John

John had a special relationship with Jesus. He is described as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23). When Jesus was being crucified Jesus entrusted the care of his mother to John (John 19:26-27). And, while all of the other disciples died violent deaths, John lived to be an old man and apparently died of natural causes.

His account of Jesus’ life is different from the other three. John emphasizes the deity of Jesus. The main purpose of the book is stated in John 20:31, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

John 1:1, 2 “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.” This is a clear statement of deity, that Jesus is God.  There are some aberrant religious groups (cults) who teach that Jesus was not God, but a created being. One actually has its own translation of the Bible, which you won’t find in Christian book stores, which mistranslates passages to support their views. If you would like to learn about cults, I recommend three books, one is a small paperback by Harold Berry entitled, The Truth Twisters, What they Believe. The other is the classic on cults entitled The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin. A third is The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions by Ron Rhodes. Ron Rhodes has a ministry called Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries. He was once a researcher at the Walter Martin Christian Research Institute in the early 1990’s.

John 1:11 “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” In a sense, all are children of God in that we are created in “his image” (Acts 17:28). Here he is speaking of a new relationship that is the result of a new birth.

What a tragedy for the Jewish people. Of all the people who should have recognized Jesus as the Messiah, they should have. 

John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Here is a clear statement of the deity of Jesus. The Word, who is described as God in verse 1 is now said to have become flesh. Jesus was not just a prophet or a moral teacher, but God in the flesh.

John 1:29 John the Baptist sees Jesus and declares, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” None of us could “take away the sin of the world.” Only the Messiah, the Lamb of God could do this.

John 2:1 Jesus performs his first miracle, turning water into wine. There are those who say that they drank diluted wine because the water was not safe to drink, but we should not drink alcoholic beverages. Well, if the water was not safe and wine should be avoided, why didn’t Jesus turn the polluted water into clear, clean spring water? Again you can go to the Frequently Asked Questions and read the article entitled, Does the Bible Forbid the Drinking of Alcoholic Beverages?

John 3:1-2 “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin. He appears here and two other times. He states the law concerning the arrest of Jesus (John 7:45-51) and he assisted Joseph of Arimathea in preparing the corpse of Jesus for burial (John 19:39-42).

John 3:3 “In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” The Greek means, “born from above.”

The idea of being "born again" was not new to Nicodemus. In fact, in the minds of the Jews of his day, there were several ways of being "born again." When one got married, he was "born again," when one turned 13 years of age and was bar mitzvahed and became responsible for keeping the commandments, he was "born again," when one was ordained, he was "born again," when one was anointed to be king, he was "born again." In other words, when you reach these milestones in your life, your life will never be the same, you start out on a new road. Nicodemus probably throught, "I've already been born again in every way I possibly can. I've gotten married, had a bar mitzvah, etc. and have no hope of being made King of Israel. What are you talking about Jesus?" Jesus is saying that you have to be born again, spiritually, from above. In doing so, your life will never again be the same. 

John 3:12 “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things.” If a person speaks the truth only 80% of the time, you really can’t believe anything that he says. If we can’t accept what God reveals with regards to the history and geology that is revealed in scripture (creation, the Flood, etc.) how can we trust what is claimed to be revealed by God about spiritual things, such as salvation, resurrection, rewards and punishments, etc. Either the Word of God is accurate to be accepted in total, or it has to be rejected altogether. In other words, can a Christian accept John 3:16 but reject the creation account, the fall of man and the account of the flood in Genesis?

Here is an analogy. Imagine your physician received the lab report from the blood sample he sent them. He then receives a phone call from the lab and is told that the equipment was out of calibration and about 20% of the results he was sent were wrong. Can your physician make any diagnosis or plan a treatment based on a lab report that is only 80% accurate? No, he would have to toss the entire lab report out and take another blood sample. Likewise, if you can't trust all of the Bible, you have to throw it out as you would a lab report that is in error.

I believe the Bible is inspired and without error (in its original autographs) but that does not mean that my understanding of it is without error. Sometimes I will preface an answer to a question by saying, "It is my understanding that . . . . ." acknowledging that my understanding may be flawed.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Notice that it does not say, “whoever believes in him AND keeps the 613 Old Testament laws . . . .”

John  3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” It appears to me that those who are condemned eternally are those who “reject” what they have been given. This is knowingly, willfully rejecting the give of eternal life. This is what is called the unpardonable sin. I refer you again to the Frequently Asked Questions article entitled, What is the Fate of Those who Never Heard of Jesus?

John 4:29 After Jesus met with the Samaritan woman at the well, she tells others about her conversation, saying, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

Have you ever heard sermons on evangelism or taken a class in evangelism? Most courses that I’ve taken only teach one form of evangelism, confrontational evangelism. One popular book on the subject is Dr. D. James Kennedy’s, Evangelism Explosion. I have a problem with this limited view of evangelism. It might work for him, but most of us are not going to go up to a stranger and ask, “If you were to die today, would you go to heaven.” It’s a canned sales pitch. Preachers oftentimes teach this form of evangelism and then feel like failures because members don’t jump on the bandwagon. Members, meanwhile, feel guilty because they just can’t seem to do it. The confrontational style fits the authors of these books and those like the Apostle Peter, who used it in Acts 2 on Pentecost, but not the rest of us. There are other approaches.

Paul used an intellectual approach, in Acts 17 when he discussed religion in Greece. He would oftentimes go to the synagogues and “reasons with Jews from scripture.” Another methods is to simply give answers to the questions people ask of you about your beliefs (I Peter 3:15). 

Another method is to simply explain to people what has happened to you in your life, giving a testimonial, as done in John 9 where a blind man tells others what Jesus had done for him. In Mark 5 a person who was delivered from demons went and told his family about it.

The Samaritan woman shows another type of evangelism, invitational evangelism. You might offer someone an article and asking him to read it and tell you what he thinks about it, or invite someone to a Christian function, work project, or a Bible study. 

Another form is serving. In Acts 9 we see Dorcas making clothes for the poor, exhibiting the compassion of God.

So evangelism can be done in any number of ways, using whatever gifts, talents and opportunities that you have.

John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears by word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” Paul repeats this teaching in Ephesians 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by WORKS, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” We don’t do good works in order to be saved, but because we have been saved. Many cults teach that salvation comes by way of obedience to whatever laws they are promoting, be it Sabbath keeping, baptism, dietary laws, holy day observances, etc.

John 6:28, 47 “What must we DO to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “the work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent . . . I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life.” 

John 7:5 “For even his own brothers did not believe in him.” Jesus had half-brothers and half-sisters. Some churches claim that the term brothers means cousins and that Mary remained a virgin all of her life. But there is a different word used to mean cousins. Brothers and sisters are also mentioned in Mark 6:3 Luke 8:19.

John 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

One of the criticisms of Christians who are members of the Masonic Lodge is the ceremony where the candidate for membership is blindfolded and says, “I am lost in darkness, and I am seeking the light of Freemasonry.” How can a Christian, a follower of Jesus, the light of the world, declare that he is in darkness and is seeking light? If Christians join such organizations for fellowship, opportunities to serve, etc. does this suggest that the church has failed them? And why should a Christian seek the truth in a lodge rather than in the Word of God? Perhaps it is because the church has failed to provide meaningful purpose, answers, and fellowship that some members are joining lodges. 

John 8:47 “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” Someone in church said, “We don’t want the children to have too much Bible.” Others don’t respect scripture enough to even read it. 2 Cor 2:14 “The man without the Spirit (unconverted) does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” If your pastor or other church members do not study scripture, perhaps it is because they really think that it is foolishness and perhaps they are not really Christians.

John 8:58-59 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. 

There are those who claim that Jesus never claimed to be God, that it was the disciples who invented this teaching after his death. This passage is one of several which prove otherwise. The Jews knew exactly what Jesus meant by this passage and were about to kill him for blasphemy.

John 9:1-3 “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind.”

This idea that bad things happen to us because of sin is the same argument that Job’s friends taught. They insisted that Job must have done something horrible for all of these bad things to happen to him. 

John 9:22 “. . . the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.”

There were three degrees of excommunication from the synagogue. The light was the rebuke, which lasted for seven days. The next was a casting out, which lasted for 30 days and required three people to impose this level. Once cast out no one could come closer than six feet from him. The most severe ban was of indefinite duration and the person was treated as if he was dead.

John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep and my sheep know me-just as the Father knows me and I know the Father-and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life-only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”

The sheep will hear his voice. Those who do not listen, church goers and non-churchgoers, are not really his sheep. Who are the “other sheep that are not of this sheep pen?” These are the Gentiles.

Also notice that no one killed Jesus against his will. He laid down his life and took it up again, of his own accord.

John 10:22 Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem.”

This is also called Chanukkah, Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the festival of lights, an eight day festival.

The story of this festival begins when Antiochus IV oppressed the Jews, and desecrated the Temple by offering a pig on the altar. The Jews revolted, the Temple was taken back, cleaned up and rededicated. At the dedication, there was very little oil left for the menorah in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night for eight days. Miraculously, oil that should have lasted only one night lasted for eight, the time needed to prepare more oil. This holiday is not mentioned in the Old Testament but commemorates the events that took place between the Old and New Testaments and is recorded in the book of Maccabees in 165 B.C.

This is a man made holiday, not one that was required from Lev 23. It is quite appropriate for us to observe special days that are not commanded in Scripture, such as Lent, Good Friday, etc. Just because they are man-made, does not mean that they are ungodly.

John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

This passage shows that if you are really saved, you cannot lose your salvation. If you fall away, it is only because you were never saved in the first place. Also, when Jesus said, “I and the Father are one,” this is another expression of deity. Again, the Jews picked up stones to kill him for blasphemy.

John 12:37 “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.” 

Did you notice that the Jews had all of the proof that they needed to accept Jesus as the Messiah. It was not that they could not believe, but that they would not believe. 

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Did you notice that Jesus says that it is a command, not a suggestion, that we love one another? And by loving one another we demonstrate that we are really his disciples. The way we treat one another is a good indicator as to our level of conversion. What is the atmosphere among members at your church?

John 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command (to love one another). And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-the Spirit of truth.”

Here is a promise that although Jesus will leave, the Holy Spirit will come to be with them.

John 14:26 “But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

Jesus is promising this to the apostles, who will be reminded of everything that they have experienced so that they can write the Gospels accurately. And, then he will teach them all things. This indicates that when the apostles pass from the scene, Scripture will be complete and accurate. The last apostle to die was John. His last book was the Book of Revelation. These passages tell me that scripture was given accurately and it is complete. I don't look for another "Gospel of Bob" or an "Epistle of Barnabus" or some other so-called "lost Book of the Bible."

John 15:8 “This is to my Father’s glory that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

Not every church member is a true disciple. In fact, as we saw in Matt 7:22, not every minister is a Christian. The real proof is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that they exhibit in their lives. The list of the fruit of the spirit is found in Gal 5:22-23.

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one that this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”

There is a statue outside the Army Medical Museum at Ft. Sam Houston Texas which depicts a medic caring for a wounded soldier. The above passage is inscribed on the base of the statue.

John 15:22, 24 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father.” 

This passage indicates to me that those who sin out of ignorance are not as culpable as those who willingly and knowingly sin in rejecting the Messiah.

John 16:13 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

Jesus is suggesting that among the apostles will be given an insight into the future. It was the Apostle John who was given the Book of Revelation.

John 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone (the disciples). I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

This is the real “Lord’s Prayer.” The one in Matthew 6, which many of us recite each week, is really the disciple’s prayer given to them by the Lord. It is not a prayer that Jesus would have prayed himself. He would not have prayed, “forgive me my sins as I forgive those who have sinned against me.”

This prayer is not just for his disciples, but he is also praying for us, “those who will believe.” What he prayed for is unity. Yet today, in the United States alone, there are over 240 distinct denominations of Christian churches. There are eleven Lutheran denominations and eleven Methodist ones. If you think that these folks must not be able to get along with one another, the Baptists have twenty-seven groups.

John 18:15 “Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the door.”

Why did Peter have to wait outdoors, while the other one went in? The other disciple was John. He was from a priestly family and could enter, while Peter was not and had to stay outside. Later, at the tomb, (John 20:3) it was Peter who was able to enter, but not John. John could not enter the tomb until it was determined that there was not a corpse in it. For John to have entered with a corpse inside, he would have defiled himself (Lev. 21:10).

John 18:20 "I have spoken openly to the world," Jesus replied. "I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, whee all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret."

In Paul's epistles, one of the issues that he had to deal with was gnosticism, a belief system that included the idea that there was some sort of hidden knowledge that one needed to know to be saved. These secret teachings were hidden in riddles or in writings not acknowledged as Scripture, such as the gospel of Philip or the gospel of Mary Magdalene. There are no "lost gospels" to be found and no hidden knowledge needed for salvation.

John 20:31 “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

This is the reason for John writing this Gospel, that people may believe and have everlasting life.

John 21:2-3 Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.”

Now Peter and the others may have thought, “Well, this Messiah thing didn’t work out as we had hoped. We were misled. I guess I’ll have to go back to my old profession of fishing.” Or, perhaps they just needed a break from all that has happened and needed to relax. 

John 21:25 “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

There are times when I wished there was more information provided in Scripture. But, I guess since many Christians don’t even read what was given, why should they be given more?