The purpose and authorship of the 4th gospel: The fulfilment of scripture

Question 1

What to Matthew’s proof texts do?

Answer 1

Link JC to prophecies about the Messiah

Question 2

Who does the 4th gospel present JC as being?

Answer 2

The Messiah presented by the OT hundreds of years previously

Question 3

Explain Isaiah’s suffering servant?

Answer 3

Outlined in Isaiah 53, he was tortured by the very people he was trying to help

Question 4

Where does John link JC to Isaiah’s suffering servant?

Answer 4

‘He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him’ (John 1:11)

Question 5

How can 8:58 be seen as a fulfilment of prophecy?

Answer 5

Isiaih 9:6 describes the Messiah as ruling over an eternal and everlasting Kingdom, and this passage makes clear that JC is the eternal SoG

Question 6

How is the High Priest ordering JC’s death to save the lives of the Jewish people an example of the fulfilment of scripture?

Answer 6

Because Isaiah 53: 4-6 explains that the Suffering Servant will die in place of his people

Question 7

Look on the wall for quotes that fulfil one another

Answer 7

!!!!

Question 8

What is the significance of the soldiers throwing dice to see who gets JC’s seamless cloth and the executioners dividing up JC’s clothes between them?

Answer 8

‘They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment’ (Psalm 22:18)

Question 9

What is the significance of a soldier spearing JC in the ribs to check he is dead while his mother watches?

Answer 9

‘They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for me as one mourns for an only child’ (Zechariah 2:10)

Question 10

Why is it significant that JC’s bones are not broken when he is crucified?

Answer 10

This fulfils the instruction in Exodus 12:46 about preparing the paschal lamb

Question 11

What do many critics say about the prophecies that John seemingly fulfils?

Answer 11

They point towards the fact that the Johannine Community had disagreements with the Synagogues over whether JC was the Messiah. This means they may have added details that weren’t historical to get a match with the OT so as to support their christological position

Question 12

Why does the criterion of multiple attestation support the idea that JC’s clothes were divided?

Answer 12

Because it is also described in Matthew 27:35, so may be a historical detail

Question 13

Why is the fulfilment of prophecy important?

Answer 13

Because it suggests that the whole OT is about JC and was inspired by him, as the pre-existent Logos

Question 14

What is the irony of the OT for John?

Answer 14

Because everything that happens in it is supposed to prepare the Jews to accept JC as the Christ - but they don’t

Question 15

How does the fulfilment of OT prophecy act as proof of the omnipotence of God?

Answer 15

Because it shows that he is in control of history

Question 16

How does the fulfilment of scripture fulfil the promise in the Prologue that the darkness can never overcome the light?

Answer 16

It shows how every detail of JC’s suffering fits into a plan laid down by God in the scriptures years before

Question 17

Make the case that the purpose of the 4th gospel is to fulfil scripture

Answer 17

• Prophecies are fulfilled in the Prologue and during JC’s crucifixion to show that JC is the source and the subject matter of the scriptures
• Shows that God is in control even when the forces of evil appear to be at hand - making it a quasi theodicy

Question 18

Make the case that the point of the 4th gospel is not to fulfil scripture

Answer 18

• There is a possibility that the seeming fulfilment of prophecy were not just historical fabrications from the JCom
• If God had planned these things in advance and used people as pawns to do so, it calls free will into question
• Why would God choose a plan that involves so much unnecessary suffering?