The four Gospels of the New Testament are of two kinds. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels, as they "see together" or share a common orientation. The orientation of the Gospel of John is fundamentally different. We can see this difference particularly in the contrasting presentations of Jesus in the Synoptics and in John.
The Synoptic Gospels portray Jesus as a paradigm and teacher of righteousness. In Jesus's interactions with his followers, antagonists, and onlookers, he counsels repentance, forgiveness, and righteous living.
Jesus's life and teachings in the Synoptic Gospels offer abundant guidance for righteous living. A partial listing would include
- showing compassion
- asking and granting forgiveness
- loving even persecutors and enemies
- being humble
- showing gentleness
- caring for widows
- caring for children
- caring for the hungry and thirsty
- caring for strangers
- visiting the imprisoned
- lending to the needy
- giving alms to the poor
- guarding against lust
- guarding against hypocrisy
- tempering justice with mercy
- avoiding public display when praying and fasting
- turning the other cheek when struck
- making peace
- cultivating a pure heart
- recognizing the moral dangers of wealth
- refraining from swearing
- not bearing false witness
- judging not that we be not judged
- doing to others as we would be done by them
In John's Gospel we find a sharp contrast. John contains none of this rich Synoptic vocabulary of righteousness—humility, forgiveness, caring for strangers, and the rest: none of this language at all.
What does Jesus talk about with his followers, antagonists, and onlookers, if not righteousness? He talks mostly about himself, particularly about himself as Son of God. Some examples:
"No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me" (John 6.44, New Revised Standard Version).
"I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me" (7.28–29).
"The Father and I are one" (10.30).
"Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (14.11).
"Now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed." (17.5)
Jesus also speaks of himself in numerous assertions beginning with "I am" (Greek: ἐγώ εἰμι).
"I am the bread of life" (6.35, 48).
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven" (6.51).
"I am the light of the world" (8.12).
"I am he [the Son of Man]" (8.24).
"I am the good shepherd" (10.11, 14).
"I am the way, the truth, and the life" (14.6).
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower" (15.1).
The Synoptics, in contrast, record no Jesus sayings of the form "I am" + predicate nominative.
Readers might acknowledge that the Synoptics and John present Jesus in quite different ways and conclude from this that the two accounts are complementary—that is, that we have a fuller portrait from the two perspectives than we would have from either perspective alone.
But this is too simple. At crucial points the images of Jesus in the Synoptics and in John are not complementary but contradictory:
"The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him" (John 8.29).
versus
A man ran up and knelt before him [Jesus] and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone" (Mark 10.18; also Matthew 19.17 and Luke 18.19).
The woman [encountering Jesus at Jacob's well] said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming. ...When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you" (John 4.25–26).
versus
He [Jesus] asked them [his disciples], "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he [Jesus] sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him (Mark 8.29–30; also Matthew 16.20 and Luke 9.21).
"The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father" (John 5.22-23).
versus
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven" (Luke 6.37; also Matthew 7.1–2).
Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me" (John 11.41–42).
versus
"Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray...so that they may be seen by others. ...But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret" (Matthew 6.5–6).
Though John includes none of the Synoptic vocabulary of righteousness, John's Jesus does instruct his disciples to obey his commandments:
"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love" (15.10).
Jesus tells the disciples to wash the feet of others, Jesus himself setting an example (13.2–5). Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples to love one another (13.34–35; 15.12–17). And he charges his disciples to "feed my lambs" and "tend my sheep" (21.15–17). These commandments, however, are directed to those within the fold of Jesus's believers. They are not presented as righteous directives for Jesus's disciples to follow in relating to persons outside their sheepfold gate.
John's Jesus is a severe gatekeeper. Only believers in what Jesus has said about himself are granted admittance. Others are shut out. His antagonists ask him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Jesus responds:
"I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my father's name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish" (10.24–30).
The sheepfold's exclusivity is explicit throughout John's Gospel. Eternal life is only for those who believe Jesus's claim that he is God's Son. On this point the good shepherd's language can be shrill:
"Those who believe in him [the Son of God] are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (3.18).
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God's wrath" (3.36).
"Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits...." (10.7).
"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (14.6).
John's gospel is a textbook of closed boundaries; the Synoptics are textbooks of open boundaries. John portrays Jesus as a shepherd intent on herding sheep into his protective fold. The Synoptics portray Jesus as a shepherd who leaves his flock—not secure in a sheepfold, but at risk "on the mountains" and "in the wilderness"—to rescue a straying sheep (Matthew 18.12–14 and Luke 15.3–7). Jesus sends his disciples forth to "all nations" (Matthew 28:19) to "proclaim the kingdom of God and to cure diseases" (Luke 9.1).
In the course of his Gospel, John seeks to confirm Jesus's claim to be the Son of God by detailing a series of miraculous "signs," such as changing water into wine, performing healings, feeding a crowd of 5,000, and raising people from the dead. Near the close of his Gospel, John states explicitly that his purpose in writing has been to present these "signs" so that readers will come to believe Jesus's claims about himself:
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name (20.30–31).
In the Synoptics, Jesus explicitly refuses to give signs:
The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation" (Mark 8.11–12; see also Matthew 12.38–39, 16.1-4, and Luke 11:29).
John is fixated on public miracles that can induce belief (4:54). In contrast, the Synoptics portray Jesus as taking deliberate measures to keep healing private:
They brought to him a deaf man.... Jesus took him aside in private, away from the crowd. [There Jesus restores the man's hearing.] Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one.... (Mark 7:32–36)
He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. [There Jesus restores the man's sight.] Then he sent him away to his home, saying, "Do not even go into the village" (Mark 8.22–26).
The Synoptics picture Jesus healing people and feeding crowds, not as signs to induce belief, but as acts of compassion in response to human need.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9.36).
When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick (Matthew 14.14).
Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way" (Matthew 15.32).
Moved with compassion [for two blind strangers], Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him (Matthew 20.34).
In revealing contrast, nowhere in his Gospel does John find occasion to use the word "compassion" (σπλαγχνίζομαι). In the Synoptics "compassion" occurs eight times.
The four Gospels present us with a contrast between correct believing and righteous living. I admire the host of Christians who embrace both sides of this contrast, living exemplary lives of inspiriting belief inseparable from compassionate caring.
In my experience, however, many Christians focus on John to the neglect of the Synoptics. The result can be persons confident that professing belief in Jesus as the only Son of God has secured their place in the fold of the saved, once for all and exclusively, with no particular imperatives of righteousness at the core. I think this kind of confidence offers one key to the puzzle of how Christian voters can continue to support political leaders who seem to lack any moral core.
One commentator has said that the Gospel of John has exerted an influence on Christian theology that is "profound and pervasive" (Mercer Dictionary of the Bible, p.460). I would add that in too many instances John's influence is peremptory and precluding.
It seems to me that fidelity to the Gospel texts requires Christians to come to honest terms with the distinction between John's self-proclaiming Jesus who restricts eternal life to those who believe his claim to be the only Son of God, and the Synoptics' self-giving Jesus who models and counsels righteous living as the way of God's Kingdom.
