John 3 - Part 1

An Introduction

We start a new study focused from the Bible's John chapter 3.

Our study of chapter 3 will take us all the way back to the beginning and as far forward as the end.

We will be using a variety of resources from archaeology, other sources of textual antiquity, geography, and language.

We do all this to more clearly understand, so we can share, who Jesus is and what God did through Jesus life.

Let's start our journey with a simple reading of the text.

Historical Context

What was going on in the world at this time?

Map of Rome

AD 6 - Rome and Germany war at Tuetoberg Forest

Geographica by Strabo published

AD 7 - Alexandria passes Memphis as largest city in Egypt

Koine Greek is the primary language throughout the Roman empire

What was happening in Jerusalem at this time?

AD 6 - Samaritans desecrate temple in Jerusalem

AD 33 - Earthquake damages temple

AD 37 - Herod lays siege to the city

Questions We Might Have

What does it mean to be “born from above” or “born again”?

What does it mean to be saved, and is that different from being born from above?

How do you know when you have been saved or born from above?

What must we believe according to Jesus?

What is sin?

Why would God want to save us from our sin?

Who does salvation belong to?

Key People

Jew

From Dictionary.com

one of a scattered group of people that traces its descent from the Biblical Hebrews or from postexilic adherents of Judaism; Israelite.a person whose religion is Judaism.a subject of the ancient kingdom of Judah.

adjective

Offensive. of Jews; Jewish.

verb (used with object)

(lowercase)Offensive. to bargain sharply with; beat down in price (often followed by down).

The Jewish people.

So the name Jew does not necessarily mean all the tribes of Israel in a Genesis concept of Israel. The word 'Jew' is more historically linked to a tribe of Israel, Judah. We will study more in depth later about what being a Jewish person during the time of Jesus possibly felt like and what since of community it must have felt like based on your ancestry.

Pharisee

Judaism in NT times was diverse. We read of Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians.[1]

The Pharisees constituted the largest and most important group, Josephus stating that they numbered about 6,000.[2]

Josephus was a Jewish man who was a general in the army that then served Rome as a historical record keeper during the times of Jesus.

They controlled the synagogues[3]

The term “Pharisee” means “separated ones.”[4]

They were the developers of the oral tradition, the teachers of the two-fold law: written and oral. They saw the way to God as being through obedience to the law. They were the progressives of the day, willing to adopt new ideas and adapt the law to new situations.[5]

Source: Holman Bible Dictionary

This image provides for a us an artistic reference point allowing us to see what a typical Pharisee may have looked liked compared during the time of Jesus.

Jesus

Jesus was a common name. Other men during this time period actually had that name. The origin of the name is from the

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English, from Late Latin Iēsus, from Greek Iēsoûs, from Hebrew Yēshūaʿ, syncopated variant of Yəhōshūaʿ “God is help”; from dictionary.com

Yeshua was the form of the name stemming from Joshua as we know it.