The Gospel of John is a “Spiritual Gospel” in the theological sense of the word; the Fathers of the Church had already accredited John with the title “Theologian” and modern exegeses retain the same appraisal. Studies of our time have brought to light that the author of the fourth Gospel isn’t a neo platonic mystic, who dreams of escaping from the reality of our world, but a man who deeply knows first century Palestine from the geographical, topographical, chronological viewpoint; and one who gives great importance to facts and true-life accounts of Jesus in the context of his environment. Though, he focused his entire attention and contemplation on Jesus-the Man, and why is revealed in Him the Word made flesh: the meeting with Jesus had been for John an unforgettable event, and the Gospel he left us is the fruit of that progressive discovery of Christ and of the lived experience with Christ. John’ skill is to penetrate, and to help us also penetrate with him, the mystery of the Son of God beyond the outward facts of Jesus’ life. In this sense, Jesus becomes for John, as Massimo the Confessor inspiringly used to say, “Symbol of Himself”: in as much as Jesus manifests himself externally to men, he leads them towards himself, yet remaining unfathomably hidden.

The commentary on the fourth Gospel, presented here in a revised and updated edition, proposes a new synthesis between critical exegesis and search for the “spiritual sense”, according to the spirit of the Fathers, particularly important for the Church and today’s world.