HKB
no doubt an element of truth. It is true that the Fourth Gospel reproduces certain profound elements in the teaching of Jesus which in the earlier Gospels appear only incidentally.
The oral tradition which forms the chief basis of the Synoptic Gospels was rooted deep in the earliest missionary activity of the Church. Especially, perhaps, in the Gospel of Mark, but also in Matthew and Luke, we have for the most part those facts about Jesus and those elements of his teaching which could appeal at once to simple-minded believers or to outsiders. The Gospel of John, on the other hand, drawing, like the others, from the rich store of Jesus' teaching and Jesus' person, has revealed yet deeper mysteries. In this profound book, we have the recollections of a beloved disciple, at first understood only imperfectly by the apostle himself, but rendered ever clearer by advancing experience, and firmly fixed by being often repeated in the author's oral instruction of the Church.
IN THE LIBRARY.--Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible," article on "John" (7): Purves, article on "John, Gospel according to St." M'Clymont, "The New Testament and Its Writers," pp. 33-40. Stevens and Burton, "A Harmony of the Gospels." Westcott, "The Gospel according to St. John: The Authorized Version with Introduction and Notes." "The Cambridge Bible for Schools": Plummer, "The Gospel According to St. John." Browning, "A Death in the Desert" (vol. iv, pp. 191-206 of the Riverside Edition). Zahn, "Introduction to the New Testament," vol. iii, pp. 174-355. The last-named work is intended primarily for those who have some knowledge of Greek, but can also be used by others.
LESSON XXXI
THE JESUS OF THE GOSPELS
It is possible to speak of "the Jesus of the Gospels" only if the Gospels are in essential agreement. If the features of the four portraits are so different that they never could have been united really in the same person, then there is no such thing as a Jesus of the Gospels, but only a Jesus of Matthew and a Jesus of Mark and a Jesus of Luke and a Jesus of John.
Among the Synoptic Gospels, at any rate, no such difference exists. Though every one of these Gospels possesses its own characteristics, the peculiarities are almost negligible in comparison with the underlying unity. There is certainly such a thing as "the Synoptic Jesus." His words and deeds are narrated in each of the Gospels in a different selection and in a different style, but the characteristic features are everywhere the same.
With regard to the Fourth Gospel, the matter is not quite so plain. The contrast between the Synoptists and John has already been noticed. It forces itself upon even the most casual reader. Difference, however, is not necessarily contradiction. It may be due to a difference in the point of view. Both the Synoptists and John give a true picture of Jesus; the same features appear very different when viewed from different angles.
At any rate, if there is a contradiction between the first three Gospels and the Gospel of John, the contradiction is by no means easy to formulate. It cannot be said, for example, simply that the Synoptists present a human Jesus and John a divine Jesus. Whatever the differences among the four Gospels, all four agree at least in two essential features. All four present Jesus, in the first place as a man, and in the second place as something more than a man.