In carrying out their hypothesis the Tübingen critics have resorted to the wildest fictions.
It is said that the author depreciated the Mosaic dispensation and displayed jealousy of Peter. How
in the world could this promote peace? It would rather have defeated the object. But there is no
shadow of proof for such an assertion. While the author opposes the unbelieving Jews, he shows
the highest reverence for the Old Testament, and derives salvation from the Jews. Instead of showing
jealousy of Peter, he introduces his new name at the first interview with Jesus (1:42), reports his
great confession even more fully than Matthew (John 6:68, 69), puts him at the head of the list of
the apostles (21:2), and gives him his due prominence throughout down to the last interview when
the risen Lord committed to him the feeding of his sheep (21:15–19). This misrepresentation is of
a piece with the other Tübingen myth adopted by Renan, that the real John in the Apocalypse
pursues a polemical aim against Paul and deliberately excludes him from the rank of the twelve
Apostles. And yet Paul himself, in the acknowledged Epistle to the Galatians, represents John as
one of the three pillar-apostles who recognized his peculiar gift for the apostolate of the Gentiles
and extended to him the right hand of fellowship.
Analysis.
The object of John determined the selection and arrangement of the material. His plan is
more clear and systematic than that of the Synoptists. It brings out the growing conflict between
belief and unbelief, between light and darkness, and leads step by step to the great crisis of the
cross, and to the concluding exclamation of Thomas, "My Lord and my God."
In the following analysis the sections peculiar to John are marked by a star.
*I. The Prologue. The theme of the Gospel: the Logos, the eternal Revealer of God:
(1.) In relation to God, John 1:1, 2.
(2.) In relation to the world. General revelation, 1:3–5.
(3.) In relation to John the Baptist and the Jews. Particular revelation, 1:6–13.
(4.) The incarnation of the Logos, and its effect upon the disciples, 1:14–18.
II. The Public Manifestation of the Incarnate Logos in Active Word and Work, 1:19 to 12:50.
*(1.) The preparatory testimony of John the Baptist pointing to Jesus as the promised and
expected Messiah, and as the Lamb of God that beareth the sin of the world, 1:19–37.
*(2.) The gathering of the first disciples, 1:38–51.
*(3.) The first sign: the changing of water into wine at Cana in Galilee, 2:1–11. First sojourn
in Capernaum, 2:12. First Passover and journey to Jerusalem during the public ministry,
2:13.
*(4.) The reformatory cleansing of the Temple, 2:14–22. (Recorded also by the Synoptists, but
at the close of the public ministry.) Labors among the Jews in Jerusalem, 2:23–25.
*(5.) Conversation with Nicodemus, representing the timid disciples, the higher classes among
the Jews. Regeneration the condition of entering into the kingdom of God, 3:1–15. The love
of God in the sending of his Son to save the world, 3:16–21. (Jerusalem.)
*(6.) Labors of Jesus in Judaea. The testimony of John the Baptist: He must increase, but I must
decrease, 3:22–36. (Departure of Jesus into Galilee after John’s imprisonment, 4:1–3; comp.
Matt. 4:12; Mark 1:14; Luke 4:14.)
*(7.) Labors in Samaria on the journey from Judaea to Galilee. The woman of Samaria; Jacob’s
well; the water of life; the worship of God the Spirit in spirit and in truth; the fields ripening
for the harvest, John 4:1–42. Jesus teaches publicly in Galilee, 4:43–45 (comp. Matt. 4:17;
Mark 1:14, 15Luke 4:14, 15).A.D. 1-100.