Introduction to the Gospel of John

I don’t normally watch very much TV except during football season and March Madness, but one thing that can hook me if I am bored and channel surfing is a good biography. Maybe you are like this too. I am curious about people who’ve become famous or powerful or very influential. It somehow fascinates me to learn what were really like, especially if the information comes from a source who actually knew them personally, someone with first hand “insider information”. Often celebrities and other luminaries in society work very hard to create and sustain a public persona, who they want people to think they are. Many even have paid publicists to try and create and maintain their image. But what I find interesting is to listen to someone who really knows/knew them, who has been with them up close for an extended period of time, and who’s willing to reveal things that no one else may know. . . If there was one famous person from any time in history that you find fascinating, that you’d love to get the real scoop on, who would that be?

I’m not sure who that person might be for you. But listen, there is no one more consequential among the billions of individuals who’ve walked this planet than the man we know as Jesus. Who he was, what he did, what he taught, and what happened to him, have affected the world more than any other individual life, by FAR. Whether you are a Christian or not, if you’re honest, I think you’d have to admit that. An unknown author wrote this thought provoking piece of prose about Jesus:
Here is a man who was born in an obscure place, the child of a young peasant woman. He grew up in an unimportant village where he worked in a carpentry shop until he was about thirty years old. Then for three years he became an itinerant preacher. He didn’t go to college. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He never visited a major city. He never even traveled more than a hundred miles from the place he grew up. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

When he was still a young man the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends deserted him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two criminals. While he was dying his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. And after he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of an admirer . . .
Twenty centuries have now come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned– put together– have not affected the life of men on this planet as powerfully as that ONE SOLITARY LIFE.

Our focus for the initial segment of “Share the Word” is to look at Jesus though the eyes of one individual who really DID know him up close and personal. And fortunately we have access to his exclusive insights and information through a writing he left for us, the 4th Gospel, which we call the Gospel of John.

What do we know about the author of the 4th gospel, this man the New Testament scriptures simply call John? We know that he and his older brother James were working in a fishing business their father owned in the town of Capernaum on the shore of the Sea of Galilee when Jesus first called them to be his disciples. (You can read about that in Matt. 4:21; and Mark 1:19). Sounds a little strange to read there that Jesus was walking along the edge of this lake where these guys were mending their fishing nets and preparing for work when Jesus challenged them: “Come follow me”, and they just up and did it! I mean, who does that? But reading between the lines in the NT gospels we can deduce that John was not a stranger to Jesus prior to that day. He was in fact a first cousin. John’s mother Salome and Mary the mother of Jesus were sisters. Jesus didn’t bump into John accidentally during a seaside stroll. He was there on purpose looking for him.
It’s very likely that John was the youngest of Jesus’ eventual 12 disciples because we know from extra-biblical history that he lived into the last decade of the first century, well after the other Apostles were long off the scene. So when Jesus invited him to “come follow”, to become a disciple, he was quite young, perhaps a late teen or maybe 20 years old. And when he agreed to join Jesus as a learner and follower (that’s what “disciple” means) I’m certain he had no idea the ride that would take him on over the next 3 years as he personally witnessed the world-changing things he writes about in the 4th gospel.

I think it is not only interesting, but accurate, to see John as kind of a little brother figure to Jesus. Jesus had younger brothers and sisters actually, but they did not buy into him during his public ministry years. But young John clearly did, and became the disciple most closely attached to him. You may remember how at the Last Supper for example it was John who was reclining so close to Jesus, his head was practically against Jesus’ chest, that only he heard some of the private things Jesus said that tense evening. And you may also remember how at the peak of Jesus’ public popularity John’s mother Salome came with her two sons requesting something that only seemed right to them, that when Jesus became Israel’s king (which they were convinced by that time was his destiny) that these two close relatives would rule alongside him as his kind of his left and right hand men. Or how, at the end, it was only John who followed Jesus, not only to the High Priest’s house where he was taken after his arrest, but even to the execution site atop Calvary where he alone of the disciples witnessed Jesus’ brutal crucifixion. And realize it was this same John who received from Jesus a last, very personal, request from the cross, to look after his mother Mary like she was his own mother when he was gone.

So yes, John and Jesus were extremely close, best of friends we might say– or better, John became like a favorite younger brother to Jesus.

But here is a critical question: Can we really have confidence it was in fact this man I’m describing who actually wrote the NT gospel that bears his name? Critics of the Bible want badly to cast doubt on that. Admittedly there were many things written about Jesus all throughout the 2nd and 3rd centuries purporting to be by Jesus’ disciples, or other original followers, who were in fact long dead before those spurious writings were even composed. So why are conservative scholars confident John, this young disciple closest to Jesus, actually was the author of the 4th gospel?

Scholars who look deeply into these things talk about evidence that is “internal”—meaning gleaned from within the text of the writing itself; and evidence that is “external”—gathered from other relevant sources.

After a careful reading, the internal evidence requires the author to be an Israeli Jew who was a contemporary of Jesus because of their intimate knowledge of the customs, geography, internal factions, key personalities, etc. in Israel at that time. I’ll point some of these up as we get into John’s account. But most notably the internal evidence points to an eyewitness of the events being described. For example this author alone of the 4 gospel writers recounts details like the name of the High Priest’s servant—Malchus—who’s ear was hacked off in the Garden of Gethsemane during the confusion at Jesus’ arrest. He often recalls the very specific hours when things happened, as well as details only an eyewitness would recall, such as in chapter 4 when the woman at Samaria, in her excitement after her conversation with Jesus, left her water jar at the well; or when in chapter 12 how the scent of the precious perfume Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus with filled the room where they were gathered. Only someone who was there would recall and include such particular details.

It’s true John never mentions himself by name in this gospel—but maybe that in itself is a clue in his favor. All the other gospels note that John was in Jesus’ innermost circle, so why would he go unmentioned in this account? That at first seems odd. I should say “unmentioned by name” because the author does mention 5 times over the course of his story someone he refers to as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. (Those references occur at 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20). This appears to be John’s way to bring himself into these accounts without using his own name. Remember what I said earlier about young John, a first cousin and having a very close relationship with Jesus? That fits. Let’s think carefully about the last of these “disciple whom Jesus loved” references at John 21:20-24.

If you have a Bible or Bible app. Open, take a look. These are the closing lines in this account: “Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is going to betray you?’) When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ (Meaning what’s going to become of John?) “Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You follow me’. Because of this”, the author adds, “the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die”. Then he adds, “But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, ‘If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?’ The author concludes the interlude with this tell: “This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down”.

“This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down”. Who is? Answer: the “disciple who Jesus loved”, the one who was sitting so close at the Last Supper that he could privately ask, “Who is it that’s going to betray you Lord?” Do you see what’s going on? What we have in those closing lines is sort of like when you watch a movie narrated by someone and you don’t realize until the very end the narrator was telling his own story. At the very end of the 4th gospel, John reveals, “I am the one in this story. This is not hearsay. I was there. This is my own testimony!”

As far as external evidence from the early centuries of Christianity, it is even more decisive. The important Christian leader Irenaeus (born around 120 A.D. so living in the first half of the 2nd century) says in one of his writings: “John the disciple of our Lord, the one who also leaned on his breast, did himself publish a gospel during his residence at Ephesus.” This man Irenaeus, living just a generation after John’s death, was a pupil of a well-known early Church leader named Polycarp, and Polycarp was the leader of the Ephesian church when John actually resided there as an old man. So Polycarp, a contemporary of John when he was living in Ephesus, told those he taught, including Irenaeus, that the 4th gospel was written by John the Apostle. That’s a very direct line of evidence or provenance. . . Another highly respected early Christian leader named Clement of Alexandria who lived in the middle of the 2nd century has written: “John, the last of all, seeing that what was corporeal was set forth in the gospels, on the entreaty of his intimate friends and inspired by the Holy Spirit, himself composed a ‘spiritual gospel’.” By “last of all” Clement meant not only that John was the last remaining eyewitness link to Jesus, but also that his gospel was written last, well after the by-that-time well known “Synoptic Gospels” Matthew, Mark and Luke had been composed and circulated.

Why am I taking the time to discuss all this background material? The NT has been under attack by liberal “scholarship” with attempts to discredit it for the last 150 years. If serious doubt can be cast on the question of whether this important writing was really from John the Apostle, really from an eyewitness, really from the first century in Israel, then the unbelieving critics have severely undercut its credibility. It becomes hearsay and the product of perhaps centuries of embellishment. I still see on outlets like the History Channel programs aired intending to cast doubt on the integrity of the NT, or suggesting there are other credible writings from the same time period that contradict the writings we have in the Bible. These speculations are unfounded and probably largely disingenuous. By that I mean they come from those who don’t believe the Bible because they do not want to believe the Bible—not for lack of evidence. So I want you to understand as we begin our survey of the NT with the Gospel of John that both the internal and external evidence is very strong that it was in fact written in the first century, written by an eyewitness of the events described in it, and confirmed by early Christian leaders to have been authored by someone who was closer to Jesus than any other living person, the man we know as the Apostle John.

I said a few moments ago that an early Christian leader named Clement of Alexandria characterized John’s gospel as a “spiritual gospel” when he contrasted it with the synoptics (Matthew, Mark, Luke). I’ve given some thought to what he meant by that. His words were that they wrote “corporeal” gospels whereas John wrote a more “spiritual” gospel. I think what Clement meant was that John wrote from a different perspective, and a deeper perspective, a perspective gained over many years of reflecting, as well as enlightenment by the Holy Spirit, because John wrote this approximately 60 years removed from the time he spent with Jesus. That’s a long time to ponder things. So whereas the other gospels sometimes have the feel of a travelogue about them, John chooses to include for the most part completely different events and teachings of Jesus than the other gospel writers, things which to him, upon much reflection, had very deep significance. Some critics have suggested that the 4th Gospel’s accounts couldn’t be authentic because they are too different from the Synoptics. But if your Bible is still open to chapter 21, John says something that answers that criticism when he closed his writing this way: “Jesus did many other things. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that could be written”.

Did you realize that if you include all the teaching of Jesus we have in all 4 gospels—Jesus’ own words– you could read it all aloud in 3 hours. But we know the disciples were with him, listening to Him, not only teach crowds but instruct them privately, for more than 3 years! So when John says “the world would not contain the books that could be written . . .” that is of course hyperbole, but he’s underscoring that his gospel was very focused and selective, that Jesus said and did much more! The fact that many of the things he chose to include are unique to his account is not a big deal in that light, and certainly doesn’t cast any serious doubt on their authenticity. John included only the events and teaching of Jesus he felt best made the specific case he was concerned to make.

“The Case for what?” you are probably thinking. We don’t have to guess why John wrote what he wrote. He spells it out so everyone who ever reads his gospel cannot miss it. In chapter 20 verses 30-31 he states it this clearly: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. Be sure you get this! In some of the NT writings we may have to work a little bit to come up with a concise statement of purpose, or they may seem to be intended to serve several objectives for the author—but not the 4th Gospel. John lets us know exactly what he is trying to convince us of. His goal is to persuade us to “believe” specific things. As you listen to John’s gospel in the days ahead take notice of how often this term “believe” shows up in one form or another. It’s about 100 times!
I’m going to tell you something now before we close this introductory lesson that is critically important to understand. Are your ears perked up? Whenever John uses this word “believe” (the Greek word is pisteuo) in connection with salvation, or as he puts it here, with gaining “eternal life”, he uses the verb/preposition construction “pisteuo eis”, i.e. literally “believe into”. *This construction, this use of those two words together, is not found elsewhere in either classical or koine (common) Greek. John apparently coined this phrase “believe into” and uses it over and over to make it as clear as possible what his objective is for writing his gospel account- to persuade his readers to believe into Jesus, just as he himself had. Saving faith/eternal life are not the result of intellectually recognizing and consenting to some things that happened a long time ago. No. It is the result of understanding exactly who John tells us Jesus was and what John tells us Jesus did, and “buying into” it, to use perhaps our closest English equivalent. You know what I mean when I say “I’ve bought into something”, right? It means I’ve made a personal investment in it, I’ve gotten on board with it, I’ve put my trust in it—or in this case, put my trust in someone.
What exactly is John hoping his readers will “believe into” regarding Jesus? First that the man Jesus he came to know was in fact the long promised Messiah, i.e. the Christ. His readers who had any familiarity with the Old Testament scriptures understood what that meant. God had through many prophets and throughout a long history of dealings with his chosen people promised them a savior, a deliverer, called by the Jews the “Messiah”. John insists that this long promised Messiah is in fact Jesus, the very man he knew in his youth, who he followed and learned from. And 2nd John writes to persuade his readers that the one he came to be so close to, who he lived with, traveled with, listened to, ate with, laughed and cried with, the man he ultimately saw executed outside Jerusalem and then somehow astoundingly alive again, this man–although he looked like any other ordinary fellow– was in reality much MUCH more! He was in fact the absolutely unique Son of God on our planet for a time, here on a divine mission. These astounding claims, that the historical Jesus was in reality the long awaited Messiah and the very Son of God, this is who John hopes to persuade us to also believe into, to buy into, to accept and trust in, just as he had come to.

Why does that matter so much to him? Because it’s John’s contention, based on Jesus’ own teaching, that it’s only by believing into Him that we can have eternal life. Our personal destiny hinges on it. Our personal relationship with God hinges on it, because it’s only because of who Jesus was and what he did that we can be effectively reconciled to our Creator. So John’s purpose for writing is crystal clear, and if he’s right, HUGELY important for all of us!

As we delve into his gospel, take note of this: John is going to show us systematically 7 audacious claims Jesus made, as well as 7 extraordinary supernatural acts that backed them up, the things which ultimately caused him personally to believe into Jesus. So come along for the ride and listen to the first hand experiences of a true insider, John’s own accounts of the things he saw and heard while being with the most consequential individual who’s ever walked this planet. And as you do, I hope you will help us “Share The Word” by pointing others to this podcast where they can explore the New Testament chapter by chapter with us.