The Gospel of John, the last of the Bible's four gospels, is a radical departure from the simple style of the Synoptic Gospels. It is the only one that does not use parables as a way to show how Jesus taught, and it is the only account of several events, including the raising of Lazarus and Jesus' turning of water into wine. Although essentially the Gospel is written anonymously, many scholars believe it was written by the apostle John between the years 85 and 95 AD in Ephesus. The basic story is that of a testimony of one of the Apostles and his version of the ministry of Jesus. It begins by recounting the divine origins of the birth of Jesus, then goes on to demonstrate that He is the Son of God through the miracles He performs, and finally describes the death and resurrection of Jesus. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Of course the most important part of the gospel is the miracles. Many of the miracles described in John are not mentioned at all in the other three Gospels. For example, the aforementioned resurrection of Lazarus. In this miracle, Jesus goes to the tomb of one of his followers who was stoned. When he sees that Lazarus has been buried for four days, he has the stone removed from the entrance of the cave and orders "Lazarus, come out!" (John 11:43). This is one of the most famous miracles, but it appears only in the one Gospel. Another example of a well-known miracle present only in John is his ability to transform water into wine during the wedding at Cana. This is a story that tells how Jesus was able to take not only water, but also cheap wine and turn them into quality wine. This is also a very interesting passage because in it Jesus promotes the use of alcohol and drunkenness during a party. Other important issues in the Gospel include a somewhat first-hand account of Jesus' ministry. With phrases such as "We beheld His glory" (1:14) and knowing the number of pots at the wedding at Cana (Malick, 1996), it is well established that this is an eyewitness account of the event, although some scholars place John's authorship as far back as 270 BC. Most of the evidence pointing to the "eyewitness" theory are minor details that would have been left out if the author had not actually been there. Such details include specific numbers (six jars of water [2:6], 100 miles [6:19], 153 fish [21:11] [Malick, 1996]) and names that would normally be forgotten such as Nicodemus, Lazarus ( as can be seen from the lack of his story in the synoptic gospels) and Beth-zatha. It is also interesting to note that, although John makes it very clear that the author is Jewish, the Gospel is written primarily for a Greek audience. Because of his knowledge of the Old Testament, which he continually quotes, his understanding of Jewish ritual and culture, and knowing and understanding the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, there is no doubt that either John was Jewish himself or studied very well Judaism. However, the lack of interest in proving the prophecies contained in the Book of Isaiah supports the evidence that this was not a testimony for a Jewish audience. Throughout the Gospel, Jesus is shown as fully God and fully human, a concept that is most synonymous with Greek culture. Furthermore, the very beginning of John states that Jesus was with God since creation: "He was in the beginning with God. All things were created through him, and without him nothing was created" (1,2- 3). ). This places Jesus as a very cosmic and powerful being as opposed to the suffering servant as he is described in the synoptic gospels. It is also interesting to note that the.