Gospel



Gospel

John wrote the Gospel in the first century. It was the time when the church was established and several decades were already passed. When the Gospel of John was circulating among different hands, people were questioning about Christ. Who was He? What was he doing? And many dangerous heresies were circulating. John wanted to set the record right and wrote that Jesus was God, though he was a fully man. Jesus was mentioned as the Light of the World, Good Shepherd and True Vine. The seven “I Am” statements of Jesus were openly declared in John's statement about Jesus. At the same time John omitted many of the human characteristics, which are found in other Gospels.

John started preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand and the Jews should repent and perform baptism. There was urgency in his message and there was a hint that the time was short and no further delay was advisable. In fact John was like a forerunner to the Messiah (Matt 3:1, Mk 1:1-4, Lk 3:2-9, Jn 1:19-23). His message was indicating that the people should clean themselves as the arrival of Jesus was imminent.

Mark explains in the clearest terms the nature of John's baptism.

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and he baptized them in the river Jordan, confessing their sins (Mk 1:4, 5)

The main purpose of John's message i.e. repentance was to prepare Israeli nation for the coming of Messiah and the inauguration of his kingdom. John the Baptist has clearly claimed in his Gospel that the main reason for baptizing was to disclose Messiah to Israel (Jn 1:31) In fact the ...