INTRODUCTION
7
We do not propose to pursue this subject further. Those readers
who are concerned with proofs for the canonicity of John's Gospel,
and are able to appreciate historical evidence, will already be in
possession of sufficient means to prosecute their studies without our
help, and those who are not will not benefit by a multiplicity of proofs.
We turn now to the book itself in relation to the other Gospels, and
note first those things which are common to John's Gospel and the
Synoptics.
The work of the `Forerunner', John the Baptist.
The last supper, but no reference to the institution of a memorial
feast.
The anointing at Bethany.
The miracle of feeding the 5,000.
The miracle of walking on the sea.
The crucifixion.
The resurrection.
The word `synoptic' has been used in the note above, and it may be
that some readers are not quite clear as to its actual meaning. The
word means, `to see together', `to have a common point of view'; and
it is this common point of view that unites the other three Gospels.
John, while recording some of the same incidents in the life and death
and ministry of the same Lord, has a point of view entirely his own.
This different point of view is manifest not only in the opening verse
(`In the beginning was the Word') but throughout the Gospel. We
shall therefore learn more by `trying the things that differ' than by
observing the things in common, and we will therefore record a few of
these differences as examples.
The Companion Bible draws attention to some eighty-four words
that are employed by John that are not used by the Synoptic writers,
and these will be noted as our exposition proceeds. There are also
other words, not exclusive to John, but used by him with greater
frequency than in the other Gospels, and these are grouped together in
The Companion Bible in the foreword to John's Gospel. Of this list of
thirty-two words we give the following by way of example.