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are to be convinced of their relevancy, as for example the "fulfillment" of the prophecy of
Hosea in Matt. 2: 15, or of Jeremiah in Matt. 2: 18. When John wrote his Gospel it
was not the Jew, with his Scriptures, that was before his mind, but "the world", a world
that knew not the Hebrew Scriptures. He opens his Gospel with a philosophic
presentation of the Christ as "The Logos made flesh" (John 1: 14), and while Philip told
Nathaniel that they had found Him of Whom Moses and the Prophets wrote, the guileless
Israelite is not convinced by an array of prophetic fulfillments, but by personal conviction
brought about by the Lord's absolute knowledge of his being and actions (John 1: 50).
In chapter 2: the testimony of the Scripture and the force of its fulfillment does not
operate in the minds of the apostles until after the resurrection:
"When therefore He was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had
said this unto them; and they (then) believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had
said" (John 2: 22).
The general trend of the teaching of the Gospel is to prove by evidence, that "Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God", and then, because Christ is believed, the Scriptures which He
endorsed would of necessity also be believed (John 5: 46, 47). This is not of course a
hard and fast rule; there are occasions when John does draw attention to the fulfillment
of O.T. prophecy, but it remains true that the main basis of the Gospel is accredited
testimony.
In his prison ministry, Paul does not quote O.T. Scripture in support of the mystery,
because, being a mystery hid in God, it formed no part of O.T. revelation. In his Gospel,
John does not appeal to O.T. Scripture to prove that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
because those to whom he addressed his message were not likely either to be in
possession of the O.T. Scriptures or to be believers in them. His line of teaching is rather
faith in Christ as the Giver of Life first, then the recognition that this Christ is the
Messiah of O.T. prophecy, and consequently the acceptance of those O.T. Scriptures
which spoke of Him.
Of the writers of the N.T. John alone uses the title "Messiah". A superficial reading
has led some to affirm that this is "proof" that John had the Jew in mind, but the reverse
is the fact. Most evidently he had an untaught Gentile in view, for what Jew needed the
following explanation?
"Which is, being interpreted, the Christ" (John 1: 41).
"I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ" (John 4: 25).
The more we examine the Gospel, the stronger the conviction grows that John did not
write "kingdom" truth, did not write to the circumcision, but to the world. One
"argument" against this view is that John was an apostle of the circumcision (Gal. 2: 7,
9), but if that would prevent John, in his old age, after the circumcision had been set
aside, from writing a message to the world, it would also prevent Paul from writing the
epistle to the Hebrews, which we do not believe or teach. Moreover, apart from John's
Gospel, there is no ministry that fulfils the call of the guests after A.D.70, but, with it,