Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 21:62 (Spring 2017)
Article: The Distinctive Sonship Soteriology Of Jesus In The Fourth Gospel, Part III
Author: Don Trest

JODT 21:62 (Spring 2017) p. 39

The Distinctive Sonship Soteriology Of Jesus
In The Fourth Gospel, Part III

Don Trest

* Don Trest, M.B.S., D.Min., professor of Bible & theology, Tyndale Theological Seminary and Biblical Institute

Part three of this series will address the bi-directional messianic ministry of Jesus to Israel. The dissimilarity of John to the Synoptic Gospels is due, in part, to the emphasis John placed upon the sonship assertions of Jesus. John emphasized the sonship declarations of Jesus delivered in Jerusalem, in the first and third periods of the messianic ministry of Jesus. The Synoptic penmen, on the other hand, documented the messianic credentials of Jesus presented in the territories of Israel (Galilee, Judea, Decapolis, Perea, Phoenicia) in the second and third periods. The Synoptic Gospels essentially bypassed the Johannine sonship depositions given by Jesus before the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem. John likewise ignored the ministry of Jesus undertaken in the territories of Israel before the people of Israel as reported by the Synoptic penmen.

1. The Fourth Gospel accentuated the initial presentation of Jesus’ messianic claim to the Jerusalem leadership and the supervening refusal of the leadership to certify Jesus as the promised Messiah in the first and third periods. The focus in John is the Sonship depositions of Jesus in Jerusalem. The Fourth Gospel’s distinctive soteriological perspective is based in Jesus’ sonship proclamations reported by the author of John in the text of the Fourth Gospel. The sonship assertions further substantiated Jesus’ Messianic claim to the Jewish leadership.
2. The Synoptic penmen documented the subsequent presentation of Jesus’ Messianic credentials to the people of Israel located throughout the territories of Israel (Galilee, Judea, Decapolis, Perea, Phoenicia) in the second and third periods, upon the refusal of the Jewish leadership to endorse Him as the Messiah. Matthew, Mark, and Luke reported samplings from the teachings, miracles, parables, and other aspects of Jesus’ ministry, undertaken principally in Israel’s territories to certify Jesus’ messianic credentials to future generations in Israel and in the church.

JODT 21:62 (Spring 2017) p. 40

The Bi-Directional Messianic Ministry Of Jesus To Israel

John intentionally limited the scope of the material he included in his Gospel. John stated, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). To this end, John deliberately selected episodes from the life of Jesus that best represented the unique sonship relationship...