re especially, (1)
his encounters with the Jewish rulers at Jerusalem, (2) his private
confidential intercourse with his disciples. Whatever weight we may
allow to this consideration, it cannot be regarded as a full explanation
of the difference between John and the other evangelists in the
selection of materials. With the exception of the miracle of the loaves
and fishes and the incidents connected with it (chap. 6:1-21) his
notices of our Lord's ministry in Galilee relate almost entirely to
incidents and discourses omitted by the other evangelists. It is
altogether probable that, although John did not write his gospel simply
as supplementary to the earlier gospels, he yet had reference to them in
the selection of his materials. His own statement: "Many other signs
truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book. But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life
through his name" (chap. 20:30, 31), is not inconsistent with such a
supposition. The "many other signs" he may have omitted, in part at
least, because he judged that a sufficient account of them had been
given by the earlier evangelists, of whose writings, when we consider
the time that in all probability intervened between their composition
and that of his gospel, we cannot suppose him to have been ignorant.
Such a reference to these writings does not in any way exclude the
general design which he had, in common with the earlier evangelists, to
show "that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," through faith in whose
name eternal life is received.

Ancient tradition represents, in a variety of forms, that John
intended to complete the evangelical history, as given by the
other evangelists, in the way of furnishing additional events
and discourses omitted by them. The citations may be seen in
Davidson's Introduct. to New Test., vol. 1, pp. 320-22. Though
the statements of the fathers on this point cannot be accepted
without qualification, there is no valid ground for denying the
general reference above assumed.

36. In writing his gospel John had not a polemical, but a _general end_
in view. It was not his immediate aim to refute the errors and heresies
of his day; but, as he tells us, to show that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God, in order that men, through faith in his name, may have
eternal life. Yet, like every