The first four books of the New Testament are commonly referred to as the four Gospels. Essentially the word Gospel means good news and it is not only used in the sense of the good news of Jesus Christ, but the Gospel is also used to delineate the message of salvation in Christ.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” Romans 1:16-17.
Of these four Gospels, the first three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are known as the synoptic Gospels, because they present a “Common view” of the life of Christ. The word itself comes from the Greek word sunopsis, which means a blended view.
The book of John is not counted as one of the synoptic Gospels for a number of reasons; many of the events brought out in John are not mentioned in the other books, there are no parables, and only seven miracles, or signs are recorded in this book, of these, five are not shown in the other Gospels, and while the others spend little time recording the Last Supper, the Gospel of John devotes five chapters to it, 13 through 17.
The Gospel of John is also referred to as, “the book of the seven signs” because, as mentioned above, there are only seven miracles recorded in it.
These signs or attesting miracles were meant to show Christ’s credentials as Israel’s promised Messiah, they were also meant to confirm Jesus’ claim to be God incarnate, God Himself.
The seven signs, or attesting miracles are as follows, turning water to wine (2:1-11), cure of the nobleman’s son (4:46-54), healing of the paralytic (5:1-18), feeding the multitude of 5000 plus (6:5-13), walking on water (6:16-21), healing of the man born blind (9:1-7), and the raising of Lazarus (11:1-44).
The number seven is the number of completion and these seven signs represent the complete irrefutable evidence of the Lord’s Messianic credentials presented to Israel.
I like to add an eighth sign, Christ’s own resurrection from the dead (20:1-18), interestingly enough, the number eight is the number of new beginnings.
The four Gospels show four different views of the life of Christ, these four viewpoints are as follows, Matthew reveals Christ as the King, Mark shows Him as a servant, and Luke presents Him as a man, while John manifests the Lord Jesus Christ as God the Son.
The genealogy of Christ given in the Gospels may illustrate in a small way how these conclusions were reached. Since Matthew reveals the Lord as the King of Israel, the lineage given in Matthew 1:1-16 extends from father Abraham (see the Abrahamic Covenant, Genesis 12:1-4) he is the beginning of Israel, through King David, to the Christ.
The book of Mark shows Christ as a servant and there is no lineage shown, after all, one does not need a servant’s lineage, all they want from him is work.
Luke presents Christ to us as a man, so His genealogy, given in Luke 3:23-38, traces His lineage backward all the way to Adam, the first man.
John manifests Christ as God incarnate; God is eternal and has no beginning, so all that is said is:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1.
The book of John was written by the Apostle John. When I first started reading the Bible I would often get confused about which John was being referred to in the Scriptures, because there are two main characters named John.
While there are numerous references to John the Baptist in the book of John, not once is the Apostle John referred to by name though he is referred to many times in the other three gospels.
John the Baptist is the man sent by God to show men who the Christ was.
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light [Jesus Christ], that all through him might believe [in Jesus]. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.” John 1:6-9.
“The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’” John 1:29.
John the apostle and writer of the book of John never refers to himself by name, merely as the disciple whom Jesus loved.
“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him’” John 20:1-2.
Hopefully, this will clarify the mystery of the two Johns. Wherever you read in the four gospels, the context of the verse will help identify the man.
Finally, the book of John was written by the Apostle John around 90 to 94 A.D. He along with his brother James was one of the first called of the disciples and the youngest of the 12, and the last to die at the age of about a 100 or slightly more in Ephesus.
If you have an interest in learning a bit more, may I suggest, “Unger’s Bible Dictionary” by Merrill F. Unger, published by Moody Press; or if you have something like “The Ryrie Study Bible”, New King James Version, published by Moody Press, you can read the introduction at the beginning of each book.
There are numerous other study books though, which may help you, your church library or local Bible bookstore will contain a great deal of information on any book of the Bible.
One of my favorite sources is J. Vernon McGee whose Thru the Bible radio broadcasts can still be heard in many locations, or found on the internet.
There are also a series of books based on these broadcasts which cover the whole Bible, published by Thru the Bible Books, Box 100, Pasadena, California 91109.
There is also a commentary by H. A. Ironside, “Addresses on the Gospel of John”, published by Loizeaux Brothers, Inc. Neptune, New Jersey. Your local Bible bookstore may be of help with these titles.
Two invaluable tools are right here on your computer, www.biblestudytools.com and www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html these are real time savers.
Gospel of John, introduction taken from godisrevealed.com
Scripture taken from the New King James version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.