the statement, “I will raise him up in the last day,” 6, 39, 70, 44. (5) Contrasts.  The plan is more simple and more easily seen all along than is that of any other of the Evangelists.  On the one hand, he shows how love and faith are developed in the believer until, in the end, Thomas, who was the most doubtful of all, could exclaim, “My Lord and my God.”  On the other hand, he shows the unbeliever advanced from mere indifference to a positive hatred that culminated in the crucifixion.  This purpose is carried out by a process of contrasting and separating things that are opposites, such as (a) Light and darkness, (b) Truth and falsehood, (c) Good and evil, (d) Life and death, (e) God and Satan.  In all of these he is convincing his reader that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God.

Characteristics and Purpose.

1.  It Is a Gospel of the Feasts.  Indeed, if subtract from it those miracles and teachings and other works performed in connection with the feasts, we should have only a few fragments left.  The value of the book would be destroyed and the most beautiful and the profoundest teachings of the gospel lost.

The student will do well from the following list of feasts to endeavor to group around each all that John records as occurring in connection with it. (1) The Feast of the Passover (2:13, 23), First Passover, A. D. 27. (2) A Feast of the Jews (5:1), probably Purim. (3) Passover a Feast of the Jews (6:4), Second Passover, A. D. 28. (4) Feast of the Tabernacles (7:2). (5) Feast of the Dedication (10:22). (6) Passover (11:55-56; 12:1, 12, 20; 13:29; 18:28).  Third Passover, A. D. 29.

2.  It Is a Gospel of Testimony.  John writes to prove that Jesus is the Christ.  He assumes the attitude of a lawyer before a jury and introduces testimony until he fells certain of his case and then closes the testimony with the assurance that much more could be offered if it seemed necessary.  There are seven lines of testimony. (1) The testimony of John the Baptist. (2) The testimony of certain other individuals. (3) The testimony of Jesus’ works. (4) The testimony of Jesus himself (see the I am’s). (5) The testimony of the scripture. (6) The testimony of the Father. (7) The testimony of the Holy Spirit.

3.  It Is of Gospel of Belief.  The purpose being to produce belief there are given:  numerous examples of belief, showing the growth of faith; the secret of faith, such as hearing or receiving the word; the results of faith, such as eternal life, freedom, peace, power, etc.

4.  It Is a Spiritual Gospel.  It represents the deeper mediations of John, which are shaped so as to establish a great doctrine which, instead of history, became his great impulse.  To John “history is doctrine” and he reviews it in the light of its spiritual interpretation.  It furnished a great bulwark against the Gnostic teachers, who had come to deny the diety of Jesus.  He also emphasized and elaborated the humanity of Jesus.  His whole purpose is “not so much the historic record of the facts as the development of their inmost meaning.”