Introduction to Gospel of John

One of my biggest problems is that I found out early in life that in order for me to be effective, I need structure. I need to understand how things look, what the situation is and how I fit into that. It’s a problem because I’m not a very good organizer.

Story of flight training.

When it comes to preaching and teaching, I have the same need for structure. One of the ways in which I do that is to teach in series or to do book studies.

My vision for our Bible study in the coming months/years

My overall vision: That we gain a new understanding for who Jesus is, what He wants His followers to do, and what he wants His church to be.

In short, I want us to be a church on mission. In order to do that we have to know our Leader, who He is and what is important to Him.

In order to do that, here’s the plan

Study the Gospel of John

Study the Acts of the Apostles.

John’s Gospel

Authorship

There is some discussion and diagreement through the years on who wrote this book. John’s name does not appear anywhere throughout this book

How do we know that this book was written by John. While there is no way to know 100%, there is evidence.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE

He knew and quoted the OT various times. (Eg, chapt 12 he quotes from the book of Isaiah. The next chapter he quotes from Psalms)

He knew and understood Jewish customs such as feasts and ceremonies

He knew Palestine very well, such as distances between villages and the layout of the temple. And in chapter 5 when telling about Jesus healing the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda, he knew that there were 5 covered colonades around this pool.

He knew the difference between Jews and Samaritans. (the woman at the well)

Most importantly, he was an eye witness to the works of Jesus and includes himself with others who were close-up witnesses of Jesus--”we have seen His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father”

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE

It was widely accepted by the early church fathers that John was the author and some of them knew John personally

I am going to operate on the assumption that John is the author.

Why The Gospel of John?

Because John’s gospel is different than the other 3. Not necessarily better but different

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are known as the “synoptic gospels”. That means that they basically follow the same pattern and record a lot of the same things

But when John decided to write his account of the life of Jesus, it was almost as if he said, “there is something missing from these other accounts. I don’t need to re-invent the wheel. Rather I want focus on something different”.

It’s almost like he says “I don’t want you to just know about Jesus. But I want you to know Him.

There are a lot of things that the other gospels include that John doesn’t:

What he doesn’t include

any geneologies

account of the Lord’s birth

any casting out of demons

any healing of lepers

any parables

the sending out of the 12 or the 70

any account of the Great Commission

Any account of the ascencion

What he does include (just some things)

Jesus as Creator—

Jesus as “the only begotten of the Father” and

Jesus as the Lamb of God—

His first miracle—water into wine

The conversation with Nicodemus

Raising Lazerus from the dead

The upper room discourse

Washing disciples’ feet—

The high priestly prayer.—

Point—For John, the deity of Christ is without question.

In the synoptic gospels we see the deity of Jesus gradually dawning on the disciples. As Jesus performed miracles and taught, it was as if the scales gradually fell off their eyes.

Their realization builds and builds until the great confession of Peter “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

With John, the deity of Christ is without question right off the bat. He states it in chapter 1

“In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God

But not only does John affirm the deity of Jesus right off the bat, he also throughout his book seems to be captured by what the deity of Christ meant for the the people whom he lived among and what it means for us today.

He doesn’t present Jesus as a King come to rule His world; rather there is something personal, compassionate, and

Point—We read the 7 great “I AM” statements of Christ:

1. “I am the bread of life” (6:35)

2. “I am the light of the world” (8:12)

3. “I am the door for the sheep” (10:7; cf. v. 9)

4. “I am the good shepherd” (10:11, 14)

5. “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25)

6. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6)

7. “I am the true vine” (15:1; cf. v. 5)

When Jesus said these, the Jews did not miss the significance of what He was saying

Moses in the wilderness asked God what His name was and who should I say sent me? God said, “I AM who I AM. Tell him that I AM has sent you”.

So when Jesus began to speak of Himself in this way, I don’t think it went over their heads. They were aware of what he was at least implying.

And when you get to chapter 8, He says “Before Abraham was, I AM!” With this statement, there was no doubt what He was saying and the Jews picked up stones to stone Him for blasphemy

So for John, The deity of Christ is preeminent but he presents Jesus in a very personal way…as one who meets the deepest needs of mankind.

life, light, door, good shepherd, resurrection and life, the way the truth and the life, true vine

So for this reason, if you know someone who is a new Believer, or a young Believer or is interested in being a Believer, the Gospel of John is a great book to point this person to

We read this especially in his book of 1 John

John the man

Now, let’s spend a little time and learn to know John himself. Who was he?

He was a fisherman

A brother to James.

In the book of Matthew, we read that Jesus was walking along by the Sea of Galilee

He first saw Andrew and Peter casting their nets into the lake

He called them and at once they left their nets and followed him.

And going a little farther, he saw James and his brother, John, preparing their nets along with their father Zebedee. It’s a good chance that John and James weren’t very old when Jesus called them.

When Jesus called them, immediately they left their nets and followed him

It strikes me that John, along with James, Andrew, and Peter so eagerly followed Jesus.”

We know that John was included in Jesus’ intimate circle of friends: Peter, James, and John. James and John were brothers, the “Sons of Thunder”. Andrew, the brother of Peter was not included. Why? We don’t know

They accompanied Jesus to places where others weren’t allowed to go:

into the home of Jarius when he raised the girl from the dead

Up to the Mount of Transfiguration

When Jesus needed special comfort or companionship, we see Peter, James, and John with him—on the Mount of Olives

So, I tend to put John on a pedestal and think that he was a super-righteous guy.

While at the same time we get down on Peter as being impulsive and too human. Even though he, too, was one of the three.

But with a little searching we see that John was about as human and impulsive as Peter.

All of these guys had some rough edges to knock off

In one little window, we see possibly why Jesus nicknamed John and his brother James “The Sons of Thunder”.

In , They were traveling to Jerusalem and had to go through a Samaritan territory. He sent messengers on ahead to prepare a place for him to stay but he wasn’t welcomed.

James and John, eager to help and filled with righteous indignation said, “Do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”

That earned them a rebuke from Jesus.

In the very next chapter, we see John and James getting into another bit of trouble when they come to Jesus with a question.

It seems that possibly their close friendship with Jesus might have gone to their heads just a bit.

“When you come into your glory (or establish your kingdom), we want one of us to sit at your right hand, and one to sit at your left hand”

Jesus’ response is interesting. He says, “You have no idea what you are asking! Are you willing to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the same baptism that I recieve?”

James and John are like, “Oh yeah! Sure we can do that. Sounds easy enough”

And Jesus said, “Well, good news. You will drink that cup and be baptized in the same way. But I can’t grant you the the privilege of sitting at my right or left hand. Those places have already been given to someone”.

Of course, this made the other disciples quite indignant: “Hey, who do you think you are?”

And Jesus had to say, “Hold on guys! My kingdom isn’t this kind of kingdom where we deal with authority structures and rights of individuals! Instead, in order to be great, you must be the servant of everyone.”

So we see John’s humaness here. But I have to wonder if this exchange with Jesus really had a deep impact on him and impressed upon him the kind of person and the kind of king that Jesus was.

Because much later on when he wrote his gospel and later on his letters, the themes are not ones of human greatness, but of the supremecy of Jesus, and of love for God and for your neighbor.

So as we wrap up this introduction and prepare to dive into the book starting next week, here are some takeaways

Be challenged by the response of John to the call of Jesus

Be amazed at Christ, who came to fulfill the deepest and most desperate needs of mankind

Read Chapter 1 of John

John’s Gospel

Authorship

There is some discussion and diagreement through the years on who wrote this book. John’s name does not appear anywhere throughout this book

How do we know that this book was written by John. While there is no way to know 100%, there is evidence.

INTERNAL EVIDENCE

He knew and quoted the OT various times

He knew and understood Jewish customs such as feasts and ceremonies

He knew Palestine very well, such as distances between villages and the layout of the temple. And in chapter 5 when telling about Jesus healing the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda, he knew that there were 5 covered colonades around this pool.

He knew the difference between Jews and Samaritans. (the woman at the well)

Most importantly, he was an eye witness to the works of Jesus and includes himself with others who were close-up witnesses of Jesus--”we have seen His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father”

EXTERNAL EVIDENCE

It was widely accepted by the early church fathers that John was the author and some of them knew John personally

I am going to operate on the assumption that John is the author.

Why The Gospel of John?

Because John’s gospel is different than the other 3. Not necessarily better but different

Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are known as the “synoptic gospels”. That means that they basically follow the same pattern and record a lot of the same things

But when John decided to write his account of the life of Jesus, it was almost as if he said, “there is something missing from these other accounts. I don’t need to re-invent the wheel. Rather I want focus on something different”.

It’s almost like he says “I don’t want you to just know about Jesus. But I want you to know Him.

There are a lot of things that the other gospels include that John doesn’t:

What he doesn’t include

any geneologies

account of the Lord’s birth

any casting out of demons

any healing of lepers

any parables

the sending out of the 12 or the 70

any account of the Great Commission

Any account of the ascencion

What he does include (just some things)

Jesus as Creator— John 1

Jesus as “the only begotten of the Father” and

Jesus as the Lamb of God—John 1

His first miracle—water into wine John 2

The conversation with Nicodemus John 3

Raising Lazerus from the dead John 11

The upper room discourse John 14-17

Washing disciples’ feet— John 13

The high priestly prayer.—John 17

Point—For John, the deity of Christ is without question.

In the synoptic gospels we see the deity of Jesus gradually dawning on the disciples. As Jesus performed miracles and taught, it was as if the scales gradually fell off their eyes.

Their realization builds and builds until the great confession of Peter “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

With John, the deity of Christ is without question right off the bat. He states it in chapter 1

Point—We read the 7 great “I AM” statements of Christ:

1. “I am the bread of life” (6:35)

2. “I am the light of the world” (8:12)

3. “I am the door for the sheep” (10:7; cf. v. 9)

4. “I am the good shepherd” (10:11, 14)

5. “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25)

6. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6)

7. “I am the true vine” (15:1; cf. v. 5)

But the most outstanding thing about the Gospel of John is that John not only had a grasp of the deity of Christ, but of His love. His theology seemed to be “Jesus Loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

We read this especially in his book of 1 John