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John – the Gospel of Witnesses
If one of the gospel books is about testifying or witnessing, it is John. Thirty-one times martureo is used in John, versus once in Matthew, once in Luke, and zero times in Mark. Here are 2 uses which go back to the legal requirement of needing 2 or 3 witnesses:
• ““If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true.” (CSB’17 John 5:31-32)
• “Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am the one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”” (CSB’17 John 8:17-18)
While all 4 gospels mention Joseph of Arimathea, only John mentions both he and Nicodemus. What do these men have in common? Both were in the Sanhedrin; and both showed their belief in Jesus by participating in His burial (John 19:38-42). The very religous body that condemned Jesus, now has two men who, by their actions, are testifying or witnessing, on Jesus’s behalf. The trial was a farce. Only the gospel of witnessing shows us these two witnesses standing against that verdict, even if too late to change it. “The testimony of two witnesses is true” (John 8:17).
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