When, where and why did John write his Gospel?

Question

Why is this Gospel so different to structure from the other three?

Answer 1

Likely in the region of Ephesus.

The theme focuses more on the love Jesus showed than any of the other Gospels; which are more about Jesus as a teacher, prophet, and miracle worker.

Answer 2

You pose a great question. John's gospel may be a later writing that introduces additional fantasy of Jesus being a divine being, in a sense it counters Mark's statements of Jesus being just a man.

Answer 3

John focuses on the divinity of Jesus. The author of John is unknown--it is likely to have been a disciple of John. He wrote it in approximately 90-100 A.D. in Ephesus, Asia Minor. He wrote to all Christian groups.

His gospel is so different in structure because Matthew, Luke, and Mark are all related. Mark was the 1st of the 4, and Matthew and Luke use Mark as a source for their writing. They share another source as well (so they are similar).

John does not use any of the sources above. You may be wondering why the Church chose John to be part of the Bible.

1. Has apostolic authorship--connected to an apostle or one of their followers

2. Orthodox content -- true to Jesus' teachings and nature

3. Caholicity -- accepted by a major church community (way back when, people were using his Gospel to teach)

Hope this helped!

Answer 4

Place Written: Ephesus or near

Writing Completed: c. 98 C.E.

Time Covered: After prologue, 29–33 C.E.

The good news “according to John” is largely supplementary; 92 percent is new material not covered in the other three Gospels. Even so, John concludes with the words: “There are, in fact, many other things also which Jesus did, which, if ever they were written in full detail, I suppose, the world itself could not contain the scrolls written.”—21:25.

Answer 5

When? Around 98 CE more than 30 years after the last of the other three Gospels and 65 years after the death of Jesus.  Where? Ephesus.  John states his purpose for writing the account he was led by inspiration to write, in which he repeated little that had been written before: “But these have been written down that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that, because of believing, you may have life by means of his name.” John 20:31.

Answer 6

Author: John 21:20-24 describes the author as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," and for both historical as well as internal reasons this is understood to be John the Apostle, one of the sons of Zebedee (Luke 5:10).

Date of Writing: Discovery of certain papyrus fragments dated around A.D. 135 require the book to have been written, copied, and circulated before then. And while some think it was written before Jerusalem was destroyed (A.D. 70), A.D. 85-90 is a more accepted time for its writing, probably from Ephesus.

Purpose of Writing: John 20:31 cites the purpose as follows: "but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." John was not only seeking to strengthen the faith of second-generation believers as well as bring about faith in others but also sought to correct a false teaching that was spreading. John emphasized Jesus Christ as "the Son of God," fully God and fully man, contrary to that false doctrine which saw the "Christ-spirit" as coming upon the human, Jesus, at His baptism and leaving him at the crucifixion.

Answer 7

The other three are called the Synoptic Gospels.  Luke and Matthew, according to theory, used Mark's gospel to write theirs.  They also added their own material and also used a gospel known as "Q" (from the German "quellum", or "source).  Q was a sayings gospel, similar to but not the Gospel of Thomas.  John came from a different tradition.

John was likely written near the end of the First Century.

You didn't ask, but, the names "Matthew", "Mark", "Luke", and "John" are not necessarily the names of the authors.  Scholars really don't know who wrote them, and the names were put on them by the early Church based upon whom the early Church Fathers thought wrote them.  Nowhere in the body of the texts themselves do the gospels say who wrote them (compare to Paul's epistles).