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Sermon

Introduction to the Gospel of John

Speaker
David Capoccia
Scripture
John 20:30-31, John 21:18-24

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In this first sermon in a new series going through the Gospel of John, Pastor Dave Capoccia gives an introduction to the Gospel. Pastor Dave explains five main areas of background information that will help you better understand and appreciate the Gospel of John: author, date, origin, purpose, and structure.

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

The Gospel of John is introduced as a profound eyewitness account written by the Apostle John, son of Zebedee, to bring readers to saving faith in Jesus as Messiah and God. We are reminded that John deliberately chose to identify himself not by name but as “the disciple whom Jesus loved”—a humble, faith-filled declaration that every believer can echo. This passage teaches us that the Gospel of John was written specifically to evangelize Jews and God-fearers by presenting carefully selected sign miracles that prove Jesus’ deity and messiahship, while confronting the uncomfortable realities that Jesus claimed to be God and was rejected by His own people.

Key Lessons:

  1. Internal and external evidence confirms that the Apostle John, son of Zebedee, authored this Gospel as a true eyewitness of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
  2. John’s primary purpose was evangelistic—selecting seven miraculous signs to bring readers to saving faith in Jesus as the Christ and Son of God.
  3. John’s Gospel presents no middle ground regarding Jesus: you are either with God and His Son or against Him, and how you respond to Jesus reveals which camp you belong to.
  4. Calling himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is not pride but profound humility—making everything about Jesus and marveling that Christ loved even him.

Application: We are called to approach this Gospel study with hearts ready to behold Jesus afresh—whether as seekers needing to believe or as believers needing to grow in worship, obedience, and love for Christ, even through persecution and rejection.

Discussion Questions:

  1. John called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” How would it change your daily life if you consistently identified yourself by the fact that Jesus loves you?
  2. John says there is no middle ground with Jesus—you are either with God and His Son or against Him. Where do you see the temptation to stay on the fence in your own life?
  3. John wrote to challenge religious people who claimed to worship God but hesitated to follow Jesus fully. In what areas might we be holding back from going “all the way” with Christ?

Scripture Focus: John 21:20-24 identifies the author as the beloved disciple and eyewitness. John 20:30-31 states the Gospel’s evangelistic purpose—that readers may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in His name. John 3:20-21 challenges those who claim to worship God to come to the light of Christ.

Outline

Introduction

Thank you so much musicians. It’s good to praise the Lord, and man, I feel fired up to preach. I’m excited to begin a new sermon series with you all today.

It’s been almost a year since I’ve done a prolonged verse-by-verse book exposition with you. Though I will take breaks from our series now and then as we go forward for special messages, I trust that a sustained gospel study will prove edifying and enriching for us all.

Let’s ask the Lord’s blessing as we begin looking at this new book of the Bible. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are our Lord and savior. You are indeed all that we have. You are the great treasure. You are our life.

Thank you that you have proven faithful to your word. You did not leave your disciples as orphans, but you sent the Spirit and you brought to remembrance the things you told to your apostles so they could teach others. They could write it down, and we can have it today.

Bless this study of your word, even as we look at the introductory information. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Some of you may know that I attended college as an undergraduate at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. For my first two years there, I lived on campus in one of their co-ed dormitories.

I still remember that on one of my first nights there, as a wide-eyed freshman, our resident assistant led our whole floor of people in an icebreaker. One by one, we were to introduce ourselves to one another with an alliterative adjective. Then we were to recite the names and adjectives of all those previously introduced.

For example, someone might introduce herself as meticulous Megan. But then she would have to recite all the other names that had been spoken so far: peaceful Patrick, sneaky Sarah, dangerous Dave, meticulous Megan.

The intent of the game was just to have a little fun learning everybody’s names. Well, one of my new floormates, who later became my good friend, wouldn’t give himself an adjective. He simply introduced himself as John.

We told him that’s not how the game works. But he kept insisting on saying only John. “I’m John.”

We tried to give him examples of what he could do with his name. “What about Jolly John or Jumping John?” But he refused.

Then he slipped up because he replied to us with just John. For the rest of the icebreaker and a long time afterwards, my floormate became known as just John.

Well, today we’re going to be introduced to a different John: the Gospel of John. And like my friend from college, this John is also going to prove a bit reticent in giving information about itself.

However, by paying close attention to the details that the Gospel of John does give us, as well as by noting early church testimony about this book, we can learn the background of this gospel and prepare ourselves to study it well. That’s my intention with you today.

This is the introduction to the Gospel of John. In this introduction, I want to explore with you five main areas of background information that will help you better understand and appreciate the Gospel of John.

Those areas are: author, date, origin, purpose, and structure.

The Author of John’s Gospel

Let’s start with number one: the author. Who wrote the Gospel of John?

And to that, you’re probably immediately thinking, “It’s called The Gospel of John, so obviously John wrote it. Duh.”

Well, the problem is that title is not part of the original work. It was added later. Like the other three gospels, the Gospel of John does not explicitly name its author anywhere in the book.

“Like the other three gospels, the Gospel of John does not explicitly name its author anywhere in the book.”

Yet the gospel does give us important clues about the author that will help us understand who wrote it. Turn with me to the end of the book of John to see this for yourself: John 21:20-24.

It’s page 1087 if you’re using the Bibles that we’ve provided. John 21:20-24.

This section appears right after Jesus restores Peter. After Peter’s previous denials, Jesus also tells Peter that Peter will one day glorify his Lord Jesus in martyrdom. Look what appears next, starting in verse 20.

“Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one also who had leaned back on his bosom at the supper and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays you?’

So Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, ‘Lord, and what about this man?’

Jesus said to him, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.’

Therefore, this saying went out among the brethren that disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, ‘If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?’

This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things. And we know that his testimony is true.”

The Beloved Disciple Identified

Notice first, here in verse 24, where the narrator identifies himself as the book’s writer. He calls himself a disciple, that is, a follower and learner of Jesus.

He also claims to testify about the matters which he writes. That is, he is a witness, even an eyewitness, to the life and ministry of Jesus.

“He is a witness, even an eyewitness, to the life and ministry of Jesus.”

He also says, “We know that his testimony is true,” which is a very intriguing shift into the plural first person. This shift need not mean that this work has multiple authors. There are reasons a singular author might sometimes employ “we.”

But certainly, the author is claiming here that there is a faithful community who knows and affirms that everything the author has written is true.

Notice now that this, at the beginning of verse 24. This demonstrative pronoun tells us that the disciple we’re talking about is the same disciple that the author has just been talking about in the previous verses.

We read those. If you just go back to verse 20, we see that this same disciple is described in a very particular way: the disciple whom Jesus loved.

This phrase, “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” actually appears several places in this gospel. I’ll mention them to you.

It appears in John 13:23, at the Lord’s Supper, describing a certain disciple who reclines on Jesus’s chest after being urged by Peter to ask Jesus about who the betrayer is.

We see this phrase also in John 19:26, at the cross, where Jesus tells a certain disciple to care for Mary, Jesus’s mother, and take her as that disciple’s own mother.

We also see it in John 20:2, when this disciple, the disciple whom Jesus loved, outruns Peter to the tomb after Mary Magdalene reports that Jesus’s body is gone.

And then we also see the phrase earlier in the chapter, John 21:7, where the disciple whom Jesus loved is fishing with Peter and then tells Peter that the man on shore, who just brought about a miraculous catch of fish, is the Lord.

We see this phrase in multiple places. Though the author does not name himself, he does mention himself with this curious phrase at key points in the narrative about Jesus.

This shows us that our author, this disciple, is no ordinary disciple. If he’s there at the Lord’s Supper, which is a pretty exclusive event; if he’s there at the cross; if he’s there with Peter running to the tomb; and if he’s there at Peter’s restoration.

This disciple must be an apostle, even one of Jesus’s closest apostles. It’s notable that this unnamed disciple is frequently appearing with Peter.

You may have noticed that in the references I just gave to you, it’s as if this gospel communicates that the Beloved Disciple and Peter are good friends, close associates. Even here in verses 20 to 24, which we read, notice it’s Peter asking Jesus about the fate of this one, this disciple whom Jesus loved.

Peter is asking about him. So he must be an apostle.

Narrowing Down the Author

But can’t we say anything more specific about which apostle wrote this book? Well, yes.

Looking at the beginning of the chapter, verses 1-3 mention which disciples are part of this last scene presented in the book. We’re told that there’s Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the two sons of Zebedee, and two unnamed disciples.

This means that the author is certainly not Peter, Thomas, or Nathanael, since they are named outright and not given the “disciple whom Jesus loved” treatment. Our author must be one of the other twelve.

Perhaps the son of Zebedee. Considering the Beloved Disciple’s intimate relationship with both Peter and Jesus, this disciple or author is likely part of Jesus’ closest circle, which we hear in the other gospels consisted of Peter and the two sons of Zebedee: Peter, James, and John.

So which of the sons of Zebedee? Well, it cannot be James because of what’s mentioned in verses 18-23.

In these verses, Jesus foretells Peter’s martyrdom. Jesus refuses to foretell the author’s fate. Then the author notes that people wrongly began spreading the rumor that our author would not die but live until Jesus returned.

Why is that significant? Because those things together strongly suggest that by the time of the writing of this gospel, Peter has been martyred. But our author, the Beloved Disciple, has not.

This is why there has been a rumor that has spread about the author that the author wants to correct. According to Acts 12:2, James the son of Zebedee actually died before Peter. He’s the first apostle to be martyred when Herod Agrippa put him to the sword in order to gain favor with the Jews.

So if our author has indeed survived Peter and is part of Jesus’ inner circle, and the author can only be one man, the author must be the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee: a one-time fisherman who Jesus turned into a fisher of men.

“The author must be the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee: a one-time fisherman who Jesus turned into a fisher of men.”

John was transformed from a son of thunder—that’s what he and James were called—transformed from a son of thunder, ready to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritan village that wouldn’t let Jesus through, to what he became known as in the early church: the Apostle of love.

Again and again in his writings—John, and this writing is included—he stresses that Jesus’ true disciples are marked by love. He still has a zeal, but he’s marked by his love now.

Supporting Evidence for John’s Authorship

I grant that this identification of John the Apostle as the author relies on some inferences. But John the son of Zebedee makes the most sense as the implied author of this work.

Is there another detail in the book that also points to John as the author? Throughout the book, the author clearly demonstrates intimate knowledge of the land of Israel and Jerusalem, which John would have had as someone who lived in Israel.

The author writes in Greek, which John would have picked up living in Galilee, an area that interacts with many Gentiles. Yet his style and some of his expressions are clearly Semitic, suggesting a Jewish background for the author, which John certainly had, being a Jew.

Furthermore, the author never specifically mentions John the son of Zebedee in this gospel, which is extremely curious considering how important John is in the other gospels, being mentioned as part of Jesus’ closest inner circle.

“The author never specifically mentions John the son of Zebedee in this gospel, which is extremely curious.”

This is made more significant by the fact that the author of this book often goes above and beyond in identifying other persons in the Bible in a way that distinguishes them so that no one is confused.

You actually see this at the beginning of the chapter. If you just look at John 21:2, where we see the names of the disciples given to us: it’s not just Peter, but Simon Peter; it’s not just Thomas, it’s Thomas called Didymus; and it’s not just Nathanael, but Nathaniel of Cana and Galilee.

When he introduces or reintroduces a person in the account, he gives you extra information about him. But there’s one person in this book for whom the author unexpectedly does not provide any differentiating description. And that’s John the Baptist.

John the Baptist actually appears in a number of places in this book, but never with the title “the Baptist,” which is extremely odd. Because the other gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke—they often add “the Baptist” when talking about John the Baptist so that the readers will not confuse that John with John the Apostle.

And that makes sense, right? We would be confused without that extra information. But this gospel doesn’t do that. It only refers to John the Baptist as simply John.

This can only be—unless this is an extremely reckless stylistic choice—that the author relied on the fact that his audience would understand that the disciple whom Jesus loved is John the Apostle. Therefore, there’s no need to differentiate John the Baptist from him with a description like “the Baptist.”

Responding to Objections About Authorship

Now, again, I admit I am making some inferences about the author’s identity based on clues in the text. The author’s identity is not made explicit.

However, I’m convinced that the only conclusion about authorship that satisfies otherwise strange choices made in the telling of this gospel is that the Apostle John is the author. I am made more confident in that conclusion by the fact that the early church concluded the same thing about this book.

When the Gospel of John begins to be talked about in the late second century, every person who mentions authorship says it was written by John the son of Zebedee. The authorship of John would not seriously be questioned until the Enlightenment period, when so-called biblical scholars started questioning the authorship of basically every book of the Bible.

From both internal and external evidence, we can confidently say that the Gospel of John is rightly named. It is the record of Jesus’ life, teaching, and ministry as written by the Apostle John.

“From both internal and external evidence, we can confidently say the Gospel of John is rightly named.”

This, unfortunately, is not the conclusion of most biblical scholars today. I should put “biblical scholars” in quotes.

They instead commonly assert that though the Apostle John may have originated the tradition that is captured in this gospel, this was really written years after the fact by a Johannine community—that is, a group of John’s later disciples and supporters. They pretended to write as the Apostle so that they might pass on his teaching.

This was therefore a collaborative effort with multiple editors changing the record to deal with issues in their own time or to improve the story according to their own judgment.

That may remind you, if you were with us in previous years, about what scholars say about the Solomonic authorship of Ecclesiastes: “No, Solomon didn’t write it. It was a collaborative effort. There were editors, et cetera, et cetera.”

I have very little patience for such theories of authorship. I won’t go into the detail, but I will summarize my response: such theories are plainly subjective, highly speculative, and clearly anti-supernatural.

I don’t believe what the Bible proclaims about how it was written.

“The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved” — Pride or Humility?

I will respond to one other objection. Note that these scholars raise one objection: some say, “If John the Apostle is really the author, then how can he call himself ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’? Isn’t that a proud way to refer to oneself, as if Jesus didn’t love anybody else but you?”

We may admit that John’s descriptor of himself is surprising. But to declare that Jesus loves a certain person, or even that Jesus loves you, does not necessarily imply that he doesn’t love anybody else.

In fact, in this gospel, Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, is identified for Jesus by the Jews as “he whom you love.” And yet clearly Jesus is also said to have loved Mary and Martha and even the rest of his disciples.

Paul—not in this book, but in Galatians 2:20—actually says the same thing about himself. In Galatians 2:20, Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.”

Paul’s not being proud in this statement. He’s actually putting himself forth as an example to all Christians. All Christians should be able to say the same as Paul.

And John, actually, far from a statement of pride, I would say the descriptor “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is an expression of humility and faith. It’s literally self-effacing.

“Don’t call me John. Just call me the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John’s making it all about Jesus. And this descriptor also shows that John was captivated by the fact that Jesus loved even him.

“Don’t call me John. Just call me the disciple whom Jesus loved. John’s making it all about Jesus.”

As others have said, when you think about it, there are few truths more profound than the simple childhood rhyme, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

Children’s Hymn: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

But that’s enough about the author. As we go through this gospel, know that John the Apostle is the author.

The Date of John’s Gospel

Let’s next talk about date. Number two: date. When did John write this?

This actually isn’t an easy question to answer because we don’t get a lot of information from the book itself regarding its timing. The evidence we do get could mostly be interpreted in multiple ways.

The most significant timing information comes from the passage we were looking at in John 21:18-23. The revelation that Jesus gave that Peter would die as a martyr, glorifying God, and that John was thought by many to be guaranteed to live until Jesus returned again.

These details strongly suggest the gospel was written after Peter’s death. That took place under Emperor Nero between 64 and 66 A.D. All the dates I’m going to mention today are anno Domini.

“These details strongly suggest the gospel was written after Peter’s death, which took place under Emperor Nero between 64 and 66.”

So 64-66. But how much farther after A.D. 66 was this gospel written?

Evidence from the Temple’s Destruction

Well, another time detail often considered significant is the Jerusalem Temple’s destruction in 70. And perhaps you say, “Wait, I don’t remember that detail in the Gospel of John.”

Exactly. John does not mention anything in this gospel about the destruction of the physical temple in Jerusalem—not that it would happen or that it did happen.

Many interpreters believe that such a significant event, especially for Jews, if it had happened anywhere near the time of John’s writings, would surely have received some mention, some allusion. But since the destruction of the temple is not mentioned in John’s gospel, the argument goes, John must have written either before its destruction or a decently long time afterwards, so everybody’s kind of used to it and doesn’t need to be mentioned again.

That means John either wrote this between 66 and 70, before the temple was destroyed, or maybe 80 to 90, so a decently long time afterwards.

We can appreciate the reasoning behind this assertion. But we must note that this is an argument from silence, and those arguments are always a bit weak.

“This is an argument from silence, and those arguments are always a bit weak.”

Maybe John had another reason for not mentioning the temple’s destruction.

Comparing John with the Synoptic Gospels

Similar detail highlighted as significant for determining the date is the fact that this gospel is so different from the synoptic gospels and the events that those gospels choose to talk about. Many of the events and teachings mentioned in Matthew, Mark, and Luke are not mentioned in John, and vice versa.

The thinking is that John must have waited until after the other gospels were written and decently disseminated before he wrote his own gospel account to supplement them. This would push closer to a later date, maybe around 80 to 90.

That’s a fine theory. I see the logic of it. But there’s actually nothing in John’s gospel that requires the other gospels to be written first.

The synoptics do inform some details about John’s gospel. But the reverse is also true. John’s gospel helps explain some of what we see in the synoptics.

None of the gospels really are dependent on each other. Therefore, they can’t really tell us which of them are. Just comparing the gospels can’t tell us about the timing of their creation.

“None of the gospels really are dependent on each other.”

Two other minor details in John’s gospel are considered notable. Some say the threats of being put out of the synagogue for confessing Christ, which is mentioned in John 9:22, is a late first century development. Mentioning it must mean that John’s gospel was written later, towards the end of the first century.

I understand the logic of that. But that threat may have been enforced earlier in the first century. So it doesn’t necessarily mean this book was written late.

Some also say that the use of the present tense to describe the pool of Bethesda in John 5:2—”There is a pool in Jerusalem”—is indication for an earlier date of the Gospel. If Jerusalem had been destroyed by the time of John’s writing, John surely would have used the past tense to describe that pool.

That makes sense. But the Greek present tense is grammatically flexible enough so that it could be used to describe something in the past. It’s not exactly equivalent to English. Sometimes the present can be used to describe the past. Sometimes the past can be used to describe the present. Context must ultimately determine how you translate verbs in Greek.

Conclusion on Dating

So, all this to say that the internal evidence mostly only suggests that the gospel is written after 66. Hard to say more definitively than that.

The general testimony of the early church, though, is that John wrote this gospel under Emperor Domitian. The mission range from 81 to 96.

Considering that external testimony and the somewhat ambiguous internal testimony of the book, I’m inclined to place the writing of John’s gospel in the traditional slot of 80 to 90.

“I’m inclined to place the writing of John’s gospel in the traditional slot of 80 to 90.”

The Origin of John’s Gospel

You’ve got author, you’ve got date. How about origin? Number three: from where did John write?

Well, here we have even less information to go on than for author and date. In the book, John mentions many specific details about places in Palestine. Some have suggested he wrote from Jerusalem.

But John, as someone who lived there a long time, could have intelligently and accurately written about Palestine from some other place. It didn’t have to be there.

The earliest extensive use of John’s gospel in the second century appears around Egypt and Syria. Some have suggested that John wrote from Alexandria or Antioch, with copies spreading out from there.

Well, just because the book was later used notably in certain places doesn’t necessarily mean it was written there.

The tradition from the early church in the late second century is that John wrote this gospel from Ephesus in Asia Minor. John is said to have traveled there after the Jewish Rebellion against Rome took off in 66.

Then John began shepherding the churches in Ephesus and in the surrounding area. That assertion does fit with what we see in the Book of Revelation. The first couple chapters of that book mention John writing on behalf of Jesus to the seven churches, which are all in Asia Minor, all around the city of Ephesus.

So that would make sense. Also, the Book of John noticeably explains aspects of Jewish life in Palestine as if those aspects are unknown to the readers, suggesting that his audience did not live in Palestine. And perhaps also that John did not live there anymore either.

“John began shepherding the churches in Ephesus and in the surrounding area.”

So, here again, without much internal evidence to suggest otherwise, I’m content with accepting the early church’s position that John wrote this gospel from Ephesus in Asia Minor around 80 to 90.

Now, perhaps you’re thinking by this point, “This gospel sure has left us without a lot of internal evidence to inform background. Is there anything that John’s gospel does make clear for us?”

Well, yes, actually. And we’re going to see in the next two points.

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

Let’s look at number four: purpose. Why did the Apostle John write this book?

Good news: John tells us directly in John 20:30-31. You can turn over there now. Page 1086 if you didn’t move from where you were before. Just look over to a new section. That’s right close by.

John 20:30-31.

John writes, “Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name.”

John 20:31: “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name.”

John’s Evangelistic Intent

John tells us here that his primary purpose in writing this book is evangelistic. He intends that his readers, by John’s testimony, will believe in Jesus as Messiah and God, and thereby find everlasting life in him.

Simple purpose. Clear purpose.

Notice some details with me in these two verses. Notice the “therefore” that begins in verse 30. This is another word, like “this,” that points us back to what we were just looking at before, or what the readers were just looking at before.

What came before? We see the answer in verses 26-29. We also read from this section earlier in the service.

When Thomas beheld the Risen Christ and proclaimed that Jesus was Thomas’ Lord and God, Jesus tells Thomas, “Do you believe in me just because you’ve seen me risen? More blessed are those who have not seen me yet believe.”

We go straight from that statement to the “therefore” of verse 30. Therefore, these things have been written.

Do you see the connection? John wants his reader, he wants his listeners, he wants you and me to experience what Jesus just said: to know the blessing, the great blessing, of not having seen Jesus with your own eyes yet believing in him as Messiah and God and finding eternal life.

“John wants you and me to know the great blessing of not having seen Jesus yet believing in him as Messiah and God.”

Notice, according to verses 30-31, how John says he’s going about this purpose in this book. John has selected certain signs, or sign miracles. “Sign” is often used with that sense.

John has selected certain sign miracles of Jesus to help you see who Jesus is. John confesses that Jesus did many other miracles proving who he is. But there are too many to be written in one gospel.

“These,” he says, “but these signs have been written so that you may believe.” We cannot see these signs with our eyes, but we can see them with our hearts and believe and be blessed.

Writing to Evangelize Jews and God-Fearers

Now, can we be more specific as to who exactly John is trying to reach with the gospel of Christ? Is he trying to reach everyone indiscriminately, or is he focusing his efforts on a particular group of people?

Well, though the Gospel of John has ministered and is ministering to all sorts of people through the centuries—believer and unbeliever, Jew and Gentile, new Christian and mature Christian—I am persuaded that John writes this book specifically to evangelize Jews and God-fearers.

Let me explain. If you look again at verse 31, notice the emphasis on messiahship: “These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”

You Jews are wondering who the Christ is. I’m telling you, as an eyewitness, that it’s Jesus, as proved by Jesus’ signs. After all, what does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 1:22 about the Jews?

“Jews search for signs. Greeks search for wisdom.”

In one sense, John is saying with this book, “You want signs? Here they are, carefully selected for you, so that you might find life in your true Messiah.”

“You want signs? Here they are, carefully selected for you, so that you might find life in your true Messiah.”

The Jews as Jesus’ Opponents in John

Now, if you’re a little bit familiar with the Gospel of John, the assertion that John writes primarily to evangelize Jews might surprise you due to a noticeable feature in this book. That is, John repeatedly refers to the Jews as the enemies of Jesus the Messiah.

This is different than the other gospels, where the writers make distinctions between who are the particular opponents of Jesus. It could be the Pharisees, it could be the Sadducees. But we don’t see that in John. He simply calls all these groups “the Jews.”

Thus, the Jews in John 5:16 are the ones persecuting Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. In John 7:13, no one spoke openly of Jesus for fear of the Jews. In John 10:31, the Jews picked up stones to throw at him. In John 19:7 and 12, the Jews were the ones calling out for Jesus’ death.

On the basis of this repeated emphasis on the Jews as Jesus’ enemies, some have even claimed that John is an anti-Semitic gospel, showing hatred toward the Jews.

“John repeatedly refers to the Jews as the enemies of Jesus the Messiah.”

Add to this the odd feature that I mentioned earlier: that John, our author, feels compelled to explain certain basic elements of Jewish culture to his readers. For example:

John 1:38, “They said to him, ‘Rabbi,’ which translated means ‘teacher.’”

John 4:9, “How is it that you, being a Jew, asked me for a drink, since I am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”

John 19:31, “Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day).”

You may look at these and ask, “If John is really writing to Jews, then why these parenthetical explanations? Wouldn’t the Jews have already known these things?”

Writing to Hellenized Jews in the Diaspora

Well, to deal with the second objection first, the reason John adds these explanations is not because he’s writing to Gentiles and not Jews, but because he’s writing to Hellenized Jews. He’s writing to Jews in the diaspora.

These are not Jews who live in Palestine. They live elsewhere and don’t speak Hebrew or even Aramaic. They speak Greek.

Not all of them know what the term “Rabbi” means. It doesn’t come up in their regular life. They’re not familiar with Jewish-Samaritan relations in Palestine, and they don’t know the details of holy festival concerns in Jerusalem.

“He’s writing to Hellenized Jews in the diaspora who don’t speak Hebrew or Aramaic—they speak Greek.”

John needs to explain these things for his audience. He is aware, though, that these diaspora Jews, many of them, read their copies of the Septuagint. What’s that? That’s the Greek translation of the Old Testament.

Therefore, they are familiar with various scriptures. They are concerned about the Messiah’s arrival and want to inherit eternal life.

As for the apparent hostility toward the Jews on display in this gospel, a closer examination reveals that characterization is inaccurate. After all, John notes Jesus’ confession to the Samaritan woman in John 4:22: “Salvation is from the Jews.”

In John 11:45 and John 12:11, John notes that many of the Jews who saw Lazarus raised from the dead believed in Jesus.

So it’s not a universal hostility. Let’s not forget that both our author, John, and Jesus himself are Jewish. This is not an anti-Semitic gospel.

John’s Challenge: No Middle Ground with Jesus

What’s going on in this gospel with John’s refusal to segment the Jews into different groups but refer to them all simply as “the Jews”? That’s a difficult question to answer.

I think that John is doing something very poignant in this choice and in others in his gospel. His approach in writing this gospel is not quite like Matthew’s. Matthew, the other Apostle who writes specifically to Jews, emphasizes how Jesus fulfills Messianic prophecies, goes through everything that Israel does, yet succeeds where Israel fails.

And though rejected, Matthew emphasizes the power and authority of God’s anointed king.

John comes from a different angle, drawing attention to two aspects of Jesus’ life that were most bothersome to potential Jewish converts: namely, that Jesus, a man, claimed to be God, and that Jesus was rejected by the Jews from being their Messiah, even crucified.

Going back to that statement from Paul in 1 Corinthians, “Jews look for signs, but what’s their stumbling block? The cross.”

It’s almost like John wants to deal directly with the elephant in the room. “You Jews have heard that Jesus claimed to be God, and maybe you’re wondering if that’s an exaggeration or not. I’m here to tell you that Jesus sure did, and that claim is more pervasive and profound than you even know.

But let me also show you the signs he did and the words he spoke that prove his deity. And you Jews have heard that Jesus was rejected from being Messiah over Israel, and maybe you’re wondering if that was only part of the Jews or maybe just the Jewish leaders.

I’m here to tell you that it was a full rejection. The Jews, as a people, have rejected their Christ. Yet this rejection was foretold by God. And rather than a sign of weakness, failure, no favor from God, this rejection—this Christ being put on the cross—it was display of power and glory.

And the question for you Jews is—John is basically asking—will you side with your people against your Christ, or will you side with your Christ and be rejected by your people?”

“Will you side with your people against your Christ, or will you side with your Christ and be rejected by your people?”

Coming to the Light

There’s a repeated idea in John that over the years, as I’ve read through it, I’ve never really understood what to do with it. It’s this idea that if you really belong to God, you will recognize Jesus as your Messiah.

For example, John 3:20-21 says this: “For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Has that statement ever confused you? I’ve never understood how anyone could be said to practice the truth before coming to the light. I mean, aren’t we all evil outside of Christ? Aren’t we spiritually dead? Aren’t we all slaves to sin?

How can we be said to be practicing the truth before coming to Christ?

Well, consider the significance of this statement for those who already worship Yahweh as Jews, or who are proselytes to Judaism, or who are Gentile God-fearers, or even followers of John the Baptist. Can’t some of them rightly be said to be practicing the truth at least as it has been revealed to them up to this point in their lives?

But John asserts, “If these really belong to God, what will they do when they hear the good news of Jesus? When they see God’s true light come into the world, even shining on them, they will come to the light so that their deeds will be manifest as having been wrought in God.”

They will confess that all the good that they were doing or experiencing before Christ was not from themselves or on their own. It was actually the grace of Christ working in them. And now they understand. Now they want to glorify Christ for that. Now they embrace him.

“If these really belong to God, when they see God’s true light come into the world, they will come to the light.”

But if someone claims to truly follow God without crossing over to follow Jesus—”I worship God. I follow God. I love the Father. But I don’t. I’m not going to go with Jesus”—what does John assert about that person?

The reason they don’t come is because they’re still in the darkness. They’re never really in the light. They were in the darkness, and they’re refusing to come out because they love it.

Thus, John’s gospel is a challenge specifically to those who claim to be religious, claim to already worship the true God. John essentially is asking provocatively, “If you really love God, will you own his Son whom he has sent? Will you suffer rejection with the Son so that you may receive eternal life?”

Those of you who are on the fence, who are thinking about it, don’t be afraid. Don’t stay hesitant. Believe and follow your victorious Lord, even through persecution, even being put out of the synagogue.

The Stakes of Responding to Jesus

I think this challenging evangelistic purpose also explains the noticeably stark contrasts presented in this book. Are you with the light or with the darkness? Are you full of love? Are you full of hate?

Do you follow the truth or do you follow lies? Will you embrace life or embrace death?

With these kinds of repeated emphases in this book, John is showing there’s no middle ground with Jesus. You are either with God and his Son, or you’re with Satan. There’s no middle ground.

How you respond to Jesus shows which camp you’re in. John is showing his readers just how high the stakes are when it comes to how you respond to Jesus.

“There’s no middle ground with Jesus. How you respond to Jesus shows which camp you’re in.”

You don’t have to be Jewish to have John’s challenging message resonate with you and minister to you. Even if you’re already a born-again Christian, I know that you’ll be blessed by studying this book. And I think many of you confess that you already have been.

But we should recognize that John’s primary purpose in writing this gospel is to evangelize, even the Jews, even those who say they’re religious and know the true God.

John is going to prod those readers to face what or who it is that they really love, whether the Glorious Lord of life really is their Lord and worth suffering rejection and even death.

The Structure of John’s Gospel

We’ve seen the author, the date, the origin, and the purpose. It’s finally considered number five: structure. How does John organize his gospel?

Well, John essentially tells us in John 20:30-31 what is his organizing principle. John has selected several miraculous signs from the many that Jesus did to bring his readers to saving faith in Jesus.

“John has selected several miraculous signs from the many that Jesus did to bring his readers to saving faith.”

The Seven Signs

And from investigating John’s gospel, we can see that John has selected seven or perhaps eight miracle signs. They are:

Number one: turning water into wine, which is John 2:1-11.

Number two: healing a royal official’s son who was at the point of death. That’s John 4:46-54.

Number three: healing a lame man who was at the pool of Bethesda. That’s John 5:1-18.

Number four: feeding five thousand plus persons. That’s John 6:1-14.

Number five: walking on water. That’s John 6:15-21.

Number six: healing a man born blind. That’s John 9:1-41.

Number seven: raising Lazarus from the dead. That’s John 11:1-46.

Now, interspersed between these signs are a number of discourses from Jesus—that is, debates and conversations.

The eighth sign, if it is to be counted, is Jesus’ own resurrection, which happens after his crucifixion. The resurrection is described in John 20:1-29.

“The eighth sign, if it is to be counted, is Jesus’ own resurrection.”

Now, if you’re paying attention to the references I gave to those seven signs, you may notice that they take us to basically halfway through the book, the end of chapter 11.

Not coincidentally, chapter 11 also represents the culmination of hostility against Jesus by the Jews. They resolve to kill him. In chapter 12, as a result, Jesus ends his public ministry, enters Jerusalem for the final Passover, and foretells his death.

After chapter 12, Jesus turns to minister privately to his disciples and then proceeds to his crucifixion and resurrection.

The Two Main Sections

Thus, the Book of John has two main sections. And this has often been observed. They even have catchy titles for these two sections.

What’s often called “The Book of Signs” goes from John 1:19 to the end of chapter 12. John 1:19 to 12:50. The Book of Signs.

And then there’s often what’s called “The Book of Glory” or the Book of Exaltation, that goes from the beginning of John 13—John 13:1—to the end of chapter 20, John 20, verse 31.

So we’ve got the Book of Signs, the Book of Exaltation. And then on either side of those two, we have small explanatory sections: a prologue in John 1:1 to 18, and then an epilogue in John 21, verses 1 to 25, all of chapter 21 basically.

“The Book of Signs goes from John 1:19 to 12:50, and the Book of Glory from John 13:1 to 20:31.”

So I think that’s a recognizable, a good overarching breakdown of how John has structured this book.

A Detailed Outline for Study

However, if you’d like something a tiny bit more specific that helps you keep track of the events happening in John, I appreciate the outline put together by one of my seminary professors for this book, Dr. Brad Claussen. I’ll give it to you. I think it’s a good one for our study as we go through it.

It flows this way. I’ll say it twice so if you want to write it down, you can.

We have the prologue in 1:1 to 18. John 1:1 to 18.

Then we have the presentation of the Son of God. That’s John 1, verse 19 to the end of chapter 4, John 4, verse 54.

I’ll repeat those two again so the prologue from 1:1 to 18. And then the presentation of the Son of God in 1:19 to the end of chapter 4, verse 54.

And we have the opposition to the Son of God, chapters 5 to 12. That’s the opposition to the Son of God, chapters 5 to 12.

Then we have the preparation of the disciples, from chapters 13 to 17. Preparation of the disciples, chapters 13 to 17.

And we have the passion of the Son of God, from chapters 18 to 20. So passion referring to his crucifixion, his glorious death. A passion of the Son of God, chapters 18 to 20.

And then the epilogue, chapter 21.

“Opposition to the Son of God, preparation of the disciples, and the passion of the Son of God.”

So that more specific breakdown, it basically fits into the more overarching one that I mentioned to you previously. Epilogue is chapter 21.

Invitation to Study John’s Gospel

There’s the structure and there’s the Gospel of John. This is a true eyewitness record and profound teaching as to who Jesus is. This is also profound teaching as to why we should believe in him and what it means to follow him.

If you do not yet believe in Jesus as Lord, as Christ, as God, then join us in this study. Listen to an eyewitness. Behold with your heart Jesus. Believe in him and find eternal life.

If you do already believe in Jesus as your Lord and savior, then join us for this study too, that you also may behold again your Christ, your God, and that you may grow in your belief. It may grow, and your obedience and following him. You may grow in your worship of him and your love for him.

“Listen to an eyewitness. Behold with your heart Jesus. Believe in him and find eternal life.”

I very much am looking forward to learning and growing with you as we study this book together. May the Lord be so kind as to show us afresh the glorious living Word through his inspired written word.

With our introduction complete, our next stop is John’s prologue in John 1:1-18. Next time I’m preaching with you, I anticipate we will be back there.

Closing Prayer

Let’s close in prayer.

Lord, again, we thank you for your word. We thank you for John’s witness. We thank you for even just his example, the way he describes himself: just the disciple whom Jesus loved.

But in a sense, that’s us. What are we, God, except the disciples whom you have loved, whom you have loved and are still loving and will love forever? Not because of anything good in us, not because we’ve earned it, not because we ourselves chose it, but God, because of you and your heart and how it pleased you, pour out salvation on us and make us objects of your love forever.

Oh, Lord, we are going to see that more and more: just what a lovely Christ you are, God. Let us, Lord, be so confident that these things are true. Let us be so struck by the reality that this word you’ve given us declares, so that we stop being led away by the things of the world, by the temptations of the world, by the idols of this life.

That we would no longer hesitate ourselves, saying, “Oh, should I really go all the way with Jesus? There will be persecution. We know. But Lord, you are so great. There is such life in enjoying you that all suffering is worth it. Actually, the suffering becomes the way we enjoy you more. Behold your glory and display it to others.

Jesus, what was true for you in going to the cross, despising its shame, and rising again, it will be true for us. You were exalted when you humbled yourself. We will be exalted also.

Thank you for the precious truth in this book that where you are now, we will be also. It is your desire that we be brought to the place where we can behold your glory forever. And all the ways that you’re going to show us that, and all the good that you’re going to do us, what would we thank you? We are undeserving.

Forgive us for our sins. Let us follow after you more wholeheartedly, more righteously, more with joy. Continue to teach us.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

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