The Gospel of John

The Socio-Historical Perspective

21:20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" 21:21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" 21:22 Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!"
21:23 So the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?"
21:24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.  

Who originally wrote the various component parts of the "Gospel of John"?

Who added the various parts to the Gospel, and when?
        ***(No substantial copies of John exist from before 200 CE)

Could it have been John, the son of Zebedee? Cf. Acts 4:13 and Mark 10:35

Reconstructing the History and Theology
of the Johannine Community

Stage One: A Palestinian Jewish Synagogue

An original group of Palestinian Jews in a synagogue are converted (by the beloved disciple?) to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, in the original Jewish sense of a human messiah.

Low Christology: The Story of the First Disciples

1:35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, 1:36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" 1:37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
1:38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 1:39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.
1:40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 1:41 He first found his brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed). 1:42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).

Note: 

Stage Two: Excluded from the Synagogue

The Jewish-Christian Johannine group attempts to convert other Jews to belief in Jesus but are expelled from the Synagogue. Jews were expecting a powerful Messiah, a heavenly ruler, or warrior-king . . . not an executed criminal.

John 9: Healing a Blind Man on the Sabbath

9:1 As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth . . . 9:6 he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, 9:7 saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. (Cf. Mark 8:22)
9:8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9:9 Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 9:10 But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 9:11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” 9:12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
9:13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 9:14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 9:15 Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” 9:16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the abbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. 9:17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”

9:18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 9:19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 9:20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 9:21 but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 9:22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Birkat HaMinim

9:23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 9:24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” 9:25 He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

Stage Three: Against the Synagogue

When the Synagogue rejects their message of the suffering crucified Messiah, the Johannine Jewish-Christian group splits off from the Synagogue and forms its own separate community with a “persecuted fortress mentality”: 

High Christology: Jesus becomes “Divinized”

John 1: The Hymn to the Logos

1:1 In the beginning was the Word (LOGOS), and the Word (LOGOS) was with God, and the Word (LOGOS) was God.

The 46 “I am’s” of the Johannine Jesus

Cf. Exodus 3:14 - Yahweh gives his name to Moses as "I am"

Exodus 3:13 But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" 
3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"