1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2The same was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.
6There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7The same came as a witness, that he might testify about the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but was sent that he might testify about the light. 9The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him. 11He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him. 12But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John testified about him. He cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, for he was before me.’” 16From his fullness we all received grace upon grace. 17For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
19This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”
21They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
22They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24The ones who had been sent were from the Pharisees. 25They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”
26John answered them, “I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you don’t know. 27He is the one who comes after me, who is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to loosen.” 28These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me.’ 31I didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water, that he would be revealed to Israel.” 32John testified, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending like a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him. 33I didn’t recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘On whomever you will see the Spirit descending and remaining on him is he who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34I have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
35Again, the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, being interpreted, Teacher), “where are you staying?”
39He said to them, “Come and see.”
They came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about the tenth hour. 40One of the two who heard John and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ). 42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is by interpretation, Peter).
43On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”
48Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”
50Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!” 51He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
The Gospel of John stands out as unique among the Gospels. Whereas Matthew, Mark and Luke share a considerable amount of the same information, though with different emphases, John shares only two-percent of the text of the Synoptic Gospels. That means that his work is ninety-eight percent different.
Who wrote this book, and why is it so different? Among the church fathers who lived close to the time of John, there was no question. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved, the youngest member of the apostolate group, probably in his mid-teenage years. He is the John who leaned on Jesus at the Last Supper. John lived to the end of the first century, and also wrote three epistles, and the book of Revelation.
Both the authorship and dating of John’s Gospel has been called into question by many critical scholars, believing that it was written by someone other than the apostle John, and even that it was written at the end of the second century. After a portion of John’s Gospel was discovered that dates to the early second century, the late date was abandoned.
John’s Gospel uniquely emphases the words of Jesus, being composed of discourses. Why would John do this? I believe that it is because by the time he wrote his Gospel it had been more than two decades, or more, since the other Gospels had been written and circulating throughout the Christian communities of the empire. Christians were familiar with the events and words of Jesus from these other apostolic Gospels. John needed to provide new information. Also, in view of the challenges to the person of Jesus by heresies that had begun to develop, it was needful for him, to present a more theologically cohesive statement about the humanity and deity of Messiah Jesus.
Who was John’s audience? The Gospel does not tell us, but in view of the post-A.D. 70 date of the book, and that he wrote it, most likely, in Ephesus, in Asia Minor, a Gentile audience is in view.
The main purpose of this mid-80s book, is stated toward the end. He says, “these things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name” (Jn 20:31). The book was to introduce Jesus to a Gentile audience and to equip believers in the truths about who Jesus is. Matthew and Luke contain genealogies and birth narratives, and Mark, excludes these focusing on the servanthood of the Messiah. Uniquely, John begins in eternity with His Gospel, revealing that the man who had walked among them on the earth, was in reality the God of creation, one with the Father before all time. Though the Son of God, known also as the Word, was with the Father and was the same God, nonetheless, He chose to enter among humanity as a human. The apostle demonstrates by Jesus acts and words, and the response of people to Him, that He was true God and true man. At the end of the first century there were those who accepted His humanity, but not His deity, as well as those who rejected His true humanity. John responds to both.
Not only does John reveal the person and nature of the Son of God, but he speaks plainly that only through belief in the Son of God was there salvation. He repeats the words of Jesus that the one has the Son as life, and the one who does not, has the judgment of God. Similarly, the one who does not have the Son, does not have the Father, but the one who has the Son, has the Father also. At another time, John gives the words of Jesus, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” In a world of pluralism, both in the Graeco-Roman world of the early church, and the world of today, such exclusivism grates the ears of many. Yet John’s teaching is clear: Jesus is the only way to God.
John’s Gospel does have many thought provoking discourses, but it as well has many wonderful stories. We have the encounter of Jesus with a leader of the Jesus late one night, in which tells this teacher of the Jews that he had to be born from above if he is to enter the kingdom of God. Following this exchange is one of the most famous, and significant, biblical verses in the Bible, that God loved the world and gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. There is only the fascinating encounter of an immoral Samaritan woman with Jesus when He was traveling through the region. As a religious Jew, it is unthinkable that He would converse with the woman at the well. She was a woman, a Samaritan, and an immoral woman. Jesus set aside all social conventions in order to reach into the heart of this woman to bring her to faith in Him.
Not only did Jesus seek to bring spiritual salvation to humans in John’s Gospel, but He reaches out in compassion to the physical ailments of the people He encountered. Thus we have the stories of the man lying by the pool of Bethesda who could not walk. Jesus raised Him from His bed. Another time He healed a blind man on the Sabbath, demonstrating that John still cares for people, even on the holy day set apart by Him for His people.
We find in John Gospel an emphasis on the physical nature of the resurrection. Certainly the other Gospels indicate that the resurrection of Jesus was genuine and was physical in nature, but John goes beyond this. He has Mary of Magdala grasping Him in the garden, and we have the invitation of Jesus for the disciples, particularly Thomas, to touch the wounds of His hands and side.
The theology of John’s Gospel is rich. We see, as said before, the humanity and deity equally true of Jesus. Jesus, in John 8, even declares Himself to be the I AM of Exodus 3. We discover that salvation comes by God’s grace through faith to all those who comes by His sovereign call in John 6. Special focus on the nature of the Son as true human, though God, is given throughout the book, particularly in John 1:14 and in the resurrection accounts.