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The Gospel of John – Introduction

 

The Gospel of John was probably written many years after the other three Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In fact, it occupies a special position because it does not so much follow the life of Jesus on this earth but, above all, records the Lord's conversations. His divine nature shines forth everywhere. At the same time, there is perhaps no other gospel in which we find the Man Jesus Christ so impressively.

Rarely do we find such a direct reference to the purpose of a book in the Word of God. However, at the end of his gospel, John gives three important clues about the content of the account of the Lord Jesus:

  1. The activity (and also the person) of the Lord Jesus is too immense to be dealt with comprehensively in one book. At the end of chapter 21, John even confirms that "even the world could not contain the written books" if everything were written down.
  2. The purpose of John's Gospel is that the reader believes in the Lord Jesus. This glorious Person is the Man whom God sent to this earth: Jesus, the Christ. And He is also the eternal God Himself, who has no beginning and no end: the Son of God. We are to believe in Him. He died for us as Savior, and He has fulfilled the whole counsel of God.
  3. Through faith in Christ, we are given eternal life. Through this life, we can have fellowship with the divine Persons (cf. 1 Jn.1:1-5). Through eternal life, we have eternal relationships with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The eternal Son of the eternal Father

The introductory remarks make it clear that John describes the person of Jesus in a very special way. Of course, every gospel is "special." Nevertheless, John writes from a perspective that is fundamentally different from that of the other three evangelists. This is why we find comparatively little action in this Gospel. It is not completely absent, but its main purpose is to confirm the person of the eternal Son of God – as a sign. It is no coincidence that we repeatedly find this expression in this Gospel: sign.

The speeches of the Lord Jesus take up a great deal of space. He speaks as the "eternal Word" (cf. Jn. 1:1) because He is the perfect and, therefore, complete expression of God, also of what God is in His essence and nature. He is shown in this Gospel as the Son of God, as the Son of the Father: "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (Jn. 1:18).

At the same time, in this book, we find references to the humanity of the Lord Jesus that could not be clearer. Only once in the Gospels is it mentioned that the Lord Jesus was weary. Perhaps one would expect to find this reference in the Gospel of Luke, which shows the Lord Jesus as a human being. But it is John who uses this expression (Jn. 4:6). The Lord Jesus also repeatedly turns to individuals in this Gospel. This testifies to His empathy (Nicodemus in John 3; the woman at Jacob's well in John 4; the woman caught in adultery in John 8; the man born blind in John 9; Lazarus in John 11, etc.).

Finally, it is a human being who dies on the cross. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us ..." (Jn. 1:14). God had to become man so that sins could be atoned for. And death was necessary for atonement because, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. And both atonement and reconciliation and forgiveness were brought about by Jesus Christ. "So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit." (Jn. 19:30). The evangelist speaks here of the Man Jesus – not of the eternal God, even if Jesus is God, as we know from other passages. We cannot understand this but can only stand before these mysteries of His Person in adoration.

Jesus Christ and His portrayal in the Gospel of John

This fourth gospel was very probably the last to be written. It is assumed that it was only written down by John at the very end of the first century. Nevertheless, John impresses us with details that make it clear that the actual Author is God Himself, the Holy Spirit. But these details also show the love with which John reflected on his experiences with the Lord Jesus. For example, he speaks of the "tenth hour" in which two disciples came to the Lord Jesus – he was probably one of them (Jn. 1:39). Then, on the occasion of the wedding in Cana, he writes of "six stone water jars" (Jn. 2:6) or, in connection with the catch of fish, of "153 large fish" (Jn. 21:11).

Together with Matthew, John is also one of the only two evangelists who accompanied the Lord as disciples during His ministry here on earth. He was, therefore, able to write about many things as an eyewitness because he had been there himself. It is noticeable that John never mentions his name in the Gospel. However, he speaks of himself as the "disciple whom Jesus loved "[1].

John begins his Gospel with a unique introduction in the first 18 verses of the first chapter. The first two verses already have it "in them."

  • "In the beginning was the Word": the person written about here – Jesus Christ, the Son of God – is as such eternal. For in every beginning that could be imagined, He already was. And He is called the "Word". This means that He is the perfect and complete expression of God. He always has been!
  • "And the Word was with God": This Word is distinguished from God. It was a person who was with God. If someone is with another person, then he cannot possibly be that person. He must have his own identity. This is how the Word – the Son of God – is distinguished from God.
  • "And the Word was God": Even though the Word is distinguished from God, it is still God at the same time. It is essentially the same as God because it is God. We humans cannot understand this apparent contradiction – distinct from God as a Person, but at the same time God Himself – with our intellect. But we know from many passages that the "One" God is also a "triune" God: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. And there is no difference in rank between these three Persons.
  • "This was in the beginning with God": The Person who is the Word – i.e., the Son – was always in this relationship – in the beginning – with God and God. He did not first become God, nor did He first come into the Father-Son relationship when He came to this earth. No, before the foundation of the world, the Word was always the Son.

Since the Lord Jesus is shown in this Gospel as the Son of God, we do not find a gender register here. For the eternal Son has no ancestors – He is God. In the course of the Gospel, we can then see again and again that John describes the Lord Jesus from the beginning as the rejected and despised One. This is also made clear in the first verses: "He was in the world, and the world became through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came into Hus own, and His own did not receive Him" (Jn. 1:10-11).

Structure

  1. introduction: chapter 1:1-18
  2. the public ministry of the Son of God: chapters 1:19-12:50
  3. the ministry and words of the Son for the family of God: chapter 13:1-17:26
  4. death and resurrection: chapter 18:1-20:31
  5. prophetic conclusion: Chapter 21

In addition, the first 17 chapters have also been compared to the Tabernacle:

Ch. 1-12: The courtyard: Jesus shows Himself to His people.

Ch. 13-16: The Holy of Holies of the Sanctuary: The intimacy of the Lord's conversations with His own

Ch. 17: The Holy of Holies of the Sanctuary: The holy communion between the Father and the Son.

Finally, it has already been pointed out that the first 19 chapters of the Gospel of John are an introduction to the three letters of John because the themes mentioned there, such as life (especially chapters 3-7), light (8-12) and love (13-17), are all already dealt with in the Gospel. The last three chapters (19-21) could be understood as an introduction to the book of Revelation, which was also written by John and in which he takes up the prophetic sketches of the last chapters of the Gospel again and examines them in detail.

A statement by the Lord Jesus in this Gospel (16:28) can also serve as a kind of classification: "I came forth from the Father” (1:1-18) “and have come into the world” (1:19-12:50); “again I am leaving the world and going to the Father” (13-21). This list of possible divisions makes it clear that when it comes to the eternal Son of the Father, human reasoning is no longer able to grasp what God presents to us. We can only ever follow one line, then another. "For we know in part" (1 Cor. 13:9).

The seven miracles in the Gospel of John

Of the more than 30 miracles that we find in the other three Gospels, John only mentions the one that appears in all four Gospels: the feeding of the 5,000. However, he writes of six other miracles that are not mentioned in any of the other Gospels. Thus, John comes to a total of seven miracles – which testifies to the perfection and completeness of the divine glory and power of the Lord Jesus. Incidentally, the miracles of the Lord are called "signs" here because, in this Gospel, they are very special signs of his divine glory. I give one possible meaning of each miracle.

  • Turning water into wine (2:1- 11): The Word of God (water) received in repentance leads to true joy (wine).
    • The healing of the sick son of the royal official (4:46-54): Mercy is shown to Israel (royal official), even though the Son of God does not visit the official directly.
    • Healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda (5:1-9): Sovereign grace triumphs over the law.
    • The feeding of the 5000 (6:1-15): Christ meets all the needs of people as the manna and bread of life.
    • Healing of the man born blind (9:1-38): The opening of the eyes of the soul – new birth.
    • The raising of Lazarus (11:1- 44): The power of raising people from the dead – Christ is Lord over death.
    • The miraculous catch of 153 fish (21:4-14): The gathering of the nations just before and during the 1000-year kingdom

I do not doubt that these seven miracles are also in a certain moral order. God's goal for man is to give him true and genuine joy. The means to this end is still the Word of God (1). This is why the Son of God came to earth. First, He came to His people, Israel, as the Messiah anointed by God (Psalm 2 calls Him the Son of God in this context) (2). However, they rejected Him. But this did not mean that God's plan had failed. His sovereign grace triumphs over the law and Israel's rejection (3) because Christ came as the bread from heaven, the true manna, not only for Israel but for the whole world (4). It is no coincidence that the place "Tiberias" is mentioned in John 6, which recalls the Roman ruler of the same name and thus does not limit the Lord Jesus' field of work to Israel.

The bread of the Lord gives us – metaphorically – new life. And we receive this through the new birth (5) when the Lord opens the eyes of our souls to His message. We put on the new man, as Paul calls it, and spiritually already experience the power of the resurrection (Eph. 1:19-2:10), which also raised Christ from the dead (6). But the moment will come when our bodies will also be resurrected. Then, we will be with the Lord Jesus and come with Him to this earth. There, He will not only find a restored remnant from Israel who will submit to God, but from all the ends of the earth, people from the nations will come to acknowledge God as Creator and Lord and fall before Him (7).

"I am" in the Gospel of John

God had revealed Himself to Moses as the "I AM who I AM" (Ex. 3:13-15). This is His name as the Eternal One, the Abiding One, who always was and always will be. John takes up this name of God again in a very special way. Strictly speaking, it is Jesus Himself who claims this name for Himself and associates His glories with it. He adds seven different special glories of His person to the emphasized: "I AM." It was the "I AM" who had come to earth. This time, God had not sent a great servant like Moses. This time, He had come Himself by becoming a man in order to liberate the people as a servant and God in one Person. It is not surprising that the perfect, divine glory [2] is associated with Christ in this way.

  1. "I am the Bread of Life" (Jn. 6:35, 41, 48) [3]: The Lord Jesus is the heavenly One who came from heaven to satisfy man's hunger. To do this, He had to give His life as a human being: "But the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (Jn. 6:51).
  2. "I am the Light of the world" (Jn. 8:12). "God is light" (1 John 1:5). And the Son of God has revealed this light in this world, for He is God. As the great "I AM," He was then also this "Light of the world" as a human being, which illuminates every human being and places them in the light of God. This is especially revealed in the first 11 verses of this chapter, in which He let His light of truth fall on the hypocritical Pharisees and His light of grace on this sinful woman.
  3. "I am the Door of the sheep" (Jn. 10:7-9). Christ is the only way to God. Only those who "enter" through Him will find salvation. God became man, and only through this one Man is there salvation. Every other door leads astray. Even today!
  4. "I am the Good Shepherd" (Jn. 10:11-14). Normally, a shepherd is characterized by the fact that he leads and protects his sheep. However, the "I AM" – the Eternal One – was prepared to die when He became Man. For His "sheep" could only be led to God by the fact that He died on their behalf. Eternal thanks be to God for this – He did it!
  5. "I am the Resurrection and the Life" (Jn. 11:25). Even though the Lord Jesus had not yet risen at the time when He made this powerful statement to Martha, He was able to bear witness to this glory, for He is the Life. As the eternal God, He has always possessed the power of life. But even as Man, this glory was given to Him by the Father: "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself" (Jn. 5:26). But He is not only the expression of life. The resurrection is also part of His glory. The resurrection, every resurrection, is based on His Person. He was not only the first to rise from the dead. The power of the resurrection is to be found in Him.
  6. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (Jn. 14:6). Just as there is only one way to salvation, there is also only one way to the Father. And this leads through the Son, Jesus Christ. He alone has also revealed the truth about the Father. So He can say to Philip in the same chapter: "He who has seen me has seen the Father, and how do you say: Show us the Father?" (verse 9). It is also fundamentally true that the Lord Jesus has revealed the truth about everything – be it about God, about man, about divine love and grace, about man's sin, about the light of God, etc. But He is also the Life that we all need if we want to have and enjoy fellowship with the Father. He is the source of this life.
  7. "I am the true Vine" (Jn. 15:1). It is amazing that the seven specific "I AM" end with this title. He is the only One who truly produced fruit for God. He had come forth from God and did exactly what God had previously expected of His people. In Psalm 80:8, we read that Israel was actually the vine. The people should also have been for God, but Israel was corrupt. Therefore, Christ had to come as the true vine. And He bore fruit perfectly for God, for the Father. We uniquely see this through His work on the cross of Golgotha! And we are part of this fruit, a clear sign that He brought forth fruit for God's joy.

In addition to these seven designations with which the Lord Jesus concretizes the "I AM," there are several other passages in which the Lord Jesus says of Himself that He is the "I AM” of the Old Testament. I will add two striking passages here, but they are not the only ones that John mentions:

  • "I AM" (Jn. 6:20): The disciples are sailing in a ship on a stormy sea. Then, the Lord Jesus comes and calls out these words to them. They are symbolic of his coming to this earth as the "I AM" who came from God to His people, who were in stormy times, to save them.
  • "Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, ‘Whom are you seeking?’ They answered Him, ‘Jesus [a]of Nazareth.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am He.’ And Judas, who betrayed Him, also stood with them. Now, when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground." (Jn. 18:4-6). Judas had come with soldiers, chief priests, and servants to betray Jesus and take Him prisoner. But he had not reckoned with the omnipotence of Jesus. And the Lord Jesus proved to be the Eternal One, before whom every human being must fall. And yet, Jesus then voluntarily allowed Himself to be taken prisoner to be crucified later. That is divine grace!

Not to be grasped in books.

We could mention many other special features in the Gospel of John that amaze us. For example, it is remarkable how prophetic the first and last chapters of this book are. In the first chapters, there is repeated mention of days: the next day, the third day, and so on. The arrangement and connection of the events on these days create a parable-like picture of predictions about periods that still lie partly in the future. The same applies to the last two chapters, which speak of "that" day, "after eight days," etc. Here, too, the sequence of events is prophetically indicated.

Other details are equally impressive [4]. For example, John writes of six nights in his book. Why not seven? It has already been pointed out above that John does not refer to himself by name in this Gospel. And yet he speaks of himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John, in particular, writes a lot about the love of the Father for the Son [5], about the love of God, and also about the love of Jesus. John obviously had a special feeling for this love.

There is nothing more beautiful than dealing with the Lord Jesus. And it is a beautiful task for all of us to contemplate Him in the Gospel of John – and then to praise and worship Him. This article aimed to provide a little help in this.

Questions for personal study

  • Who is the writer of this gospel? Why did God choose him in particular?
  • From which perspective is the Lord Jesus shown in this gospel? Look for examples of this!
  • In every Gospel, the Lord Jesus is not only seen from one single perspective. Where in the Gospel of John can we see Him as the Son of Man, as King, as Servant, as Prophet?
  • What "structure" does this Gospel have? Why does it have to be like this?
  • The "sacrificial death" of the Lord Jesus and the sacrifices in Genesis 1-5 have some similarities. Which ones stand out in particular?
  • The Gospels in the New Testament each have a more or less direct connection to individual other books/letters in the New Testament. Which books have a special connection to the Gospel of John?
  • In each Gospel, the disciples of the Lord are also seen from a special perspective. Under which one in the Gospel of John?
  • Why does John call himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved" under this peculiar synonym in "his" Gospel?
  • There is no gender register and no ascension in the Gospel of John. Why not?
  • Why are so many of the Lord's sayings mentioned to us in this Gospel in particular?
  • The last chapter of the Gospel is clearly an appendix in terms of content. What may have led to this appendix?

Footnotes:

[1] It is striking that this is only the case from chapter 13 onwards. When John begins to describe the last passion of his Lord, the Lord's love becomes particularly great to him.

[2] In this context, we repeatedly find the number 7 mentioned in the Bible.

[3] In John 6:51, the Lord Jesus adds a similar expression: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven."

[4] For example:

  1. Mention the Father's name (about 120 times).
  2. Targeted hatred of the Jews because of the Sonship of God (5:18; 7:30, 32, 44, 19; 8:20, 37, 59; 10:31, 39)
  3. The various "lessons" (perhaps five main aspects)
  4. The Lord speaks what and how He has seen and heard things with the Father (3:11, 32; 8:26, 28, 40; 12:49, 50; 15:15)
  5. Eternal life (one main topic)

We leave the study of these topics to you, as it would go beyond the scope of an overview to deal with all these aspects.

[5] Seven times: ch. 3:35; 5:20 (here another word for love is used: to love); 10:17; 15:9; 17:23, 24, 26. Once the Lord speaks of His love for the Father: ch. 14:31.

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