Gospel of John - John and The Synoptics Compared

John and The Synoptics Compared

The Book of John is significantly different from the Synoptic Gospels:

• Jesus is identified with the divine Word ("Logos") and referred to as theos ("God").
• The Gospel of John gives no account of the Nativity of Jesus, unlike Matthew and Luke, and his mother's name is never given. John does assert that Jesus was known as the "son of Joseph" in 6:42.
• In chapter 7:41-42, and again in 7:52, John records some of the crowd of Pharisees dismissing the possibility of Jesus's being the Messiah, on the grounds that the Messiah must be a descendent of David and born in Bethlehem, stating that Jesus instead came out of Galilee (as is stated in the Gospel of Mark); John made no effort to refute or correct (nor did he affirm) this, and this has been advanced as implying that John rejected the synoptic tradition of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem.
• The Pharisees, portrayed as more uniformly legalistic and opposed to Jesus in the synoptic gospels, are instead portrayed as sharply divided; they debate frequently in the Gospel of John's accounts. Some, such as Nicodemus, even go so far as to be at least partially sympathetic to Jesus. This is believed to be a more accurate historical depiction of the Pharisees, who made debate one of the tenets of their system of belief.
• John makes no mention of Jesus' baptism, but quotes John the Baptist's description of the descent of the Holy Spirit.
• John the Baptist publicly proclaims Jesus to be the Lamb of God. The Baptist recognizes Jesus secretly in Matthew, and not at all in Mark or Luke. John also denies that he is Elijah, whereas Mark and Matthew identify him with Elijah.
• The Temple incident appears near the beginning of Jesus' ministry. In the synoptics this occurs soon before Jesus is crucified.
• John contains four visits by Jesus to Jerusalem, three associated with the Passover feast. This chronology suggests Jesus' public ministry lasted three or two years. The synoptic gospels describe only one trip to Jerusalem in time for the Passover observance.
• Jesus washes the disciples' feet instead of the synoptics' ritual with bread and wine (the Eucharist).
• No other women are mentioned going to the tomb with Mary Magdalene.
• John does not contain any parables. Rather it contains metaphoric stories or allegories, such as The Shepherd and The Vine, in which each individual element corresponds to a specific group or thing.
• Major synoptic speeches of Jesus are absent, including the Sermon on the Mount and the Olivet discourse.
• While the synoptics look forward to a future Kingdom of God (using the term parousia, meaning "coming"), John presents an eschatology that has already been realized.
• The Kingdom of God is mentioned only twice in John. In contrast, the other gospels repeatedly use the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven as important concepts.
• The exorcisms of demons are never mentioned as in the synoptics.
• John never lists all of the Twelve Disciples and names at least one disciple (Nathanael) whose name is not found in the synoptics; Nathanael appears to parallel the apostle Bartholomew found in the synoptics, as both are paired with Philip in the respective gospels. While James and John are prominent disciples in the synoptics, John mentions them only in the epilogue, where they are referred to not by name but as the "sons of Zebedee."
• Thomas the Apostle is given a personality beyond a mere name, as "Doubting Thomas".