20:31 To Write to All People (Smalley)
This statement suggests that the author’s purpose was to Smalley argues that the Gospel was written
convert non-believers/affirm believers that salvation is for everyone, ‘the author reaches beyond To Correct Christian Heresies (Wilkens)
through Jesus and to reveal Jesus’ identity. the needs of a particular church … and This suggests that later editions of the Gospel were
Strengths emphasises salvation for all humanity’. written to combat the heresy of Docetism, which
The concept that salvation is through Jesus is found in the Strengths claimed that Jesus only appeared to be a human
Signs and I Am Sayings, ie. In the Feeding of the 5000, Jesus This can be evidenced in I am the Light of being but wasn’t actually human.
declares himself to be ‘the bread of life’, in the Water into the World, where Jesus states he is the ‘light Strengths
Wine, one receives eternal life through drinking Jesus’ blood of the world’, and in the Prologue, where This can be evidenced in the Prologue, where the
just as the Israelites entered the Promised Land through the author states that Jesus came into the author states ‘the Word became flesh and made his
Canaan. world as ‘a light for every man’. dwelling among us’, and in the crucifixion narrative,
The concept that Jesus is the Messiah/Son of God is found in Weaknesses where the blood and water flowing from Jesus’ side
the Signs and I Am Sayings, ie. In Water into Wine, Jesus Brown’s view is that the Gospel was written is detailed.
addresses Mary as ‘woman’ to show he is the Son of the for everyone who believed, but was not Weaknesses
Father, in I am the Good Shepherd, the image of the shepherd written to convert non-believers, ‘much of Anti-Docetism probably wasn’t the main aim of the
is usually associated with God. the Gospel is addressed to Christian Gospel, but it’s possible that later editions reflected
Weaknesses believers’. the presence of docetic ideas.
There is ambiguity around the phrase ‘that you may believe’,
which may translate to ‘come to believe’, ie. The purpose is to
convert non-believers, or ‘continue to believe’, ie. To affirm The Purpose of the To Attack Jews (Brown)
the faith of believers. Fourth Gospel This suggests that the Gospel was written as a
polemic against the Jews who had rejected Jesus as
the Messiah.
To Convert Jewish Christians (Robinson) To Challenge JBap’s Followers Strengths
This suggests that the Gospel was written to convert Jews fully (Baldensperger) This can be evidenced through the use of the term
to Christianity. This suggests that the Gospel was written ‘Jews’ 70 times to emphasise that they were the
Strengths against JBap’s followers who believed that enemy and were hostile to Jesus, many passages
This can be evidenced by the character of Joseph of he was the Messiah and not Jesus. show the Jewish refusal to accept who Jesus is, ie. In
Arimathea, who is a positive example of a Jew who continues Strengths Children of Abraham, the Religious Authorities think
to believe in Jesus despite being expelled from the synagogue, This can be evidenced through the Jesus is making false claims about himself, and Jesus
‘John is inviting the Jewish Christians in the Diaspora Prologue, which states that JBap was simply says that ‘belong to your father, the devil’, in I am the
synagogues to follow his example’-Brown, the Signs have ‘a witness to the light’ while Jesus was ‘the Good Shepherd, Jesus claims to be the true leader of
strong themes that Jesus has replaced the Jewish institutions true light’, and after Water into Wine, the Jewish people, ‘you do not believe, because you
and feasts. where the author makes it clear that John do not belong to my sheep’, these examples are
Weaknesses never performed a miracle. different to the synoptics, where the Religious
Brown argues that there may have been a small group of Jews Weaknesses Authorities are criticised for their hypocrisy and
who would have found this encouraging, but that it was not a Smalley dismisses the suggestion that this behaviour, while in John they have rejected the truth
main purpose, ‘John’s attitude towards the Jews is not was an important purpose of the Gospel, ‘in of who Jesus is.
missionary but apologetic and polemic’. John’s Gospel, the role of John the Baptists
is to all intents and purposes played down’.
