The Character of John in the Fourth Gospel

Abstract

"The first human character that appears in the Fourth Gospel is John (1:6). Although he is never called “Baptist” or “Baptizer” in this gospel, the references to his baptizing activities in 1:25–33 and 3:23 assure us that it is the same person we find in the Synoptics. Virtually all scholars agree on the characterization of John in the Fourth Gospel: he is a witness. The author has stripped John of almost all details regarding his identity and activities, reducing him to the single role of a witness to Jesus. John is a flat character, and hence there is nothing more to him.1 This may explain why John has received so little attention from scholarship"