John - Introduction

John

Introduction

So I have now completed my more in-depth study of the books of the New Testament. So what to do next? For the time being at least, I am going to work through at least some of the books again. I find that no matter how many times I study the Bible, there are always new things to find, new depths to discover. This is not surprising really as it is the word of God! 

The last time I did John the commentary by Kruse was my main resource, with some additional input from a commentary (of sorts) by David Pawson. No doubt some of the things I say will be influenced by them, but I will also be using the commentary by D A Carson. References for these sources can be found at the end of this introduction. 

There is, of course, great debate about the authorship of the gospel. I do not intend to spend much time at all on these matters. The main reason is that I am not particularly interested in them. I am quite happy to accept it as an eye-witness account and reflection on the life of Jesus. You can read the introductions in the commentaries listed at the end, and find a great deal of information on the internet if you are really interested. It is not that these questions are of no importance, but people can sometimes become so obsessed with their own theories, that they read the text to see how they can use it to “prove” their theory. The primary reason for reading the word of God is to let God’s word speak to us.

What I will do is briefly outline the theological emphases in John’s gospel, as given by Carson. John is different from the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), but is complementary to them. The key theological themes outlined by Carson are: (Carson p95-99)

1. John presents who Jesus is. Perhaps the most important part of this is Jesus as the Son of God. Of course, there are many other titles, such as “lamb of God”, and “the Word”. 

2. Salvation is a key concept. 

3. Eschatology. One of the particular emphases of John is the present reality of the kingdom, though John often uses the term “the hour”. 

4. There is an awful lot of teaching on the Holy Spirit, especially in the later chapters. 

5. John does not use the Old Testament directly as often as Matthew does, but there are a lot of allusions to the Old Testament. Jesus supersedes the Old Testament, so there is an affinity here with the approach of Hebrews to the Old Testament.

6. John gives many examples of misunderstandings. 

7. John gives examples of what it means to be the people of God.

8. John says (and does not say) important things about the sacraments 

9. Election, faith and the function of signs are threads running through the gospel. 

Bibliography

• The Gospel According to John (Pillar New Testament Commentary), D A Carson, IVP, (2020)

• John (Tyndale New Testament Commentary), Colin G Kruse, IVP, ISBN 0-85111-327-3 (2003)

• A Commentary on the Gospel of John, David Pawson, Anchor Recordings Limited, ISBN 0957529031 (2013)