I would like to highlight some of the similarities between John and the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke (or at least between modern reconstructions of them) in a series of posts, partly because there is a tendency to emphasize the differing of John’s Gospel from the others. For this post, I have made use of the Greek text and the ESV text of BibleWorks 9.

Jesus & God

First of all, although there is no synoptic version of John 1:1-3, in all four Gospels Jesus is closely associated with and also distinguished from God or, more precisely, the divine being and agent referred to as θεός and ὁ θεός, arguably the very same divine being and agent called אֱלֹהִ֑ים or ὁ θεὸς (LXX) in Genesis 1:1.

Jesus & Light

Second, Jesus is closely associated with light in at least three of the Gospels (John, Matthew and Luke). In John’s Gospel Jesus says that he is the light of the world and that the person who follows him will never walk in darkness (John 8:12). Now, is this sort of thing completely foreign to the synoptics? No, note for example Matthew’s description of Jesus going to live in Capernaum as a fulfilment of prophecy of Galilean people seeing “a great light” (Matthew 4:12-16). Note also Simeon saying in Luke that he has seen God’s salvation which is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:25-32). And note that in Matthew’s description of the transfiguration Jesus’s face “shone like the sun” and his clothes “became as white as light” (Matthew 17:2). Moreover, in Matthew’s Gospel the-light-of-the-world terminology (which has deep roots in Isaiah) is also used by Jesus but then it is applied to followers of his (Matthew 5:14).

John lesser than Jesus

Third, in all four Gospels John the Baptist is portrayed as a lesser figure than Jesus and as one who prepared the way for Jesus. John “was a man sent from God” but he “was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.” (John 1:6, 7). He preached that someone would come after him who was mightier than him (Mark 1:7) and it was not to him, but to Jesus that it was said from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11).