to – absolutely had to be – inspired by the Spirit of God!!!
Reading the Gospel of John, we must start from the perspective found in John 16:13-15. Jesus is speaking and says …
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
John foreshadowed his other writings when he repeated this quote from Jesus. In these verses, John indicates his purposes for writing the Gospel of John, the First Epistle of John, and the book of Revelation.
Intricate yes – using three books – to give a full revelation of Jesus. No senility can be detected by a careful reading and understanding of this gospel!!!!
Let’s consider the reasons John wrote the Gospel of John, the Epistle of First John, and the book of Revelation …
We are guided into truth …
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
We learn about things to come …
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John (Revelation 1:1).
Jesus is glorified …
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God (1 John 4:2).
John’s writings are the last in the New Testament. In his books, John fills in what the other Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), along with the other writers of the New Testament, had left out.
Please read the Gospel of John several times in 2023. This is the last Gospel. It was written decades after the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
I believe that the last Gospel has significance for the last times that we live in today
Abrupt end here!
I will complete Interruption #826 in Interruption #827 tomorrow.