John

Part One: Introduction to John

The Author

The Gospel was written by "the disciple whom Jesus loved" (13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20), who identifies himself at the end: "This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true" (21:24). The early church unanimously identified him as John the apostle, son of Zebedee and brother of James. A fisherman from Galilee (Mark 1:19-20), he was one of the inner circle of three with Peter and James, present at the raising of Jairus' daughter, the transfiguration and Gethsemane. Jesus called James and John "Boanerges, The sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17), yet John became the apostle of love. He leaned on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper (13:23), stood at the cross, where Jesus entrusted His mother to him (19:26-27), and outran Peter to the empty tomb (20:4). He also wrote 1, 2 and 3 John and Revelation.

John writes as an eyewitness: "we beheld his glory" (1:14); "he that saw it bare record, and his record is true" (19:35); "That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life" (1 John 1:1). Irenaeus, a disciple of John's disciple Polycarp, records that John wrote his Gospel while living at Ephesus.

Date

John is traditionally dated around AD 85-95, making it the last Gospel written. A small papyrus fragment containing John 18:31-33 and 37-38 (known as P52), found in Egypt and usually dated around AD 125, is the earliest known manuscript fragment of the New Testament. Its presence in Egypt so early supports a first-century date for the Gospel.

Purpose and Theme

John states his purpose plainly:

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.

John 20:30-31

John is the great evangelistic Gospel. Its theme is that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, God made flesh, and that everyone who believes in Him has eternal life. The verb "believe" appears about 98 times. If Matthew presents the King, Mark the Servant, and Luke the Son of Man, John presents the Son of God.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

How John Differs from the Other Gospels

About ninety percent of John's material is not found in Matthew, Mark or Luke. John wrote after them and seems to assume his readers knew their accounts.

Key Words

The Seven Signs

John calls Jesus' miracles "signs" because they point beyond themselves to who He is:

The greatest sign of all is His own resurrection (2:18-22), followed by the miraculous catch of 153 fish (21:1-14).

The Seven "I Am" Sayings

When God revealed Himself to Moses, He said, "I AM THAT I AM" (Exodus 3:14). Jesus used "I am" (Greek ego eimi) in seven great statements, and also absolutely, claiming the divine name:

The Feasts in John

John organises much of Jesus' ministry around the Jewish feasts, showing Jesus as their fulfilment: the Passover (2:13; 6:4; 11:55; 19:14), an unnamed feast (5:1), the Feast of Tabernacles (7:2, 37), and the Feast of Dedication (10:22).

Note on John 7:53-8:11

The account of the woman taken in adultery is missing from some early manuscripts but is found in the great majority of later ones and in the King James Version. This study treats it as Scripture; its content fits the character of Christ shown throughout the Gospels.

Outline of John

Part Two: Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis

Section I: The Prologue (1:1-18)

Chapter 1:1-18 — The Word Was Made Flesh

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

John 1:1-5

John begins where Genesis begins, "In the beginning," but goes back before creation. The "Word" (Greek Logos) is God's self-expression, the One through whom God speaks and acts. Three truths are stated:

• His eternity: "In the beginning was the Word": when everything else began, He already was.
• His distinct personhood: "the Word was with God": He is distinct from the Father, in face-to-face fellowship.
• His deity: "the Word was God": He is fully God. (The Greek grammar does not support the translation "a god"; it identifies the Word's nature as truly divine.)

He is the Creator: "All things were made by him" (1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2). He is the source of life and light.

John the Baptist was sent "to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe" (1:6-8). "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (1:9).

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John 1:11-13

Receiving Christ means believing on His name. Those who do become children of God, born not by human descent, effort or decision, but by God.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

This is the incarnation: the eternal Word became a real human being without ceasing to be God. "Dwelt" means "tabernacled" or "pitched His tent": as God's glory dwelt in the tabernacle in the wilderness (Exodus 40:34), so God's glory dwelt in Jesus. "And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" (1:16-18). Jesus is the perfect revelation of the invisible God.

Section II: The Book of Signs (1:19-12:50)

Chapter 1:19-51 — The First Witnesses and Disciples

When priests and Levites asked John the Baptist who he was, he said he was not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor "that prophet" (Deuteronomy 18:15): "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (1:19-23; Isaiah 40:3). The next day he saw Jesus coming:

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

John 1:29

Every lamb sacrificed since Abel, the Passover lamb (Exodus 12) and the lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7) pointed to Him. John testified that he saw the Spirit descend and remain on Jesus, "And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God" (1:32-34).

The next day John again said, "Behold the Lamb of God," and two of his disciples followed Jesus: Andrew and, almost certainly, John himself (1:35-40). "What seek ye?" "Rabbi... where dwellest thou?" "Come and see" (1:38-39). Andrew first found his brother Simon: "We have found the Messias," and brought him to Jesus, who said, "Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone" (1:41-42). Jesus called Philip, who found Nathanael. When Nathanael scoffed, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?", Philip said, "Come and see" (1:43-46). Jesus said, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" and revealed that He had seen him under the fig tree before Philip called him (1:47-48). Nathanael confessed, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel" (1:49). Jesus promised, "Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" (1:51). Jacob dreamed of a ladder between earth and heaven (Genesis 28:12); Jesus is that ladder, the one link between God and humanity.

Chapter 2 — Water into Wine and the Temple Cleansed

The first sign (2:1-11). At a wedding in Cana, the wine ran out, a serious embarrassment for the hosts. Mary told Jesus, "They have no wine." He answered, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come" (2:3-4), a respectful address indicating that He now acted according to His Father's timing, not family requests. Mary said to the servants, "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it" (2:5), her last recorded words in Scripture, pointing people to obey her Son. Jesus had six stone waterpots, used for Jewish purification rituals, filled with water to the brim. When drawn out, the water had become wine, and the governor of the feast said, "thou hast kept the good wine until now" (2:10).

This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

John 2:11

The vessels of ceremonial purification were filled with the joy of the new order Christ brings, and He saves the best for last.

The temple cleansed (2:13-25). At the Passover in Jerusalem, Jesus found merchants and money changers in the temple. He made a whip of cords, drove them out, overturned the tables, and said, "make not my Father's house an house of merchandise" (2:15-16). His disciples remembered Psalm 69:9: "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" (2:17). This cleansing at the beginning of His ministry is distinct from the one at the end recorded in the other Gospels. When the Jews demanded a sign, He said:

Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

John 2:19

They thought He meant Herod's temple, forty-six years in the building, "But he spake of the temple of his body" (2:20-21). After His resurrection His disciples remembered and believed (2:22). Many believed because of His miracles, "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men... for he knew what was in man" (2:23-25): He saw their faith was superficial.

Chapter 3 — Born Again; God So Loved the World

Nicodemus (3:1-21). Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the ruling council, came to Jesus by night: "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God" (3:1-2). Jesus went straight to the heart of the matter:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

John 3:3

Nicodemus asked how a grown man could be born again (3:4). Jesus explained, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again" (3:5-7). "Water and the Spirit" recalls Ezekiel 36:25-27, where God promised to sprinkle clean water on His people and put His Spirit within them; the water represents the cleansing that accompanies the Spirit's work, through the Word (Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:23). It does not mean that baptism produces the new birth; baptism is a picture of a change God has already made. Like the wind, the Spirit works sovereignly and invisibly, but His effects are seen (3:8). "Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?" (3:10).

Jesus then pointed to the cure for sin:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:14-15

When the Israelites were dying from snake bites, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it on a pole; anyone who looked at it lived (Numbers 21:8-9). So Christ would be lifted up on the cross, and whoever looks to Him in faith lives.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

John 3:16-18

This is the gospel in miniature: the source (God), the motive (so loved), the scope (the world), the gift (His only begotten Son), the condition (whosoever believeth), the escape (should not perish), and the result (everlasting life). People are lost not merely for their sins but because they reject the remedy. "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil" (3:19).

John the Baptist's final testimony (3:22-36). When John's disciples worried that everyone was going to Jesus, John said he was only the friend of the bridegroom, rejoicing at the bridegroom's voice (3:29).

He must increase, but I must decrease.

John 3:30

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

John 3:36

The believer "hath" everlasting life now, as a present possession.

Chapter 4 — The Samaritan Woman and the Nobleman's Son

Living water (4:1-26). Travelling north, Jesus "must needs go through Samaria" (4:4), not because of geography (Jews often went around), but because of a divine appointment. Wearied, He sat by Jacob's well at Sychar about noon (4:6). A Samaritan woman came to draw water, alone, in the heat of the day, probably avoiding other women. Jesus said, "Give me to drink." She was astonished: Jews had no dealings with Samaritans, and rabbis did not speak to women in public (4:7-9).

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water... Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

John 4:10, 13-14

When she asked for this water, Jesus said, "Go, call thy husband." She said she had none. Jesus revealed that she had had five husbands and was living with a man not her husband (4:16-18). He exposed her sin gently but directly. She tried to change the subject to the debate over the right place of worship (4:19-20). Jesus answered that "salvation is of the Jews" (4:22), but the place no longer matters:

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

John 4:23-24

She said, "I know that Messias cometh." Jesus answered, "I that speak unto thee am he" (4:25-26), His clearest early self-revelation, given to a sinful Samaritan woman.

The harvest (4:27-42). She left her waterpot and told the town, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" (4:28-29). Meanwhile Jesus told His disciples, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (4:34). "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest" (4:35). Many Samaritans believed, first because of her testimony and then because they heard Him themselves: "this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world" (4:39-42).

The second sign (4:43-54). At Cana a nobleman from Capernaum begged Jesus to heal his dying son. "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." The father persisted. "Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way" (4:48-50). His servants met him with the news that the boy had recovered at the very hour Jesus spoke, "and himself believed, and his whole house" (4:51-53). His faith grew from desperation, to trust in Christ's word, to full belief.

Chapter 5 — The Healing at Bethesda and the Son's Authority

The third sign (5:1-16). At the pool of Bethesda by the sheep gate, which had "five porches" (5:2), lay many sick people waiting for the water to be stirred. (Archaeologists have excavated this pool in Jerusalem, with its porticoes, confirming John's description.) One man had been sick thirty-eight years. "Wilt thou be made whole?" (5:6). He explained he had no one to put him in the pool. "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And immediately the man was made whole" (5:8-9). Because it was the Sabbath, the Jews objected. Jesus later found the man in the temple: "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (5:14).

Equal with God (5:17-30). "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" (5:17). The Jews sought to kill Him "because he... said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God" (5:18). Jesus did not correct them; He explained His unity with the Father. The Son does what the Father does (5:19); He gives life to whom He will (5:21); the Father has committed all judgment to the Son, "That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father" (5:22-23).

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

John 5:24

This verse gives the believer assurance: eternal life is a present possession ("hath"), condemnation is excluded ("shall not come"), and the change is already accomplished ("is passed"). Jesus also foretold the resurrection of all the dead: "all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (5:28-29).

Four witnesses (5:31-47). Jesus cited four witnesses to His identity: John the Baptist (5:33-35), His works (5:36), the Father (5:37-38), and the Scriptures:

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

John 5:39-40

"For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me" (5:46).

Chapter 6 — The Bread of Life

The fourth and fifth signs (6:1-21). Near the Passover, a great crowd followed Jesus. To test Philip, He asked where to buy bread; Philip calculated that two hundred pennyworth would not be enough (6:5-7). Andrew found "a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?" (6:9). Jesus fed five thousand men, and twelve baskets of fragments remained (6:10-13). The people said, "This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world," and wanted to make Him king by force, so He withdrew alone to a mountain (6:14-15). That night He came to the disciples walking on the sea: "It is I; be not afraid," and immediately the boat was at land (6:19-21).

The discourse (6:22-71). The next day the crowd found Him in Capernaum. "Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves... Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life" (6:26-27). "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (6:28-29). They cited the manna Moses gave. Jesus answered that the true bread from heaven is He Himself:

I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

John 6:35

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

John 6:37-39

These verses join God's sovereignty and human responsibility: all the Father gives will come; whoever comes will never be cast out; none will be lost. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (6:44).

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (6:51). "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you" (6:53). This is figurative language for receiving Christ by faith: compare "he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (6:35), and "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life" (6:47). Jesus Himself explained, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (6:63). He was not teaching that the bread of the Lord's Supper becomes His literal flesh.

"From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (6:66). Jesus asked the twelve, "Will ye also go away?"

Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

John 6:68-69

Yet Jesus said, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" speaking of Judas (6:70-71).

Chapter 7 — The Feast of Tabernacles

Jesus' brothers, who "did not believe in him," urged Him to go to the feast and show Himself publicly; He said, "My time is not yet come" (7:2-6). Later He went up secretly (7:10). The crowds were divided: "He is a good man"; "Nay; but he deceiveth the people" (7:12). In the middle of the feast He taught in the temple, and the Jews marvelled, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" (7:14-15).

My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

John 7:16-17

Willingness to obey God is the key to recognising His truth. "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (7:24). Some wondered if He was the Christ; the leaders sent officers to arrest Him (7:25-32).

At the Feast of Tabernacles, priests carried water daily from the pool of Siloam and poured it at the altar, recalling the water from the rock in the wilderness and looking forward to the outpouring of God's blessing.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

John 7:37-39

The people were divided (7:40-44). The officers returned without Him: "Never man spake like this man" (7:46). Nicodemus cautiously defended Him: "Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him?" (7:51). The Pharisees retorted, "Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet" (7:52), forgetting that Jonah came from Galilee (2 Kings 14:25).

Chapter 8 — The Light of the World and "Before Abraham Was, I Am"

The woman taken in adultery (7:53-8:11). At dawn in the temple, the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery: "Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?" (8:5). It was a trap: if He said to release her, He would contradict the law; if He said to stone her, He would defy Roman authority and His own reputation for mercy. (Notably, they brought only the woman, though the law required both guilty parties to be judged, Leviticus 20:10.) Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground. When they persisted:

He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

John 8:7

"Being convicted by their own conscience," they left one by one, beginning with the eldest (8:9). "Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more" (8:10-11). Grace and truth met: He did not excuse her sin ("sin no more"), but He offered her forgiveness rather than condemnation.

The light of the world (8:12-30). During the Feast of Tabernacles, great lamps were lit in the temple court, recalling the pillar of fire that guided Israel in the wilderness.

I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 8:12

His Father bore witness with Him (8:13-18). "If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (8:24). ("He" is supplied; the Greek is simply "I am.") "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he... for I do always those things that please him" (8:28-29).

The truth shall make you free (8:31-47).

If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:31-32

They protested, "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man" (8:33). "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin... If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (8:34-36). True children of Abraham would do Abraham's works; their desire to kill Him showed another father: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth... he is a liar, and the father of it" (8:39-44). Jesus challenged them, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" (8:46): no one could accuse Him of sin.

Before Abraham was (8:48-59). "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death" (8:51). They asked if He was greater than Abraham, who died. Jesus said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad" (8:56). "Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?"

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

John 8:58

He did not say "I was," but "I am," the name of God revealed to Moses (Exodus 3:14). He claimed eternal, timeless existence. His hearers understood: "Then took they up stones to cast at him" (8:59), the penalty for blasphemy.

Chapter 9 — The Man Born Blind

The sixth sign (9:1-12). Seeing a man blind from birth, the disciples asked, "Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" (9:2).

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

John 9:3-5

Not every suffering is a direct punishment for personal sin; God can use it to display His works. Jesus made clay with His saliva, anointed the man's eyes, and said, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.)" The man went, washed, "and came seeing" (9:6-7).

The investigation (9:13-34). Because it was the Sabbath, the Pharisees questioned the man, then his parents, who, fearing to be put out of the synagogue, said, "he is of age; ask him" (9:18-23). The Pharisees told the man, "Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner." He replied:

Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

John 9:25

When they asked again, he asked, "will ye also be his disciples?" (9:27). They reviled him: "we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is" (9:28-29). The man answered with growing boldness: "Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing" (9:32-33). They threw him out (9:34).

Spiritual sight (9:35-41). Jesus found him: "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?... Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him" (9:35-38). The man's understanding grew step by step: "A man that is called Jesus" (9:11), "He is a prophet" (9:17), "of God" (9:33), and finally the Son of God, worthy of worship (9:38). "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind" (9:39). To the Pharisees: "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (9:41). The proud who claim to see remain in darkness.

Chapter 10 — The Good Shepherd

The leaders who cast out the healed man were false shepherds. Jesus contrasted them with Himself. The true shepherd enters by the door, "and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out" (10:3).

I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

John 10:9-10

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

John 10:11

The hireling flees when the wolf comes (10:12-13). "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine" (10:14). "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd" (10:16): the Gentiles would be brought in.

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.

John 10:17-18

His death would be voluntary, and He would raise Himself.

The Feast of Dedication (10:22-42). In winter, at the feast commemorating the rededication of the temple in the Maccabean period (Hanukkah), Jesus walked in Solomon's porch. The Jews demanded, "If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly" (10:24). He said His works testified, but they did not believe because they were not His sheep:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.

John 10:27-30

These verses are a foundation for the eternal security of the believer: Christ gives eternal life; His sheep "shall never perish"; they are held in the Son's hand and in the Father's hand, and no one can remove them. "I and my Father are one" (one in essence, not merely one in purpose): the Jews took up stones "for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God" (10:31-33). Jesus answered from Psalm 82:6, where human judges are called "gods," arguing from lesser to greater: "the scripture cannot be broken" (10:34-36). He withdrew beyond Jordan, where many believed: "John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true" (10:40-42).

Chapter 11 — Lazarus Raised

The seventh sign (11:1-44). Lazarus of Bethany, brother of Martha and Mary, was sick. The sisters sent word: "Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick" (11:3). Jesus said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby" (11:4).

Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.

John 11:5-6

His delay was not a lack of love but the expression of it: He planned something greater than a healing. When He announced He would return to Judea, where the Jews had tried to stone Him, Thomas said, "Let us also go, that we may die with him" (11:16).

When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been in the tomb four days (11:17). Martha met Him: "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." "Thy brother shall rise again." "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day" (11:21-24).

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

John 11:25-27

Resurrection is not merely an event in the future; it is a Person present now. Believers who die will live again, and believers who live will never truly die.

Mary came and fell at His feet with the same words (11:32). Seeing her weeping, and the mourners weeping, "he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled" (11:33). "Where have ye laid him?"

Jesus wept.

John 11:35

The shortest verse in the Bible reveals the heart of God: Jesus, about to raise Lazarus, still entered into their grief and wept. He groaned at the ravages of sin and death. "Behold how he loved him!" (11:36).

At the tomb He said, "Take ye away the stone." Martha protested that by now there would be a stench. "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" (11:39-40). Jesus prayed, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me" (11:41-42).

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes... Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

John 11:43-44

Someone has observed that if He had not named Lazarus, every grave would have emptied. One day all the dead will hear His voice (5:28-29).

The plot (11:45-57). Many believed, but some reported to the Pharisees. The council met: "If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation" (11:48). Caiaphas the high priest said, "it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not" (11:50). John explains that Caiaphas unknowingly prophesied "that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (11:51-52). "Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death" (11:53).

Chapter 12 — The Hour Has Come

The anointing (12:1-11). Six days before the Passover, at a supper in Bethany, Mary took a pound of very costly spikenard, anointed Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair, "and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment" (12:3). Judas objected that it could have been sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor, "not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag" (12:4-6). "Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this" (12:7). The chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too, because many believed through him (12:10-11).

The entry (12:12-19). Crowds took palm branches and cried, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord" (12:13), as Jesus rode on a young donkey, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9 (12:14-15). "These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they" (12:16). The Pharisees said, "behold, the world is gone after him" (12:19).

The Greeks and the grain of wheat (12:20-36). Certain Greeks came to Philip: "Sir, we would see Jesus" (12:21). The arrival of Gentiles signalled that the hour had come.

The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

John 12:23-25

His death would produce a great harvest of believers from every nation. "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be" (12:26).

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.

John 12:27-28

A voice came from heaven: "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again" (12:28). "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die" (12:31-33). "Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you" (12:35).

Unbelief (12:37-50). Despite so many signs, they did not believe, fulfilling Isaiah 53:1 ("Lord, who hath believed our report?") and Isaiah 6:10 (12:37-40). "These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him" (12:41): the LORD whom Isaiah saw on the throne (Isaiah 6:1-5) was the pre-incarnate Christ. Some rulers believed but would not confess Him, fearing excommunication, "For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (12:42-43). Jesus' final public words in John: "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness... the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" (12:46-48).

Section III: The Book of Glory — The Upper Room (Chapters 13-17)

Chapter 13 — The Foot Washing and the New Commandment

Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

John 13:1

"Unto the end" means to the uttermost, completely. Knowing "that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God" (13:3), fully aware of His divine glory, Jesus took the place of the lowest servant. He rose from supper, laid aside His garments, wrapped a towel around Himself, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet (13:4-5), an acted picture of His whole mission (Philippians 2:5-8).

Peter protested, "Thou shalt never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." Peter swung the other way: "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head" (13:8-9).

Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.

John 13:10

The believer has been washed once for all in salvation and needs no second bathing; but walking through a dirty world, he needs daily cleansing of the "feet" through confession (1 John 1:9). "Ye are clean, but not all": Judas had never been washed (13:11).

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you... If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

John 13:14-15, 17

Most Baptists understand this as an example of humble, loving service rather than a church ordinance, though some Baptist groups practise foot washing literally.

The betrayer (13:18-30). Jesus quoted Psalm 41:9: "He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me" (13:18). "Troubled in spirit," He said, "one of you shall betray me" (13:21). The disciple whom Jesus loved, leaning on His breast, asked who it was. Jesus gave the sop (a morsel, often a gesture of honour) to Judas. "And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly" (13:26-27). "He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night" (13:30), physically and spiritually.

The new commandment (13:31-38). "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him" (13:31): the cross would reveal God's glory.

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

John 13:34-35

The command to love was old (Leviticus 19:18), but the standard was new: "as I have loved you," with self-giving, sacrificial love. Peter vowed, "I will lay down my life for thy sake." Jesus answered, "The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice" (13:37-38).

Chapter 14 — The Father's House and the Comforter

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

John 14:1-3

In the face of His departure, Jesus comforted His disciples with the promise of a prepared home and His personal return to take them to be with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). Thomas said, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" (14:5).

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 14:6

Jesus does not merely show the way; He is the way. He does not merely teach truth; He is the truth. He does not merely give life; He is the life. And He is the only way to the Father (Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5).

Philip asked, "Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (14:8-9). "I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (14:10-11). "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father" (14:12): greater in scope, as the gospel spread through the Spirit-empowered church to the whole world. "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (14:13-14).

Another Comforter (14:15-31).

If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive... but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

John 14:15-17

"Comforter" (Greek parakletos) means one called alongside to help, counsel and defend. "Another" (Greek allos) means another of the same kind: the Spirit would be to them what Jesus had been. He would abide "for ever." "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you... because I live, ye shall live also" (14:18-19). Those who love and obey Him will be loved by the Father, "and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (14:21-23): the Father, Son and Spirit dwell in the believer.

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

John 14:26

This promise guaranteed the accurate recording of Jesus' words in the Gospels and the apostles' teaching in the New Testament.

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

John 14:27

"My Father is greater than I" (14:28) refers to the Son's voluntary subordinate role in His incarnation and mission, not to any inferiority of nature, since He has just said, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" (14:30): Satan had no hold on the sinless Son. "Arise, let us go hence" (14:31).

Chapter 15 — The True Vine

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

John 15:1-2

Israel was God's vine in the Old Testament, but it bore wild grapes (Psalm 80:8-16; Isaiah 5:1-7). Jesus is the true vine. The Father prunes fruitful branches, through His Word and through trials, so that they bear more fruit (15:2-3).

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

John 15:4-5

To abide is to remain in close, continuing dependence on Christ, through His Word, prayer and obedience. "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered" (15:6). Interpreters understand this differently; those who hold the eternal security of the believer, as this study does, understand it either of professing disciples like Judas who were never truly joined to Christ, or of a believer's loss of usefulness and reward rather than salvation (1 Corinthians 3:15).

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit" (15:7-8). "Continue ye in my love... that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (15:9-11).

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

John 15:12-14

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain" (15:16).

The world's hatred (15:18-27). "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you... The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (15:18-20). "They hated me without a cause" (15:25; Psalm 35:19; 69:4). The Comforter, "the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness" (15:26-27).

Chapter 16 — The Work of the Spirit and Victory over the World

Jesus warned that they would be put out of the synagogues; "whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service" (16:2).

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

John 16:7-11

The Spirit convicts the world of the sin of unbelief, of the righteousness of Christ vindicated by His resurrection and ascension, and of judgment, because Satan was defeated at the cross. "When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself... and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me" (16:13-14). The Spirit's ministry centres on Christ.

"A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me" (16:16). Their sorrow would turn to joy, like a woman's pain in childbirth giving way to joy at her baby's birth: "your joy no man taketh from you" (16:20-22). "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full" (16:24). "For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me" (16:27). They would be scattered and leave Him alone, "and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (16:32).

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

Chapter 17 — The High Priestly Prayer

Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven and prayed the longest recorded prayer of His life, interceding as our great High Priest.

For Himself (17:1-5). "Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him" (17:1-2).

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

John 17:3

Eternal life is not only endless existence but a personal relationship with God through Christ. "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was" (17:4-5): He shared the Father's glory before creation.

For His disciples (17:6-19). "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world" (17:6). "I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine" (17:9). He asked the Father to keep them: "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are" (17:11). "Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled" (17:12). "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (17:15-16).

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

John 17:17

Believers are set apart and made holy through God's Word, which is truth itself. "As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself" (17:18-19).

For all future believers (17:20-26).

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

John 17:20-21

Jesus prayed for every believer who would ever come to faith through the apostles' word, including believers today. He prayed for a spiritual unity grounded in the truth (17:17) and in union with the Father and the Son, not a unity of organisation at the expense of doctrine. "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory" (17:24). "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them" (17:26).

Section IV: The Passion (Chapters 18-19)

Chapter 18 — The Arrest and the Trials

Jesus crossed the brook Cedron (Kidron) to a garden. Judas came with "a band of men and officers... with lanterns and torches and weapons" (18:1-3).

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he... As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.

John 18:4-6

At His divine name, "I am," the arresting party fell to the ground. He was not captured; He surrendered. He asked that His disciples be allowed to go, "That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none" (18:8-9). Simon Peter cut off the right ear of the high priest's servant, Malchus; Jesus said, "Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" (18:10-11).

Jesus was taken first to Annas, the former high priest and father-in-law of Caiaphas (18:12-14). Another disciple, known to the high priest (probably John), brought Peter into the courtyard (18:15-16). There Peter's first denial came: "I am not" (18:17), a tragic contrast to his Lord's "I am." When questioned, Jesus said, "I spake openly to the world... and in secret have I said nothing. Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me" (18:20-21). An officer struck Him; Jesus answered, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?" (18:22-23). Peter denied Him twice more, the last time to a relative of Malchus, "and immediately the cock crew" (18:25-27).

Before Pilate (18:28-40). The leaders would not enter Pilate's judgment hall "lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover" (18:28): they worried about ritual defilement while plotting murder. They told Pilate, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death," so that Jesus' words would be fulfilled about "what death he should die" (18:31-32): Roman crucifixion, being "lifted up" (3:14; 12:32), not Jewish stoning.

"Art thou the King of the Jews?" (18:33).

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence... Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.

John 18:36-37

Pilate asked, "What is truth?" (18:38), not waiting for an answer from the One who is the truth (14:6). He declared, "I find in him no fault at all," but the crowd demanded Barabbas, a robber (18:38-40).

Chapter 19 — The Crucifixion

Behold the man (19:1-16). Pilate had Jesus scourged; the soldiers put a crown of thorns and a purple robe on Him and struck Him, mocking, "Hail, King of the Jews!" (19:1-3). Pilate brought Him out: "Behold the man!" (19:5). The chief priests cried, "Crucify him, crucify him." "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God" (19:6-7). Pilate, more afraid, asked, "Whence art thou?" Jesus was silent. "Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee?"

Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

John 19:11

God was sovereign even over the trial. The Jews pressured Pilate: "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend" (19:12). At the Pavement (Gabbatha), on the preparation of the Passover, Pilate said, "Behold your King!" They answered, "We have no king but Caesar" (19:13-15), a terrible rejection of their Messiah and their God. (John's "about the sixth hour" (19:14) is often explained as Roman reckoning from midnight, around 6 a.m., harmonising with Mark's "third hour" (9 a.m.) for the crucifixion.)

The crucifixion (19:16-37). "And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha" (19:17). Pilate's title, in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, read "JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS." When the chief priests objected, Pilate said, "What I have written I have written" (19:19-22). The soldiers divided His garments and cast lots for His seamless coat, "woven from the top throughout," fulfilling Psalm 22:18 (19:23-24).

Near the cross stood His mother, her sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene (19:25).

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

John 19:26-27

Even in agony, Jesus provided for His mother.

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

John 19:28

They put a sponge of vinegar on hyssop to His mouth (19:29; Psalm 69:21). Hyssop was used to apply the blood of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:22).

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

John 19:30

"It is finished" (one Greek word, tetelestai) was used for a debt paid in full or a task accomplished. The work of redemption was complete. Nothing can be added to it. He "bowed his head" and gave up His spirit voluntarily.

Because the next day was a high Sabbath, the Jews asked that the legs be broken to hasten death. The soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves, but found Jesus already dead. "But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (19:31-34), medical evidence of death. John emphasises his eyewitness testimony: "And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true... that ye might believe" (19:35). Two scriptures were fulfilled: "A bone of him shall not be broken" (19:36; Exodus 12:46; Psalm 34:20), as with the Passover lamb, and "They shall look on him whom they pierced" (19:37; Zechariah 12:10).

The burial (19:38-42). Joseph of Arimathea, "a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews," asked for the body. Nicodemus, "which at the first came to Jesus by night," brought about a hundred pound weight of myrrh and aloes, enough for a royal burial (19:38-39). The two secret disciples came out into the open at the cross. They wrapped the body in linen with spices and laid it in a new tomb in a garden near the place of crucifixion (19:40-42).

Section V: The Resurrection (Chapter 20)

Chapter 20 — "My Lord and My God"

The empty tomb (20:1-10). Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene found the stone taken away and ran to Peter and John: "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre" (20:1-2). The two disciples ran; John arrived first, stooped and saw the linen clothes lying. Peter went in and saw "the linen clothes lie, And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself" (20:5-7). Robbers would not have unwrapped the body and left the cloths neatly in place. "Then went in also that other disciple... and he saw, and believed. For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead" (20:8-9).

Mary Magdalene (20:11-18). Mary stood weeping at the tomb and saw two angels where the body had lain (20:11-12). Turning, she saw Jesus but supposed He was the gardener: "Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him" (20:15).

Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

John 20:16

The Good Shepherd "calleth his own sheep by name" (10:3). "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God" (20:17). "Touch me not" means "stop clinging to me"; His relationship with His disciples would now be on a new footing. A woman, whose testimony counted for little in that culture, was the first witness of the resurrection, a detail no one inventing the story would have chosen.

The disciples (20:19-23). That evening, with the doors shut for fear, Jesus stood among them: "Peace be unto you." He showed them His hands and side, "Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord" (20:19-20).

As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

John 20:21-23

His breathing on them recalls God breathing life into Adam (Genesis 2:7), a pledge of the new creation and of the Spirit's full coming at Pentecost. The authority to remit and retain sins is the authority to declare, through the gospel, that those who believe are forgiven and those who reject Christ remain in their sins (Acts 10:43; 13:38-39). It is not a priestly power to grant absolution.

Thomas (20:24-31). Thomas was absent and refused to believe: "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe" (20:25). Eight days later Jesus appeared again and said, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing" (20:27).

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

John 20:28

This is the climax of John's Gospel and the clearest confession of Christ's deity in the Gospels. Jesus accepted it as true worship. "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (20:29). Then John states his purpose: these signs 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" (20:30-31). The Gospel that began with "the Word was God" (1:1) ends its main narrative with "My Lord and my God."

Section VI: Epilogue (Chapter 21)

Chapter 21 — Breakfast by the Sea and Peter Restored

The catch (21:1-14). Seven disciples were at the Sea of Tiberias (Galilee). Peter said, "I go a fishing," and the others went with him, but that night they caught nothing (21:2-3). At dawn Jesus stood on the shore: "Children, have ye any meat?... Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find" (21:5-6). The net was so full they could not draw it in. The beloved disciple said, "It is the Lord," and Peter threw himself into the sea and swam ashore (21:7). There they found "a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread" (21:9). Peter had denied Jesus beside "a fire of coals" (18:18); now he stood beside another. The net held 153 great fish, "and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken" (21:11). "Come and dine" (21:12). This was the third time Jesus showed Himself to the disciples as a group (21:14).

Peter restored (21:15-19). After breakfast, Jesus asked Peter three times, once for each denial:

Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

John 21:15

The second time, "Feed my sheep." The third time "Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep" (21:16-17). (Two different Greek words for love are used in the exchange, and many see significance in Peter's humbler choice of word, though the main point is clear in English: threefold denial is answered by threefold confession and recommissioning.) Jesus then foretold that Peter would one day stretch out his hands and be led where he did not want to go, "signifying by what death he should glorify God" (21:18-19). Early Christian tradition records that Peter was crucified in Rome. "And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me" (21:19).

"Follow thou me" (21:20-25). Seeing John, Peter asked, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" Jesus answered, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me" (21:21-22). Each disciple must follow Christ personally without comparing his path with others'. John corrects a rumour that he would not die: Jesus had not said so (21:23). Then he signs his testimony:

This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

John 21:24-25

Part Three: Christ in John

The Deity of Christ in John

John's Gospel is the clearest testimony in the Bible to the deity of Jesus Christ:

Witnesses to Christ

Old Testament Pictures of Christ in John

The Holy Spirit in John

John records more about the Holy Spirit than any other Gospel: He descends and remains on Christ (1:32-33); He brings the new birth (3:5-8); He is given without measure to Christ (3:34); He is the living water flowing from believers (7:37-39); He is "another Comforter" who abides for ever and dwells in believers (14:16-17); He teaches and reminds the apostles of all Christ said (14:26); He testifies of Christ (15:26); He convicts the world (16:8-11); He guides into all truth and glorifies Christ (16:13-14); and Christ breathes Him on the disciples (20:22).

Part Four: Fulfilled Prophecies

Old Testament Prophecies Fulfilled in John

Jesus' Own Prophecies Fulfilled

Part Five: Key Passages in Depth

John 1:1-14 — The Word Made Flesh

The eternal God, the Creator of all, became a man and lived among us, full of grace and truth. Everything in Christianity rests on this: the One on the cross is God the Son.

John 1:29 — The Lamb of God

John's announcement summarises the whole sacrificial system and its fulfilment: Christ is God's Lamb, provided by God, who takes away the sin of the world.

John 3:1-18 — The New Birth and God's Love

No one can enter God's kingdom without being born again by the Spirit. This new birth comes through believing in the lifted-up Son, given by the love of God for the world. Whoever believes is not condemned; whoever does not believe is condemned already.

John 4:1-42 — The Woman at the Well

Jesus crossed barriers of race, religion, gender and reputation to offer living water to a sinful woman. He exposed her sin gently, revealed Himself as the Messiah, and turned her into a witness. God seeks true worshippers who worship Him in spirit and truth.

John 5:24 — Assurance of Salvation

The believer has eternal life now, will not come into condemnation, and has already passed from death to life. Assurance rests on Christ's word, not on feelings.

John 6:35-40 — The Bread of Life and the Father's Will

Christ alone satisfies the soul. All the Father gives Him will come; none who come will be cast out; none will be lost; all will be raised.

John 8:31-36 — True Freedom

Sin enslaves; Christ frees. Continuing in His word marks true disciples, and the truth sets them free.

John 10:27-30 — Eternal Security

Christ's sheep hear His voice, follow Him, receive eternal life, and will never perish. They are held in the hands of the Son and the Father, and no one can snatch them away.

John 11:25-26 — The Resurrection and the Life

Christ does not only promise resurrection; He is the resurrection. For the believer, physical death is not the end, and spiritual death is impossible.

John 13:1-17 — The Foot Washing

The Lord of glory took a servant's towel. Believers are called to humble, loving service to one another. And every believer, once cleansed, needs daily cleansing from the defilement of walking in a sinful world.

John 14:1-6 — The Way to the Father

Christ promises a prepared home and His personal return. He is the only way to the Father, the truth itself and the source of life.

John 15:1-8 — Abiding in the Vine

Fruitfulness comes only from abiding in Christ. Without Him we can do nothing; in Him we bear much fruit, to the Father's glory.

John 16:7-15 — The Spirit's Work

The Spirit convicts the world, guides believers into truth, and glorifies Christ. It was better for the disciples that Christ ascended, so that the Spirit could come.

John 17 — The High Priestly Prayer

Christ prayed for His own glory, for His disciples' protection and sanctification through the Word, and for the unity and future glory of all believers. He still intercedes for His people (Hebrews 7:25).

John 19:30 — "It Is Finished"

The work of salvation is complete. Nothing can be added by human effort, ritual or merit. The debt is paid in full.

John 20:24-31 — From Doubt to Worship

Thomas' honest doubt became the greatest confession: "My Lord and my God." Those who believe without seeing are blessed, and the Gospel was written so that they may believe and have life.

John 21:15-19 — Peter Restored

Christ restores failing disciples, asks for love, and gives a commission. Three denials are answered by three confessions. Each believer's call is personal: "Follow thou me."

Part Six: The Major Teachings of John

1. The Deity of Christ

Jesus is God, eternal, Creator, equal with the Father (1:1; 8:58; 10:30; 20:28).

2. The Incarnation

The Word became flesh: truly God and truly man (1:14).

3. The Trinity

Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct persons, one God (1:1; 14:16-17, 26; 15:26).

4. Salvation by Believing

Eternal life is received by believing in Jesus Christ (1:12; 3:16, 36; 5:24; 6:47; 20:31).

5. The New Birth

No one can see or enter God's kingdom without being born again by the Spirit (3:3-8).

6. Eternal Security

Believers have eternal life now and will never perish (5:24; 6:37-39; 10:27-29).

7. God's Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

The Father gives and draws (6:37, 44; 17:2), yet whoever believes is saved and those who refuse are responsible (3:18; 5:40).

8. The Love of God

God loved the world and gave His Son (3:16); Christ loved His own to the end (13:1).

9. The Holy Spirit

The Comforter indwells, teaches, convicts and glorifies Christ (14-16).

10. The Word of God Is Truth

"Thy word is truth" (17:17); "the scripture cannot be broken" (10:35).

11. Love for One Another

The new commandment is the mark of a disciple (13:34-35; 15:12).

12. Abiding in Christ

Fruit comes only from union with Him (15:1-8).

13. True Worship

In spirit and in truth (4:23-24).

14. The Resurrection and Final Judgment

All will be raised, to life or to condemnation (5:28-29; 11:25).

15. The Return of Christ

"I will come again, and receive you unto myself" (14:3).

Part Seven: Connections — How John Links to the Rest of the Bible

John and the Old Testament

John and the New Testament

Themes That Run from John Through Scripture

Part Eight: Practical Lessons

• Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and receive life through His name (1:12; 20:31).
• Come and see; bring others to Jesus (1:39-46).
• Do whatever He tells you (2:5).
• Be sure you are born again (3:7).
• Let Christ increase and yourself decrease (3:30).
• Cross barriers to share living water (4:7-10).
• Worship in spirit and in truth (4:24).
• Lift up your eyes to the harvest (4:35).
• Search the Scriptures; they testify of Christ (5:39).
• Labour for the food that endures (6:27).
• Come to Christ; He will never cast you out (6:37).
• When others leave, say: "Lord, to whom shall we go?" (6:68).
• Be willing to do God's will, and you will know His truth (7:17).
• Don't condemn others while ignoring your own sin (8:7).
• Continue in His word to know the truth that sets you free (8:31-32).
• Tell what you know: "Once I was blind, now I see" (9:25).
• Listen for the Shepherd's voice and follow Him (10:27).
• Rest secure in His hand (10:28-29).
• Trust His timing when He delays (11:6).
• Weep with those who weep (11:35).
• Pour out your best on Jesus (12:3).
• Die to self to bear fruit (12:24-25).
• Don't love the praise of men more than God's (12:43).
• Serve others humbly (13:14-15).
• Love one another as Christ loved you (13:34-35).
• Don't let your heart be troubled (14:1, 27).
• Show love for Christ by obedience (14:15).
• Abide in Christ; without Him you can do nothing (15:5).
• Expect the world's hatred, but take heart: He has overcome (15:18; 16:33).
• Let God's Word sanctify you (17:17).
• Rest in the finished work of Christ (19:30).
• Come out of secret discipleship (19:38-39).
• Move from doubt to worship (20:28).
• Accept Christ's restoration after failure (21:15-17).
• Follow Christ without comparing yourself to others (21:22).

Part Nine: Key Verses to Memorize

Conclusion

John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, wrote so that his readers might believe and have life. He begins before creation: the Word was with God and was God, and became flesh and dwelt among us. He shows Jesus as the Lamb of God, the One who must be lifted up like the serpent, the giver of living water to a Samaritan woman, the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth and the life, and the true vine. Seven signs reveal His glory, from water turned to wine to Lazarus called from the grave. He claims the divine name, "Before Abraham was, I am," and His enemies take up stones. In the upper room He washes His disciples' feet, gives them a new commandment, promises another Comforter and a prepared place, and prays for all who will ever believe. In the garden His "I am" throws His captors to the ground; on the cross He cries, "It is finished." On the third day He calls Mary by name, shows His wounds to Thomas, who cries, "My Lord and my God," and by the sea He restores Peter with the words, "Follow me." John's testimony is true, and it still calls every reader to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and in believing to have life through His name.

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.

John 20:31