Gospel of John - 1

Gospel of John - 1

Introduction and 1:1-18

“The Gospel of John is a remarkable piece of work. If we want a biblical book that is clear, filled with the gospel and good basic theology, and a good read for the young seeker or convert, we give them the Gospel of John. And if we want to study an incredibly deep theological masterpiece that stretches the brightest mind, we open the Gospel of John. It is at one and the same time the easiest to understand and the most complex of all the Gospels.”[1]

Revelation 4:6b-7

Four creatures traditionally linked in church tradition and art to four Gospels:

- Man – Matthew – starts with human genealogy…as about a man

- Lion – Mark – emphasized royal dignity as King

- Ox – Luke – Jesus is the great servant of man and sacrifice (priesthood)

- Eagle – John – eagle alone can look directly into the sun unfazed; John offers

the most penetrating gaze into the depths of truth of Jesus’ identity.

John is Unique among Gospel Accounts:

- Significant overlap with John the Baptist

- Multiple accounts in Jerusalem/Judea (from chapter 10 on)

o Makes up for deficiencies in Synoptics

- Three Passovers (2:13 cleansing Temple; 6:4 feeding 5,000; at cross)

o Other gospels only record the final Passover

- 92% new material; only 8% overlap

o 5 of 8 miracles are unique to John

- John lacks:

o Birth account

o Baptism

o Temptations

o Last Supper

o Gethsemane

o Ascension/Great Commission

o No healings of demon possession

o No parables – long discourses instead

- John includes:

o Wedding at Cana

o Nicodemus

o Samaritan woman

o Raising of Lazarus

o Washing Disciple’s feet

o Teaching on Holy Spirit

- Miracles are Different:

o Not about compassion, but the glory revealed (2:11; 9:3; 11:4)

o All accompanied by long discourses – revealing identity

- Gospel not about facts, but the meaning of them

o Clement of Rome (150-215AD) – “Last of all, John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain…composed a spiritual Gospel.”[2]

- Two cultural issues dealt with:

o Elevation of John the Baptist

§ Jewish Christians believed he stood in line of the prophets

§ John lowers him into his proper place

o Gnosticism

§ 1:3 – creator

§ 3:16 – loves world

§ 1:14 – came in flesh

· Docetism (dokein – seem), phantom, no footprints, etc.

· Jesus of history and the Christ of faith

· John stresses both humanity and deity of Christ

o Humanity

§ Angry – 2:15

§ Tired – 4:6

§ Sympathy – 6:5

§ Wept – 11:33

§ Thirsty – 19:28

o Deity

§ All ‘I Am’ Statements (absolute and predicate)

§ Pre-existence – 8:58

§ Glory with the Father – 17:5

§ Came down from Heaven – 6:33

§ Omniscience

· Samaritan’s woman’s sins – 4:16

· Length of illness – 5:6

· Judas’ betrayal – 6:61

· Lazarus’ death – 11:14

Authorship:

- Written by Apostle John

o From Ephesus (where he pastors the church)

o ~90AD

§ 6:1; 21:1 Sea of Tiberias – reference to Sea of Galilee at end of 1st century

§ 21:19 mention of Peter’s martyrdom (64-66AD)

§ Lack of reference to Sadducees (ceased as group after 70AD)

- Irenaeus confirms John’s authorship

o On Polycarp’s authority – Against Heresies 2.22.5; 3.1.1

o Had been a disciple of John’s

- John omits his own name from the book…the only John is the Baptist.

o ‘one whom Jesus loved’

o 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7,20

Motifs:

- Misunderstanding of the crowd

o Jesus speaks, they misunderstand, Jesus clarifies

- Sevens and Threes

o Both sets of ‘I Am’ statements

o Seven signs and seven discourses in first half of book

- Conflict between belief and unbelief about Jesus

- Increasing conflict between Jesus and his opponents – ends at cross

- Symbols to explain Jesus’ identity

o Light, dark, water, bread, shepherd

- Contrasts

o Light v. dark; life v. death; fleeting v. eternal; disease v. health; love v. hate

Theological Themes:

- Christology – John is main NT source on person/work of Christ

- Faith & Salvation – how to be saved, people expressing faith

- Unbelief leading to damnation – way of salvation by negative example, stories of rejection

- Resurrection – adds Lazarus’ resurrection to Jesus’ own

- Holy Spirit – chapter 16 primary text

- Union with Christ – chapter 15 key NT text

Theme: That you may believe

John 20:30-31

- Pisteuo – verb form 98x (v. 34x total in Synoptics)…almost every chapter

o Never uses noun form

- Ginosko/oida – know 141x

- Life/eternal life – 66 of 135x in NT (only 16x in Synoptics)

- Not really a story, per se…but a narrative argument supported by testimonies

o Martyr – witness

§ Verb 33x in John (1x in Mt; 1x in Lk; 0x in Mk)

§ Noun 14x in John (0x in Mt; 1x in Lk; 3x Mk)

Martin Luther – if we lost all the books of the Bible except John and Romans, Christianity would be saved.

Henry Clay Trumbell (evangelist) challenged agnostic to study John. Response: “The one of whom this book tells is either the Savior of the world or he ought to be.”

John 1:1-18

These 18 verses are written with the simplest language in all the NT. Yet they contain its most profound concepts.

As a Prologue, this sets the pattern for the entire book.

1. Revelation (1:1-5 // 1:19-6:71)

2. Rejection (1:6-11 // 7:1-12:50)

3. Reception (1:12-18 // 13:1-19:42)

1. REVELATION (1:1-5)

- In the beginning – echoes creation account in Genesis

o Hints that Jesus has come to recreate and renew

o No human genealogy, but a Heavenly/Divine one

- Was – we will talk about this word in a bit when we get to v. 14

- Word – logos

o Only NT book to refer to Jesus in this way, and only until v. 14

o Jews familiar – OT, God’s word is his powerful self-expression in creation, in revelation and in salvation. Jews referred to God as the Word.

§ Represents his law – Psalm 119:11; 119:89

§ Healing – Psalm 107:20

§ Creation – Psalm 33:6-9

§ Knowledge of God – Hosea 4:1

o Greeks familiar

§ Logos was the divine mind, the ordering principle of the universe; the governing power behind everything.

o All of that rolled into one…Jesus Christ

- Word was with God

o Immediate trinitarian breakdown

§ Eternal

§ Divine

§ Powerful

- Word was God

o Continued trinitarian beliefs

§ Not just with God, but IS God.

o Explicit texts claiming Jesus is God

§ John 20:28

§ Romans 9:5

§ Titus 2:13 (Granville-Sharp’s Rule)

§ Hebrews 1:8

§ 2 Peter 1:1 (Granville-Sharp’s Rule)

o Sentence structure…Theos is first to represent emphasis on deity

- V. 2 – He was in the beginning with God

o Stresses his eternal nature

o Back to creation

- V. 3 – all things made through him

o When God created, how did he do it? Spoke it…with WORDS.

o Jesus is agent of creation

§ Colossians 1:16-17

§ Hebrews 1:2

§ 1 Corinthians 8:6

- Not anything made…lit. not one thing

- V. 4 – in him was life

o Makes sense as he is the Creator…only the Creator has life inherent in himself

o Self-existent life – no one gives him life

§ Not only in creation, but also in regeneration

§ Ephesians 2:5

- V. 5 – light shines in darkness

o At least referring to general revelation…opens eyes to truth

§ Possible reference to specific revelation of God in Christ

- Darkness has not overcome

o Overcome – could translate as ‘understand.’ Word means ‘to grasp.’ In John it always means hostility.

§ John 3:19; 8:12; 12:35

o Darkness is huge theme in John (light v. dark)

§ 14x (8x in Gospel; 6x in 1 John…out of 17x in NT)

If you want to know who God is, what God does…look no further than Jesus Christ. Instead of being darkened in your understanding, groping around in searching…look to the Light who will illuminate the Lord for you. And when he opens your eyes, he gives light to the dark, and life to the dead.

v. 1-5 are likely an early Christian hymn.

2. REJECTION (1:6-11)

- v. 6-8 – see the themes of the book emerging

o witness

o light

- v. 9 – light to everyone

o general revelation of creation and conscience

§ enough to be held responsible for rejection

o General revelation does not lead to salvation.

§ Either leads to full light in Jesus or condemnation for rejection

§ Romans 1:19-20

§ Romans 2:12-16

- V. 10 – he was in the world

o What an incredible phrase! The Creator himself came into creation.

o Though he made the world, the world did not know him.

§ Darkness/ignorance

- V. 11 – he came to his own, and his own people

o His own…reference to all created beings (as Creator, they belong to him)

o His own people…Jews in particular

§ Theme of John…rejection of Jews

§ Even with the OT, they still rejected Christ

- Did not receive him

o Doesn’t say…did not know him. But did not ‘receive’

o Implies relationship with Christ is more than believing he is real.

§ Believe – pisteuo…word for faith. Literally “faithed” in him.

The fact of the matter is that people reject Christ. He is light…and as we saw…people love the darkness and hate the light. Light exposes. Light projects. Light keeps things from being hidden.

3. RECEPTION (1:12-18)

- V. 12 – But…what an incredible word. We are left at despair at the end of v. 11. But the ‘but’ always brings hope.

o Like Ephesians 2:4…But God, who is rich in mercy…

- Received him, believed in his name

o This is how we receive him…we believe (faith) in his name

o More than believe facts

§ ILL – ‘receive’ guests in home…that entails a lot. Accept them.

- Right

o Legal word

§ ILL - Once Cora was adopted, she immediately had legal rights

- Become children of God

o Become…meaning a child of God is not our natural condition

§ “we are all God’s children…” No, that’s not true.

o Sidenote…in John, only Jesus is called “Son.” Believers are called Children.

§ No confusion at all…he is unique…we will see that in a few minutes.

- V. 13 – born…not of blood, will of flesh, will of man

o Not of blood – not physical birth (universalism)

o Not of flesh – ethnic heritage (Jews)

o Not will of man – not human effort

- Of God

o God is the author of life, and new life in Christ.

o Introducing concept of regeneration, which will come up in ch. 2-3, the new birth

§ Which is entirely an act of God.

§ Ephesians 2…dead in sin…corpses don’t make decisions

§ The Holy Spirit has to be involved pre-salvation

· Titus 3:3-7

§ If he doesn’t awaken the soul, open our eyes to truth, we will forever reject Jesus.

- V. 12-13 are interplay between human responsibility (v. 12) and divine sovereignty (v. 13)

- V. 14 – Word became flesh

o Some have said this is most magnificent truth in the Bible…God became human.

§ Incarnation

§ God put skin on and moved in.

o This is where we get the doctrine of the humanity of Jesus. When he became human, he did not give up his divinity. He was both human and divine. Philippians 2 indicates that when Jesus “took on flesh” he did not give up his God-ness. He simply added humanity.

§ I mentioned earlier we’d come back to this…in v. 1-18 there are two critical words John uses.

§ ‘en’ – imperfect of eimi…lit. had been

· V. 1,2,4,9,10,15

· Jesus ‘was’…had been God. Always.

§ ‘egeneto’ – root is ginomai – aorist of ‘become.’ Lit. Became.

· Used in v. 14.

· At incarnation, Jesus became something he had not been before…human.

· All without giving up his divinity.

· Theological term…hypostatic union…fully God and fully man.

o This is the very doctrine that gets people all bent out of shape, and always has.

§ To say Jesus ‘was God’ was blasphemous to Jews.

§ To say the Word ‘became flesh’ was unthinkable to Greeks.

· 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

o Still mess it up today…2 most common errors are to minimize Jesus humanity (makes him unable to be our sympathetic high priest), or minimize Jesus’ divinity (lose salvation if do that).

§ Only as both can Jesus represent both in the transaction of salvation.

- Dwelt among us

o Lit. pitched a tent; tabernacled among us.

§ Imagine is of the OT tabernacle in the wilderness in Exodus. God dwelt among the Israelites. Now he dwells with us.

- Seen his glory

o Two options…likely both

§ Exodus 40:34-38…just as saw God’s glory in the tabernacle, we now see in Jesus.

§ Luke 9 – Transfiguration

o Just as God was in Tabernacle, and then in Temple, he is now in us.

§ 1 Corinthians 3:16 – Church is Temple

§ 1 Corinthians 6:19 – Believers is Temple

- As of the only Son

o Some translations put this as ‘the only begotten Son.’ Mistranslation. Makes it sound like Jesus was born or created.

o Monogenes – mono…one // genus…species/kind

§ Means unique

· Used in 1:14,18; 3:16,18

§ Title of pre-eminence.

- V. 15 – John’s witness…’he was before me.’ That is what John means…he outranks me.

- V. 16 – grace upon grace…layer upon layer of God’s gracious kindness to us in Christ.

- V. 17 – law given through Moses

o Not implication that law is bad. Law was a gift. But it wasn’t grace. The law was the clear demand of God for perfect holiness.

§ Law showed need for a Savior

· Romans 3:19-21

· Galatians 3:21-26

§ Law was only prepatory…our babysitter. Pointed to the fullness that was coming in Jesus.

- Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ

o Truth never went away…he is simply the fullness of it. John 14:6

o Grace is now the operating principle between God and mankind.

- V. 18 – no one has ever seen God

o Reference to Exodus 33:18-20 when Moses asked to see God’s glory. God told him no one could see him and live.

§ Therefore, only Jesus has seen him. Only Jesus knows him fully.

- The only God

o Another clear declaration of Jesus’ divinity. It really can’t get more explicit than that. V. 1 and v. 18 form an inclusio…brackets declaring Jesus as God.

o Only…monogenes…unique one

§ Yet…at the Father’s side…trinitarian concept

- Has made him known

o Made known – Greek word for exegesis…interpretation

§ All Jesus is and does interprets and explains who God is and what God does.

§ Colossians 2:9

§ 2 Cor. 4:4

§ Colossians 1:15

§ 1 Tim. 6:13-16 – hopeless w/o Christ to help us…God is unknowable

[1] Grant R. Osborne, John: Verse by Verse, ed. Jeffrey Reimer et al., Osborne New Testament Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018), 1.

[2] Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6.14.7