Introduction to the Gospel of John

By all internal evidence and early church history information, this gospel was written by the apostle John, one of five books in the New Testament which he penned (the three letters bearing his name and the book of Revelation being the others). The theme of the gospel is clearly stated near the end, in chapter 20:30-31: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” Notice his aim is not just that people believe, but that they believe unto salvation—“that you may have life in His name.” In order to accomplish his goal, John presents several notable miracles that Jesus did (the number is usually given as nine, but there are more than that). That is enough. If a person won’t believe on the eyewitness evidence the apostle produces, then more miracles will not convince them.

But it’s a little more complicated than that. John wrote this gospel, probably in the mid-80s, at least 20 years after the other three gospels were finished. By this time, the battle fought by Paul over justification by faith versus the Law of Moses is over. The “Judaizers”—early Jewish Christians—whom he dealt with had tried to force certain aspect of the Mosaic law, especially circumcision, on Gentile Christians. Paul, and others, would have none of it, and thus the Jewish people, as a whole, began to reject Christianity. The book of Hebrews, written probably in the mid-60s, signifies the break with its teaching that Christianity is superior in every way to Judaism, and that this is exactly what the Old Testament had taught as well. Well, this was obviously something most Jews could not accept, and so they clung to their own religion. Thus, by the mid-80s, when John started writing, most converts to Christianity were Gentiles. Well, understandably, they brought their peculiar religious and philosophical beliefs with them, the most notable and influential being Gnosticism. This doctrine would play a major factor in the church in the 2nd century especially, and it would take a lot of work to root it out of Christianity. John’s writings were of supreme help.

Gnosticism is complicated, but its major idea—at least the one John combats—is the Jesus did not really come in the flesh. He could not have done so, because the flesh is totally evil; only the spirit can be good. Thus, God as the Son could not have truly lived in the flesh; He only “seemed” to. This was special knowledge (Greek, gnosis, hence Gnosticism) which only a few, superior Christians possessed, an inner cult, if you will. Because of their belief in their own elite insights, they looked down upon other Christians as inferior. John deals with this thoroughly in I John, but also somewhat in the gospel. His first few verses are a direct attack upon the Gnostic heresy: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:1, 14, emphasis mine). This is NOT what Gnosticism believed, and John will produce more evidence, as his gospel proceeds, of the deity and “flesh” of Christ. This basic historical background is crucial to understanding much of what John wrote.

John, of course, includes much material that Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not have. This is partly because of his unique purpose, but also because there was no sense in repeating, again, what the earlier three inspired writers had written. It’s the same Jesus, of course, just dealt with from a different angle and presenting different aspects of His teaching.

The gospel of John is a beautiful book, but has its difficulties. I will attempt to iron these out as we proceed through our study.