A Guide to Understanding the Gospel of John

I've been studying through the Gospel of John for several years now, teaching through it, and I absolutely love this book. I think you'll understand why if you just stick with me. I want to give you a complete guide to understanding and unpacking this beauty of the Gospel of John for yourself.

Where Do We Begin?

Where do we begin with John's gospel and how do we even begin to make sense of it? Those are questions that we should be mulling through as we think about how to read through the gospel of John. Whether you're an expert in hermeneutics (which is really a fancy word that says how to study the Bible) or if you're not, no big deal.

Listen. When we study the Bible, we need to understand the author's intention for writing the book that he wrote. So first and foremost, the author of scripture is God Himself, through the spirit, inspiring men to write according to their own personalities.

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God's Intention

What is God's intention? Well, his intention is to put on display for all to see the person and work of Him, especially seen in his son—in the Messiah, in Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. To show and to tell who he is, what he has done, what he is doing, and what he will do.

You have to understand that the Bible is not just a historical account or practical tips for life. It's not just something that you can pull out for a quick word of encouragement. That's not the intention of the Bible. The Bible is intended to teach us about who God is, what God is doing, what He has done, and what he will do.

John's Stated Purpose

We don't find the intention of John in the beginning. We actually find John's intention for writing his gospel at the end. If you have your Bible, flip all the way through to John 20:30-31:

"Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these things have been written so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."

John had recorded miracle after miracle after miracle, these mighty wonderful things that Messiah had done. But he's saying, listen, this isn't even a fraction of them. There were many other things that he did, and he performed all of these acts putting on display for all to see that he is the sent one of God who was sent to take care of the greatest enemy of humanity—sin.

John wrote this gospel for a threefold purpose:

1. That we would believe that Jesus is Christ the Messiah, the liberating king, the long expected one, the promised one

2. That we would believe He is the Son of God

3. That by believing in Messiah and Son of God, this Jesus of Nazareth, we would have life in his name

The Signs and the "I Am" Sayings

All of those signs that John recorded were very intentional signs meant for a very specific purpose, so pay attention to those signs, coupled alongside of the "I Am" phrases.

These "I Am" statements are a reference all the way back to Exodus 3:14, where Moses is having a conversation with God through this bush that is burning yet not consumed. God reveals his memorial name—the name of "I Am." He says, "Tell them I am has sent you. Tell them the one who has always been and will always be, has sent you—the eternal one of all of creation, the covenant God of the people of Israel."

Think of that context: God had sent Moses to be the mediator that would deliver his people through the plagues and through the Red Sea, and eventually they would make it into the Promised Land. He would deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, the oppression of the Egyptians and the presence of the Egyptians in its entirety.

And Jesus comes onto the scene and John is the only one out of all of the gospel accounts that records these eight "I am" phrases.

I believe the eighth one is seen just before this in the gospel of John, where he is in front of the Roman army, in front of the scribes and the Pharisees, in the Garden of Gethsemane. And they look at him and they're like, "Are you Jesus?" And he's like, "I am." They fall back. They just fall down. "I am."

All putting on display that Jesus does not bow the knee to Romans or Pharisees or Sadducees or anyone else, especially you and me. But he bows the knee to his father in submission to him, for he only does and says what the father would have him do and say, which is all throughout John.

The Five Witnesses

In John chapter 5, Jesus claims equality with God, saying that everything he does puts on display the works and the character of the Father because he is God. There are five witnesses to the fact that he is Messiah and that he is the son of God:

1. The Witness of John the Baptizer

In the beginning, John declared, "Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." He testified that Jesus is Messiah, he is the son of God—the one on whom the Holy Spirit descended and rested in the form of a dove after the baptism.

2. The Witness of the Works

The miracles were a witness or a testifying that he was who he says he was—Messiah and Son of God.

I love the conversation in John chapter 9 with the man born blind who was healed. When the Pharisees questioned him, he responded: "Here's an amazing thing that you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God-fearing and does his will, he hears them. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

3. The Witness of the Father

In chapter 5, verse 37: "And the father who sent me has testified of me." The testimony of the Father was also witness to the fact that Jesus is Messiah and he is son of God, for Jesus only did the works of the Father.

4. The Witness of the Scripture

The Pharisees searched through the scriptures thinking that in them they had eternal life. But Jesus rebuked them: "It is they that speak about me." You have the testimony of Moses and the law that points to Messiah, to the Son of God.

5. The Witness of the Apostle John

The one who wrote this gospel, bearing testimony to all he saw and heard.

In the Beginning Was the Word

John begins his gospel with a genealogy of God:

"In the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being."

Who is the word? Jump down to verse 14: "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as if of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

The word is Jesus of Nazareth, but more importantly, the word is God. The word was with God and the word was God. Before the world was, he is the firstborn of all creation—not on the basis of becoming this by his deeds, but because he is God himself. He was. And he is. And he will always be. He is "I am."

Why "the word"? Because the word is what communicates to us who his father is, what his father has done, what his father is doing, and what his father will do.

The Tension of Light and Darkness

The beautiful thing about the gospel of John is all throughout it, we see this tension between light and darkness, between seeing and blindness.

In the conversation Jesus has with Nicodemus—the "you must be born again" conversation—Jesus says in verse 3: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Going back to John chapter 1, verses 11-13:

"He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Jesus came as light, as truth, to penetrate all of the lies that the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Jewish people of the day were abiding in. He came to them and they didn't receive him. But—this conjunction is beautiful—as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God.

When Jesus calls his first disciples in John chapter 1, after John the Baptizer says, "Behold the lamb of God," Jesus turns to them and asks, "What do you seek?"

They respond: "Rabbi, where are you staying?"

What are you looking for? We're looking for you, but we don't yet really know what you looks like.

And Jesus invites them and says, "Come and you will see."

Unless you're born again, you cannot see. You have not received. In order to receive, you must believe—believe that Jesus is Messiah, that he is son of God, and that in believing we have life in His name. And sight comes with life.

Why This Matters Today

All of this is wrapped in the Gospel of John and all of the gospel of John must be seen through this filter of his purpose of why he wrote it. It's so amazing. It's so absolutely marvelous.

You can spend countless lifetimes just reading through the gospel of John and marveling at this Messiah who was promised and who came and was revealing himself and was rejected, but was received by many, and those many were given sight, and those who could see lived in such a way that the world could not receive them because it did not receive him.

John is saying, listen, if we receive him, then receiving brings sight and sight brings new life, and that new life brings new action because I'm born of flesh in Adam and I'm reborn of the spirit in Christ. When I'm in flesh, I do the fleshly things that Adam did. When I'm in Christ and abiding in Christ, I do the things that Christ did—and that is the way to the father.

Not that the things that we do earn salvation. Salvation is obtained and secured and maintained in Christ. It's all about Christ. It's all about Messiah.

My Urgent Appeal

I need to urge you for a moment to see, to receive Jesus as John has recorded him. And I don't want you to even move past John. I want you to read John over and over and over again.

If you're like, "Listen, I want to see, but I just can't. I haven't, I don't have that sight. I cannot see these marvelous things"—Jesus was a mere historical person to me at one point in time. I grew up in the church and I acknowledged that Jesus was a real person, that He really lived and he really died, and you'd be a fool to try to ignore that because He is. But yet I did not understand these truths that were so evident in the Gospel of John, according to the purpose that he wrote.

And it wasn't until reading the scriptures over and over again, in pursuit of the thing that I could not grasp for myself, that I was granted, that I was born—not of my will, not of my works, not of my flesh, but of God.

I don't want you to move past the gospel of John if you have no sight, if you have no life. Because unless you believe that he is, unless you hold to these things, unless you are born again, you will have no sight and you will have no life. You will abide in death in Adam, not in Christ. In eternal death, not in eternal life.

So you must hold these things in tension. You must read the Gospel of John. And even if you do have sight—which I have had sight for well over a decade now—it's just even more and more precious to me, the more I study and the more I read the Gospel of John.

I think it is an amazingly crucial book for our generation because the American church, the European church, the church around the world, as far as I understand in many cases, has laid aside these essential truths. They're walking in darkness, claiming to see, leading others to a Jesus that cannot save them. It's the blind leading the blind, both of them falling into an ever destructive pit.

Don't let that be you.

Read the Gospel of John. Encourage others when you're sitting with an inquirer about Jesus. Read through the gospel of John. Just read. Study to know and follow.

And please, leave me any questions that you might have. I'd love to address them.

For more resources and free weekly commentary notes, visit immerseddisciple.com