John Simplified

The Gospel of John is a Unique Gospel Account

It Isn’t Like the Synoptic Gospels

More Than 90% of its Material is Unique

Meaning: 90% of the Information We Read in John…

We Wouldn’t Have if We Didn’t Have the Book of John

John Doesn’t Focus On the Miracles, Parables, or Teachings of Jesus

All of These Things are Greatly Emphasized in the Other Accounts

John’s Primary Focus is to Show Us that Jesus is the Son of God

And He Does that in Some Really Neat Ways

Author & Audience

When You Look at the Internal Evidence of the Book…

You Can Narrow it Down to the Apostle John Being the Author

Plus, Early Church Fathers All Agreed that John was the Author of the Account

Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) Said:

“Last of all, John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain [in the other canonical Gospels]… composed a spiritual Gospel.”

According to Clement, John Looked at the Other Gospels…

How They Established Many Facts About the Birth, Life, Ministry, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus…

And He Decided to Write a Different Sort of Gospel Account

One that is Much More Spiritual in Nature

That Explains a Lot of Things We See in John’s Gospel

John Refers to Himself as “The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved” in this Account

He was One of Jesus’ 3 Closest Friends

He Will Outlive All of the Other Apostles

Before John’s Death, He Lived in Ephesus (the Roman Capital of Asia Minor)

So Scholars Believe His Account was Written for the Greco-Roman People in Ephesus

He Explained Many Jewish Customs, Palestinian Geography, and Translated Aramaic Terms into Greek

But According to John’s Own Words, This Account was Primarily for Unbelievers

The Gospel of John is an Evangelistic Gospel Account

We’ll Look at Where John Said this When We Get to the Purpose of the Book

Audience of the 4 Gospel Accounts

Matthew - Jews

Mark - Roman Christians

Luke - Gentile Christians

John - Unbelievers

Themes

John has So Many Themes in His Account

We’ll Just Focus On What I Consider to Be Some of the Major Ones

Jesus is the Son of God

This Can Mean Several Things

Primarily:

Jesus is God

Jesus is God’s Messianic King

This May Be the Primary Theme of the Book

That’s Definitely What John Wants Us to Know From the Very Beginning

John 1:1–3 (NASB95)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Jesus, Known as the Word/Message was With God and Was/Is God

He Created All Things in the Beginning

One of the Most Unique Ways that John Shows Us This…

Is Through the “I Am” Statements of Jesus

“I Am” Refers to the Personal Name of God that is Explained in Exodus 3

When Moses is Talking to God in the Burning Bush…

He Asks for God’s Name

And God Says, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

In John’s Gospel, Whenever Jesus Says, “I Am”…

He is Making a Subtle (Or Not-So-Subtle) Claim About Himself

“I Am God”

John Shows Us 2 Sets of 7 “I Am” Statements

Another Theme in John is the Number 7

7 Being the Symbolic Number of Completeness

This May Be John’s Way of Telling Us that Jesus is “Completely the Great I Am”

The First Set of 7 “I Am” Statements Are:

“I Am the Bread of Life” (6:35)

“I Am the Light of the World” (8:12)

“I Am the Door of the Sheep” (10:7)

“I Am the Good Shepherd” (10:11)

“I Am the Resurrection” (11:25)

“I Am the Way, Truth, & Life” (14:6)

“I Am the True Vine” (15:1)

Each of These “I Am” Statements are Linked with a Metaphor

All of These Metaphors Point to Jesus’ Deity

But the 2nd Set of 7 “I Am” Statements are Even More Explicit:

John 4:25–26 (NASB95)

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

“I Am Who Speak to You.”

John 6:18–20 (NASB95)

The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. Then, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. But He said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

“I Am; Do Not Be Afraid.”

John 8:23–24 (NASB95)

And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

“Unless You Believe that I Am, You Will Die in Your Sins.”

John 8:28 (NASB95)

So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.

“Then You Will Know that I Am…”

Then, One of the Most Famous and Straightforward of His “I Am” Statements

John 8:57–58 (NASB95)

So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

The Jews Knew Exactly What He Meant By that Statement…

Because They Immediately Tried to Stone Him

John 13:19 (NASB95)

“From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He.

“You May Believe that I Am.”

Then There’s the Final “I Am” Statement

What Happens After this 7th “I Am” Statement is Remarkable

John 18:3–6 (NASB95)

Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”

They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

The 7th/Complete Time Jesus Said “I Am”, it Knocked the Officers On Their Backs

Jesus, the Son of God, the Great “I Am” was Offering Himself for the Sins of the World

To Go Along the Themes of “Son of God” and “The Number 7”…

John Also Gives Us 7 Signs that Jesus is the Son of God

Water to Wine (2)

Healing a Sick Boy (4)

Healing a Paralyzed Man (5)

Feeding the 5,000 (6)

Healing a Blind Man (9)

Raising Lazarus (11)

Jesus’ Resurrection (20)

There are Other Miracles Recorded in this Account

But Each of These Were Public Signs Done for the Purpose of Proving His Identity at Messiah

With the 7th and Final Sign Being the Greatest of All

Light & Darkness - Life & Die

Each of These Words are Found More Times in the Gospel of John Than Anywhere Else

John 1:4–9 (NASB95)

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

Jesus is the Light that Overcomes the Darkness

Jesus is the Giver of Life and Those Who Don’t Believe in Him will Die

Love, The World, & Belief

John Uses These 3 Words Overwhelmingly More Than Any Other Author

John Sees “The World” as Those Who are:

Living in Sin

Under the Rulership of the Devil

Separated From the Salvation that Jesus Offers

John Wants His Readers to Know that God Loves the World…

And That His Mission is to the World

John 3:16 (NASB95)

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

All Those in the World Must Do to Be Saved From Death and Receive Life in the Age to Come…

Is Believe in Jesus

And the Main Way We Show that We Believe Jesus is By Loving Him and Loving Others

Purpose

The Simple Answer to the Purpose Behind this Gospel Account is in John 20:30-31

John 20:30–31 (NASB95)

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

The Purpose of John’s Gospel is So People Will Believe that Jesus is…

The Messiah, the Son of God

And that By Believing They Will Receive Life in the Age to Come

This is Why John Seems to Be an Account that was Primarily Written for Unbelievers

It was Meant to Be Used for Evangelistic Purposes

It is to Bring the World to King Jesus, the Son of God

But This Book Isn’t Just About Turning Non-Believers into Believers

It’s Extremely Deep and Rich in Theology…

Which Indicates that John Didn’t Just Want to Make Shallow Believers

He Wanted Well-Informed, Radically Transformed Followers of Jesus

Summarized Outline

There are a Lot of Great Ways to Outline this Book

But My Favorite that I Found is Based On Christ’s Relationship to Earth

This is Outline is Based Off of Jesus’ Words in John 16:28

John 16:28 (NASB95)

“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.”

From the Father (1:1-18)

Into the World (1:19-12:50)

Leaving the World (13-21)

Key Passage

A Key Passage is Like a One-Liner that Packs a Punch and Really Sums Up the Book

The Hard Part About Finding a Key Passage in John is…

The Entire Book is Full of Amazing One-Liners that Mean a Great Deal to the Entire Book

You’ve Got the Powerful First Chapter Focusing On the Deity of Jesus

You’ve Got John 3:16, the Most Famous Bible Verse

You’ve Got Jesus’ Encounters with Nicodemus or the Samaritan Woman at the Well

But the Passage I’ve Chosen is One of the Most Powerful Passages in the Entire Bible

John 13:1–5 (NASB95)

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

Application

Jesus Knew His Time had Come to Leave this World

His Mission On Earth was Almost Complete

Knowing This, the God of All Creation Got Up From Supper…

And Took the Position of a Lowly Servant…

And He Washed His Own Servants’ Feet

Even While Knowing that One of Them was Going to Betray Him…

He Washed Their Feet

Even While Knowing that He was Soon Going to Have to Leave Them…

He Washed Their Feet

Even While Knowing the Pain and Suffering He was About to Have to Endure…

He Washed Their Feet

Even Knowing that He Himself is the God of the Universe…

He Washed Their Feet

Now What Excuse Do We Have to Not Serve Each Other?

Jesus Served Them Because He Loved Them to the End

But He Also Served Them Because He Wanted Them to Do the Same for Each Other

What Excuse Do We Have to Not Love Each Other?

What Excuse Do We Have to Not Follow the Example of Our Master and King?