John's difference from the other gospel narratives was recognized by such ancient Christian writers as Clement of Alexandria in the late second century, Origen in the early third century, and Eusebius in the early fourth century, who set the stage for opposing views of John's relation to the Synoptics. John was deemed either compatible with, if supplementary to, the other canonical Gospels, as Clement and Eusebius believed, or obviously at odds historically with the companion works, according to Origen's opposing view.
These two essential interpretive views have played out to the present day. S