Posted on 11/21/2018 2:07:58 PM PST by pcottraux
Hi everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble!
This week's Wednesday night Bible study is part 13 of our video series on why the New Testament was written. Tonight we're talking about the writings of John. I had a hard time coming up with a title for this one, and "Why John Wrote His Gospel and Epistles" is honestly the least-awkward thing I could come up with.
Anyway, here's the video.
Why John Wrote His Gospel and Epistles
A bit of a lengthy one this week (clocks in at 17:44). Twitter's been having a field day with me on this, so I can't wait to see what FR has to say. :)
Why Paul Wrote Titus
Why Hebrews Was Written
Why Paul Wrote I Timothy
Why Paul Wrote Philippians
Why Paul Wrote Philemon, Colossians, and Ephesians
Video: Why the Synoptic Gospels Were Written
Why Paul Wrote Romans
Why Paul Wrote I and II Corinthians
Why Paul Wrote the Thessalonian Letters
Why James Was Written
Why Galatians Was Written
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Thanks; will listen while cooking!
bump
Is there any other book that makes this claim? I know of none. Thanks for being first to give the very obvious reason why John (God’s agent) wrote “The Salvation Bringing Message of God.” Isn’t it interesting that there are more manuscript fragments of John’s book than any other? Also, John never went to Egypt, yet more fragments were found there than any place else.
Most probable answer: the Holy Spirit moved John.
Bkmrk.
It is interesting that while John tells us that our Lord Jesus did so much that all the books could not contain them, he chose these specific events to record so that we might believe in our Lord Jesus. It is worth asking why John chose each event or miracle to make his point.
Please clarify what you mean by highlighting “these.” Is it that this is clear evidence other gospels had been written at the time of John?
I get that exact comment every time I post one of these videos.
I understand where you’re coming from as far as all scripture being of inspiration from the Spirit. But what I don’t understand is why that automatically seems to disqualify the historical reasons the books were written in people’s minds. It can’t have a God-inspired AND historical meaning?
For example, it’s nice to think that the Spirit just moved on John and told him to write things. But III John is specifically addressed to Gaius, delivered by Demetrius, warning to avoid the sins of Diotrephes. Aren’t you in the least bit curious of knowing who these men were, and what was urgent enough to move John to give such a dire warning? And is there something we today can learn from it?
Thanks!
Because Alexandria, Egypt was a thriving city with dozens of ancient monasteries and libraries. Many early Christians went there in the first few centuries AD and stored treasure troves of copies of the New Testament books. This was destroyed by the Roman emperor Diocletian during the terrible persecution of 300 AD, but fortunately many scholars had snuck New Testament books into hiding before the Romans burned them all. As a result, any manuscript pre-dating 300 is referred to as an "Alexandrian scripture."
John is indeed the most copied and also the earliest of all New Testament fragments...some have even been found as early as 90 AD (within 30 years of the original). Word didn't travel as fast in the ancient world as it does today so that copies had circulated as far as Egypt by that early is very strong support for historical Christianity...I find it incredulous that so many skeptics claim the gospels were written after 100 AD when all the evidence directly contradicts that.
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John’s first epistle is about living righteously through Torah, which is the essence of belief in Yeshua.
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If the spirit didn’t move us we would accomplish nothing in the advancement of the kingdom.
That doesn’t mean that the motivations we personally feel are meaningless.
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>> “John never went to Egypt, yet more fragments were found there than any place else.” <<
Try not to forget that the place where the gospels were written was sacked by Rome in 68 AD. Little can be found of parchments or Papiri after a city is burned and smashed.
The most complete copies of the NT writings were found in Spain, far from their origin.
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I cannot accept that John did the choosing regarding which representative miracles to record. Since I believe this gospel contains the words of God Himself, I believe He did the choosing and the record is for the purpose of producing believers in Jesus the Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus saw fit to give us some examples that displayed the glory of God, that is, the miracles were for the purpose of giving glory to God, with any healings, etc., as secondary benefits.
He was giving us a foretaste of what conditions will be like in the Kingdom of God.
Agree that the dating of John’s gospel could not possibly be later than 100AD. In fact, I submit it could not have been written after 70AD. The Roman general Titus in 70AD completely destroyed Jerusalem such that one stone was not standing atop another (Josephus describes this). In chapter 5 of John “there is” a sheep market with 5 porches. Not “there was.” Some people say this is vivid narrative, but that goes out the window because the normal tenses are resumed right afterwards.
John states there were many things that our Lord Jesus did. He purposely selected the events in his gospel so that people would believe in Christ and turned to Him to be saved. While the other three gospels are narratives of the life of Jesus, the gospel of John is an evangelistic outreach.
Well, you're right there and John would also agree. After all, John recorded several chapters on the subject. :O)
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