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The principal source used by the author of John's Gospel was the Gospel According to Luke. He also made some use of Mark's Gospel. Unlike the authors of Matthew and Luke, he did not attempt to follow his sources as closely as possible, but rather used them as inspiration for a similar story. Thus, John is not a 'synoptic' gospel in the way the others are.
Just three examples of the evidence for Luke as John's principal source include:
- John's Gospel tells of Jesus resurrecting Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha. The only other gospel to mention Mary and Martha is Luke's Gospel, and Luke is also the only other author to mention anyone named Lazarus (16:19-31), as a fictional person whose resurrection is described only hypothetically. This most impressive of all the miracles performed by Jesus was not even mentioned by the other gospel authors, and the coincidences of exactly three names and of Lazarus' resurrection point to a relationship between the two gospels.
- Luke, alone among the synoptic gospels, has Jesus with the disciples at dinner in the upper room after his resurrection. John also has Jesus with the disciples at dinner in the upper room after his resurrection, but pointedly omits Thomas from the group. Jesus appears to all eleven disciples at a subsequent dinner in the same room, with Thomas present.
- John has the risen Jesus tell the disciples in Galilee to cast their nets on the other side, at which they caught a most astonishing catch of fish, although they had previously been toiling without a catch. This parallels a particularly similar event recorded in Luke chapter 5 as occurring before the crucifixion. John's author had no qualms about changing the time and setting of a story, as is well known with the story of the money-changers.
Evidence that the author also knew Mark's Gospel and sourced some material from it:
- John 12:5: "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?" can only have come from Mark 14:5: "For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor."
- John 6:7: "Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little" can only have been interpreted from Mark 6:37:" ... Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?"
It is usually accepted that stories usually become more elaborate as they are copied. In each case, John's story is more elaborate than Luke's story, so John copied Luke, not the other way around. Luke's Gospel has quite close parallels to Mark's Gospel and the Q document, from which it was copied.
Some say that John also relied on a "Signs Source", but there is nothing in the gospel that requires such a source, and the hypothesis seems to break down on detailed examination of the different themes of John's Gospel.
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What two reasons are given for the writing of John's Gospel in John 20 verse 31?
John clearly mentions in john chapter 20 verse 31 This is written so that you may believe that Jesus christ is the Messiah.
Did John write anything else other that the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation?
These were two different Johns, attributed to two different books.
Which is the first gospel of the New Testament?
This question has two answers. The gospels are traditionally placed in the order: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, so the first is Matthew. However, there is very strong evidence that Mark was the first gospel to be written, and that Matthew and Luke used Mark as their primary sources, so Mark was the first gospel written.
Did John the apostle write both the Gospel of John and Revelation?
A:The consensus of biblical scholars is that the apostle John wrote neither the Gospel that now bears his name, nor Revelation. In any case, they say it is clear that the two books had completely different authors and now commonly use the name John of Patmos as the author of Revelation, to distinguish the two. At some point after the Church Fathers decided that the Gospel was probably written by the apostle John, they associated Revelation with him solely because its author also used the same name. Others, including even Origen and Eusebius doubted the authenticity of Revelation.
The Gospel of John shows many similarities with which other gospel?
Because the Gospel of John was inspired largely by the Gospel of Luke, whenever John parallels the synoptic gospels it is usually most similar to Luke, except for a small number of passages that came direct from Mark's Gospel. John's Gospel has altered, elaborated and even reversed much of the original, while being careful not to too clearly contradict Luke.Luke and John are the only gospels that mentions Mary and Martha or Lazarus. Luke's Gospel tells of a parable in which Lazarus is resurrected. In John's Gospel, Lazarus, now the brother of Mary and Martha, really is resurrected by Jesus. The similarities could not have come by chance, while the differences are so great that they could not have been the same story, from a common source.Luke's Gospel is the only synoptic account that has Peter run to the tomb and, stooping down, look in and see the linen clothes laid by themselves. A feature of John's Gospel is that it often compares Peter unfavourably with the"disciple whom Jesus loved", and that is the case here, when John has the disciple accompanying Peter, outrunning Peter and seeing the clothes before Peter arrived. Nevertheless, John was careful to agree with Lukein that Peter did go straight to the tomb and see the clothes.The author of John seems to have wanted to place Thomas in an inferior position compared to the other apostles. Luke's Gospel developed the theme of the risen Jesus meeting the apostles at a meal in a room in Jerusalem. John's Gospel maintains that theme, but splits it into two meetings, with Thomas absent from the first and therefore not receiving the Holy Spirit. The final appearance of Jesus, in which he tells the fishermen to cast their nets on the other side, parallels a pre-crucifixion event in Luke's Gospel.
