Get Ready
John is one of the few books in the Bible that tells the reader why it was written: “So that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name,” [20:31].
Author
The author of this book does not tell us his name. However, there has been little argument since it began circulating at the end of the first century that John, the Apostle, wrote this Gospel.
Some nineteenth century scholars raised questions because the book was so different from John’s letters or Revelation and so different from the other Gospels. But consider:
- This book was clearly written by someone who was present with Jesus and the disciples.
- It is different from the synoptic Gospels because the author had a different purpose, which he tells us.
• It is naturally different from the other writings because it is a different format with a different purpose (C.S. Lewis, the British scholar, wrote science fiction, poetry, literary criticism and Screwtape Letters, and no one claims he did not write all of them).
This brings us to the date John wrote his Gospel, which is between 90 and 95 CE. John was the longest-lived Apostle (he calls himself “the Elder” in his second and third letters) and he wrote the Gospel and Revelation near the end of his very full life, while living in Asia Minor (the area is now modern Turkey).
Context
John wrote after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE. This event caused significant changes for both Jews and Christians. In addition, John spent the later part of his life among believers in an area ruled by Rome but heavily influenced by Greek culture.
When Roman soldiers destroyed the Temple, they eliminated the physical “home” of Judaism. They also altered the relationships among the primary Jewish leadership groups. The Pharisees became the lead-ers of Jewish religious thought and practice in Israel and in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, and they viewed Jewish Christians as their primary competitors. At the same time Jews of all kinds wanted to avoid any connection with the groups that started the uprising against Rome after 66 CE. – groups that focused on prophecy or Jewish “kingdoms” or “messiahs.” These two cultural and religious forces led to increased discrimination by Jews against Jewish Christians throughout the eastern Mediterranean region.
Structure
There are three primary parts of this Gospel:
- Prologue – John opens with a poetic presentation of Jesus as the “son” of God, existing with him and fully equal with him, who became human to show us who God really is.
- Jesus’s public ministry – the major section presents several incidents from Jesus’s public ministry, beginning with his baptism in the Jordan River and concluding with restoring Lazarus to life.
- Jesus’s passion – the final section follows Jesus through his final teaching and farewell to the disciples, and his capture, trials, crucifixion and burial, to his resurrection and appearances to the women and disciples.
Major Themes
The overarching message is that Jesus is the Son of God and came to restore humans’ relationship with God. John delivers this truth in three different ways:
- Revelation – the prologue proclaims Jesus’s identity and his purpose in coming. It may be poetic, but it is fact.
- Signs – John recounts seven incidents that display Jesus’s power and relationship to God: cleansing the Temple [2:13-25], Nicodemus [3:1-21], healing the royal official’s son [4:46-54], feeding the five thousand [6:1-14], the interchange with the Jews [7:10-36], the man born blind [9:1-41], and the raising of Lazarus [11:1-44].
- Jesus himself – John identifies Jesus as the promised descendant of David [7:42], the “Son of Man” [3:13-14], the “Son of God” [3:16]. John also recounts seven times Jesus used “I AM” (the same name God told Moses to use with the Israelites) to identify himself with God the Father [check 6:35, 8:12, 10:7 and 11, 11:25, 14:6, and 15:1].
Get into the Word
1. Who wrote this book? Why did some raise questions about the author? When was this book written?
2. What was the situation when John wrote his Gospel? Where did he write? What had happened in Jerusalem? What effect did this have on the Jews? On the Christians? On the relationship between the two groups? How did it affect John’s writing?
3. How is this book organized? What are the major sections of the Gospel? Why do you think John used this structure for his book?
4. What is the primary message John wants to convey in this Gospel? How does the organization of the book support his message? How does John convey his ideas? What images does he use? What incidents does he include to make his points?
5. What names or titles does he give Jesus? Which name has the most impact on your image of Jesus? Why do you feel this way? What name does Jesus use for himself that links him with God the Father? How do you suppose the Jews responded to this? How did the disciples react?
A Note on the “Word”
John uses the Greek word, “logos,” in the opening of his Gospel – almost always translated “word” in English.
But logos incorporates much more than a single noun or verb in its meaning. Scholars have used thought, expression, meaning, reason, principle, speech, or idea as English translations of logos. Father Richard Rohr, a contemporary writer, suggests blueprint. Just as a blueprint represents in two dimensions the completed, three-dimensional structure, Jesus shows us in our three dimensions the complete, spiritual nature of God’s creation.
As the “Word” Jesus reveals the full understanding of God the Father.
The Old Testament actually used this idea many years before John: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, [Psalm 33:6].
Notes . . .
More on the difference between John’s Gospel and the other three — often called the “synoptic” Gospels because they are a synopsis of Jesus’s life and ministry – more like a traditional biography. Mark is considered to be the first Gospel written down. It reads most like a newspaper account of Jesus. Matthew was written by a Jew who
wanted to demonstrate to other Jews that Jesus does, in fact, fulfill the Old Testament prophesies. Luke was written by a Roman who traveled with the Apostle Paul. His Gospel puts Jesus and the early church (in Acts) in the context of the whole of history. John concentrates on Jesus as the key to our relationship with God.
First Lesson
The Word: John 1:1-28
