parallelism are also frequent: "The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended
it not;" "He was in the world, and the world knew him not;" "He confessed, and denied not;" "I
give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish."
The author has a limited vocabulary, but loves emphatic repetition, and his very monotony
is solemn and impressive. He uses certain key-words of the profoundest import, as Word, life, light,
truth, love, glory, testimony, name, sign, work, to know, to behold, to believe. These are not abstract
conceptions but concrete realities. He views the world under comprehensive contrasts, as life and
death, light and darkness, truth and falsehood, love and hatred, God and the devil, and (in the first
Epistle) Christ and Antichrist.
He avoids the optative, and all argumentative particles, but uses very frequently the simple
particles καί, δέ, οὗν, ἵνα. His most characteristic particle in the narrative portions is "therefore"
(οὗν], ωηιχη ις ωιτη ηιμ νοτ σψλλογιστιχ [λικε ἄραand its compounds), but indicative simply of
continuation and retrospect (like "so" and "then" or the German "nun"), yet with the idea that nothing
happens without a cause; while the particle "in order that" (ἵνα) indicates that nothing happens
without a purpose. He avoids the relative pronoun and prefers the connecting "and" with the
repetition of the noun, as "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God .... In him was life, and the life was the light of men." The "and" sometimes takes
the place of "but," as "The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not"
(John 1:5).
We look in vain for such important words as church, gospel, repentance (μετάνοια), but
the substance is there in different forms. He does not even use the noun "faith" (πίστις), which
frequently occurs in the Synoptists and in Paul, but he uses the verb "to believe" (πιστεύειν)
ninety-eight times, about twice as often as all three Synoptists together.
He applies the significant term Logos (ratio and oratio) to Christ as the Revealer and the
Interpreter of God (1:18), but only in the Prologue, and such figurative designations as "the Light
of the world," "the Bread of life," "the Good Shepherd," "the Vine," "the Way," "the Truth," and
"the Life." He alone uses the double "Verily" in the discourses of the Saviour. He calls the Holy
Spirit the "Paraclete" or "Advocate" of believers, who pleads their cause here on earth, as Christ
pleads it on the throne in heaven. There breathes through this book an air of calmness and serenity,
of peace and repose, that seems to come from the eternal mansions of heaven.^1058
Is such a style compatible with the hypothesis of a post- and pseudo-apostolic fiction? We
have a large number of fictitious Gospels, but they differ as much from the fourth canonical Gospel
as midnight darkness from noonday brightness.
Authorship.
For nearly eighteen centuries the Christian church of all denominations has enjoyed the
fourth Gospel without a shadow of doubt that it was the work of John the Apostle. But in the
nineteenth century the citadel was assailed with increasing force, and the conflict between the
besiegers and defenders is still raging among scholars of the highest ability. It is a question of life
and death between constructive and destructive criticism. The vindication of the fourth Gospel as
a genuine product of John, the beloved disciple, is the death-blow of the mythical and legendary(^1058) For further particulars of John’s style see my Companion tothe Study of the Greek Test., pp. 66-75, where the opinions of
Renan, Ewald, Luthardt, Keim, Godet, Westcott, Hase, and Weiss are given on the subject.
A.D. 1-100.