The Gospel of John. by Mike Willis

Transcription

1 The Gospel of John by Mike Willis

2 Guardian of Truth Founda tion, All rights re served. No part of this book may be repro duced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN ISBN Second Edition 2007 Cover Photo: The cover photo shows Gordon s Tomb on the north side of Jerusalem. This site is a popular tourist attraction because it shows several things that illustrate the gospel narrative of Jesus death a garden, an escarpment that looks like a skull, and this tomb, with a trough for a stone to roll to cover its entrance. However, scholars do not believe that this is the authentic tomb of Jesus. Guardian of Truth Foundation CEI Bookstore 220 S. Marion St., Athens, AL BOOKS or

3 Table of Contents Introduction...5 Lesson 1: The Prologue...7 Lesson 2: Christ s Ministry to the World (1)...11 Lesson 3: Christ s Ministry to the World (2)...16 Lesson 4: Christ s Ministry to the World (3)...20 Lesson 5: Christ s Ministry to the World (4)...24 Lesson 6: Christ s Ministry to the World (5)...29 Lesson 7: Christ s Ministry to the World (6)...33 Lesson 8: Christ s Ministry to the World (7)...38 Lesson 9: Christ s Ministry to the World (8)...42 Lesson 10: Christ s Ministry to the World (9)...47 Lesson 11: Christ s Ministry to the World (10)...51 Lesson 12: Christ s Ministry to the World (11) Lesson 13: Christ s Ministry to the World (12)...63 Lesson 14: Christ s Revelation of Himself to His Disciples (1)...63 Lesson 15: Christ s Revelation of Himself to His Disciples (2)...67 Lesson 16: Christ s Revelation of Himself to His Disciples (3)...72 Lesson 17: Christ s Revelation of Himself to His Disciples (4)...75 Lesson 18: Christ s Revelation of Himself to His Disciples (5)...79 Lesson 19: Jesus Passion (1)...83 Lesson 20: Jesus Passion (2)...87 Lesson 21: Jesus Resurrection...92 Lesson 22: Epilogue...96

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5 The gospel of John differs from the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew- Luke) in many respects, although it presupposes one s familiarity with those gospels. It has been called the spiritual gospel in contrast to the others that tend to emphasize the facts more than the great truths revealed through those facts. A. Plummer observed, The Synoptic gospels give us mainly the external acts of Jesus: S. John lays before us glimpses of the inner life and spirit of the Son of God (Cambridge Bible 38). John The author does not identify himself by name at the beginning of his gospel, as Paul customarily did in his epistles. He identifies himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved (13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20-24). The one whom Jesus loved is identified as the one who leaned on Jesus bosom (21:20); he must be one of the Apostles since this identification points back to the meeting in the upper room. That disciple is the Apostle John. This is what we know about him. John was born to Zebedee and Salome a few years after Jesus was born (Matt. 4:21). Zebedee was a man of considerable wealth, as is seen by his having hired servants (Mark 1:20) and John s being acquainted with the High Priest (John 18:15). John s mother is thought to be Salome who ministered to Jesus from her substance (Mark 15:40) and helped to purchase spices for his burial (Luke 23:55). On the basis of comparing Mark 15:40-41 with John 19:25, most scholars believe that Mary the mother of Jesus was the sister of Salome, making Jesus and John cousins (and perhaps explaining why Jesus committed the care of his mother to John). Jesus was also related to John the Baptist (Luke 1:36). Before they became disciples of Jesus, Peter, Andrew, James, and John were partners in the fishing business (Luke 5:10). John heard of the preaching of John the Baptist and went out to be baptized of him The personality of John surfaces in an incident when he and his brother James wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy the Samaritans who did not welcome the Messiah (Luke 9:54). Perhaps, The gospel of John differs from the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew-Luke) in many respects, although it presupposes one s familiarity with those gospels. (John 1:35-37). Sometime later, Jesus called the four fishermen from their work at the Sea of Galilee to follow him and he would make them fishers of men (Matt. 4:18-21). They forsook all that they had and followed Jesus. When the Twelve Apostles were chosen, all four of them were included (Matt. 10:2-4). Peter, James, and John are known as the inner three because they were chosen to go in the house with him when Jairus daughter was raised from the dead (Mark 5:37), they were privileged to witness the Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1), and they were taken with Jesus when he went aside to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt. 26:37). Introduction a side of his personality is shown in Jesus designating James and John as Boanerges, sons of thunder (Mark 3:17). His mother asked that James and John be given the two chief seats in the Lord s kingdom, provoking the jealousy of the others among the Twelve (Mark 10:35ff). When Jesus was taken to be tried, John followed, being granted entrance to the High Priest s home because he was acquainted with him (John 18:15). While Jesus hung on the cross, he entrusted to John the care of his mother (John 19:25-26). In the book of Acts, John is active in the early work in Jerusalem (see Acts 3-4; 8:14). He is called one of the pillars in the church by Paul (Gal. 2:9). His brother James was beheaded by Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1-2). Later, John must have worked among the churches of Asia before he was exiled to Patmos (Rev. 1:9). Introduction 5

6 Where and When the Gospel Was Written Tholuck wrote, The unanimous testimony of antiquity is, that the Apostle wrote his Gospel in Ephesus (9). A. Plummer concurs saying, Tradition is unanimous in giving Ephesus as the place where S. John resided during the latter part of his life, and where the Fourth Gospel was written. There is no sufficient reason for doubting this strong testimony, which may be accepted as practically certain (32-33). Lenski wrote, Before the destruction of Jerusalem, between the years 66 and 69, the Apostle John, together with other Apostles and disciples of Jesus, moved to Asia Minor, and these made their headquarters in Ephesus, where Paul had established the most important church of this territory. Here the Apostle John wrote his Gospel in his old age at the solicitation of the Asiatic elders. The date of writing lies between the years 75 and 100, probably somewhere near 80 or 85 (20). Manuscript Evidence on John s Gospel The dating of John s gospel has been assisted by surviving manuscripts. Liberal scholars used to date the book toward the close of the second century and assign the book to someone other than the Apostle John. However, the Roberts Fragment, discovered in Egypt and published in 1935 by the John Rylands Library, contains a few verses from chapter 18. The fragment is assigned to the first half of the second century A.D. A fragment of chapter 5 that was found in Egypt, in the Egerton Papyrus 2, also belongs to the early part of the second century. Allowing some years for the book to move from Ephesus to Egypt, the book could be written no later than towards the close of the first century, which date coincides with John being the author of the epistle and writing it in his old age. Design and Plan of the Gospel The purpose of this gospel is given in John 20:30-31: And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. Through a series of seven miracles, John leads us to the conclusion stated in John 20: Lenski said, He writes his Gospel for believers, for people who have and who believe the other three Gospels, who thus receive this new testimony as a confirmation of what they already hold in their hearts (7). Outline of the Book I. The Prologue or Introduction (1:1-18). II. Christ s Ministry to the World (1:19-12:50). III. Christ s Revelation of Himself to His Apostles (13-17). IV. Christ s Passion and Resurrection (18-21) V. Epilogue or Appendix (21). 6 The Gospel of John

7 Only Matthew and Luke have any information about the birth of Jesus. Without discussing the birth of Jesus, John takes us back to the beginning of creation to introduce Jesus to us. Although he does not discuss the virgin birth, what he writes presupposes it. The prologue to John s gospel is an important passage in the development of the doctrine of the person of Christ. In the Beginning Was The Word (1:1-5) 1. In the beginning was the Word (1:1). John uses the word logos (Word) to describe Jesus. The manner in which it is used presupposes a familiarity with it by the audience receiving his gospel. Some have suggested that he is drawing from contemporary Judaic and Platonic thought for the meaning of logos. Literally, logos means word. Thayer states that the word denotes the essential Word of God, i.e., the personal (hypostatic) wisdom and power in union with God, his minister in the creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the world s life both physical and ethical, which for the procurement of man s salvation put on human nature in the person of Jesus the Messiah and shone forth conspicuously from his words and deeds (382). Jesus is the complete revelation of God. In the beginning takes us back to the Hebrew word bere shith in the Genesis 1:1 (the Hebrew New Testament uses the same word in John 1:1 as is used in Gen. 1:1 and John used the same Greek word as appears in the LXX in Gen. 1:1). The beginning (arche) is beginning, origin; a. used absolutely, of the beginning of all things (Thayer, 76). The text does not say that the Word came into being at the beginning, but that the Word was in the beginning as a pre-existing being. Thayer states that the word denotes the essential Word of God, i.e., the personal (hypostatic) wisdom and power in union with God, his minister in the creation and government of the universe, the cause of all the world s life both physical and ethical The Word was with God (1:1, 2). The text also tells us that the Word was with (pros) God. This statement says that the Word was not the Father but was with the Father, denoting that the Son has a Lesson 1 The Prologue John 1:1-18 separate personality and existence from the Father. 3. The Word was God (1:1). The point is that the Word possessed all of the characteristics and attributes of deity. This does not say that he was a god (as the Jehovah s Witnesses translate the passage) or that he was the Father; rather, the passage states that he who existed at the beginning was no lesser being (such as an angel) than was deity. 4. The Word created all things (1:3). 1 The Word was the one through whom God created the existing world. The same teaching appears in Colossians 1:16-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; and Revelation 4:11. God created all things through Christ Jesus. 5. In him was life and the life was the light of man (1:4). Jesus had life within himself (see John 5:21, 25; 11:25-26; 14:6). His is not delegated or derived power. Inasmuch as the life under discussion is also called the light, the life must refer to spiritual life. The life was the light of man (cf. 1:8-9; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35, 46). Jesus revelation of his will to man provides light to those who are in darkness. 1 The NRSV follows the American Bible Society Greek Text in breaking vv. 3-4 as follows: All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. Most translations prefer the same division as appears in the KJV. The Prologue 7

8 6. He was rejected by those to whom he was sent (1:5). The light shines (phaino: to bring forth into the light, cause to shine, Thayer 647) in the darkness (skotia: darkness... metaph. used of ignorance of divine things, and its associated wickedness, and the resultant misery, Thayer 580). Despite its shining, those who are in darkness did not comprehend (katalambano: to make one s own, to take into one s self, appropriate, Thayer 332; another definition given by Thayer that would also fit is to lay hold of with the mind; to understand, perceive, learn, comprehend [accepted by KJV and NIV]) it. The Testimony of John (1:6-8) John wants his readers to know that John the Baptist was not the light, but he was sent by God to testify about the light. John was a man who had been sent by God (the verb apostello, from which apostolos [apostle] is derived, means to order [one] to go to a place appointed, Thayer 67). He and his mission were foretold in the Old Testament (Mal. 3:1; 4:5-6). He came to give testimony (marturion). He was to testify concerning the light so that all men would believe on the light through his testimony (1:7-8). The Light Enabled Men to Become Sons of God (1:9-13) Jesus was the true (alethinon: that which has not only the name and semblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name... 8 John wants his readers to know that John the Baptist was not the light, but he was sent by God to testify about the light. particularly applied to express that which is all that it pretends to be, for instance, pure gold as opp. to adulterated metal, Thayer 27) light. There were others who claimed to be luminaries, but he was the true light. He lights every man (1:9). John writes at a time when the church had learned that Jesus is the Savior of the whole world, not just for Jews alone. This light cometh into the world (1:9; the phrase must be joined to light and not every man ); this is another way of stating the incarnation (see 1:14). The light was in the world (1:10). He cometh into the world and was in the world; his incarnation was no mere appearance of having a body, but that Jesus came into the world was genuinely true. The same one who came into the world was the one through whom the world was created (1:10). Although he had made the world and was in the world, the world (inhabitants of the world) did not know (ginosko is used of the knowledge of God and Christ, and of the things relating to them or proceeding from them, Thayer 117) him so as to receive salvation from him. Jesus came to his own, that is to his own people, the Jewish nation (1:11). However, the Jews did not receive (paralambano: to take to, to take with one s self, to join to one s self... metaph. to accept or acknowledge one to be such as he professes to be; not to reject, not to withhold obedience, Thayer 484) him. However, as many as were willing to receive him, to these he gave power (exousia: ability or strength ; NIV translates the word right ) to become children of God (1:12). Those who have that right are those who believe on his name (onoma: is used in the N.T. of all those things which, in hearing or recalling that name, we are bidden to recognize in Jesus and to profess: according, of his Messianic dignity, divine authority, memorable sufferings, in a word the peculiar services and blessings conferred by him on men, Thayer 448). The privilege of sonship is not received through the flesh, as the Jews thought. One is not a son of God because of blood or the will of flesh or of the will of man (1:13). One becomes a son of God by being The disciples witnessed the glory of the incarnate Word (1:14). They saw his glory in his glorious character, the words that he spoke, the miracles that he did, and his transfiguration... born of God (1:13; cf. 3:1-5). The Word Become Flesh (1:14-18) The incarnation is stated in the words of this text: the word became flesh. The Word is the Word of verse 1 the one who was in the beginning, who was with God, who was God, and who created all things. The Word became flesh (sarx: entered into participation in human nature, Thayer 570). He took upon himself the form of a man (Phil. 2:6). John does not shrink from stating that the divine nature united with the human nature to become the God/man. He dwelt (skenoo: to fix one s tabernacle, have one s tabernacle, abide in a tabernacle, Thayer 578; there may The Book of John

9 be some allusion to the divine glory dwelling in the O.T. tabernacle in this verb) among us. The disciples witnessed the glory of the incarnate Word (1:14). They saw his glory in his glorious character, the words that he spoke, the miracles that he did, and his transfiguration, among other things. He was the only begotten of the Father (monogenes: single of its kind, only... used of Christ, denotes the only son of God or one who in the sense in which he himself is the son of God has no brethren, Thayer 417). He is full (pleres) of grace (charis) and truth (aletheia). Jesus is the one person in whom the totality of God s grace and truth are summed up and impersonated (cf. John 14:6). John the Baptist bore witness of Jesus (which testimony will be given in the latter part of chap. 1) saying, The one coming after me (in time) is preferred before me (position); for he was before me (that is, he had pre-existence) (1:15). Every Christian has received from his fullness of grace grace upon grace, that is, one blessing on top of the other (1:16). The apostle reminds us that the Law came through Moses (1:17); he was the divinely appointed revealer of the Law. However, God s grace and truth were revealed through Christ (1:17). It had to be revealed because no one has seen God at any time; the only begotten of God was the one who is (on, present participle of eimi, to be) in the bosom of the Father from the beginning and forever and who revealed (exegeomai: to unfold, declare, Thayer 223; this is the Greek word from which our word exegesis is derived) him to us. He had a unique relationship with the Father and, therefore, was qualified to reveal him to us. Questions 1. When did the Word come into being (1:1)? 2. What truth about Jesus does he was with God show (1:1)? 3. What role did the Word play in creation (1:3)? 4. What does in him was life mean (1:4)? 5. In what sense was the life the light of man (1:5)? 6. What role did John the Baptist serve with reference to Jesus (1:6-7)? 7. Why did one need to know that John was not the light (1:8; cf. Acts 19:1-8)? 8. What does the statement that Jesus was the true light say about him (1:9)? 9. What is the significance of the statement that he lights all men (1:9)? 10. Define incarnation. 11. List the different phrases that describe the incarnation in 1:9, 10, Who were his own who did not receive Jesus (1:11)? 13. How does one receive Jesus (1:12)? The Prologue 9

10 14. What power/right did Jesus give to those who believed on him (1:12)? 15. What is the significance of John s statement that one does not become a son of God through blood or the will of man (1:13)? 16. What does the phrase the Word became flesh mean (1:14)? 17. Did Jesus cease to be God or have the attributes of God when he became flesh? 18. What things about Jesus manifested his glory to the apostles (1:14)? 19. How was Christ full of grace and truth (1:14)? 20. In what sense was Jesus before John the Baptist (1:15)? 21. In what sense have we received grace from the Word (1:16)? 22. What does grace upon grace mean in 1:16? 23. In what sense are Moses and Jesus contrasted (1:17)? 24. Why is the Word uniquely qualified to reveal the Father to us (1:18)? 10 The Book of John