Faith Works Summer Devotions

Background of the Gospel of John: 1. Who: John, brother of James, who together form the “sons of thunder”, a slight contrast to the gentle physician Luke. Father was Zebedee. Mother was Salome who served Jesus and was present at His crucifixion (Mark 15:40-41).  John evidently started among the Galilean followers of John the Baptist who were called to follow Jesus (1:91-51) and were later called to be His disciples. John was among the twelve selected to be apostles (Luke 6:12-16). After Christ’s ascension, John became a “pilar” of the church along with James and Peter (Gal 2:9). He is mentioned three times in Acts (Acts 3:1, 4:13, 8:14), each time in association with Peter. Tradition says John went to Ephesus and was eventually exiled to Patmos by the Romans for a time (Rev 1:9). 2. When: John was written after the last synoptic gospel (66-68), and with his 3 epistles and Revelation written after this gospel, so that writing probably occurred between 68-90 AD. 3. Whom: John writes to everyone, possibly t