The Presentation of the Person of Jesus in John's Gospel
Throughout John’s Gospel Jesus is portrayed in different ways. He is
described as “flesh” yet he also has divine qualities and
characteristics. John regards Jesus as Logos meaning “word”.
According to Lightfoot the logos had “diverse origins and might convey
different shades of meaning to different readers”. Such readers would
be Jews and Greeks. This quote proves one of John’s main purposes to
be universal.
First the Jewish background relating back to the logos or ‘Word’ of
God. This was seen as a creative force as mentioned in chapter 1
Genesis. This also connected to the prophets where they delivered
God’s word to the audience. Wisdom was spoken of with a connection
with Sophia.
Greek background the reason and the outward expression of inward
thought. For the stoics, logos was the all – pervading presence of
God, the mind of God guiding and controlling life. They searched for
the ‘divine spark’ to become a child of God. Philo of Alexandria was
a Hebrew and a historical figure that came to earth and lived with
mankind. This exemplifies this of Jesus.
Logos is vital for the evangelist’s appreciation of the person of
Jesus but only used in the Prologue. This was to show pre-existence,
creator, life and light of men, flesh which is ‘sarx’ superior to John
he Baptist, an encounter between the earthly and the heavenly.
Jesus is also described as the ‘son of God’ in 1v14 ‘Became flesh and
dwelt among us, full of grace and truth’. Unique as the Son of God
who shares his glory, has power and authority, divinity. Jesus refers
to God as Father as in 3v35...
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...fe to judge us and our sins and this emphasised in
Revelation 11:15.
From John the Baptist mentioned in the Prologue, Jesus is superior to
the one who gives testimony to him; John bears witness to the light,
Jesus is the light. Bultmann maintains John emphasises Jesus in order
to oppose a Baptist sect.
The humanity of Jesus 1v14 flesh, blood and water flowed from his side
on the cross, ‘Behold the man’ said by the Pilate. Docetists
maintained Jesus only seemed human; in reality he was God. However,
Jesus walked, talked, was tired, sat down, carried his cross and
died. Jesus also had emotions, he wept, he loved and his humanity,
e.g. when he became flesh he was the logos, when he was tired at the
well, he also gave living water, while his resurrected body can be
touched by Thomas, he is ‘My Lord and my God’.
Throughout Jesus’ life he has effected many people for the better. But each person sees Jesus in a different way and interprets his almighty powers differently. This is where all of these Gospels came from. Each one is unique and talks about Jesus from each authors point of view. For example in the gospel of Luke there are many themes and ideas that are unique to the gospel and wouldn’t find in the other ones like salvation for the people by Jesus being portrayed as the Universal Savor, the Messianic Secret, God’s plan and the focus on poverty and the wealthy.
After the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples were undergoing so much confusion, trouble and doubt to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead. Unlike other gospels John presents us a more decent description of Jesus's appearance to one of the disciples (Thomas). The seeing and believing incident happened to prove the difference between hearing and believing with seeing and believing. It’s really amazing how Jesus appeared to all the disciples in the absence of Thomas and then later on the disciples shared the news of seeing Jesus to Thomas but he didn't believe it because he wanted to prove by seeing all by himself. Later on Jesus appears in Thomas’s house and the question therefore lie: Did Jesus really wants to prove himself to Thomas in the presence of the rest of the disciples or did he just want to have a moment of time together with all his disciples before going to heaven?
body’s image; The God of Wisdom brought his statue to perfection. He was perfection in
In Matthew 24:43–25:13, it gives us a story of Jesus. We see Jesus painted as a thief in the night and as a bridegroom, both being mirrored images of Jesus as the returning King. The central message in both stories is to watch and be ready, because the day and hour of His coming are unknown. In Matthew 24:43-51, it gives a parable of two slaves, one whom is a wise and faithful servant, found caring for the master’s household (God’s people). The other is an evil servant whom beats the other slaves, lives among the world, and commits worldly acts. In Matthew 25:1-13, we find a parallel story, about ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and did not take extra oil, and five were prudent and carried extra oil for the trip. In both stories, we find the faithful understood that watching meant being properly prepared, servicing the kingdom, and knowing that Jesus will return at an unknown time. The unfaithful were not ready for the kingdom, they showed their true character, and thought they had more time. The Scriptures drops the message that one day the Lord will return as King to judge all. There will be a reward for the true servants and there will be punishment for the false servants.
was a tough road, he had to work in the farms and also try to
A writer’s vision and thought can be extracted from the words that they use in their stories. The evangelists in the Bible are no different. They are writing about events from memory; many of them were stories that were passed on generation to generation. Thus, their personal thoughts begin to make an entry into the way that they write their gospel and the words that they use. The evangelist had the final say as to how he would portray Jesus in his story. This was especially true in Mark’s gospel. Being the first one to recount the ministry of Jesus, he was not influenced by other well known accounts. Thus, the understanding that Mark has is seen through the approach that he took to write his gospel, which include both Jesus’ character traits as well as the meaning behind his ministry. When studying the way that Mark wrote the gospel, it can be seen how he perceives Jesus.
Luke Timothy Johnson uses Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church in order to make a strong point that when studying both Luke and Acts as a unit, rather than reading the canonical order in the Bible, gives us one of our best prophetic looks at the Church for all ages. By presenting this point Johnson hopes to light a fire in our churches of today by using the prophetic works of Luke, so that we as Christians will attend to the ways that Christ intended the church to be. In Johnson’s introduction he states that it is not wrong to study Luke and Acts separately as there are many ways to study the scripture, nevertheless it is wrong to look at Luke and see the prophetic ways of Jesus, and then looking at Acts as non-prophetic. Through seeing Luke’s
We can see the birth of Jesus in Matthew (Matt 1:18-25) (Matt 2:1-12), Luke (Luke 2:1-2) and John (John1:1-18). Both Matthew and Luke tell us that Jesus’ birth place was in Bethlehem in Judea in the time of King Herod of Judea and Emperor Augustine of the Roman Empire. The gospels tell us that Jesus was born in a stable under an inn (Luke 2:7). This is unlikely because Bethlehem was the birthplace of David, who was Joseph’s ancestor. This means that there may have been a house with his cousins or extended family there. The Hebrew word for inn can also be described as ‘the upper room’ and in traditional Jewish houses, there was an upper room where the family stayed and underneath this was the place where the animals were kept. This could have been seen as the stable under the ‘inn’. Now because of the census performed by Emperor Augustine the Jews had to travel to their ancestral home that meant that the house Mary and Joseph were staying at could have been full, so the upper room was full, making the only available room for the baby to be born in the stable below. Jesus was thought to be traditionally born in 1AD after the Monk Dionysus Exigus tried to calculate the year, from the Birth of Jesus, by taking away the reigns of Kings. Unfortunately Exigus made a few errors and Jesus is now thought to be born a few years BC. We know that in Matt 2:1 and Matt2:16 (Luke 1:55) that King Herod the Great was the ruler of Judea. From Roman records we know that King Herod died in 4BC near the feast of the Passover. This means that the earliest time Jesus could have been born was early 4BC. Herod plays an integral part in determining Jesus birth date because it also could explain the Bethlehem Star, which we...
Reading the Bible takes time and patience. Understanding the meaning of the stories can make the Bible more interesting to read. The baptism of Jesus is one such story that may seem small, but it has a deeper meaning to it that sheds some light on Jesus’s mission. The baptism of Jesus is recorded or indicated in all four gospels of the New Testament. It was specifically mentioned in Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, and John 1:24-34. All the gospels give different accounts of how the baptism took place. True to their name, the Synoptic Gospels have stories that are almost similar, but the Gospel of John has its own unique story. Understanding the different accounts of the baptism is crucial to understanding the significance of why Jesus was baptized and by whom.
One of the main protagonists within Brave New World--John--expresses beliefs connecting to the essence of Christ. Therefore, the embodiment of Christ displays John's desire to save the world that criticizes his ideals. John represents this Christ figure through the decisions he enacts. A Christ figure, according to Foster, consists of features such as: self-sacrificial actions, crucifixion, and the redemption of a world that is not worthy.
From the excerpt from the novel, “Under the Feet of Jesus” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the main character is Estrella, a young Spanish girl with a powerful desire to learn to read. Although she is persistent, her teachers refuse to educate her because they are more concerned of Estrella’s personal hygiene. This leaves Estrella resentful because of the barrier between herself and knowledge. Estrella remains silent until a man named Perfecto Flores teaches her how to read by using his expertise in hardware and tools to represent the alphabet. Viramontes depicts the heartfelt growth of Estrella through her use of tone, figurative language, and detail.
The Gospel of John An Essay Written for A Humanities Course That Studies the Bible As A Historical Document THE GOSPEL OF JOHN: "The Man from Heaven," "Bread of Life," "Light of The World," "Living Water," .... and of course, "Son of Man." This is who Jesus is in The Gospel of John. Jesus' life is portrayed very differently from the other Synoptic Gospels; he lives completely within symbolism, and glorification.
The Gospel of John, the last of the four gospels in the Bible, is a radical departure from the simple style of the synoptic gospels. It is the only one that does not use parables as a way of showing how Jesus taught, and is the only account of several events, including the raising of Lazarus and Jesus turning water into wine. While essentially the gospel is written anonymously, many scholars believe that it was written by the apostle John sometime between the years 85 and 95 CE in Ephesus. The basic story is that of a testimonial of one of the Apostles and his version of Jesus' ministry. It begins by telling of the divine origins of the birth of Jesus, then goes on to prove that He is the Son of God because of the miracles he performs and finally describes Jesus' death and resurrection.
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.
“Although 1 John had its origins during a period of false teaching, the author’s main purpose is not to confront heresy, but to reassure those who remain that they do indeed know the truth about Jesus, and consequently do have eternal life.” 1 John was written to reassure believers to keep the faith and continue to hold the values that they have, through a time when a schism was taking place within the church. The believers were living in a confusing time and according to Thompson “The turmoil within their congregation undoubtedly caused many to question their own faith and practice, and to wonder whether they were also guilty of or prone to the failings of the departed dissidents.”