The Literary Design of the Gospel of John

While there are very clear differences between John and the other Gospels (the Synoptics), the Gospel of John does seem have an awareness of at least Mark’s Gospel. As I mentioned in the last post, Matthew and Luke write about the temple destruction so it is likely that John’s Gospel was written in between these groups of the Synoptics. 

Alan Culpepper identifies John’s Gospel as an “ancient biography in dramatic form,” meaning, it was meant to be presented orally/theatrically...and this makes sense because:

1)The Gospel uses Dialogues instead of parables

2) The character of Jesus is more consistent: it’s an “enlightened” Jesus.... unlike the other gospels, who seem to be taken by surprise when Jesus is tried and crucified and discovered as THE holy son of God... Jesus in the Gospel of John seems to have a grasp throughout the entire story of his role as Messiah. 

3) The Gospel breaks what theater nerds call “the fourth wall,” meaning there is text that is written to/spoken directly to the readers/listeners.

Other important literary/theatrical tools of the Gospel include:

4) Misunderstanding: bonds the reader and the author together, as they journey with Jesus to correct the characters in the story who “just don’t get it.

5) Irony: Everyone loves irony...and the irony in John’s Gospel is done so well largely because, as mentioned above, it is done so with educated listeners. They already know the story. They already know Jesus is Messiah- so the irony is the ripest, most fulfilling sort possible. When Pilate shouts, “Behold your king,” he did so with the attempt to mock the beloved ones of Jesus and Jesus himself... but, of course, that “DUMMY” had no idea that Jesus would rise again as a conquerer of death and savior of the world. 

and

        6) Symbolism: the Gospel of John gets pretty attached to particular symbols, such as bread, water, light, dark, gate, door, path, way, etc...which leads us to the next post: Theology

Lastly, instead of "miracles," the Gospel of John points to SIGNS… in a way, it is almost a courtroom defense for the Messianic status of Jesus. The signs involve the amazement and conversion/recognition of those around Jesus…

Examples of signs are: the changing of water into wine at the wedding, healing the official's son, walking on water, and raising Lazarus from the dead.

In short, all of these facets of the literary construction of the Gospel of John really make sense when you look at the intended original audience of the Gospel: potential converts listening in on an oral reenactment.