The synoptic gospels are all similar compared to the Gospel of John. Some themes in John that stand out include: Jesus is the word of God (which is not found in any other Gospel) and the creator of the universe (1:1-5).

Many more examples in John are unique only to John: The story of Jesus turning water into wine, Jesus resurrecting Lazarus, long discourses and dialogue, specifically that with which he converses with Nicodemus (3:1-21).

Another interesting deviation is the lack of the messianic secret. Jesus doesn’t appear to hide his abilities; rather, he seems to demonstrate them as an example of who he is and his capabilities.

Jesus has a lot of “I am” statements as well. The latter verses in John in which these “I am” statements occur appear to reinforce how he is great and powerful rather than the Savior of Man, like he is portrayed in Mark. John seems to be creating a narrative in which serves to illustrate how Jesus wants people to know he’s the messiah. This is in contrast to Mark where he tells others to not reveal his coming, and is seen he denying those who ask for an example of his power or messianic status. They are then used as examples of those who do not have enough faith God.

Although, in John we see Jesus actively recruiting persons to his cause through demonstrations of power from God and performances of miracles shown as:

Changing water into wine in John 2:1-11 – “the first of the signs”

Healing the royal official’s son in Capernaum in John 4:46-54.

Healing the paralytic at Bethesda in John 5:1-15.

Feeding the 5000 in John 6:5-14.

Jesus’ walk on water in John 6:16-24.

Healing the man born blind in John 9:1-7.

Of the four canonical gospels, John takes the most care into elevating Jesus’s divinity and focuses more on the theological aspects of Jesus’s actions and words.  The Synoptics are primarily concerned with giving the historical account of Jesus’s life while John “has a chronology that is incompatible with that of the Synoptics and is more concerned with theology and symbolism” (White 347).  John’s audience was the newly Gentile Christian community that had recently become fully separated from Judaism which created tension within the two communities.  John’s gospel features major structural changes which involves the omission of Jesus’s temptation, Jesus casting out demons, or his transfiguration, it includes a significant amount of new and exclusive material such as Jesus’ traveling between Galilee and Jerusalem and the resurrection of Lazarus. Another key structural change is the fact that the Passover meal occurred after Jesus’s crucifixion and burial.  This change most likely contributes to the theology behind Jesus as the sacrificial lamb and the Lamb of God symbolism, therefore elevating his divinity.

The gospel of John invokes the use of “I am” discourses during Jesus’s preachings and in his speech.  Jesus is found using phrases such as “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12-58), which fully eliminates the secretive messiah complex and increases Jesus’s power, wisdom, and Christology.  This is in stark contrast with the synoptic gospels which account Jesus denying that he is the messiah.  In John 16: 28 Jesus says “I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father”; John leaves no room for interpretation as to who Jesus is and where he came from.  In John 1:1-18 Jesus is introduced as God, before any events of Jesus’ actual life occur, saying that “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” and that “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son”.  This passage introduces Jesus with high divinity, basically saying that he is God who came down to earth to live amongst us.  As Jesus’s death approaches, he leaves his followers with the gift of the Holy Spirit so that when the God on earth (Jesus) is physically gone, his people will not be orphaned and will continue to have God’s spirit with them.

Besides the differences in synopsis, The Gospel of John as a significantly different discourse when talking about Jesus. Also his claims are much more grand than any other of the Gospels. His prologue asserts that Jesus, was always the Son of God, even before his arrival on Earth. He is also the word and the light, and with all of these things together, without explicitly saying it, John refers to Jesus as the Logos. This eternal Jesus becomes the sole mediator between the divine and the earthly world. This discourse is why scholars refer to The Gospel of John as “high Christology”, because he is more divine here than any other gospel. However it is important to note that John makes the distinction that even though Jesus is Logos, he is still subordinate to God; which will help develop the tradition of the holy trinity.
Later, John attributes Jesus to saying very divine things. Unlike in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus here elaborates his own divine role. These are referred to as the “I am” passages, which all include quotes of Jesus making declarations about himself. the first, in John 6:35, Jesus compares himself to the bread of life, in which through him their lives will be fulfilled. One of the most quoted John Verses is 8:12, in which Jesus claims he is the Light of the world, and again whoever finds him (the light) will not wander in darkness. Then, Jesus uses another incredibly similar analogy, begging he question why are these statements so evenly spread apart? In 10:7 Jesus compares himself to a gate for sheep, once again being the middle man to salvation, and without him there will be none. In John 14:6, Jesus doesn’t use an analogy to explain his divinity, but finally blatantly says that he is the way in life, and anyone that knows him will also know God. This is interesting how many times he had to say the same thing, and eventually say upright and obvious. because then John 15 starts off with the same message of high Christology, but once again Jesus uses an equivalent analogy, of him being the vine, and God being the vine grower. Meaning God has set in place the opportunity to flourish spiritually, but you must go through Jesus.

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.