Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
About
Christology
Israel/Palestine
Publications
KermitZarley.com
Archives
Categories
- Angels
- Blog Description
- Book Reviews
- Christian Living
  - Unconditional Love?
- Christianity
- Christology
  - Deity of Christ?
  - Holy Spirit
  - Incarnation?
  - My Change
  - Trinity?
- Church History
- Current Events
- War on Terrorism
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
- Eschatology
- Ezekiel 38-39
- Last Empire
- Primitive Weapons
- Film Reviews
- God
- Golf
  - Billy Graham
  - Karsten Solheim
  - Lee Trevino
  - Major Championship Winners
  - Masters
  - Purpose
  - Ryder Cup
- Gospel Harmonization
- Interview
- Islam
- Jesus
- Literary Announcements
- Monotheism
- My Books
  - The Restitution of Jesus Christ
- Old Testament
- Politics
- Society of Biblical Literature
- The Bible
- Trinitarianism
- Uncategorized
FREE NEWSLETTER

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
The Historical Reliability of the Gospel of John

The Historical Reliability of the Gospel of John

Last updated on: April 28, 2025 at 11:46 am by Kermit Zarley

0 Comments

The Historical Reliability of the Gospel of John 2025-04-28T11:46:11-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

For a long time in church history, the average Christian’s favorite gospel of the four gospels of the New Testament (NT) was the Gospel of John. In the early nineteenth century, it was even the favorite of Frederick Schleiermacher, “the father of liberal theology.”

But by this time, literary criticism was being applied to the Bible as a result of Enlightenment. From 1880 to 1920, the quasi School of Religions, consisting of leading NT scholars in Germany, was alleging that there is a deep disparity between the first three synoptic gospels–Matthew, Mark, and Luke–and the Gospel of John. To determine the historicity of Jesus, they contended the synoptics were fairly historically reliable, but the Gospel of John is not and therefore must be dismissed. They insisted that the Gospel of John presents a divine Christ (=Jesus is God), and the synoptics do not. Throughout post-apostolic church history, the church had insisted that the Gospel of John did indeed present Jesus as God, that is, that he was God Incarnate.

As a former Trinitarian Christian for twenty-two years, I wrote a book entitled The Restitution of Jesus Christ (2008; 600 pp.) in which I address the critical biblical texts in depth to show that the NT does not proclaim that Jesus is God, but that only the Father is God, a single person. When I was researching and writing this book, which lasted for twenty-seven years, very few scholars deviated from the common view that the Gospel of John presents Jesus as being God. Yet many of them did not think the Gospel of John was very historically reliable, whereas they did think the synoptics were.

But during the 1990s, the “Jesus, John, and History” section of the preeminent Society of Biblical Literature had a solid focus on this question of whether or not the Fourth Gospel is historically trustworthy. And they were moving toward the conclusion that it does, thus in opposition to most of the academy. Members of the panel of this section, such as Paul Andersen, Felix Just, and Tom Thatcher, have now produced three volumes on this subject as editors, with contributing chapters being mostly from section members. Their conclusion is that the Fourth Gospel is historically reliable.

So, that confirms what I wrote in my RJC book about the historical reliability of the Gospel of John. All of the following are excerpts for my book:

“This dismissal of the Gospel of John as a reliable source for discovering the historical Jesus resides mostly with scholarship. Christian laity does not accept it. J.D.G. Dunn acknowledges this incongruity between scholarship and laity and explains about it, ‘Probably no issue marks off the bulk of New Testament scholarship so sharply from the piety of the pews than the issue of how the fourth Gospel should be understood.’[1]

“In contrast, Johannine scholar John A.T. Robinson differed with so many of his colleagues by insisting that the Gospel of John is very historically reliable and therefore does not conflict with the Synoptics.[2] This is the view espoused in this book.

Reinterpreting John

“But have these accomplished critical scholars been right in concluding that the traditional interpretation of the Gospel of John is correct, i.e., that the Johannine Jesus is God? In 1984, John A.T. Robinson pointed out that “a considerable reaction has more recently set in in New Testament circles against writing off the historical value of the Johannine tradition—a reaction with which I have long been in sympathy.” Citing A.M Hunter and C.H. Dodd as examples, Robinson concludes that ‘when it comes to the central issue of all, the picture which John gives us of Jesus and the use that we can make of it for doctrine, the criteria have not, I think, been adequately reassessed.’[3]

“Indeed, church fathers and all subsequent traditionalists have misunderstood Jesus’ identity mostly because they have misinterpreted key passages about Him in the Gospel of John, and most critical scholars have endorsed these misinterpretations. Consequently, the primary purpose of this chapter is to heed John A.T. Robinson’s call for a reexamination of the Johannine Jesus and thereby show that this gospel does not present Jesus as God and therefore does not conflict with the synoptic portrait of Jesus. Robinson rightly contends that the Johannine Jesus is not ‘God dressed up as a human being. He is not a divine being who came to earth,’[4] as critics E. Kasemann, P.M. Casey, and other distinguished historical-critical scholars have sarcastically alleged.

………..

Summary

“So, the Gospel of John is the premiere NT book of misunderstanding. Its characters constantly misunderstand Jesus because they think literally when He speaks figuratively. Readers of this gospel often make the same mistake. The foremost example is the traditional interpretation that, more than anywhere else in Scripture, the Gospel of John unambiguously declares that Jesus is God. Surprisingly, most historical-critical scholars accept this interpretation. Using their terminology, they allege that the Jesus of history (mostly in the Synoptic Gospels) and the Christ of faith (mostly in the Gospel of John, which they believe identifies Jesus as God) are in sharp conflict. Many of these critics therefore demand that a choice be made concerning this alleged discontinuity. They choose to dismiss much or all of the Gospel of John, rendering it historically inauthentic, and favor the Synoptic Gospels as providing the more accurate portrait of the real, historical Jesus.

“On the contrary, John’s gospel presents truth, and the traditional understanding of it does not. This interpretation that the Johannine Jesus is “God” rests so much on a mistreatment of Greek grammar in Jn 1.1c, misunderstandings about several of Jesus’ claims about Himself, and, most of all, a misunderstanding of Thomas’ Confession in Jn 20.28. Thus, identity Christology in the Fourth Gospel does not conflict with that of the Synoptics but presents a portrait that coincides with them—that Jesus was a man and not God. The Fourth Evangelist’s stated purpose for writing his gospel is not that Jesus is God; rather, it is the same as that of the synoptists: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

“To verify this identification of Jesus as a man and not God, we need to analyze in some detail several important christological texts in the Gospel of John that have been thought to either expressly or implicitly identify Jesus as God.”

[1] J.D.G. Dunn, “Let John Be John: A Gospel for Its Time,” 298.

[2] J.A.T. Robinson, The Priority of John, 32.

[3] J.A.T. Robinson, Twelve More New Testament Studies, 141. For the historical reliability and truth of John’s portrait of Jesus, see esp. ch. 9.

[4] J.A.T. Robinson, The Priority of John, 393-94.

The Bible

Dr. James D.G. Dunn

Frederick Schleiermacher

John A.T. Robinson

Society of Biblical Literature

Previous Post

October 7, 2018

Tway Wins Safeway Open

Next Post

October 14, 2018 Marc Leishman Wins CIMB Classic

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Only "imbeciles" do not recognize President Trump as an imbecile and a danger to American ..."

glen smith

Trump’s Poor Geography

"After yesterday's results, he may be looking for a condo or loft apartment in Moscow ..."

Alan

U.S. President Trump Keeps Looking Like ..."

"I'll bet."

Kermit Zarley

U.S. President Trump Keeps Looking Like ..."

"Yes. I suspect Russia has such kompromat on Trump and that that has a lot ..."

Kermit Zarley

U.S. President Trump Keeps Looking Like ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What New Covenant promise is found in Jeremiah?

Select your answer to see how you score.

God will flood the earth God will raise a new king in Israel God will write His law on their hearts God will destroy Egypt

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »