Jesus' portrayal in the Gospel of John is very much devoted to the works and miracles that are performed by Jesus, rather than the way his life is led day to day. In this manner, readers of John get a more descriptive version of Jesus' life; the details of his life are condensed, and the story surrounding the included details are elaborated on. It would seem that John is more concerned with the meaning and reaction to the words that he writes rather than the detailing of a course of events. My personal suppositions of why John is written in this manner are varied, but may be interelated despite the differences.
The feelings that are impressed upon readers of John are ones of sympathy and understanding for both Jesus, and the events that surround his birth, death, and ressurection. The depth of the parables written reflects a motivation that reaches beyond the plain facts of Jesus's life.
Seemingly, this encourages understanding through a process of abstract thought which is put into motion as the readers relate John's descriptions of Jesus to their own lives and varying cultures. In this same instance of abstract thinking, readers arent actually thinking abstractly, but are understanding God through Jesus. Verses 5:22-24, explain that this is the only way to honor God the Father.
As a result of John's ability to encourage abstract thought among a diverse group of people, the writings in the gospel take on an very accessible, and almost evangelical form that conveys deep emotion for Jesus' life. Readers are provoked to understand the message that lies behind what is written down by John. This allows them to recieve a clearer glimpse of Jesus's place in Christianity through an intellectually uninhibiting...
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...e a similar formula. That is, they all portray a relationship with God that is only known through the understanding and belief in his only son. In condensed terms, we have seen that a belief and understanding of Christ will always render the blessings of God and will always quench a spiritual apetite, which is in accordance to the way Jesus is portrayed by John.
In it's entirety, the events in Jesus' life are read as a metaphor for God's love (3:16), that is communicated by John and is only understandable through a faith in Jesus Christ and the miracles he performed. This metaphor in turn becomes one of the strongest teachings in the Bible through which God's message is told, and portrays Jesus as the only way to fully understand gods word and to reach salvation.
Jesus is portrayed as a model for christianity and through that model, man can be saved from sin.
...itten in, and can also be seen because there is no mention anywhere of the parables, Jesus' primary teaching method according to the synoptic gospels. Instead, John makes use of miracles and uses examples from Jesus' ministry to demonstrate his power and divinity. He uses his power over nature to raise people from the dead, heal a blind man and feed 5000 people with the physical amount of food for only a few.
John focuses on the profound meaning of the life of Jesus, whom he saw as the
In Matthew, Mark, and Luke there’s mention of some things God has done for us that the author of John left out. For instance, John does not mention Jesus ever casting out demons or include much about helping the poor. John instead includes more about his ministry and teaching to others, like Jesus’ early Galilean ministry in John 2, 3, and 4, which is not mentioned in the other gospels. John also implies that Jesus’ ministry took place over three or four years, whereas the other Gospel’s only mention his ministry once. By not including the miracles that Jesus had preformed an focusing on his ministry it shows us that we should not focus on what Jesus can do for us, but instead focus on ministering to others and spreading His word just as Yeshua followers do. The Synoptics also frequently mention the Kingdom of God and all that we will get, while John mentions this once and instead places an emphasis on eternal life. Instead of thinking about what God is going to give us, we should think in a more Yeshua way, and think about eternal life and what that truly
The tone and allusions are important for John to portray how death is insignificant and irrelevant and that after death one moves on to a better place: heaven.
N.T Wright (2008) stated that “When we read the scriptures as Christians, we read it precisely as people of the new covenant and of the new creation” (p.281). In this statement, the author reveals a paradigm of scriptural interpretation that exists for him as a Christian, theologian, and profession and Bishop. When one surveys the entirety of modern Christendom, one finds a variety of methods and perspectives on biblical interpretation, and indeed on the how one defines the meaning in the parables of Jesus. Capon (2002) and Snodgrass (2008) offer differing perspectives on how one should approach the scriptures and how the true sense of meaning should be extracted. This paper will serve as a brief examination of the methodologies presented by these two authors. Let us begin, with an
The Gospel of Matthew is an eyewitness story written for an audience of believers, under great stress, and persecution. Matthew develops a theological plot incorporating genealogy, speeches, parables, inter and intra textual references, common vocabulary, and fulfillment quotations, with a tension that builds as we are invited into the story. The crucifixion and resurrection bring us to a Christological climax that symbolically points beyond its conclusion to God’s Kingdom, bringing atonement, salvation and the ushering in the Eschaton. The extraordinary events surrounding the crucifixion act as commentary, adding important details concerning the death of Jesus.1
The New Testament teaches about who Jesus is and what he did on the earth. John wrote the last of the four gospels which recount Jesus’ life and what is to come. The gospel of John is somewhat different from the other three gospels, in that it is more symbolic and less concrete. For example, John expresses Jesus as the Passover Lamb when Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not. This gospel is showing that Christianity is moving away from the long-practiced Jewish traditions. John’s gospel can be laid out into four parts: the prologue or the incarnate word, signs of the Messiah with teachings about life in him, the farewell teaching and the passion narrative, and the epilogue or the roles of Peter and of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The Gospel of John is arguably the most
The book consists of three parts. The first part has five chapters of which focuses on explaining what the key questions are and why we find them difficult to answer. The second part has nine chapters explaining in detail what N.T. Wright considers Jesus’ public career and the approach he had in first century Palestine. The third part of the book, the last chapter, challenges readers to wrestle with the questions of Jesus’ life and ministry.
John’s Gospel is unspeakably mission oriented. John the Baptist come out and go to the community and tell them what it means to get rid off their sin, enjoy freedom, and being justified. John the Baptist did not present the one to come (the Son) as a humble and ordinary human rather he presents him as powerful, mighty (John 1:27). But later in John Chapter 13 we see a humble and feet washer Son of God. Does Jesus came as a mighty and powerful who human being is even unworthy to untie His sandals straps (John 1: 27 NIV) or humble feet washer and fish cooker (John 13 and 21:7), came to create incredible relationship with humanity? How do we see both John the Baptist and Jesus mission to community, how much the humanity (becoming flesh) favor the mutuality between the messiah and human being. There no time when Jesus’ Divinity overshadow his humanity. Our justification is based on...
...f God’s glory and for those that have questioned their faith. The book urges the reader to consider the sacrifices Jesus made, his role as a messenger and mediator, and the ability of people to find salvation through the acceptance of Jesus. These are central messages that other portions of the Bible touch on but do not discuss with the same degree or urgency.
The first three gospels are sometimes called the 'synoptic' (same view) gospels. This is because they each cover teaching and miracles by Jesus that are also covered in another account. John, writing later, recounts Jesus' other words and miracles that have a particular spiritual meaning.
In the gospels of Mark and John, both showed a vivid portrait of Jesus in their writing. Mark’s gospel describes much more of Jesus' life, miracles, and parables as suffering servant. However, John’s gospel was written to convince people to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Nonetheless, both John and Mark present many of the crucial events of Jesus' life, including his trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
McLuhan’s work with literature and culture produced the revolutionary thought that “the medium is the message.” In other words, cultures are changed not only by the “content” of technology, but also by the technology itself.
“The medium is the message,” uttered by the late media scholar and theorist Marshall McLuhan, and they have been revered and dissected ever since they were spoken. There has been several different interpretations on the premise of McLuhan’s words, and the meaning behind them. The best way to start unraveling his theory, is to get a general understanding of the terms used in his famous quote. In McLuhan’s own words, a medium is simply “an extension of ourselves.” Simply put the medium personifies or enhances what we as humans cannot do on our own. In a mass media perspective this means the use of technology including radio, television, and the Internet to project our thoughts, feelings, and senses (Frederman) . Finally, it is important to note that the plural of the word medium is media. Now that there is a general understanding of the medium, the other important word McLuhan spoke of is the “message”. The message is simply what the audience perceives through the medium. This could be anything from watching a television program or listening to the radio. Also, note that some believe the message McLuhan preached is a lot more complicated and not obvious. This view can be explained by, the message isn’t the news, but the attitudes that are affected by watching or listening to the message. Whichever, definition is taken for the “message”, the dissection of McLuhan’s quote will still be interpreted in a similar fashion.