1but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down and taught them. 3The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the middle, 4they told him, “Teacher, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act. 5Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?” 6They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of.
But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger. 7But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.” 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger.
9They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle. 10Jesus, standing up, saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”
11She said, “No one, Lord.”
Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”
12Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”
14Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going. 15You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. 16Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. 17It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid. 18I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”
19They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?”
Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come. 21Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”
22The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come’?”
23He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. 24I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”
25They said therefore to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However, he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”
27They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father. 28Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things. 29He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
30As he spoke these things, many believed in him. 31Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples. 32You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ‘You will be made free’?”
34Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin. 35A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever. 36If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you. 38I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”
39They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this. 41You do the works of your father.”
They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”
42Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me. 43Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word. 44You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies. 45But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me. 46Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.”
48Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”
49Jesus answered, “I don’t have a demon, but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50But I don’t seek my own glory. There is one who seeks and judges. 51Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”
52Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’ 53Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died. Who do you make yourself out to be?”
54Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is our God. 55You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
57The Jews therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham?”
58Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
59Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, having gone through the middle of them, and so passed by.
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 have 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 emphasizes 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” (John 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 who has the Son has 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 Jews late one night, in which He 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 also 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 Jesus still cares for people, even on the holy day set apart by Him for His people.
We find in John's 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 come 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.