What is the life setting of John’s gospel, the historical matrix out of which the message of the Fourth Gospel was born? The first question that arises is that of authorship. Two kinds of evidence can aid us in answering this crucial question: external evidence (information provided outside the gospel, such as comments by the ancient fathers) and internal evidence (data supplied by the text of John’s gospel itself). Traditionally, conservative interpreters have begun with a discussion of the external
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