F.F. Bruce on John 3.16

'For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life'

- John 3:16 (NET).

‘If there is one sentence more than another which sums up the message of the Fourth Gospel, it is this. The love of God is limitless; it embraces all mankind. No sacrifice was too great to bring its unmeasured intensity home to men and women: the best that God had to give, he gave – his only Son, well-beloved’.

F.F. Bruce, The Gospel & Epistles of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1994), 89-90.

John and the Synoptics

I am in the process of preparing some course material on the Fourth Gospel and have been wrestling with the relationship between John and the Synoptics. I found this taxonomy helpful:

• John wrote a spiritual Gospel to interpret or harmonize the other Gospels (Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius).
• John intended to displace the Synoptics (e.g. Windish)
• John is essentially independent of the Synoptics (Dodd, Gardner-Smith)
• John has access to Synoptic-like material (Bultmann)
• John has Synoptic and non-Synoptic sources (Neirynck)
• John knew Mark and had to cater to public knowledge of Mark (Bauckham)
• John rewrites the Synoptics along the lines of midrash or reinterpretation (Brodie)

See further: MacKay, Ian D. 2004. John’s Relationship with Mark (WUNT 2.128; Tübingen: Mohr/Siebeck).

Following up on Bauckham's proposal, to what extent do John 1.32, 3.24, 6.70, and 11.1-2 presuppose or clarify Mark? Or do they simply reflect common knowledge about Jesus and his ministry?