Lecture Nine: The Gospel of John - Divine Wisdom Made Flesh

Context of John

Author

Unknown. Traditionally, John son of Zebedee. The Gospel itself claims to be the testimony of the unnamed “disciple whom Jesus loved.” This individual’s identity is intentionally kept secret in this Gospel.

Other possibilities

If we eliminate characters who are named in this Gospel, particularly Lazarus, Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, Philip, Andrew, and James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, and Judas Iscariot, who is left?

Of the Twelve apostles it is noteworthy that the only ones not named in the Gospel of John are the “other” James, the “other” Jude, the “other” Simon, and Matthew. Jesus has three brothers: James, Simon, and Jude, as well as a fourth, Joseph.

In this Gospel’s portrayal of the Crucifixion, Jesus tells the “beloved disciple” to take care of Mary, his mother, so it is possible that the “beloved disciple” is actually Jesus’ younger brother James, who would become the leader of the Jerusalem church.

However, we’ll just stick with church tradition for now, and say that John wrote it.

Some evidence for this is that the writer or writers were very familiar with the religious beliefs and customs of the people of Asia Minor at the time, so it would make since for John to have written at least the portion known as “The Signs Gospel” because John is traditionally known as the apostle of Asia Minor who did much of his work there.

Structure of John

Prologue (1:1-51) 

The Book of Signs (2:1–11:57) 

The Book of Glory (12:1–20:31) 

Epilogue (21:1-25) 

Themes of John

John’s Gospel was most likely written for the Johannine community living in Asia Minor.

One of the main headquarters of the church at the time this Gospel was written was in the city of Pergamum.

It is interesting to see how this Gospel has been custom made for those living in Asia Minor at this time. 

Jesus’ story is laid out before them in such a way as to show Jesus’ superiority over the various local pagan gods. 

In Pergamum, there are six interesting phenomena about the local pagan gods. 

First, there is the god Dionysus, who every year turns water to wine on his birthday.

Second, is the god Asclepius, who was born of a virgin, had the power to heal, and he healed with moving water. He got so good that he raised a man from the dead. Zeus was mad, so Zeus killed him. Then he felt bad, so on the third day he raised Asclepius from the dead, and ascended Asclepius to heaven to sit at his right hand.

There’s a goddess, Demeter, who was the goddess of groceries, who could feed thousands of people. 

And there was the god Serapes who had the ability to heal sight. 

These different miraculous signs were well-known among the people at the time, and they would have recognized when they heard John’s Gospel that he was stating that Jesus was not inferior to these other gods because he could do all of those things, too – and better!

Prologue (1:1-51)

Hymn to the Logos (1:1-18) 

The Gospel of John begins with a Hymn to the Word which identifies Jesus as the Logos and the Logos as divine. 

It is an introduction to the Gospel as a whole, stating that the Logos is "God" and acts as the mouthpiece (Word) of God "made flesh", i.e. sent to the world in order to be able to intercede for humans and forgive their sins. 

This portion of John's gospel is of central significance to the development of the Christian doctrine of Incarnation. 

Comparisons can easily be drawn from this part to Genesis 1 where the same phrase In the beginning first occurs along with the emphasis on the difference between the darkness (such as the earth was formless and void, Genesis 1:2) vs light (the ability to see things not understood/hidden by the darkness, John 1:5). 

The summation of this comparison occurs in the statement, the law given through Moses... grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). 

Here John successfully bridges the gap for the reader – including Jewish readers well-versed in the Torah – from the Law to the One who would fulfill the Law (such as the requirement of animal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins), Jesus. 

The Word Introduced (1:1-5) 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” 

The Word's Witness (1:6-13) 

“There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” 

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” 

The Word in Flesh (1:14-18) 

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 

“(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, ‘This is the one I spoke about when I said, “He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.”’) Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

Testimony of the Baptist (1:19-34)

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah (1:19-28) 

The second part of chapter one shows the preparation that John the Baptist was in the process of doing for the coming of the Messiah, the Messiah's arrival and the Messiah's first disciples. 

First, John consistently denies being the Light himself and instead to be making the way for the Light to come. 

When asked, he also denies being Elijah and The Prophet, but instead refers to himself with the words of Isaiah as “the voice calling in the desert…” 

John Testifies About Jesus (1:29-34) 

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ” 

John explains that Jesus is the one he was talking about when he said that someone greater than himself was coming after him. 

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” 

Call of the Disciples (1:35-51)

John’s Disciples Follow Jesus (1:35-42) 

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus and spent the day with him. 

Andrew was one of these disciples, and the text says that the first thing he did was to go find his brother Simon and introduce him to Jesus, saying, “We have found the Messiah!”

Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). 

Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek) both mean rock. 

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael (1:43-51) 

Jesus is leaving for Galilee with his new disciples and comes across a guy names Phillip.

Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Nathanael is skeptical that anything good can come out of Nazareth. 

When Jesus sees Nathanael, he says, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” 

Nathanael is like, “What do you know about me?” 

Jesus tells Nathanael that he saw him while he was still sitting under the fig tree.

Nathanael is very impressed by this and declares that Jesus is the Son of God. 

Jesus is in turn impressed by Nathaniel’s faith, and tells him that he’s going to see much greater things than that – he will see “heaven open, and the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” 

Jesus is referencing the Genesis story of Jacob’s dream of the ladder between heaven and earth with the angels descending and ascending on it. 

Jacob, however, did not realize that he was in God’s presence until after he saw this sign; whereas, Nathaniel recognized God in his midst well before he would see the sign of the Son of Man bridging the gap between heaven and earth. 

Also, Jesus says that Nathanael is an Israelite without deceit, and Jacob was definitely a deceitful Israelite. 

The Book of Signs (2:1–11:57)

First Sign: The Miracle at Cana (2:1-12) 

The second chapter of John begins with the miracle of Jesus turning the water into wine at a marriage at Cana. 

He is attending a wedding with his disciples and the hosts run out of wine. 

His mother is also there and asks him to help. He seems annoyed that she would ask him for a miracle and says that it is not his time yet. 

Nevertheless, she still tells the servants to do whatever he asks, so he tells them to fill up the empty wine containers with water…which miraculously turns into wine. 

Afterwards, the headwaiter of the wedding tastes it and remarks to the groom that they have saved the best wine for last. 

John tells his audience that the water was there for the Jewish rite of purification.

According to John, this was his first miracle (in Cana). 

According to the hypothesis of the Signs Gospel, this miracle was originally in that document. 

The Cleansing of the Temple (2:13-25) 

Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Passover, the first of three in John, the others being John 7, where he goes to the Feast of Tabernacles, and the final Passover during which he is crucified. 

He enters the Temple courts and sees people selling livestock and exchanging money. 

So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market! 

John says his disciples remembered Psalm 69:9, "zeal for your house will consumes me," perhaps a bit of wordplay interposing the ideas of "demanding all my attention” and “leading to my destruction." Whether the disciples remembered this during the incident or afterward is not clear. 

He is asked to perform a "miraculous sign" to prove he has authority to expel the money changers. 

He replies, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." 

The people believe he is talking about the official Temple building, but John states that Jesus meant his body, and that this is what his disciples came to believe after his resurrection. 

John then says that during the Passover Feast Jesus performed miraculous signs, but does not list them, that caused people to believe in him, but that he would "not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men." 

Perhaps John included this statement to show Jesus possesses a knowledge of people's hearts and minds, an attribute of God. 

John mentions the incident with the money changers as occurring at the start of Jesus' ministry, while the synoptic gospels have it occurring shortly before his crucifixion. 

Some scholars insist that this instead shows that Jesus fought with the money changers twice, once at the beginning and once at the end of his ministry. 

The incident in the synoptics occurs in Mark 11:12-19, Matthew 21:12-17, and Luke 19:45-48. 

Perhaps John has relocated the story to the beginning to show that Jesus' arrest was for the raising of Lazarus in John 11, not the incident in the Temple. 

The Dialogue with Nicodemus on Spiritual Rebirth (3:1-21) 

The first part of the chapter begins with Nicodemus, said to be a member of the ruling council, secretly coming at night to talk with Jesus, whom he calls Rabbi. 

Jesus' "miraculous signs" have convinced him that Jesus is "...from God." 

Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be “born again” to see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus has known this his whole life, but he wants Jesus to take the answer in a different direction, so he’s like, “Born again? What’s that supposed to mean, anyway? How can I crawl back up into my mother’s birth canal?” 

And Jesus is like, “Don’t play stupid with me, Nicodemus. The case has always been that you must be ‘born again.’ That’s what I’m all about. The reason God sent me into the world was so that my death would bring new life to all the world. I’m going to be lifted up on a symbol of death, just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert – in order that you may experience new life, rebirth, resurrection.” 

Jesus says that God has sent his only son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save it. 

He says that the Light has come into the world, but that people have loved darkness more than light because the darkness obscures their evil deeds. 

But those who live by the truth will step into the light. 

John Testifies Again About Jesus (3:22-36) 

In the second part of the chapter John contrasts Jesus' talk of being born again with a scene of Jesus baptizing. 

Jesus goes into Judea with his disciples and baptizes. 

John the Baptist is also baptizing people nearby, at Aenon. 

John's disciples tell John that Jesus is also baptizing people, more than John it seems.

John replies that "A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.' The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less."

He finishes by saying "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."

This passage is meant to show John's acceptance of Jesus' superiority as well as a further emphasis on belief in him as the path to eternal life.

Dr. Ray Vander Laan on John’s connection to Elijah…

The Conversation with the Samaritan Woman (4:1-42) 

The Pharisees learn that Jesus is baptizing more people than John the Baptist, although it says that "...in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples."

Jesus learns this, leaves Judea, and returns to Galilee. 

Jesus then goes to the Samarian town of Sychar, and rests at Jacob's Well. 

His disciples go into the town to get food. 

While Jesus is waiting for them, a Samaritan woman comes to the well and Jesus asks her for a drink. 

The woman is surprised and says that Samaritans and Jews do not associate. 

Jesus responds that if she really knew who he was, she would have asked for the "water" that Jesus was offering. 

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The woman asks for this "water" and Jesus tells her to go and find her husband and bring him back. 

The woman states she has no husband, and Jesus says that in fact she has had five husbands and is now living with a man who is not her husband. 

She then believes that he is a prophet. 

Jesus then teaches her about worshiping God, how it has been done in the past, at certain locations, and how it will be done properly in the future. 

"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman then says that the messiah will come and explain all.

Jesus declares that he is the messiah. 

His disciples return and the woman returns to town, tells people that Jesus knew all about her, and wonders if he is the messiah. The people decide to go and see for themselves. 

The disciples meanwhile try to give Jesus some food but he refuses, saying that his food "...is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." 

The people from town come and Jesus talks with them and they convince him to stay for two days teaching. His words convince them that he is "...the Savior of the world." 

Like the story of Nathanael sitting beneath the fig tree, this story also brings to mind the life of Jacob. This story takes place at Jacob's Well, and like Jacob, Jesus offers the young woman he finds there water... though not of the same variety.

Now the Samaritans were, of course, half-breeds, being the descendants of Jews who’d intermarried with non-Jews. They continued to honor God, but they were banned from the Temple because of their lineage. Therefore, they’d kept the Torah, but treated Mt. Gerizim, in Samaria, as the place of the true temple. 

When the Jews overthrew Seleucid rule and gained a brief period of independence under the Hasmonean dynasty, they destroyed the Samaritan temple — making relationships between the temples all the more hostile. 

Thus, the Samaritan woman initiated a discussion about the proper place to worship — a question that would have been of intense interest to most Jewish rabbis. God may only be worshiped in Jerusalem! 

Jesus declares that in the new age, it will no longer be about worshiping in a particular place. Worship won’t be a matter of geography. Rather, the true test of worship will be whether it’s “in spirit and truth.”