Foreword

The writing of the gospel according to John is dated later than the other three gospels (called the Synoptic Gospels), but still within the 1st century. In the 19th century, Bible critics tried to deny that it was written before ᴀ.ᴅ. 150, thereby attempting to dispute the fact that the apostle John was the author. The critics also charged that it reflected Gnostic philosophy and therefore could not have been written before Gnosticism became a serious threat to the faith. (Gnosticism was a philosophical and religious system by an early sect who claimed that knowledge rather than faith was the key to salvation.) Such a distorted charge has been long refuted.

On the contrary, external evidence attests to the existence of the fourth gospel and the high regard in which it was already held as early as ᴀ.ᴅ. 115. One such evidence came through the discovery of a small scrap of papyrus, bearing a few verses of John (chapter 18, verses 31–33, 37, 38), known as the Rylands Papyrus and commonly designated as P52, which was dated paleographically c. a.d. 125. This fragment, found in Egypt at the beginning of the 2nd century, is considered tangible evidence to the early and widespread dissemination of the fourth gospel. The famous New Testament scholar Adolph Deissmann affirms:

“A multitude of hypotheses concerning a late origin of the Gospel according to John will quickly wither like hot-house plants. We have in the Rylands papyrus a certain documentary proof that the Gospel according to John not only existed in the first half of the 2nd century, but that its copies had already reached Egypt. The origin of the Gospel is therefore to be put back into much earlier times.”—Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Dec. 3, 1935.

Not only did the writing of John serve a specific purpose among the early Christians; it has brought spiritual guidance, help, and encouragement to the followers of Christ, under the most varied circumstances, down through the ages.

The Lord “has light that is new to us, and yet it is precious old light that is to shine forth from the Word of truth. We have only the glimmerings of the rays of the light that is yet to come to us. We are not making the most of the light which the Lord has already given us, and thus we fail to receive the increased light; we do not walk in light already shed upon us.

“We call ourselves commandment-keeping people, but we do not comprehend the exceeding breadth of the far-reaching principles of the law of God; we do not understand its sacred character. Many who claim to be teachers of the truth, have no real conception of what they are doing in teaching the law of God, because they do not have a living knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.”—Selected Messages, bk. 1, pp. 401, 402.

May the continued study of this Gospel help us to know Jesus better!

The General Conference Sabbath School Department