A. The group is known as the Jesus’ Seminar.<\/p>\n
B. One of their prime targets is the book of John<\/p>\n
C. There has been a long war waged against John<\/p>\n
1. 1835, The Life of Christ<\/i> by David F. Strauss<\/p>\n
a. Argued that John and the other three gospels are irreconcilable<\/p>\n
2. Other scholars soon followed suit, such as Baur and Hegel<\/p>\n 3. They argued that John was a product Judaism and Greek philosophy\nblended together\n 4. Their theories have been largely dismantled by other scholars, such as J.B.\nLightfoot.\n
D. However, the influence of their work is still felt today.<\/p>\n
1. John is viewed as historically inaccurate<\/p>\n
a. For history, you are suppose to go to the other three Gospels<\/p>\n
b. John is theology, not history<\/p>\n
2. John is dated as being written in the second century<\/p>\n a. Supposedly written by Christians in Palestine to make Christian\nphilosophy compatible with Greek philosophy\n
E. Why is John doubted?<\/p>\n
1. It is written in a style which is very different from the other Gospels<\/p>\n
2. The author is not directly named.<\/p>\n
II. Answering the doubts<\/p>\n
A. Is John historically accurate?<\/p>\n
1. There are no errors in geography or history in John<\/p>\n 2. John describes the Temple, cities, and landmarks in first century Palestine\nin great detail\n a. If John was written 100 years later, think of how accurately you\ncould describe Omaha, Lincoln and other area communities as they\nexisted 100 years ago\n b. John knows there is a well in Synchar (John 4:4), which we only\nrecently found\n c. John knows that Cana is above Capernaum (John 4:46, 49, 51),\nthough the difference in elevation is only 600 feet over a 17 mile\nstretch.\n d. 12 places are mentioned in John that is not mentioned in the other\nGospels\n e. John knows it is a 2 day journey from Bethany to Cana (John 1:28,\n2:1)\n f. John contains details about the temple (John 10:22-23), which was\ndestroyed in A.D. 70\n
3. John describes the politcal situation in detail<\/p>\n
a. The book correctly identifies Caiaphas (John 18:13-14)<\/p>\n
b. The book knows where Pilate governed (John 18:28-29)<\/p>\n 4. We can be confident in the historical accuracy of John. More importantly,\nwhile the words of Jesus are phrased slightly different in John, the\nteachings exactly match the teachings recorded in the other Gospels and\nfits well with the rest of the New Testament.\n
B. Was John written in the second century?<\/p>\n
1. John knows too many first century details to be written 100 years later<\/p>\n 2. We have fragments of John’s Gospel that are dated to 125 A.D. If we\nallow time for a document in Palestine to circulate and find its way to\nEgypt and copied, would mean that the book had to be written at least in\nthe late first century.\n
C. Was John a work of the Greeks?<\/p>\n
1. The book of John is Jewish in nature.<\/p>\n a. A Jewish scholar, who has studied John, stated, “To us Jews, the\nFourth Gospel is the most Jewish of the four!”\n
2. John makes many references to the Old Testament<\/p>\n a. John 10 obviously alludes to Ezekiel 34, the Good Shepherd\nprophesy\n 3. John knows details of the various Jewish festivals (Passover (John 6:25ff),\nTabernacle (John 7:2ff), Dedication (John 10:22ff))\n a. Jesus’ teachings at each of these feasts show he is the ultimate\nfulfilment of the feast.\n b. True understanding of Jesus’ words require detailed understanding\nof the meaning of the feast.\n
III. Why is John targeted?<\/p>\n
A. Perhaps it is the purpose of the book – John 20:30-31<\/p>\n 1. If you want to cast doubt on the nature of the Christ, you must rid yourself\nof the book that does the most to prove who Jesus really is.\n
2. More than 50 times, John refers to bearing witness and testifying<\/p>\n
B. It starts at the very beginning – John 1:1<\/p>\n
C. The testamony of others is cited through out the book<\/p>\n 1. John 1:6-8 – John the Baptist, the one sent to witness the Christ states in\nJohn 1:29-34 the positive fact of Jesus being the Christ, even though the\nstatement meant his own fading popularity.\n
2. Philip states that this is the Christ – John 1:45<\/p>\n 3. Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin acknowledges that God must be\nwith Jesus – John 3:1-2\n
4. Peter’s witness – John 6:68-69<\/p>\n
5. The disciple’s witness – John 16:28-30<\/p>\n
D. The testimony of Jesus’ work – John 5:36-37<\/p>\n
1. Example, the raising of Lazarus – John 11:38-44<\/p>\n
2. No charlatan could do such works. God would not permit it!<\/p>\n
3. Either it is from God or not – John 10:37-38<\/p>\n
4. They had their effect on the people – John 7:31<\/p>\n 5. Even His enemies admitted the genuineness of the miracles – John 9:16,\nJohn 11:47-48\n
E. Jesus claims to be God<\/p>\n 1. He calls himself the “I AM” – John 8:58, and the people understood his\nclaim – John 8:59\n
2. The religious leaders understood Jesus’ claims – John 10:31-33<\/p>\n
3. Jesus claims equal honor with God the Father – John 5:22-23<\/p>\n
4. Jesus accepts the worship of men – John 9:38<\/p>\n
F. John examines the evidence of the resurrection in detail<\/p>\n
1. The stone was rolled away, while soliders were on guard! – John 20:1<\/p>\n 2. Mary Magdalene, then Peter and John witness the empty tomb – John\n20:2-8\n a. Notice the details that the writer of John records. This is an\neyewitness!\n b. If someone manage to steal the body with Roman guards on duty,\nwhy would they leave the grave clothes behind? Why would\nsomeone take the time to neatly fold them?\n
3. John records four different appearances of Jesus after the resurrection<\/p>\n G. People don’t want John because it does such a wonderful, firm job of proving that\nGod came to this world to live among us.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Study of John\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Gospel of John I. A group of self-styled scholars took upon themselves a mission to spread doubt about the Bible and Jesus. A. The group is known as the Jesus’ Seminar. B. One of their prime targets is the book of John C. There has been a long war waged against John 1. 1835, The Life of Christ by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21925,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21928","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5880,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/matthew-mark-luke-and-john-old-testament-or-new-testament\/statements-of-jesus-and-john-the-baptist\/","url_meta":{"origin":21928,"position":0},"title":"Statements of Jesus and John the Baptist","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"4.3 Statements of Jesus and John the Baptist This is not an exhaustive list, just excerpts. But they are sufficient (all KJV): \"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God\" (Mark 1:1). \"Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59953,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/lessons-from-the-lives-of-the-apostles\/the-disciple-whom-jesus-loved\/","url_meta":{"origin":21928,"position":1},"title":"The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved John is the apostle who wrote John, I John, II John, III John, and Revelation. Like the other Gospel writers, he avoids naming himself in the account he wrote of Jesus' life. Instead, he refers to himself as \"the disciple whom Jesus loved.\" (John 13:23;\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21925,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-john\/","url_meta":{"origin":21928,"position":2},"title":"A Study of John","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2001","format":false,"excerpt":"A Study of John by Jeffrey W. Hamilton, 2001 The Gospel of John An Overview of John An Introduction to the Christ\u00a0(John 1:1-18) The Witness of John the Baptist\u00a0(John 1:19-34) The First Followers of Jesus\u00a0(John 1:35-51) Miracle at Cana\u00a0(John 2:1-12) Cleansing of the Temple\u00a0(John 2:13-25) Nicodemus Visits Jesus\u00a0(John 3:1-21) The\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21932,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/a-study-of-john\/an-overview-of-john\/","url_meta":{"origin":21928,"position":3},"title":"An Overview of John","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"An Overview of John \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0John\u2019s gospel is different from the other three accounts. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first three \u2013 Matthew, Mark, and Luke \u2013 are called the synoptic gospels because they are similar in appearance to each other, which is the meaning of synoptic. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is strong overlap and support between\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22651,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-john\/","url_meta":{"origin":21928,"position":4},"title":"Survey of the Bible – John","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - John Text: John 1:1-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0John\u2019s gospel is different from the other three accounts. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first three \u2013 Matthew, Mark, and Luke \u2013 are called the synoptic gospels because they are similar in appearance to each other, which is the meaning of synoptic. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22647,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/survey-of-the-bible\/survey-of-the-bible-luke\/","url_meta":{"origin":21928,"position":5},"title":"Survey of the Bible – Luke","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Survey of the Bible - Luke Text: Luke 1:1-4 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Luke states his purpose up front in his gospel account, to set forth an orderly or chronological account of Jesus based on interviews of eyewitnesses - Luke 1:1-4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In other words, Luke is written as an historical account. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He states\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21928\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}