Apprehension of Jesus in the Gospel of John

Josaphat C. Tam discusses the concept of the "apprehension of Jesus" in the Gospel of John by focusing on John's use of seeing, hearing, knowing, witnessing, remembering, and believing terms. In doing so, the author contributes to a better understanding of the concept and John's persuasive strategies by delineating a four-phased apprehension of Jesus in line with the overall plot. On such a basis, he postulates four aspects of John's intended impact on the readers: first of all, John has a dual faith-engendering/fostering goal targeted to believing and non-believing readers while secondly he skillfully reminds readers of the importance of the "present"-ness of a living, omniscient, and divine Jesus. Thirdly, the past activities of "seeing" and "hearing" in the Gospel are associated with reading John's trustworthy testimony in the present. Lastly, readers' (un)belief is opened up to challenging possibilities when the narrated Jesus is encountered.