The genius of the Apostle John resides in his ability to penetrate to the theological foundations that undergird the events of Jesus' life. He reaches to the deeperbaptism and the calling of the Twelve are doubtless presupposed, they are notactually described. Even themes central to the Synoptics have almost disappeared:in particular, the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven, so much a part of thepreaching of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels and the central theme of His narrativeparables, is scarcely mentioned as such (cf. 3:3, 5; 18:36).meaning of the events, to the relationships of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spiritin the work of redemption, and to the Trinitarian love for humanity which generatedthat work and which seeks through the gospel to bring within that sublime circle ofindwelling love all who respond by faith to Jesus as the great "I AM."John deals with the same revealed truth as Mathew, Mark, Luke and Paul. Buthis way of approaching that truth is different--very different. Like waters from thesame source, Johannine, Pauline and the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark andLuke) all flow from the same historical Jesus, but flow through different lands,picking up different textures, and emerge as observably different rivers.The Johannine river, as a preceptive reader will quickly realize, flows througha profoundly different world of its own: a world with its own language, its ownsymbolism, and its own unique theological view point. The reader who enters thisworld senses immediately how different it is from the world of Paul and the SynopticGospels. And thus, a few words are needed to help to guide our way.First, John's Gospel leaves out a great deal of material that is characteristic ofthe Synoptic Gospels. There are no narrative parables in John, no account of thetransfiguration, no record of the institution of the Lord's Supper, no report of Jesuscasting out a single demon, no mention of His temptations. There are fewer bri...
