. (1) The Feast of the Passover (2:13, 23), First Passover, A.
D. 27. (2) A Feast of the Jews (5:1), probably Purim. (3) Passover a
Feast of the Jews (6:4), Second Passover, A. D. 28. (4) Feast of the
Tabernacles (7:2). (5) Feast of the Dedication (10:22). (6) Passover
(11:55-56; 12:1, 12, 20; 13:29; 18:28). Third Passover, A. D. 29.

2. It Is a Gospel of Testimony. John writes to prove that Jesus is
the Christ. He assumes the attitude of a lawyer before a jury and
introduces testimony until he fells certain of his case and then
closes the testimony with the assurance that much more could be
offered if it seemed necessary. There are seven lines of testimony.
(1) The testimony of John the Baptist. (2) The testimony of certain
other individuals. (3) The testimony of Jesus' works. (4) The
testimony of Jesus himself (see the I am's). (5) The testimony of the
scripture. (6) The testimony of the Father. (7) The testimony of the
Holy Spirit.

3. It Is of Gospel of Belief. The purpose being to produce belief
there are given: numerous examples of belief, showing the growth of
faith; the secret of faith, such as hearing or receiving the word; the
results of faith, such as eternal life, freedom, peace, power, etc.

4. It Is a Spiritual Gospel. It represents the deeper mediations of
John, which are shaped so as to establish a great doctrine which,
instead of history, became his great impulse. To John "history is
doctrine" and he reviews it in the light of its spiritual
interpretation. It furnished a great bulwark against the Gnostic
teachers, who had come to deny the diety of Jesus. He also emphasized
and elaborated the humanity of Jesus. His whole purpose is "not so
much the historic record of the facts as the development of their
inmost meaning."

5. It Is a Gospel of Symbolism. John was a mystic and delighted in
mystic symbols. The whole book speaks in the language of symbols. The
mystic numbers three and seven prevail throughout the book not only in
the things and sayings recorded but in the arrangement of topics. Each
of the Eight Miracles is used for a "sign" or symbol, as the feeding
of the five thousand in which Jesus appears as the bread or support of
life. The great allegories of the Good-Shepherd, the sheep-fold and
the vine; the names used to designate Jesus as the Word, Light, the
Way, the Truth, the Life, etc., all show how the whole gospel is
penetrated with a spirit of symbolic representation.

6. It Is the