V. The Victory - the raised and living Lord. Various appearances of the risen Jesus confirming the faith of the Disciples (xx. 1-29).
Conclusion (xx, 30-31).
Appendix-The reinstatement of Peter and Jesus' saying concerning the beloved dis ciple (xxi).
The author states (xx, 30-31) that out of the many "signs" which Jesus did he had selected certain as calculated to produce faith. It is noteworthy that there are just seven such signs ((1) ii, 1-12; (2) iv, 43-54; (3) v, 1-10; (4) vi, 1-10; (5) vi, 16-21; (6) ix, 1-12; (7) xi, 1-44). That the author intended this number to be noticed and a symbolic significance to he attached to it is nowhere stated. If such a symbolic principle is assumed as intentional the book at once becomes full of subtle allusions, each alleged concrete fact being intended to suggest or teach some profound spiritual truth. On this principle the entire outline of the gospel can be converted into a theological pro gram, the key to which is furnished by the prologue. This principle is accepted by many critics and dominates most of the modern critical interpretations of the gospel.
II. Relation to the The con trast between the Fourth Gospel and the Syn optics is striking. There is a marked difference not only in respect to the general plan, but as to the details of Jesus' ministry, the style of His discourses and the content of His teaching.
Instead of an account of Jesus' birth and childhood, as in Matthew and Luke, we find the profound statement of the incarnation of the Word as the introductory section. In the Synoptics we have a narrative of the work of John the Baptist, his popular preaching, his prediction of the coming One, his baptism of Jesus. In our gospel John's testimony is the all important thing, testimony given to the offi cial representatives of the Jews or to his fol lowers. There is no account of John's min istry as such. Our gospel omits all reference to Jesus' temptation, but devotes considerable space to the way Jesus gained His first disci ples and to a ministry in Jerusalem and Judea about which the Synoptics say nothing. The great popular ministry in Galilee to which the Synoptic account is chiefly devoted is all but omitted in our gospel. It is there as an indis
tinct background, while in bold relief we have the two visits to Jerusalem (ch. v and vii, 2-x, 21) of which the Synoptic account says noth ing. Only in the case of the feeding of the 5,000 do the two accounts meet on common ground and here the differences are as promi nent as the resemblances. While the Fourth Gospel, like the Synoptics, thinks of a ministry in Perea (cf. x, 40) and also, like them, fol lows this with an account of the events of Pas sion Week and of the resurrection appearances, it relates an almost entirely different set of in cidents, and in the few identical cases the ac count itself is characteristically different.
The Synoptic account reflects the popular tradition, of a broad and general character, of Jesus' ministry. Our gospel covers only a few selected incidents and deals with these in a very intensive and personal way. The inci dents are largely of a more private nature. Note, for example, chs. xiii-xvii, devoted en tirely to one evening's intimate fellowship of Jesus with His disciples.
It would seem that the author of our gos pel used the Synoptic outline, assuming it to be well known, as a working basis, and tried to adjust his own very different account to this in such a way as to cause the reader, already familiar with the Synoptic account, no serious disturbance of mind. That he succeeded ad mirably everyone must admit. On points of chronology he was particular. The indeter minate length of the ministry in the Synoptic account is corrected by noting the feasts especially three Passovers—which show that the ministry covered more than two years. The cleansing of the Temple is placed at the begin ning instead of the end of the ministry. The opening of the ministry in Galilee did not follow immediately upon the recognition of Jesus by John (cf. i, 35ff., and iii, 24, with Mark i, 13, 14). The last supper was on the night before the Passover and Jesus was crucified on the feast day itself, not a day later, as in the Synoptics.