As I began studying John's Gospel recently, in preparation for teaching undergrads, I was surprised to discover that John's Gospel is perhaps the most Jewish of the four Gospels even exceeding my beloved Matthew.
While no doubt a debatably viewpoint, I am growing in my conviction that the Fourth Gospel was written by a Jew, for Jewish believers in Jesus. The purpose of the Gospel then is
to confirm for these Jewish Jeshua believers that they were remaining faithful to the Jewish faith.
For a strong defense of this view, consult the excellent commentary by Craig Keener.
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4 comments:
Micheal...just wanted to let you know that i just found your new site address after almost 2 months of loosing you. I thought you and Joel were gone forever! Anyhow, you might want to set up a link on your old site so people can find you easier; i've tried everything so far and the only way i found you was from a link by A.B. Caneday.
Joel,
Mate, I have been thinking the same thing! An excellent book on the subject is: John W. Pryor, John: Evangelist of the Covenant People.
Michael
I guess we were made to blog together. What the Lord joins together let no one put asunder -- sorry for that last statement, I am marrying a couple this weekend so the words are on my mind.
I will make note of this book by Pryor. Thanks.
I have for some time thought that the Fourth Gospel was very Jewish, but from a very different strand of Judaism than either Matthew's community or that of the writer of Hebrews or the Epistle of James.
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