John’s historical timeline of the life of Jesus is significantly different than the synoptic gospels. Although the author most likely has an understanding of the synoptic gospels and leaves room in his gospel for their to be a harmony between them, he has made significant changes to many aspects of Jesus’s life. One of these main differences is the location of Jesus’s ministry. In the synoptic gospels, he begins in Galilee and then travels to Jerusalem near the end of his life. In John however, he travels back and forth between Jerusalem and Galilee. He often does this to attend festivals in Jerusalem. The use of many festivals in John’s gospel such as Sukkoth, Hanukkah, and Rosh Hashanah are unique to this gospel as no festival other than Passover is mentioned in the synoptic gospels. In John, Jesus’s ministry is also significantly longer. In the synoptic Gospels, Jesus’s ministry tends to be a little less than one year while in John, his ministry lasts about three years.

The key difference in John, however, is his theological understanding of Jesus. His account as Jesus, even in ancient times, was seen less as an accurate historical representation of Jesus and more as a “spiritual gospel”. The ratcheting up of Jesus as a divine man comes to its conclusion in John, the final gospel. Especially when contrasting with the gospel of Mark, Jesus is much more heavenly and is the self described son of God much earlier. This can be seen clearly in Jesus’s “I am” discourses. Jesus lays out that he is the son of God. He says, “I am the bread of life…I am the bread that came down from heaven…”. Jesus is seen much more clearly as the son of God in this gospel and much less human.

Another important paradigm in this gospel is the separation between Christianity and Judaism. Because this gospel presumably has been written much later than the other synoptic gospels, the disconnect between the two religions had already began. Their was much more tension at the time between Christians and Jews and this gospel works to separate them even more. For example, in 8-37-44, John denounces the Jews. The author also alters miracle stories in order to show the disconnect between the Pharisees and the Christians. In doing so, these stories serve as reason for Christians to completely denounce Judaism as they denounced Jesus as the son of God.

Lastly, although John’s gospel is significantly different than the other three, his story-line provides room for their existence as well. He leaves significant gaps in his historical timeline, providing evidence for the fact that he had knowledge of the synoptic gospels. These gaps may allow for all four gospels to coexist together as they are not necessarily mutually exclusive.