Video: Why John Wrote His Gospel and Epistles

YouTube ^ | November 20, 2018 | Philip Cottraux

[pcottraux]

Hi everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble!

This week's Wednesday night Bible study is part 13 of our video series on why the New Testament was written. Tonight we're talking about the writings of John. I had a hard time coming up with a title for this one, and "Why John Wrote His Gospel and Epistles" is honestly the least-awkward thing I could come up with.

Anyway, here's the video.

Why John Wrote His Gospel and Epistles

A bit of a lengthy one this week (clocks in at 17:44). Twitter's been having a field day with me on this, so I can't wait to see what FR has to say. :)

[HarleyD]

Per Overwatcher comment and correction, it should be noted that the things recorded by John comes from the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Holy Spirit through John selected these events as being important events to convince people of the deity of Christ.

A subtle but very important correction.

[pcottraux]

I agree completely because IF the gospels (or any of the New Testament) were written after 70 AD, they would have included the destruction of the temple. Why? Simple...Jesus predicted it. The whole point of the book is to try to persuade the reader that Jesus was the Messiah. What better proof than to show a major prediction He made came true? Yet it is completely silent on what was easily the most catastrophic event in Jewish history at the time.

[pcottraux]

Per Overwatcher comment and correction, it should be noted that the things recorded by John comes from the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Holy Spirit through John selected these events as being important events to convince people of the deity of Christ.

This is all I've been trying to say. Just because the scripture is Spirit-inspired doesn't mean there wasn't a historical context. It can be both.

A number of FReepers have taken me to task on this, because they don't like the premise of this series. Almost as if it's blasphemy to suggest anything other than the New Testament materialized out of thin air. It makes me fear some Christians may have developed superstition around the Bible.

[pcottraux]

Try not to forget that the place where the gospels were written was sacked by Rome in 68 AD. Little can be found of parchments or Papiri after a city is burned and smashed.

Climate plays a big role in this, too. Egypt and Spain have much milder climates than the harsh deserts of the Levant. This is why we have a more complete picture of ancient Egypt than Mesopotamia from the same time.

An interesting fact on that note: we have so many ancient papyri, monuments, statues, artifacts, etc. on Egypt that we actually know more about it than we do Medieval Europe, even though it's obviously much further back in time...in fact, it's not even close.

[editor-surveyor]

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The political stability of Egypt, compared to central Europe may be part of the reason.

[pcottraux]

“Political stability” and “central Europe” usually don’t get mentioned in the same sentence. :-D

Sadly, that’s still just as true today.

[HarleyD]

I hope you don't misconstrued my comment as criticism. I did not watch the video. I only noticed your title, “Why John Wrote His Gospel” and thought I would point out John's explanation as to why he wrote his gospel.

I don't think Christians have developed a superstition around the Bible. The Bible is God speaking directly to us. There is nothing superstitious about it. The problem is I don't think many people who say they are Christians accept the Bible as the actual word of God. They simply don't believe it is God, Himself speaking to us. If they did then they wouldn't treat it as carelessly, disobediently, or flippantly as they do. Instead they would revere it and fear the power of God speaking to us from it's pages. Instead people simply shrug it off, arguing over semantics and tenses-trying to find ways to discredit it.

The Bible is a visible miracle from God that many simply don't wish to acknowledge or want to explain away. It isn't unlike the empty tomb of the risen Christ.

[pcottraux]

Let me try to address this one-by-one.

I hope you don't misconstrued my comment as criticism.

It's getting harder and harder to tell the more of these I put up.

I did not watch the video.

What are you waiting for? This is part 13 of a video series I've been teaching for several months now. Links to the previous videos are in the first comment if you're interested. A LOT of time and research has gone into this project.

I don't think Christians have developed a superstition around the Bible.

You haven't argued with some of the people I have.

All I want to do with these lectures is educate people...and I think learning the historical context for the New Testament books is an interesting and oft-neglected topic. For some reason, that upsets a few. What's also peculiar is that despite the criticism, you won't find anyone who loves and reveres the Bible more than I do. That's why I'm putting so much work into this!

Once the New Testament is done, eventually I want to start putting together a series on why the minor prophet books of the Old Testament were written--but that's for later.