Gospel of John - Study 1
I believe our first week in this reading plan brings about the witnesses of Jesus Christ. In John 1, we’ve already talked about John’s point in writing his gospel is so that we would know and believe in Jesus Christ and be saved.
I’ve mentioned he is laying out a case for who Jesus is. And with that idea, as I was preparing for today’s word I was reminded of the Old Testament Law of the 2-3 witnesses being required in the justice system of the time.
We find this in Deuteronomy 17:6, and 19:5. Both of which speak to the need of two to three witnesses to convict one of a crime and put them to death.
And we find this same requirement in the New Testament where Jesus himself speaks of it in Matthew 18:16, and where Jesus speaks of a brother that sinned:
Matthew 18:16But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.
Paul too quotes these same words in his letter to the Corinthians 13:1.
The words witness and testify are used often in John’s Gospel. These are generally legal terms in the greek. These terms are related to fact not opinion, as in a courtroom setting.
John 1:1-18In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.
Focus Verses
John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Witness I - The Apostle John
The Word is introduced by the Apostle John.
The Word, or Logos, is the personified Word of God.
The Word was in the beginning with God.
The Word was God.
All was created through Him, that is the Word.
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
John the Baptist introduced by the Apostle John.
The Light is introduced by John the Baptist.
John preaches that the true Light was coming into the world.
Though He made the world, the world did not recognize Him, and ended up rejecting Him.
He had the power to make people children of God.
The Apostle John introduces the Son of God
The Word became flesh - in the person of the Son of God.
The Son shares the Father’s glory.
The Apostle says the Baptist was talking about this Son.
The Baptist says He existed before him.
The Apostle revelas His name as Jesus the Messiah - the Christ.
Jesus as God introduced in vs 18.
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. - Codex Sinaiticus 4th Century found in Sinai in 1844.
No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him. - CSB
What are some Truths gathered from the first verses of John 1:1-4?
John 1:1-4In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Read
John 1:19-42
Witness II - John the Baptist
Focus Verse
John 1:34
And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.
The Apostle returns in verses 19-34 to John the Baptist’s witness of Jesus.
Religious leaders came to John asking who he was.
He responds that he isn’t the Christ, or the Messiah.
He isn’t Elijah. Elijah was to be the forerunner of the coming Messiah.
Malachi 3:1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 4:5“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
Jesus quotes this Himself in Matthew 11:10 about John the Baptist, and adds:
Matthew 11:14and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
He isn’t the prophet, referring to Moses’s words, that God would raise up another prophet like him.
Deuteronomy 18:15“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen
Who are you then?
John 1:23He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
John points to Isaiah 40:3
Isaiah 40:3-5
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Why are you baptizing then they ask. He responds that he does so by water but there is one among them whose sandals he is not worthy to untie.
What do you think John means by not being worthy to even untie Jesus’s sandals?
It is likely a reference to being lower than even a slave of the household in those days. When a man went out the slave would bring his sandals and put them on. And when a man came back in from the fields, he would untie them and remove them for his master.
The next day John th Baptist sees Jesus coming toward him and pronounces Him.
John 1:29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
A lamb played an important role in the life of the Jew. Those that heard John say this about Jeuss may have thought of one of these…especially as Passover was near this particular time.
The Exodus - the blood of a lamb was placed on the door posts to protect the Isrealite from the angel of death of the 10th plague. The Lamb’s blood covered them.
Sin offering - a daily and nightly sacrifice of a lamb was made for the forgiveness of the people’s sins. John said, “The Lamb of God that takes away…”
The Prophets
It is also possible the Jews would have recalled the prophecies of the prophets, Jeremiah and Isaiah.
Jeremiah 11:19But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.
Isaiah 53:7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
Which of these are you most reminded of or find to speak to you the most? Why?
The Father Introduces the Son
The two Johns have both introduced and witnessed to Jesus being the Son of God.
Who is the third witness?
Witness III - The Father
John the Apostle tells of the Baptist’s witness of when Jesus came to him to be baptized by him.
John doesn’t record the details of the baptism, the conversation about not being worthy to baptize Jesus as the othr gospel writers do but he does include words he says he received from the One that told him to baptize.
As he takes Jesus under and up from the water he says:
John 1:32
“I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
He says he was told that, “‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”
We do not have this written in Scripture but it is possible this comes from another Messianic message of Isaiah.
Isaiah 11:1-2There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Isaiah 42:1Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my Spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
Do you think this is the same thing John is witnessing? The same thing he says he was told?
So it is with this dove, the depiction of the Holy Spirit here, that I include God the Father as the third witness of Jesus the Son.
In fact the other Gospel writers make this much more clear saying the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form as a dove.
Along with the dove they each record hearing God from Heaven stating:
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
So John clearly gives us three witnesses of who Jesus is here in his first chapter, leaving no question that John believed Jesus was the Messiah and that He believed Jesus and the Father to be One in the same as, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” and dare I include the third part of the Trinity being involved as the Holy Spirit Himself descending upon and living in the Son.
Read
John 1:35-51
Focus
John 1:49
Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Disciples and Witnesses
John turns from John the Baptist and himself to begin to tell the story of Jesus and His disciples, detailing the calling of the first disciples.
Note at first it is John the Baptist that points his own followers toward Jesus.
John 1:35-37
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
Why do you think the two disciples here left John to follow Jesus?
So John points out Jesus as th Lamb of God, the Messiah, and these two believe anf begin to follow Him.
Not only that but they then go grab others and bring them along!
Andrew goes and tells his brother Peter, “We have found the Messiah!” And he brought him to Jesus.
He didn’t just tell him, he actually brought him.
That can be a lesson we can learn for sure!
The next day Jesus sees Philip and tells him “Follow me.”
Philip immediately goes and tells Nethanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
Remember that early verse where John said he wasn’t “the prophet?” This is what Nathanael is referencing now as Jesus.
Deuteronomy 18:15
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen
After Jesus tells Nathanael He had seen him under a tree before Philip had found him, Nathaneal believes and says:
John 1:49“Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
So in all, how many witnesses do we have now in this first chapter of John?
More than you’re going to answer me.
Remember John’s purpose in writing this text?
So that we would believe and be saved.
Do you think his witness has helped others become witnesses? Beyond measure I promise you.
The Witnes of Signs
In this first chapter it is all about the witness of people, and God. But moving from here, we will read about the witness of the signs and the people’s reaction and what we ourselves can learn from them.