How are the Gospels best interpreted? Reflecting on this question, Hagner notes that the Gospels are historical writings, they span three time frames, and the authors each gave their own shape to the tradition.

Philo of Alexandria was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in the first century A.D. Hagner is interested in the mysticism of Philo and his vision of God as material for comparison with the Gospel of John's doctrine of God.