A Celebration of Life: The Four Keys to Sharing Good News

A Commentary on the Gospel of John

by Frank Tyler

1. Introduction

Historically, commentaries on the Gospel of John are impossible to number as some are highly technical emphasizing the original language (Koine Greek) and exegetical methodologies while others are pastoral and devotional.[1] Written in conjunction with A Celebration of Life: The Four Keys to Sharing Good News, this commentary is a companion to a ten-session course developed by The True Vine Fellowship to equip brothers and sisters in Christ to share their faith directly from the Bible using the Living Water Gospel of John. The True Vine Fellowship is not a church, but an evangelistic fellowship serving a multitude of churches with differing traditions and backgrounds in order to promote outreach on the Olympic Peninsula.

In his account, the Apostle John records the apostles’ eyewitness of Jesus Christ in order to persuade individuals, both Jew and Gentile, that: 1) He is the crucified and resurrected Lamb of God who has successfully taken away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 19:30); and 2) He is the Christ, the Son of God who gives eternal life or life in His Name to all those who believe in Him (John 20:30-31).[2] The eyewitness that you and I know as the Gospel of John cuts through the hardened boiler plate of all manner of denomination and theological tradition with the overwhelming power and authority of Jesus’ simple promise to gift eternal life to whoever believes in Him as the Christ, the Son of God. This witness is God’s witness to this day never returning to Him void, but always accomplishing that for which He sent it.

Author, Title, and Date

The Greek title Kata Ioannen (According to John) reveals an essential enigma: Nowhere in John’s account is he named as the author. Scholars reason from a short list of disciples extrapolated from chapter 21 that the Apostle John wrote this account:

… he (the author) describes himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and he “who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said. ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’” (John 21:20.) Only Peter, James and John fit that description. However, the author is clearly not Peter as John 20:20-21 shows. Since Herod killed James in AD 44 (Acts 12:2), the beloved apostle John authored the Fourth Gospel.[3]

Like the synoptic accounts Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the word gospel was added to the title of John’s account later. By the author’s own admission, the disciple whom Jesus loved, Kata τὸν μαθητὴν ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς (John 21:20) recorded the witness we know as the Gospel of John. Therefore, we ought to know the author as he wished to be known as the disciple Whom Jesus Loved.[4]

The prologue reveals the account John records as the eyewitness of the apostles: And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Father’s Only-begotten, full of grace and truth (John 1:14; underlining added). Indeed, John’s fellow disciples attest to this eyewitness corporately: This is the disciple who testifies to these things and wrote them down; and we know that his testimony is true (John 21:24; underlining added). More importantly, the witness recorded by the Apostle John originated with the Father. Note the words of Jesus in His high priestly prayer; He is the one of a kind Son sent by the Father and entrusted with the things of the Father.

17:7 Now they (the disciples) have come to know that all things You (the Father) have given to Me are from You.

17:8 For the words which You have given to Me, I have given to them; and they have received them and known for sure that I came forth from You. And they have believed that You sent Me.

(John 17:7-8; underlining added)

The use of the third person plural confirms the corporate nature of the eyewitness John records; moreover, this corporate witness comes through the Son, but originates with the Father.[5] Speaking on behalf of the disciples, the Apostle Peter confirms the uniqueness of the Son as the One who has the words of eternal life. Note the use of the first person plural we…

6:68 Then Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

6:69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” (John 6:68-69; underlining added)

…hence, a descriptive title that reflects both the author and corporate nature of the disciples witness might be: “The Witness of the Disciples According to the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.”

Regarding the date for writing, relying on external witnesses, many conservative scholars have dated the account roughly fifty to sixty years after Jesus’ ascension (80-95AD):

Because the writings of some church fathers indicate that John was actively writing in his old age and that he was already aware of the synoptic Gospels, many date the Gospel sometime after their composition, but prior to John’s writing of 1, 2, and 3 John or Revelation. John wrote his Gospel c. A.D. 80-90, or about fifty years after he witnessed Jesus’ earthly ministry.[6]

However, nowhere in the Gospel of John or the New Testament is the 70AD destruction of the temple and Jerusalem noted historically. Consider Jesus’ prophecy regarding the destruction of Jerusalem.

19:41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,

19:42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

19:43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,

19:44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)

How could the disciple whom Jesus loved record Jesus’ witness to the temple authorities in His first cleansing of the temple (John 2:19-10) and yet fail to record the temple’s destruction in 70AD especially when the fulfillment of this prophecy (Luke 19:41-44) only further confirms His authority as the Christ, the Son of God? Ironically, Jesus prefaced the second cleansing of the temple (Luke 19:45) with this very same prophecy. If John could not have recorded his account after 70AD, then perhaps you and I should look elsewhere to date the book of John.

Indeed, the internal evidence against a late date for the Gospel of John grows stronger when those disciples present with Jesus in chapter 21 attest to the truth of the account recorded by John: This is the disciple who testifies to these things, and wrote them down; and we know that his testimony is true (John 21:24; underlining added). Within the immediate context, if the we who know that his testimony is true are Simon Peter, Thomas (called Twin), Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, Zebedee’s sons (James and John), and two others of His disciples (John 21:2), then the account must have been attested to prior to James’ death in 44AD (Acts 12:2).[7] Should you and I decide to include Jesus within the we who attest to the truthfulness of John’s account, then the account is attested to prior to our Lord’s ascension.

Following the rejection of His Messiahship, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven in parables concluding with the parable of the scribe and householder.

13:51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

13:52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

(Matthew 13:51-52; underlining added)

One of the responsibilities entrusted to an apostle was to act as scribe and bring out of his treasure things new and old. Given His purpose in writing, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name (John 20:30-31), surely the account John records is an utterly priceless treasure—especially in light of the controlling kingdom parable, the Sower and His Seed (Mark 4:13). Moreover, the instruction to bring out treasure… new and old is not merely to record as a scribe, but to steward as a responsible householder who brings out the account of things understood.

Of the three most likely candidates to record and steward this account (Peter, James and John), Peter was the acknowledged leader of the disciples, yet his repeated unwillingness to heed His Lord and Savior (John 13:36-38, Matthew 16:22-17:5) cost him dearly. True, Jesus restores Peter to ministry (John 21:15-19), but He does not reward him with the honor of recording and stewarding an account so instrumental in fulfilling God’s kingdom parables. Might this contribute to the underlying tension between Peter and the Sons of Zebedee that surfaces Peter’s question: But Lord, what about him (John 21:21)? You and I may only speculate; on the other hand, this we know for sure—the disciple whom Jesus loved was entrusted to steward a priceless treasure, a testimony explicitly purposed by our Lord to bring forth life in His name. In light of Peter’s failure, would Jesus entrust this responsibility to an apostle who would wait fifty to sixty years to record and distribute it?

Paul writes a faithful saying revealing for Timothy the time the apostle believed on Jesus for everlasting life:

1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

1:16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

(1 Timothy 1:15-16; underlining added)

Paul was converted on the road to Damascus in 33-34AD and thereafter considered the longsuffering mercy of the Lord to those who are going to believe on Him for eternal life as a pattern. If this pattern were already established shortly after our Lord’s ascension, would the Apostle John wait fifty to sixty years to record a witness so instrumental in fulfilling this pattern?

When, as a baby believer, Nicodemus seeks out Jesus for understanding of miracle of his new found faith, Jesus immediately responds: Amen, amen, I tell you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Though highly esteemed as a teacher of Israel (John 3:10), Nicodemus struggles, like all believers do, to grasp the miracle of being born again—so much so that even as a teacher of Israel, he stumbles to find words (John 3:4). Jesus responds:

3:5 “Amen, amen, I tell you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

3:7 Don’t be amazed that I told you, ‘You all must be born again.’

3:8 The wind blows where it will, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it is coming from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

(John 3:5-8; underlining added)

Even a highly esteemed teacher of Israel must acknowledge the absolute necessity of being born again while at the same time humbling himself to a miracle and mystery far beyond his ability to understand, let alone put into words. This timeless and most elemental wonder lies at the very heart of discipleship—as followers of Christ, we all must learn to live a miracle we can neither fully grasp nor merit in any way. This miracle is life in the name of our Lord and Savior and remains to this day the very purpose of the testimony John records (John 20:30-31). If after a long tiring day of ministry in the temple, Jesus makes time into the dark hours of night to address a teacher of Israel and his disciples, and if, like Nicodemus, all born again believers continue to share this same elemental quandary, then are we to believe the disciple whom Jesus loved waited fifty to sixty years to record Jesus’ teaching on this vital truth?

You and I may not know the exact date of writing for the Gospel of John, but the internal witness rules out any date that fails to account for the destruction of the temple in 70AD. The disciples who attest to the account include James who died in 44AD. Dating John’s account late raises a myriad of challenging questions that leave you and I asking, what is gained by late dating a testimony designed to bring forth life in the name of our Lord and Savior? For purposes of this commentary, the Gospel of John: 1) is the apostles’ eyewitness testimony authored by the disciple whom Jesus loved, 2) was a part of a stewardship both to record and distribute entrusted to John prior to Jesus’ ascension, and 3) was attested in written form by his fellow disciples prior to James’ death in 44AD. Though we will henceforth refer to John’s account as the Gospel of John, it would be more accurately titled: “The Witness of the Disciples According to the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.”

A Two-Fold Audience That Authenticates

Jews of that Generation that Crucified Christ

In John, the Greek word Ιουδαῖοι is used roughly 70 times and commonly translated ethnically as the Jews. This striking feature of John’s testimony causes many scholars to declare this gospel the most anti-Semitic account in the entire Bible. Jewish scholar Geza Vermes comments: “One of the most dismaying features of the Fourth Gospel is its determined claim that the Jews, or at least the inhabitants of Judea—the Greek Ioudaioi can designate either—were profoundly and universally inimical to Jesus.”[8] …“John’s hatred of the Jews was fierce. I often wonder whether he could possibly have been Jewish himself.”[9] Daniel Goldhagen writes:

The Christian Bible presents its Christian faithful with a relentless and withering assault on Jews and Judaism. The structure of the Gospels in particular is antisemitic. The Jews are presented as the ontological enemy of Jesus and therefore of goodness… The story’s narrative structure, its force, its many warnings and inducements depend upon the castigation of the Jews as the essential and dramatic villains who oppose, reject, and assault Jesus and whom he must overcome but does so only through the tragedy of his end.[10]

“The Gospel According to Mark has approximately forty antisemitic verses,”[11] Luke sixty, Matthew eighty, while “the Gospel According to John contains approximately 130 antisemitic verses.”[12] … “Because the structure of the Gospels is to present Jews as the ontological enemy of God, the damaging individual statements about Jews qua Jews get subsumed into the nature and essence of Jews.”[13]

Vermes and Goldhagen paint a very troubling picture: How can an anti-Semitic account be a part of God’s word to both Jew and Gentile alike? From their perspective, the Gospel of John is most likely the work of the early first-century Gentile church as it struggles with prejudice against the Jewish people for their supposed murder of Jesus Christ. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

In John’s account, the central narrative of a Galilean, himself a Jewish fisherman, indicting the leadership of Israel authenticates the testimony of the disciples by addressing the elephant in the room for all Jews immediately following Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection: 1) If Jesus is the crucified and resurrected Son of God, then how did the Ioudaioi or Judean authorities fail to identify Him as the long-awaited Christ? 2) How and why did these same Judean authorities lead the people to demand His crucifixion? 3) And lastly, what does God call His people to do in the wake of Messiah’s crucifixion and resurrection? That the vast majority of John’s account records Jesus’ interactions with the Judean authorities or Ioudaioi in Jerusalem and the surrounding environs of Judea rightly reflects the larger Jewish audience’s (Judea, Galilee, and the Diaspora) urgent need to investigate a catastrophic failure in leadership within Judaism and the foreboding and heavy footsteps of Rome leading to the impending prophetic judgment of 70 AD.

The early witness of John the Baptist recorded by the Apostle John ought not surprise us; afterall, each of the four gospel accounts record John the Baptist’s ministry. Luke reveals the dialogue between John and a broad spectrum of individuals, the multitudes from tax collectors to soldiers (Luke 3:7-14), but only the Apostle John records the specific inquiry by the Judean authorities about the Baptist’s ministry as the forerunner of Messiah (John1:19-23). If an official inquiry of the Baptist was merited to discern whether or not he was Israel’s coming Messiah, then how much more so an investigation of the leadership that failed to recognize God’s Messiah. Indeed, the Judean authorities heard John the Baptist’s three-fold witness (the Father, the Holy Spirit, and John the Baptist) that Jesus is both the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and Son of God (John 1:34), yet led the nation to reject their now crucified and resurrected Messiah.

As the heavy footsteps of Rome leading up to the 70AD destruction of the temple and Jerusalem grow louder, John’s witness becomes more and more urgent to those asking the question: Where is Israel’s deliverer, God’s promised Messiah?[14] If the Ioudaioi or Judean authorities so badly misled God’s people, then in whom can the people place their faith? The Apostle John’s witness remains true to this day first to the Jews of that generation and second, the world: Believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the crucified and resurrected Lamb of God, who has taken away the sin of the world and now gifts eternal life to all who believe in Him and His promise of life. In a nutshell, as the Apostle Paul tells the Philippian jailer: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household (Acts 16:31).

Prior to his ascension, Jesus commands his apostles: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). On Pentecost, the Apostle Peter preaches his first sermon:

2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea (Ἄνδρες Ἰουδαῖοι,) and all who dwell in Jerusalem (οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλὴμ) let this be known to you, and heed my words.

2:22 “Men of Israel (Ἄνδρες Ἰσραηλῖται), hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—

2:29 “Men and brethren (Ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί), let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. (Acts 2:14. 22. 29; underlining added)

As the underlined vocatives and content of his sermon reveal, Peter targets a Jewish audience about their Jewish Messiah whom they as Jews crucified, that all the house of Israel (may) know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).[15] The account John records is no more anti-Semitic than the sermon Peter first preached on Pentecost.

Again, consider the Apostle Peter’s words to his Jewish brethren inside the temple as he recounts their complicity.

3:17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

3:18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

3:20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,

3:21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:17-21; underlining added)

In order for the nation of Israel to receive God’s promised Messianic kingdom and times of refreshing… in the presence of the Lord, Peter, as a Jew, instructs fellow Jews complicit in the crucifixion of the Jewish Messiah to repent of their sin and be converted that: 1) their sins may be blotted out; 2) times of refreshing may come; lastly 3) God may again send their Messiah, Jesus Christ. This is hardly the message of someone who hates his Jewish brethren. Addressing this same elephant in the room, the Apostle John records the apostles’ testimony to individual Jews of that generation that wrongly rejected Jesus as Messiah that even following His rejection by the Judean authorities, they, as individuals, may have life in the name of their Jewish Messiah. The testimony of the apostles recorded by John is in no way anti-Semitic… no, not hardly! Galilean fishermen, themselves Jews, addressing a larger first-century Jewish audience about their failure to receive Israel’s Jewish Messiah and more specifically the Judean authorities’ role in that failure remains an indelible watermark of authenticity.

The Apostle Paul, himself a former Pharisee, writes regarding his outreach to both Jew and Gentile:

1:22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;

1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22-24)

Given this insight, should you and I be surprised that the witness of John is structured around eight signs? Truly, the Judeans or Ioudaioi frequently request a sign:

2:18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”

2:19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:18-19)

12:38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

12:39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:38-40; Luke 11:29-30)

All the gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, knew it was vital for Jews hearing of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection to understand the cross as a sign that reveals Him as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. If I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all peoples to Myself (John12:32); all peoples includes both Jews and Gentiles… beginning with the Jew first.

Far from being a harbinger of first-century anti-Semitism, the Apostle John’s exacting indictment and subsequent examination of those Judean authorities (Ιουδαῖοι) who failed to discern God’s Messiah and so badly misled their fellow Jews—remains the first half of the indelible watermark of authenticity designed to save them. What then is the second half?

The World

First to Jews of that generation that crucified Christ and then to the world, the world forms the other half of this indelible watermark. Consider the Prophet Isaiah’s words: It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). Upon seeing the baby Jesus, Simeon praises the Lord:

2:30 …my eyes have seen Your salvation

2:31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,

2:32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,

And the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

Simeon rightly rejoices in the baby Jesus; according to Isaiah’s prophecy, Israel’s Messiah must also be a source of revelation and salvation to the Gentiles

In the Gospel of John, the prophetic fulfillment of Jesus’ ministry to both Jews and Gentiles is revealed in His ministry to the world. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)! God loved the world in this manner that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16)… that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:17). After spending two days with Jesus, the men of Sychar conclude this really is the Savior of the world, the Christ (John 4:42)! Having witnessed Jesus miraculously feed 5,000 men and their families, the men conclude: This man really is the Prophet who was coming into the world (John 6:14)! Jesus is the bread of God… who gives life to the world (John 6:33). He is the living Bread who gives His flesh for the life of the world (John 6:51). Jesus came as a light into the world… not to judge the world but to save the world (John 12:46-47). Jesus spoke openly to the world (John 18:20). Jesus is a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice (John 18:37). Underlining the world has been added to each of these passages to underscore the vital importance of this audience to John’s account.

Lastly, consider Jesus’ prayer for unity and evangelism in John Chapter Seventeen; the word world is used nineteen times in twenty six verses:

17:20 I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message;

17:21 that they all may be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that in Us they also may be one, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

17:23 I in them and You in Me; so that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know the you sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me. (John 17:20-21, 23; underlining added)

The world, both Jew and Gentile, depends upon the authentic witness of the one and only Jewish Messiah through the message entrusted to Jewish apostles. In John, this message remains authoritatively “The Witness of the Disciples According to the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved” purposed first for those Jews of that generation that crucified Christ and secondly for the world, to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and His promise of eternal life.

Some Definitive Features

The Gospel of John has several features not found in the Synoptics that help define Jesus’ person and ministry. Consider just these seven: 1) The Word of God, 2) The Lamb of God, 3) The Herald of Eternal Life, 4) The Eight Signs, 5) The Eight I Am Statements, 6) That You May Believe and Abide, 7) The Absence of the Call to Repent.

The Word of God

Few truths are so guaranteed to shock the ears of God’s chosen people, yet few truths are as elemental to our Lord’s person and ministry:

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1:2 He was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1-2; underlining added)

The translation, the Word was God, causes some in Christendom great consternation. Some go so far as to translate θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος as “the Word was a god.”[16] However, fascinating the argument between definite and indefinite predicate nominatives may be, it confuses the apostles’ witness. The NET Bible translates in a qualitative sense “and the Word was fully God” providing the footnote: “The translation ‘what God was the Word was’ is perhaps the most nuanced rendering, conveying that everything God was in essence, the Word was too.”[17] In other words, the apostles testify that the Word or Jesus was fully Divine in His essence without being the same person as His Father. The trinity remains a mystery to explain, but is a truth observed time and again throughout the apostles’ witness essential in confirming Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.

The Lamb of God

All four gospel accounts record Jesus’ baptism, but only John reveals in explicit detail John the Baptist’s witness that comes forth from our Lord’s baptism. Truly, nothing could be more elemental to the witness of the disciples than the testimony of John the Baptist: Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John1:29)!

Knowledge of John’s witness early in Jesus’ ministry is critical to understanding the Judean authorities’ culpability and failure as leaders of God’s people. Equally important, the Baptist’s witness is an authoritative three-fold testimony involving God the Father, the Holy Spirit and himself as Messiah’s forerunner. The priests and Levites sent to investigate John learn that he is not the Christ, but rather the forerunner announcing that among you stands Someone you do not know. He is the One coming after me, who ranks ahead of me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie (John 1:26-27; underlining added)! Clearly, those looking for the Christ would not have departed for Jerusalem when the Christ is so near; indeed, the very next day John boldly declares, Look! The Lamb of God (John 1:29)! Shortly thereafter, John the Baptist’s witness forms the basis for the authorities to request a sign authenticating Jesus’ authority to cleanse the temple (John 2:18). Jesus cryptic answer (John 2:19) strikes at the very core of the work His Father entrusts to Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). That Jesus is the One anointed by God to take away the sin of the world is utterly crucial to persuading John’s larger audience, both Jewish and Gentile, that He is the Christ, the Son of God.

The Herald of Eternal Life

According to the Apostle Paul, the elect’s acknowledgment of the truth and call to godliness is in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:1-2). Though not overtly stated until the New Testament, the promise of eternal life God made before time began is so clearly implied throughout the Old Testament that not to infer it is simply unbelief.

During the patriarchal period (Genesis 11-12), Job in the midst of terrible suffering testifies with great certainty and boldness.

19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,

And He shall stand at last on the earth;

19:26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,

That in my flesh I shall see God,

19:27 Whom I shall see for myself,

And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

(Job 19:25-27)

As Job’s suffering rages like a swollen river, the unseen rock of God’s promise reveals itself forcing the currents of Job’s faith to rise up and boil. How certain was Job of God’s promise? Oh, that my words were written! … with an iron pen and lead, forever (John 19:23-24)! Though his flesh may die, he shall yet live and see God in a new (resurrection) body. How would Job understand this truth except God promised it to him.

The hope of eternal life based upon God’s promise profoundly influenced very famous patriarchs. Consider the commentary by the author of Hebrews:

11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

11:18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”

11:19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

(Hebrews 11:17-19; underlining added)

The promises received refer to God’s covenantal promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:4-6). Abraham inferred eternal life and resurrection from these covenantal promises; and like Job, Abraham’s faith reflects God’s promise of eternal life from before time began. For Abraham not to conclude that God was able to raise Isaac up, even from the dead, in the larger sense would have been unbelief in the hope of eternal life.

Throughout the Old Testament, the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:2) remains so clearly implied that not to infer it is also unbelief in the very

promise of a coming Messiah and His kingdom. Consider the dry bones prophecy of Ezekiel:

37:5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

37:6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.”’”

37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.

37:8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.

37:9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’”

37:10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

37:11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. (Ezekiel 37:5-11; underlining added)

At the very core of Israel’s faith in Messiah remains the promise of His coming kingdom, but God’s promise proves vain unless the citizens of this coming kingdom are made alive eternally with resurrection bodies. Implied in Ezekiel’s prophecy, is the propositional content of His promise—to believe in God’s coming Messiah is to believe in His promise to breathe life into the dead bones of Israel. The believing remanent of God’s people are those who infer and believe that God promises them eternal life and resurrection bodies in order to serve in the coming kingdom. Thus, the whole house of Israel will be those made alive in resurrection bodies.

Although there are many likely candidates through whom God might have overtly spoken His promise of eternal life—Job, Abraham, Moses, King David, the Prophets—not once throughout the whole of the Old Testament is God’s promise of eternal life explicitly recorded. Indeed, not until our Lord and Savior, the Sent One of the Father, is the promise explicitly heralded in the New Testament Scriptures. Indeed, the testimony of the disciples recorded by John reveals Jesus as the exclusive herald of God’s promise of eternal life. Consider a few of these passages from John:[18]

3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, likewise the Son of Man must be lifted up,

3:15 so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον).

3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον).

3:17 For God Did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

(John 3:14-17)

4:10 …“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water!”

4:13 … “Everyone who drinks from this water will be thirsty again.

4:14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never thirst again—forever! On the contrary, the water that I will give him will become within him a spring of water gushing up to eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον).” (John 4:10, 13-14)

5:24 “Amen, amen, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes the One who sent Me has eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον), and will not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)

6:47 “Amen, amen, I tell you, whoever believes in Me has eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον·).

6:48 I am the Bread of Life. (John 6:47-48)

11:25 …”I am the Resurrection and the Life (ζωή·). He who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.

11:26 And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

11:27 “Yes Lord,” she told Him, “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” (John 11:25-27)

In each of these passages Jesus overtly heralds the promise of eternal life. Lastly, in his first epistle the Apostle John declares:

2:25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life (τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον). (1 John 2:25)

5:11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον), and this life (ζωὴ) is in His Son. (1 John 5:11)

Who could this One possibly be—the One who so boldly heralds, with the perfect power and authority of the One True God, the promise of eternal life that echoes forth from before time began (Titus 1:1-2)? God has never given up on His creation: “Amen, amen, I [the Christ, the Son of the Living God (John 6:69)] tell you, whoever hears My word and believes the One who sent Me has eternal life, and will not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. The promise of eternal life or life in His name defines Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God as definitively as His crucifixion and resurrection. Just how definitive is this promise? Anyone who believes His promise knows with perfect assurance he or she has eternal life. Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, is the Father’s ultimate fulfillment of His promise of eternal life made before time began; to believe His promise is to believe in Him as the Christ, the Son of God.

The Eight Signs

Most commentors of John consider only seven signs, yet ironically the eighth sign is the greatest sign of all. Though chronologically not first, it is first in that it culminates and defines His person and ministry from its inception:[19]

2:18 So in reply the Jews said to Him, “What miraculous sign do You show, since You do these things?”

2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this sanctuary and I will raise it up in three days!”

2:20 Therefore the Jews said, “This sanctuary took 46 years to build, and will You raise it up in three days?”

2:21 But He was talking about the sanctuary of His body.

(John 2:18-21; underlining added)

And it is the last and culminating sign:

2:22 So when He was raised from the dead His disciples remembered that He had said this. And they believed the Scripture and the statement that Jesus had made. … (John 2:22)

19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “it is finished!” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.

(John 19:30)

20:27 Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and observe My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. And don’t be unbelieving but believing!”

20:28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

20:30 Jesus actually performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book,

(John 20:27-28, 30; underlining added)

In John’s account of Jesus’ ministry, the sign of the cross, forms an inclusio[20] that defines the significance of the other seven signs recorded in the Gospel of John: But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name (John 20:31; underlining added).

Throughout John’s account, seven other signs continually foreshadow the greatest sign of all, the cross. In chronological order:

First Sign—Turning Water into Wine (John 2:6-11): First chronologically, this sign foreshadows the beginning of His ministry and the passing of the old covenant (ceremonial water) and the coming of the new covenant (the finest wine) which only the Christ, the Son of God can bring about.

Second Sign—Healing a Royal Official’s Son (John 4:47-54): By His word, the boy and by extension all men are healed.

Third Sign—Healing a Paralytic (John 5:2-9): Following in His Father’s footsteps, Jesus has authority to heal by His word on the Sabbath day.

Fourth Sign—Feeding 5000 Men and Their Families (John 6:5-14): Jesus is the prophet like Moses and greater still who by His blessing miraculously transforms five barley loaves and two fish into a meal of overabundance.

Fifth Sign: Walking on Water and Instantaneously Delivering His Disciples to Shore (John 6:18-21): Jesus commands not only nature, but time and space itself.

Sixth Sign—Healing of a Man Born Blind (John 9:1-12): Jesus performs a miracle only Messiah can do by giving sight to a man who had never before possessed it.

Seventh Sign—Bringing to Life a Man Dead for Four Days (John 11:38-44): Jesus performs a miracle only Messiah can do, raising from the tomb a man dead for four days.

Eighth Sign—Crucified unto Death and Three Days Later Resurrected unto Life (John 19:16 thru 20:31): Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who by His death as the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world and who, by His resurrection in fulfillment of His Father’s will, guarantees the promise of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised before time began (Titus 1:2).

All of Jesus’ signs attest to who He is, but John selected only eight signs in order to convince his audience that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who gives eternal life to those who believe Him and His promise of eternal life.

Following the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter returns to this same witness in the midst of the temple:

2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—

2:23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

2:24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

(Acts 2:22-24; underlining added)

A Man attested by God… by miracles, wonders, and signs clearly reflects the purpose of John’s witness:

20:30 Jesus actually performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.

20:31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

Peter’s emphasis on the greatest sign of all, the cross, is John’s emphasis… as well as the Apostle Paul’s emphasis. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4; underlining added).

The Eight I Am Statements

The witness of the apostles is also structured around eight I Am statements, each an affirmation and apologetic expression of Jesus’ deity.

3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה). And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה) has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14; underlining added)

Just as God sent Moses to the children of Israel to liberate them from Egyptian bondage, so too God the Father sent His Son to the children of Israel to liberate mankind from the bondage of sin and death. Indeed this One is the Prophet like Moses…

18:15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,

18:18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

18:19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.

(Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19)

…Who is yet greater than Moses.

“I am the Bread of Life.” (John 6:35, 48, 51)

“I am the Light of the world.” (John 8:12; 9:5)

“I AM” (John 8:58)

“I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:8, 9)

“I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14)

“I am the Resurrection and the Life.” (John 11:25)

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (John 14:6)

“I am the true vine.” (John 15:1, 5)

The Christ, the Son of God, Jesus is I AM Who I AM who by the power and authority of Godhead is the Bread of Life, the light of the world, the door of the sheep, the good shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the true vine, because He is indeed I AM.

That You May Believe and Abide

Many have called John’s account the gospel of belief. The Greek word for believe, πιστεύω, occurs 99 times in John’s Gospel and 10 times in 1 John. With the singular exception of John 2:24, it is translated in the New King James Version (NKJV) as “believe.” (But Jesus did not commit (ἐπίστευεν) Himself to them, because He knew all men (John 2:24, NKJV). The Logos 21 Version reads: Jesus, however, would not trust (ἐπίστευεν) Himself to them, since He knew all men.) The unbeliever is challenged to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God who gives eternal life to those who believe in Him and His promise of eternal life. The one who believes is challenged to abide.

The Greek word μένω, frequently translated “abide,” is used 41 times in John’s gospel and 25 times in his epistles for a total of 66 uses. Consider the following chart developed from the New King James Version.

Uses of μένω in John’s Gospel and Epistles

Translation	Gospel	Epistles	Total
abide	18	23	41
be present	1		1
continue		1	1
dwell	2		2
endure	1		1
remain	15	1	16
stay	4		4

Clearly, the word μένω is used often by the Apostle John. The translators of the NKJV most frequently render it as “abide.” The second most common rendering, “remain,” is similar in nuance to “abide.” The Complete Word Study Dictionary offers the following definition: “Of the relationship in which one person or thing stands with another, chiefly in John’s writings; thus to remain in or with someone, i.e., to be and remain united with him, one with him in heart, mind, and will.”[21] Abiding is a work Jesus commands His disciples.

The Greek verb μένω means to abide, remain, stay, dwell, endure, continue, or be present. The believer who abides has eternal life outwardly coursing through him (the fruit of the Spirit) and remains a productive branch or disciple bearing more fruit for Jesus.

15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

15:2 Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He props up, and every one producing fruit He prunes so that it will produce more fruit.

15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch is unable to produce fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, is the one who produces much fruit, since you can do nothing apart from Me

15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown aside like a withered branch and withers. Then they gather such branches, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you wish, and it shall be done for you.

15:8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit. So you will be My disciples.

15:9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love.

15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

15:11 “I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may abide in you, and your joy may be complete.

(John 15:1-11; underlining added)

In this key passage, the word abide is used 10 times in 11 verses; 3 times in verse 15:4 alone; therefore, the importance of abiding in evangelism should come as no surprise. Two questions arise: 1) How can you and I effectively share the gift of eternal life, if we do not know for sure we have eternal life? and 2) How can we share our relationship with our Lord and Savior, if you and I do not know for sure we have that relationship? An individual first believes the promise of eternal life, then as a disciple, continues believing the promise in order to abide and share the good news of eternal life. Children of the promise can grow and mature into servants well pleasing to their Lord overcoming sin and exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit for all to witness and as branches can grow to maturity producing fruit to the glory of God by sharing the good news… but only if they abide in the True Vine. The great apostle to the Gentiles exhorts in similar fashion: Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:11; underlining added). Believe the promise of eternal life and as a believer learn to abide in Him—reckon yourselves dead to sin… alive to God in Christ Jesus—that you may experience abundance of life!

The Absence of the Call to Repent

Although the call to repent is recorded in the Synoptic gospels, in John, the one book explicitly designed for a person to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and to have life in His name, neither repentance nor repent are mentioned... no, not once.

John choses eight specific signs to structure a testimony sufficient for a person to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and to have life in His name (John 20:30-31). If anything required for sufficiency has been left out, then John misleads his audience and fails his stewardship to the Lord. Although many commentators desire to read at least the concept of repentance into John’s account, neither the apostle, nor the truth of God’s Word has failed.

That repentance is not a requirement for a person to receive the gift of eternal life is not a theological imposition, but an essential part of the apostles’ witness. The argument is not from silence, but about a wholly purposeful and deafening silence. Though, John records Jesus’ call to repent in Revelation, the apostle never calls unbelievers to repent as a requirement to receive life in Jesus’ name or eternal life.[22] That repentance is not a requirement for receiving the gift of eternal life is a non-negotiable part of the apostles’ testimony.

In calling the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord commissions his ministry and commands him:

6:9 “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

6:10 “Make the heart of this people dull,

And their ears heavy,

And shut their eyes;

Lest they see with their eyes,

And hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart,

And return (שָׁ֖ב) and be healed.”

(Isaiah 6:9-10; underlining added)

The idea of returning in verse ten implies repentance or turning away (שָׁ֖ב) from the sin that deafens and blinds the people to the One True God and His Word. If they return or repent, God heals their ability to hear and see. Turning away from sin and turning to God and His Word does not guarantee spiritual transformation; nonetheless, to those who turn to God and His Word, He heals their ability to perceive, to hear and see.

Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 following His rejection as Messiah in Matthew chapter 13 and at the close of His public ministry in John chapter 12:

13:14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

“Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,

And seeing you will see and not perceive;

13:15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.

Their ears are hard of hearing,

And their eyes they have closed,

Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn (ἐπιστρέψωσιν), So that I should heal them.’

(Matthew 13:14-15; underlining added)

Again, if the leadership of Israel turns away from the sin which blinds and deafens them and instead turns to God and His Word, then God would heal their ability to perceive Him and His Word. Jesus reminds His disciples:

13:16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;

13:17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. (Matthew 13:16-17)

Even among prophets and righteous men who possessed the ability to perceive God and His Word… many did not see or hear the things Jesus shares with His disciples. Although God heals those who repent or turn from sin, this restoration of the ability to perceive God and His Word does not necessarily mean they will believe in the Christ, the Son of the God who promises eternal life.

Summarizing the response of the Judean authorities to Jesus’ person and ministry, John writes:

12:39 The reason they were unable to believe is because Isaiah said again:

12:40 “He has blinded their eyes

And hardened their hearts,

So that they would not see with their eyes,

Nor understand with their hearts

And be converted (ἐπιστραφῶσιν,),

So that I should heal them.”

(John 12:39-40;underlining added)

The Greek verb for turn in Matthew 13:15 is ἐπιστρέψωσιν, an aorist, active, subjunctive while the same verb translated be converted (Logos 21) in John 12:40 is ἐπιστραφῶσιν, an aorist, passive, subjunctive. The NKJV renders this verb in John 12:40 in an active sense as turn. For purposes of comparison between the two passages, the translation in 12:40 might be better rendered “be turned.” [23]

Roughly one hundred times the Greek word for believe appears in John’s account, yet the word for repent surfaces nowhere… even in a passage that reveals the reason for the Judean authorities’ unbelief (John 12:39). Lest you and I mistakenly think John prefers ἐπιστραφῶσιν (to turn) instead of μετανοέω (to repent), consider that he uses the Greek word ἐπιστραφῶσιν only four times (John 12:40, 21:20; Revelation 1:12, twice), but uses μετανοέω the most of any New Testament writer outside of Luke—twelve times in the book of Revelation.

As verses 12:39-40 reveal, the apostles understand the importance of repentance or turning from sin to God and His word. Throughout John’s account, Jesus confronts both corporately and individually the Judean authorities who suffer grievously from spiritual deafness and blindness: He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God (John 8:47). Sin is like a deafening wax in the ears or dark sunglasses at midnight. Only God can drain the wax and remove the sunglasses from the one who repents or turns from sin. In turn, the ability to hear and see affords the opportunity to believe, but is not itself the conviction of faith. Furthermore, throughout John’s account, individuals repeatedly believe in Jesus without the necessity of repenting or turning from sin. Although repentance may well be necessary for a person to perceive, it is emphatically never a requirement to receive eternal life.

A Divinely Ordained Corporate Witness or Testimony

In the Synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke use the Greek noun for gospel, εὐαγγέλιον, and/or the verb to proclaim good news, εὐαγγελίζω, frequently, but not once in his account does the beloved apostle use these words. When referring to his account John uses the Greek verb for testifies, μαρτυρῶν, and noun for testimony, μαρτυρία: This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true (John 21:24; underlining added; see also John 19:35).[24] Understanding John’s account as a Divinely ordained corporate testimony opens our understanding to his larger purpose and the book’s unique place in the New Testament.

The Apostle John introduces the idea of a Divinely ordained corporate testimony very early: And the Word became 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; underlining added). As previously noted, the use of the first person plural, us and we, reveals that what you and I commonly refer to as a gospel account is actually a testimony or witness of the eleven disciples (apostles) as recorded by the beloved disciple. The disciples testify that Jesus is the Word become flesh, full of grace and truth, who dwelt or tabernacled among them.

In his first epistle, John reveals the intimacy of the three and a half year-long relationship with the Word of life that he and his fellow disciples bear witness to:

1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—

1:2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— (1 John 1:1-2; underlining added)

Note that the Greek verb (μαρτυροῦμεν) translated bear witness comes from the same root as the noun (μαρτυρία) translated testimony (John 1:14); again, even in his first epistle, John uses the first person plural extensively (we, us, and our) to emphatically reveal the corporate nature of the testimony to which the disciples bear witness.

According to the biblical standard established in both Old and New Testaments, the witness of two or three establishes truth.

18:16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that “by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’

(Matthew 18:16)

19:15 “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. (Deuteronomy 19:15)

Indeed, the account recorded by the beloved disciple is good news, but more particularly it is the authoritative intimate eyewitness witness or testimony of Jesus’ disciples by which the truth shall or may be established.

Truth is everything in a testimony or witness; truth is everything in evangelism. Consider what most scholars consider the purpose statement for John’s account:

20: Jesus actually performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.

20:31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

Of all the many signs performed by Jesus that the disciples witnessed, only eight are included in the testimony recorded by John. The last and greatest sign is the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, but according to their testimony any one of these miraculous signs are sufficient for a person to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Indeed, if anything has been left out of the apostles’ witness of Jesus’ person or ministry deemed necessary for an individual to believe in Him as the Christ, the Son of God, then their corporate testimony is not sufficient and their corporate witness recorded by John is not true.

In his first epistle, the Apostle John affirms the power and authority of God’s witness to bring forth life in the name of His Son or eternal life.

5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.

5:10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.

5:11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

5:12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:9-12; underlining added)

Though the corporate testimony of men is worth receiving, the witness of God is greater: And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. This truth underlies all of evangelism; it is the very purpose of the beloved apostle’s stewardship of the apostles’ corporate testimony; it is the truth affirmed moment by moment throughout the apostles’ eyewitness of Jesus’ person and ministry.

Just prior to the last supper and His final preparations for the cross, Jesus explains the nature of His witness:

12:48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.

12:50 And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.”

(John 12:48-50; underlining added)

Just as God the Father speaks with perfect power and authority, so the Son speaks the very word of God that will judge in the last day the one who rejects Him and does not receive His words. The truth to which Jesus testifies according to His Father’s command is the promise of eternal life confirmed through His crucifixion and resurrection and corporately attested by His apostles.

What is in His Name, Yeshua?

The world and the generation that crucified Messiah remain under indictment of the true Light:

1:9 That was the true Light which gives light to everyone who comes into the world.

1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him.

1:11 He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him.

(John 1:9-11)

Those who believe in the true Light and the light He so freely gives to everyone have believed in His Name:

1:12 But to as many as did accept Him, He gave the right to be God’s children, to those who believed in His Name.

1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13; underlining added)

Jesus gifts the right to be God’s children, to those who believed in His Name; they are born... of God.

The name of the One, you and I so commonly call Jesus is actually Yeshua, a name in the Hebrew meaning salvation. This commentary will quote the Scripture using the name Jesus, but will otherwise use the Hebrew name Yeshua. Life in His Name (John 20:30-31) is life in the Name of Yeshua, God’s Salvation to everyone who believes in His Name.

English Translations

This commentary relies on two translations: The New King James Version of the Holy Bible (NKJV) and The Logos 21 Version of the Gospel of John (Logos 21).

The vast majority of differences between the three Greek Texts, Textus Receptus (TR), Critical (NU), and Majority (M), have little impact on the meaning of the New Testament. True, the NKJV translates the Textus Receptus, a manuscript no longer considered for scholarly work.[25] In this light, those responsible for updating The King James Version (KJV) provide translation notes which indicate textual differences between the NU and M texts and the TR. This feature alone makes the NKJV a valuable resource. Likewise the lyrical qualities of the original KJV and its literal yet very readable updated English translation make the NKJV a preferred translation. With the sole exception of the Gospel of John (Logos 21), this commentary, unless otherwise indicated, uses the NKJV.

The Gospel of John, Logos 21 Version, translates The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text: Second Edition edited by Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L Farstad (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1985). Farstad acted as the Executive Editor for the NKJV published in 1982 and then with the support of a team of Greek scholars translated and copyrighted the Logos 21 in 1996. Absolutely Free Incorporated currently publishes the Living Water Gospel of John using the Logos 21 translation. Like the NKJV, the Logos 21 translation is a literal and very readable contemporary translation.

The apostles were charged with the responsibility to record and steward the distribution of the New Testament (Matthew 13:51-52). The relatively small number of manuscripts on which the Critical Text is based reveals a surprising lack of distribution in an area of the world (Egypt) otherwise conducive to the preservation of manuscripts, whereas the Byzantine area (Greece and Turkey), though wet and far less conducive to the preservation of manuscripts, hosts large families of representative manuscripts, hence the name Majority Text. Noted NU scholar Bruce M. Metzger acknowledges “… the Byzantine form of text was generally regarded as the authoritative form of text and was the one most widely circulated and accepted.” [26] Of the NU manuscripts, Hodges and Farstad note,

…the most important papyrus witnesses in this group of texts are the Chester Beatty papyri (P ^{45 46 47}) and the Bodmer papyri (P ^{66 75}). The text which results from dependence on such manuscripts as these may fairly be described as Egyptian. Its existence in early times outside of Egypt is unproved.[27]

Hodges and Farstad go on to argue:

the Egyptian type… is probably a local text which never had any significant currency except in that part of the ancient world. By contrast the majority of manuscripts were widely diffused and their ancestral roots must reach back to the autographs themselves.[28]

The small number of poorly distributed manuscripts on which it is based leaves the Critical Text uniquely vulnerable at times to outliers.

In particular, two omissions in the Critical Text reveal the depth of this problem in John:

5:3 …waiting for the moving of the water,

5:4 because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who went in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had.

(John 5:3-4)

7:53 So each one went to his house.

8:1 And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives

8:2 But at the break of dawn Jesus went to the temple courts again, and all the people were coming to Him. And He sat down and began to teach them.

8:3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand in the center

8:4 and said to Him, “Teacher, we found this woman in the very act of adultery.

8:5 Now in our law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say about her?”

8:6 They said this to test Him, so that they might have an accusation against Him. But Jesus stooped down and started to write on the ground with His finger.

8:7 So when they persisted in asking Him, He looked up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her!”

8:8 Then He stooped down again and wrote on the ground.

8:9 But when they heard this they went out one by one, starting with the older men down to the very last. Only Jesus was left, with the woman in the center.

8:10 So when Jesus had straightened up, He saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?”

8:11 “No one, Lord,” she said. “Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus told her, Go, and don’t sin any more.” (John 7:53 thru 8:11)

The great irony is that most English translations of the Critical Text translate both of these passages, while bracketing and/or footnoting them as not in in the original text.[29]

Not only does the Living Water provide a Majority Text translation of John, but through the Living Water Project, Absolutely Free Incorporated makes these Gospels of John available for evangelism by publishing and distributing them for free. Nothing could be truer to the stewardship originally entrusted to our Lord’s apostles; nothing could be more helpful in promoting evangelism in the local church than access to the only book of the Bible explicitly purposed for the unbeliever to be saved, especially when the translation is both literal, highly readable, and free.

Conclusion: An Evangelist’s Commentary

Many famous scholars have authored commentaries on John—why countenance a commentary by a small-time evangelist on an out of the way peninsula in Washington state? The local church—pastors, elders, and their flocks—need to understand and have confidence in the Gospel of John as an essential eyewitness ordained by God explicitly for the work of evangelism. In very broad strokes, the good news recorded by John and testified to by the apostles is the two-fold message of the cross:

1) The crucified and resurrected Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world (John 1:29) successfully completing the work entrusted to Him by the Father declaring: It is finished (John 19:30).

2) To this day, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, gives the right to be God’s children, to those who believed in His Name: He offers the gift of eternal life or life in His name absolutely free to all those who believe in Him and His promise of eternal life (John 1:12-13; 20:30-31).

This simple two-fold message testified to by His apostles (disciples) and recorded by the disciple whom Jesus loved is all too often obscured by denomination and theological tradition leaving the local church awash in special techniques and particular gospel messages (2 Peter 1:19-21).

Christians do not need to reinvent the wheel. Yeshua is the Word who speaks the word of our salvation, the promise of eternal life with perfect power and authority. Recorded faithfully by the disciple whom He loved, Yeshua’s ministry and testimony are attested to by the eyewitness of His apostles. The Gospel of John remains at the very core of the work entrusted to the evangelist and the local church. The Lord is good!

2. The Indictment (John 1:1-14)

1. The Key: John 1:1-5 (35-40)
2. The Testimony of John the Baptist: John 1:6-9 (41-42)

• A Two-Fold Indictment: John 1:10-13 (42-45)

1. The Witness of the Apostles: John 1:14 (46)
2. An Evangelist ‘s Perspective (47-48)
3. Appendix A (48-49)

The Key: John 1:1-5

Introduction

No technological innovation, no scientific endeavor, no exercise of human intellect—philosophical, theological or scientific—can discover the origins of God and His Creation; instead, this wonder must be revealed to us by God Himself in His Word. The great physicist Stephen Hawking, waxing philosophically, concludes his treatise, A Brief History of Time:

However if we do discover a complete theory (of the universe), it should in time be understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason—for we would know the mind of God. [30]

Thankfully, God reveals His mind not through a “complete theory of the universe,” but through His Word for all to understand. Astrophysicists attempting to explain the origin of the universe hypothesize a singularity, a moment in time and space when the laws of physics as we know them broke down, roughly 14 billion years ago in which the universe inflated “by a factor of 10²⁶… Current evidence suggests this dramatic expansion happened at a time of about 10^-36 seconds after the universe came into existence and lasted for less than 10^-32 seconds.”[31] Peering out through the confines of time and space, finite man (the brilliance of astrophysicists not withstanding) is left to measure the unmeasurable and pin words on the ineffable.[32] Understanding who the incarnate Word is in relationship to His Father and Creation remains the key to understanding John’s witness, the love of God, and Yeshua’s promise of eternal life.

A Singular Key

The first five verses in John’s account are the cut beds and bittings of a singular key—unified by six strategically placed Greek conjunctions—καὶ(s) explicitly purposed to unlock our understanding of the incarnate Word and the apostles’ witness of Him:[33]

In the Beginning Was the Word: The One who made all things knows no beginning. He has never not been. The Word was and remains eternal.

And (καὶ) the Word Was With God: This One who has never not been enjoys an eternal relationship with God and therefore is uniquely set aside or holy.

And (καὶ) the Word Was God: This One who is both eternal, holy in relationship with God possesses the attributes of God Himself. The Word was and remains fully Divine—fully God.

He Was in the Beginning With God: This One who is eternal, holy in relationship with God, and fully Divine is a distinct person who was and remains a distinct person in eternal personal relationship with God.

All Things Were Made Through Him (NKJV): This One who is an eternal, holy, and Divine person engaged in an eternal personal relationship with God created all things. The Word was and remains the Creator of all things.

And (καὶ) Without Him Nothing Was Made That Was Made (NKJV): Without the Word there is no creation. The Word was and remains emphatically the Creator of all things.

In Him Was Life: This One who is an eternal, holy, and Divine person in an eternal relationship with God, who created all things possesses the miracle of life in Himself.

And (καὶ) the Life Was the Light of Man: This One who is an eternal, holy, and Divine person in eternal relationship with God, who created all things and possesses eternal or never-beginning-nor-ending life in Himself was a beacon of Light for man.

And (καὶ) the Light Shines in the Darkness: The Word in all His glory is the Light of Man who reveals God from the midst of darkness.

Yet (καὶ) the darkness did not grasp it: The darkness of man did not grasp or overcome (κατέλαβεν) the Light of Man or the Word in all His glory.

Without attempting to plumb the depths, even these most rudimentary explanations given for each of these cut beds and bittings in this key fit only one possible revelation. If the translation of verse 1:1, θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος, is understood grammatically as a predicate adjective construct, the Word was divine, then in light of these five verses, you and I should rightfully conclude that the Word was Divine, in which case, the predicate nominative, the Word was God, is contextually correct.[34] This is the revelation or key that unlocks the witness that is John’s account and animates the reader’s understanding of God throughout the whole of John’s account—the Word is and always has been Divine: He has never not been God, the Creator who spoke all things into being including life itself, the One who enjoys never-beginning-nor-ending life and a unique holy personal relationship with God. Indeed, the power and authority of the Word in the beginning is first recorded in the historical account of the Creation, Genesis 1:1 thru 2:3.

In the Beginning: Then God Said… And It Was So

Though today most of Christendom accepts the doctrine of the trinity, it was a very radical revelation to the first century Jew. Therefore, John 1:3 anchors this revelation of the Word as the Divine Creator of all things in the historical account of the Creation, Genesis chapter one.

1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

1:3 Then God said (וַיֹּ֥אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֖ים), “Let there be light (יְהִ֣י א֑וֹר);” and there was light (וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר).

1:6 Then God said (וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֔ים),“Let there be a firmament

(יְהִ֥י רָקִ֖יעַ) in the midst of the waters, and let it divide (וִיהִ֣י מַבְדִּ֔יל) the waters from the waters.”

1:7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so (וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן).

1:9 Then God said (וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים), “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together ( מִתַּ֤חַת הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ יִקָּו֨וּ הַמַּ֜יִם) into one place, and let the dry land appear (וְתֵרָאֶ֖ה הַיַּבָּשָׁ֑ה)”; and it was so

(וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן).

1:11 Then God said (וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים), “Let the earth bring forth (תַּֽדְשֵׁ֤א הָאָ֙רֶץ֙) grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so (וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן).

1:14 Then God said (וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים), “Let there be lights

(יְהִ֤י מְאֹרֹת֙) in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be (וְהָי֤וּ) for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

1:15 and let them be (וְהָי֤וּ) for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so (וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן).

1:20 Then God said (וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים), “Let the waters abound

(יִשְׁרְצ֣וּ הַמַּ֔יִם) with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly

(וְעוֹף֙ יְעוֹפֵ֣ף) above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.”

1:21 So God created (וַיִּבְרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֔ים) great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind.

1:24 Then God said (וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים), “Let the earth bring forth the living creature (תּוֹצֵ֨א הָאָ֜רֶץ נֶ֤פֶשׁ חַיָּה֙) according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so (וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן).

1:26 Then God said (וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים), “Let Us make man

(נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם) in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion (וְיִרְדּוּ֩) over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

1:27 So God created (וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים) man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said (אֱלֹהִים֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר) to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

1:29 And God said (וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים), “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.

1:30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so (וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן)

2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.

2:2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

(Genesis 1:1-2:3; underlining added)

Then God said (וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים; Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, and 29) followed by three refrains: and there was light (וַֽיְהִי־אֽוֹר; Genesis 1:3), and it was so (וַֽיְהִי־כֵֽן; Genesis 1:7,9,11, 15, 24, 30), and lastly so God created (וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱלֹהִ֤ים; Genesis 1:21, 27)—each of these patterns reveal the perfect power and authority of God’s Word. He is the Then God said… and it was so of the Creation account. The extensive use of the jussive and cohortative throughout this account further confirm the perfect power and authority of God’s Word.[35]

Uses of the Jussive and Cohortative in the Creation Account

Verses	English Translation	Uses
!:3, 6, 14	Let there be	3
1:6	Let it (firmament) divide	1
1:9, 20	Let the waters	2
1:9	Let the dry land	1
1:11, 24	Let the earth	2
1:14, 15	Let them be	2
1:20	Let the birds	1
1:26	Let Us	1
1:26	Let them	1
Total		14

In the Creation account, through the use of repetition, God emphatically reveals Himself as the One who speaks and it is. Just as emphatically, the Apostle John reveals that Yeshua, as the incarnate Word, speaks with this same power and authority. Before the beginning, He was both God and in relationship to God. The word spoken by the incarnate Word or Light of Man is the very Word of God which the Judean authorities (Ιουδαῖοι) of that generation that crucified Christ (and the world, both Jew and Gentile) fail to grasp.

The Testimony of John the Baptist: John 1:6-9

The Prophet Isaiah reveals the coming of the Lord’s (יְהוָ֑ה) exclusive herald, John the Baptist.

40:3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“Prepare the way of the LORD (יְהוָ֑ה);

Make straight in the desert

A highway for our God (אלֹהֵֽי).

40:4 Every valley shall be exalted

And every mountain and hill brought low;

The crooked places shall be made straight

And the rough places smooth;

40:5 The glory of the LORD (יְהוָ֑ה) shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together;

For the mouth of the LORD (יְהוָ֑ה) has spoken.”

(Isaiah 40:3-5)

The use of both names, יְהוָ֑ה and אלֹהֵֽי, reveal that the coming Jehovah (יְהוָ֑ה) is God (אלֹהֵֽי) or the sent One of God.

The Light

God set John the Baptist outside in the wilderness apart from the religious leadership and life of his people to provide a Divinely inspired testimony about the Light, so that all might believe through him (John 1:7).

1:8 He was not the Light but he came to testify about the Light.

1:9 That was the true Light which gives light to everyone who comes into the world. (John 1:8-9)

As we shall learn, John testifies that the Light is the Son of God and the very Lamb of God (Christ or Messiah) who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29, ). The NET and NASB offer better translations of verse 9:

The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world

(John 1:9; underlining added, NET; cf. ESV, HCSB)

There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. (John 1:9; underlining added, NASB)

While acknowledging the possibility of the participial phrase, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, modifying everyone (everyone who comes into the world), the translators of the NET offer the following footnote:

(a) In the next verse the light is in the world; it is logical for v. 9 to speak of its entering the world; (b) in other passages Jesus is described as “coming into the world” (6:14, 9:39, 11:27, 16:28) and in 12:46 Jesus says, Εγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα (I have come as a light into the world); (c) use of the periphrastic participle with the imperfect tense is a typical Johannine style: 1:28; 26; 3:23; 10:40; 11:1; 13:23; 18:18 and 25.[36]

Within the immediate context, either The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world or There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man are better translations of verse 1:9.

A Two-Fold Indictment: John 1:10-13

Having finished his initial presentation of the Word (the One coming into the world) and John the Baptist (His prophetic herald), the Apostle John now issues God’s two-fold indictment against the world, both Jew and Gentile, and against His own namely the leadership of the nation of Israel, the Judean authorities, who led the Jews of that generation to rejected Messiah. These are not new indictments.

The World Did Not Know Him

He was in the world and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him (John 1:10). This is a continuation of an indictment against the world revealed first in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve walked with God and experienced His presence and blessing upon them, yet they failed His prohibition not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They did not know Him.

3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

3:24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22 and 24)

To this day, the condemnation of death remains a direct result of Adam and Eve’s failure to hear and abide the word of the One who spoke Creation into being. In His person and ministry. Yeshua is the very Word of God who speaks with perfect power and authority; He is the One who speaks and it is. Within the contemporary context, the world does not know the Word and continues to act contrary to Him. Again, this is not a new indictment.

14:1 The fool has said in his heart,

“There is no God.”

They are corrupt,

They have done abominable works,

There is none who does good.

14:2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men,

To see if there are any who understand, who seek God.

14:3 They have all turned aside,

They have together become corrupt;

There is none who does good,

No, not one. (Psalm 14:1-3)

Regarding the world, both Jew and Gentile, the Apostle Paul cites this psalm (Romans 3:1-12) and then very succinctly summarizes this fundamental truth: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Throughout the Apostle John’s account, the One who speaks and it is speaks the words of salvation to the whole of humanity, both Jew and Gentile, through His promise of eternal life. Those who reject Yeshua remain under indictment and condemnation of death: Whoever rejects Me and doesn’t accept My sayings has his judge: the word which I have spoken will judge him on the Last Day (John 12:48; underlining added).

His Own Did Not Accept Him

The Jewish people and the nation of Israel are the apple of God’s eye (Deuteronomy 32:9-10); the Apostle Paul, himself a former Pharisee, describes his countrymen according to the flesh (Romans 9:3):

9:4 …Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;

9:5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

(Romans 9:4-5)

In marked contrast to the world, God set aside the nation of Israel and the Jewish people for a special relationship with Him, yet He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him (John 1:11). This indictment surely reminds John’s audience of the larger historical pattern of Israel’s infidelity toward God. Consider the Prophet Jeremiah’s famous indictment:

2:9 “Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,” says the LORD,

“And against your children’s children I will bring charges.

2:10 For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see,

Send to Kedar and consider diligently,

And see if there has been such a thing.

2:11 Has a nation changed its gods,

Which are not gods?

But My people have changed their Glory

For what does not profit.

2:12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this,

And be horribly afraid;

Be very desolate,” says the LORD.

2:13 “For My people have committed two evils:

They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,

And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:9-13)

Within the immediate context of the Gospel of John, the nation’s historic abandonment of God manifests as the rejection of the Word as the Christ, the Son of God by the leadership of Israel—namely the Judean authorities or Ιουδαῖοι of that generation who crucified Him. This failure of Israel’s leadership comes with dire consequences. The very generation of Israel that God set aside to bring salvation to the world has His offer of a promised Messianic kingdom rescinded and instead will suffer the devastation of God’s prophetic 70 AD judgment.

The Right To Be God’s Children

Though the world did not know Him and the Judean authorities or leadership of the nation of Israel did not accept the Him as Messiah, what of those individuals who did accept Him?[37]

1:12 But to as many as did accept Him, He gave the right to be God’s children, to those who believed in His name,

1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13; underlining added)

Within the context of verse 12, those who did accept Him are those who believed in His name. Moreover, verse 13 describes those who believed in His name as born… of God. The Word has an ongoing plan of salvation for an existing group of individuals who have already accepted Him or believed in His name. They escape His two-fold indictment.

12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority, but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.

12:50 And I know that His command is eternal life. So the things which I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak. (John 12:49-50)

Just as the Word spoke the Creation into being, the Word heralds His Father’s offer of salvation—deliverance from the eternal condemnation of death (Genesis 3:22-24). Those who accept Him possess life in His name or eternal life… and much much more… as His apostles will soon reveal, the prospect of abundant life (John 10:10) and friendship by keeping His commands and abiding in His love (John 15:10, 14).

The Witness of the Apostles: John 1:14

The Apostle John concludes his introduction to the apostles’ witness of the Word with a very brief, yet powerful summation of their testimony: And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the Father’s Only-begotten, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). All the apostles corporately affirm the incarnation of the Word, the One who created all things came into the world. Their three-and-a-half-year-long witness of Him chronicles how He was received first by the leadership of Israel, namely the Judean authorities, and second by the world. The Greek word ἐσκήνωσεν translated lived is better understood as “tabernacled.” “The verb used here may imply that the Shekinah glory that once was found in the (Old Testament) tabernacle has taken up residence in the person of Jesus”[38] Again, the glory the apostles saw or witnessed was the glory of the Father’s Only-begotten (or “the one and only of the Father”[39])… full of grace and truth. Consider the words of the Prophet Isaiah:

49:5 “And now the LORD says,

Who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,

To bring Jacob back to Him,

So that Israel is gathered to Him

(For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD,

And My God shall be My strength),

49:6 Indeed He says,

“It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob,

And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;

I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,

That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

(Isaiah 49:5-6)

Though He initially came to His own, Yeshua is Messiah to both Jew and Gentile; He is God’s salvation to the ends of the earth. Those individuals, both Jew and Gentile, who did accept Him or believed in His name experienced the fullness of Yeshua’s grace in being gifted the right to become children of God. Juxtaposed to the fullness of His grace resides the truth of a two-fold indictment: The Creator of all things, the very Light of Life, came into the world and 1) the world did not know Him and 2) His own rejected Him. The introduction to the apostles’ testimony recorded by John, is now concluded by the inclusio, In the beginning was the Word… And the Word became flesh.[40]

An Evangelist’s Perspective

The introduction to the Gospel of John expresses the Divine essence and glory of the Word in a manner which invites the reader to investigate His person and ministry.

The Creation

The account of Creation found in the Pentateuch was translated into Greek in the 3^rd century B.C. and initially recorded on scrolls. Not until the 4^th century A.D. was this account, known as the Septuagint, more widely accessible in book form. (The Gutenberg press was invented ca. 1440.) If immediately following Yeshua’s crucifixion and resurrection, the historical account of creation in Genesis 1:1-2:3 was not widely available to the Greek speaking world (Gentiles), who would have had knowledge of this account? What does this tell us about the initial or primary audience of John’s account?

The Presentation and Indictment

The apostles were sent forth to do the work of evangelism by proclaiming God’s word. What scholars discuss as the prologue or introduction to John’s account is 1) a brilliantly sculptured and concise presentation of Messiah as the Word who created all things (John 1:1-5) heralded by John the Baptist as the Light of the world (John 1:6-9), 2) a concise hard-hitting two-fold indictment (John 1:10-13), and lastly 3) a subtle yet implicit invitation to the curious to investigate the truth of the disciples’ eyewitness of the Word’s person and ministry (John 1:14). The brilliance of this presentation and indictment is so great that it can scarcely be imagined let alone contained in a mere fourteen verses… let alone as the product of a nameless fisherman. As believers who have been given the right to be God’s children are you and I willing to accept the challenge to share the witness recorded by Yeshua’s apostles with both Jews and Gentiles?

The Trinity

According to the Jewish Study Bible, “During the Second Temple period… the Shema rose to special prominence both in the synagogue liturgy and in individual piety.”[41] The familiar monotheistic understanding of God captured by the Shema, Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one (Deuteronomy 6:4), stands seemingly in direct opposition to the content of the first five verses of John’s account. The doctrine of the trinity, now considered orthodox Christianity by most denominations, is openly denied by Jehovah’s Witnesses. How do the apostles invite their Jewish brethren to investigate the Word who is both God and at the same time in an eternal personal relationship with God? What do you and I learn for their presentation that might help us to share this truth with those who are Jewish and others like the Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Appendix A

To know God is to know the perfect power and authority of His Word, both in Scripture and in His incarnation. True, God loves those who stretch every fiber of their intellect and will to understand His Creation, but sadly pursuing God through His Creation, leaves many worshipping a God they do not know. Genesis Chapter 1:1-2:3 reveals the One who has never not been speaking His Creation into being with the perfect power and authority of His Word. For this reason the Apostle John introduces Yeshua as the very Word of God who spoke His creation in-to being. Ironically, the simplicity of the Genesis account reveals God’s Deity and at the same time stumbling many within the scientific community.

The current theories about the “big bang” notwithstanding, the historical account of a Higher Power who created man and the universe in a mere seven days seems scientifically absurd… except there is a God who created us and loves us. Please bear with the speculations of a small-time evangelist and imagine a man and woman without an umbilical cord or parents, nonetheless gifted by God with knowledge, language, and personhood. What if the account of Creation which seems so absurd scientifically, is a record given Moses of an earlier conversation (one of many) between God and this particular man and woman designed to reveal who He is as God and who they are in relationship to Him and His Creation?

In Stephen Hawking’s book, A Brief History of Time (1988), you and I will not find, unless geometric shapes and graphs alone count, the language of math to explain time. According to the New York Review of Books, the author “can explain the complexities of cosmological physics with an engaging combination of clarity and wit… His is a brain of extraordinary power.”[42] Ironically, Hawking, himself is quite humble openly acknowledging he has changed his mind regarding his previously published understanding of the big bang.[43] Brilliantly conceived and written, his book is 197 pages long. Even though Hawking does not resort to mathematical arguments and formulas to explain the history of time, time remains a four letter word like “math”… even for Hawking.

Thirty-six years later (2024), Kelsey Johnson in her book Into the Unknown: The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos, explores a host of fascinating issues including the big bang and time. Unlike Hawing, this highly regarded professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia makes strategic use of the language of math to reveal the current state of knowledge within the astrophysics community. Nobel Laureate, John Mather writes on the book cover:

A delightful conversation with a brilliant explorer of the magic of our universe— how we found out, how she found out, what it means for us all, and above all, what we really don’t know or can’t possibly know, except maybe sometimes. Physics, astronomy, metaphysics, origin of life, extraterrestrials, all with wicked humor. You won’t forget this one![44]

Johnson is quite comfortable acknowledging the limitations of her own knowledge while diligently working to keep the cookies of astrophysics on the bottom shelf for those far less gifted. While her conversation with her four-year-old daughter illustrates wonderfully the challenge of “infinite regression” in explaining the big bang,[45] thankfully her daughter has a wonderfully articulate astrophysicist as a mother. Three hundred and fifty-one pages… enough said.

The pursuit of scientific knowledge about the universe and our place within it honors the Creator, but in itself, this pursuit cannot answer the existential question of Creation. In marked contrast to the outstanding work of Hawking and Johnson, the 34 verse explanation, summarized in Moses’ account (Genesis 1:1-2:3), was spoken with perfect power and authority without a scintilla of equivocation to Adam and Eve by the God who created and walked with them in the Garden of Eden. If time and space are merely created phenomenon for the One True God who has never not been; then, though beyond the scope of scientific inquiry and the language of math to discover, the revelation that God spoke His Creation into being in a mere seven days should not surprise anyone. He is the One who speaks and it is. His message could not be more transparent: There is a God who created us and loves us—He and His Word are always true. The handiwork of a perfect and infinite God reveals a universe abounding with opportunities to know Him through His Creation. This same God desires scientists, like Hawking and Johnson, to take Him at His word when He promises eternal life: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16; underlining added): How else may anyone, Hawking and Johnson included, account for the signs in John’s account?

3. Come and See: The Investigation Begins

(John 1:15-2:12)

Introduction

John introduces the great evangelistic theme, come and see, immediately after his introduction of the Word, the two-fold indictment, and the right to become children of God accorded to those who accepted Him or believed in His name. How individuals and groups of individuals respond to the continued presentation of the Word—whether they remain under indictment or accept Him by believing in His name—initially surfaces in what you and I will call the come and see section. Beginning appropriately with the Judean authorities inquiry of the Word’s forerunner, this section John’s account (John 1:15-10:41)[46] reveals an extraordinarily successful ministry with individuals or groups of individuals actively seeking out and believing in Yeshua.

1. John the Baptist Summarizes His Testimony (51-53)
2. The Judean Authorities’ Inquiry (53-56)

• The Disciples’ Inquiry (56-59)

1. An Evangelist’s Perspective (59-60)

John the Baptist Summarizes His Testimony

Introduction

John the Baptist’s testimony reveals a mature understanding of Yeshua’s person and ministry prompting some to view his words as narrative provided by the apostle. The Majority Text begins verse 16 with the conjunction and (Καὶ) easily linking verse 16 to the beginning of the Baptist’s witness. [47]

1:15 John testified concerning Him and exclaimed, “This was the One of whom I said. ‘The One coming after me ranks ahead of me, because He was before me.’

1:16 And from His fullness we have all received, yes, grace upon grace.

1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

1:18 No one has ever seen God. The only begotten Son who is nearest to the Father’s heart—He has made Him known.”

The Critical text introduces verse 16 with a ὅτι translated for. Clearly the depth and clarity of John the Baptist’s summary reveals a knowledge of the Christ entirely appropriate for his prophetic witness, but it raises a question: How and when did John the Baptist gain this knowledge. Most likely following His baptism and temptation, Yeshua spent time with John the Baptist preparing him for his coming ministry. And if not, then perhaps God the Father or the Holy Spirit imparted understanding to the Baptist (John 1:33).

A Reason to Investigate

A unifying theme designed to the hearer’s garner attention runs throughout the Baptist’s witness: The One coming after me ranks ahead of me, because He was before me in verse 15, appears in verses 1:27 and 1:30 also. Imagine this itinerate preacher, while actively engaging the ministry of baptism, openly testifying of someone named Yeshua the Christ who is nearest to the Father’s heart and has made Him (the Father) known. If John the Baptist were just another spiritual outlier wandering the wilderness, what would move the leadership of Israel to send an official delegation to investigate except the peoples’ response to his ministry along with his witness summarized in verses 15 through 18?

Grace Upon Grace

The phrase translated grace upon grace can be likened to a mathematical expression, grace to the grace power or grace ^(grace).[48] Grace upon grace intentionally communicates the utterly radical nature of God’s infinite grace. What does the Baptist communicate about this grace ^(grace)? It imamates from the fullness of One greater than John for the benefit of all: For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. If the Judean authorities ruled over the nation of Israel according to the law of Moses, then who is this Yeshua, the Christ through whom grace and truth comes? And what exactly is this grace and truth? Does it replace the law given through Moses? The concept of grace upon grace would surely provoke interest: Are John the Baptist and the One he heralds potential threats to Roman rule? More importantly, is John, through his baptism of repentance and witness, a threat to the leadership of Israel? These kinds of concerns make him and the One he heralds—Yeshua, the Christ—persons of interest, especially when he testifies: No one has ever seen God. The only begotten Son[49] who is nearest to the Father’s heart—He has made Him known.

The Judean Authorities’ Inquiry

Introduction

The Synoptic gospel writers provide the events of Yeshua’s baptism historically (Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke3:21-22) while John the Baptist recounts the baptism of Yeshua as a part of his later response and witness to the priests and Levites (John 1:32-34).[50] This important difference, when left unaccounted, creates needless tension between the Baptist’s witness to Judean authorities and the actual timing of Yeshua’s baptism and subsequent temptation. Likewise, the Pharisees and Sadducees who visit the Baptist in Matthew’s account (Matthew 3:1-12, see also Mark 1:1-8) are not the priests and Levites performing an official inquiry in John’s account. The former are coming to be baptized while the latter are investigating John’s ministry on behalf of the leadership of Israel.

Day One

In the wake of Yeshua’s baptism by John the Baptist, the Judean authorities send a delegation of priests and Levites to investigate who John is and to search out the Christ.

1:19 Now this is John’s testimony when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “who are you?”

1:20 And he confessed, he did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” (John 1:19-20)

John’s immediate response reveals the underlying purpose of their visit namely to discover the Christ or Israel’s Messiah. Rumors of John’s activities and specifically Yeshua’s baptism along with his highly provocative testimony (John 1:15-18) have already circulated back to Jerusalem prompting the leadership to send representatives to come and see who he is (John 1:19-23). Those sent by the leadership rightly continue their inquiry: “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, or Elijah, or the Prophet” (John 1:25)?

That the priests and Levites ask this kind of question of John reveals their confidence in his knowledge and ability to answer with authority and their need to answer in greater detail to the Pharisees who sent them.

1:26 “I baptize with water, but among you stands Someone you do not know.

1:27 He is the One coming after me, who ranks ahead of me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie!”

(John 1:26-27)

John’s response would surely catch the ear of this delegation. If John was not the Christ, who then is this Someone they do not know… who ranks ahead of John whose sandal strap John is not worthy to untie? If the delegation had not yet found the Christ, then at least they were hot on His trail for they have a knowledgeable and believable source suggesting to them that the Messiah was among them. An official delegation sent to inquire of the Christ could hardly depart under such promising circumstances and then give account for their premature departure to the Pharisees who sent them.

Day Two

The manner in which John the Baptist heralds Israel’s Messiah defines both His person and ministry: The next day (Τῇ ἐπαύριον) John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)! The Word is not yet the conquering Messiah ben David (Zechariah 14:2-4), but first the Suffering Messiah ben Joseph (Zechariah 9:9-10), the One who takes upon Himself the sin of the whole world to free all mankind from the condemnation of sin (Isaiah 52:13-53:12). To the delegation searching for Messiah, the Baptist declares:

1:30 This is the One I told you about, ‘After me come a man who ranks ahead of me, because He was before me.’

1:31 Yet I did not know Him. However, the reason I came baptizing with water is that He might be made known to Israel.” (John 1:30 thru 1:31)

Again, consider the similarity of phrase used by John in identifying the Christ to his audience. Prior to the visit of the priests and Levites:

1:15 … The One coming after me ranks ahead of me (Ο ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἔμπροσθέν μου).

During the visit of the priest and Levites:

1:27 …the One coming after me, who ranks ahead of me (ὁ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος, ὃς ἔμπροσθέν μου)

1:30 …after me comes a man who ranks ahead of me (Οπίσω μου ἔρχεται ἀνὴρ ὃς ἔμπροσθέν) (John 1:15, 1:27 and 1:30)

Those Judean authorities sent to investigate could hardly miss this particular turn of phrase and the Baptist’s meaning, namely this is the One you are searching for, not me, but the Christ.

The witness which follows is directed specifically to the Judean authorities sent to investigate John the Baptist’s ministry: Yet I did not know Him (Κἀγὼ οὐκ ᾔδειν αὐτόν). However, the reason I came baptizing with water is that He might be made known to Israel” (John 1:31).

1:32 …”I observed the Spirit coming down like a dove out of Heaven. And He rested upon Him

1:33 Yet I did not know Him (Κἀγὼ οὐκ ᾔδειν αὐτόν). However, He who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting—this is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ So I have both seen and testified that this is the Son of God!”

(John 1:32-33)

The Baptist repeats the same opening phrase twice in verses 31 and 33, Yet I did not know Him (Κἀγὼ οὐκ ᾔδειν αὐτόν·) in order to emphasize his lack of foreknowledge or prejudice prior to the event of Yeshua’s baptism. John the Baptist is, therefore, both a participant and impartial witness to the baptism. Although many of his disciples and followers doubtlessly heard his words, the Baptist directs his testimony specifically to the leadership of Israel to authoritatively announce the arrival of the nation’s Messiah and fulfill his prophetic mission by: 1) identifying Yeshua as the Christ or Lamb a God who takes away the sin of the world and 2) communicating an authoritative witness carefully orchestrated by the Father and Holy Spirit. On this second day, the priests and Levites sent by the Pharisees to investigate receive this authoritative testimony of God the Father, the Holy Spirit and John the Baptist irrevocability cast in the prior historical events of Yeshua’s baptism.

Although you and I have no record revealing how the Judean authorities receive John the Baptist’s witness, we have evidences that clearly reveal knowledge of his witness. When Yeshua cleanses the temple for the first time, how is it that on the Passover, He is not arrested for creating a public disturbance (John 2:13 thru 2:16), but instead is asked to provide a sign to authenticate His authority to do so (2:18). Moreover, the definitive sign Yeshua offers is His crucifixion and resurrection as the Christ—the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29 and 2:19). Likewise, following the healing of the paralytic in chapter five, consider Yeshua’s words directed to the Judean authorities:

5:32 There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.

5:33 You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.

5:34 Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.

5:35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. (John 5:32 thru 5:34)

How can the Judean authorities rejoice in the light of John the Baptist’s testimony, if they never receive it? The clear implication is that the leadership of Israel possesses knowledge of John the Baptist’s witness and initially receive it as an authoritative witness. Again, the leadership of Israel has knowledge of God’s witness through John the Baptist’s testimony from the very inception of Yeshua’s ministry and is therefore accountable for their actions throughout the whole of His ministry.

The Disciples’ Inquiry

Introduction

After receiving John the Baptist’s witness, the priests and Levites presumably return to Jerusalem to report their findings to the Pharisees. The primary audience for John’s witness now shifts to His disciples.

Day Three

The Apostle John gives his readers a specific time line and setting, Again the next day (Τῇ ἐπαύριον), meaning the third day, John was standing with two of his disciples (John 1:35)

1:36 And when he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look the Lamb of God!”

1:37 So the two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

(John 1:36 thru 1:37)

Though the proclamation remains the same, the differences in the responses to John’s witness by the priests and Levites as opposed to the Baptist’s disciples mark the beginning of a fork in the road between Yeshua’s ministry and John’s ministry and between the Judean authorities and Yeshua’s disciples. Yeshua notices John’s disciples following him:

1:38 “What are you looking for?” And they said to Him. “Rabbi” (which is translated Teacher), “Where are you staying?”

1:39 “Come and see.” He told them. They went and saw where He was staying , and they stayed with Him that day. It was about ten a.m.

(John 1:38 thru 1:39)

John’s disciples depart him in order to stay with Yeshua while those sent to investigate by the Pharisees return and report to the leadership of Israel. Coming and seeing the Christ, the Son of God, does not guarantee faith or even a continued investigation of Him as the Christ, the Son of God.

In verse 38, the Apostle John includes the parenthetical remark Rabbi (which is translated Teacher); Yeshua was not at that time leading a synagogue or serving in any official capacity within the existing leadership of Israel; He was simply understood as a teacher. Yeshua extends His invitation to come and see ostensive to answer where He was staying, but more importantly to invite them to tabernacle or dwell with Him for the remainder of the day.[51] During that time, Andrew becomes convinced that Yeshua is the Messiah, and seeks out his brother Peter:

1:41 “We have found the Messiah!” (Which is translated Christ).

1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He said, “You are Simon, Son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas.” (John 1:41 thru 1:42)

The expression, “leading someone to Christ,” means bringing someone to Yeshua and allowing Yeshua to convince him of who He is as the Christ, the Son of God; only God knows who this someone is and the supernatural gifting in Christ that awaits him as a believer.

Day Four

The timeline moves forward to day four: The next day (Τῇ ἐπαύριον) Jesus decided to leave for Galilee (John 1:43) and commands Philip: “Follow Me” (John 1:43). As a believer, Philip follows Yeshua and along the way seizes the opportunity to share good news with Nathanael: “We have found the One of whom Moses in the Law—and also the Prophets—wrote: Jesus the son of Joseph from Nazareth” (John 1:45)! Philip’s witness reveals the content of Yeshua’s witness to him. When Nathanael responds, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth,” Philip answers with the words he has heard from His Messiah, “Come and see” (John 1:46 and 1:39)! When Yeshua reveals his miraculous knowledge: “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you” (John 1:48) Nathanael believes in Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel” (John 1:49)! The title the King of Israel is fit only for the Christ.

On the Third Day: The First Miracle

On the third day (Καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ) a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1) ) could reference the third day of the week which was highly esteemed for wedding feasts (the third day is the only day of Creation blessed twice by God). If so, then we have a brief yet indeterminate period of time following the Apostle John’s chronology beginning in John 1:19. On the other hand, it could mean the third day after Nathanael believed in Yeshua—the sixth or seventh day chronologically.[52] Either scenario records a brief period of time before the Passover celebration during which the disciples believed in Yeshua.

Yeshua’s Mother informs Him that the wedding feast has run out of wine (John 2:3): “Woman, how does that concern Me and you? My time has not yet come” (John 2:4). The term woman is not disrespectful; otherwise, why would Yeshua respond positively when she commands the servants, do whatever He tells you, even though the time of His public ministry had not arrived.

Yeshua commands the servants to fill six stone water jars (20 to 30 gallons each) with water and then take some to the master of ceremonies who upon tasting the offering and tells the bridegroom: “Everybody sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are intoxicated, the inferior, but you have kept the fine wine until now” (John 2:10)!

Performed before Yeshua’s time had come, this first miraculous sign confirms John the Baptist’s testimony and foreshadows for the disciples the nature of Yeshua’s coming public ministry. [53] The stone water jars were, under Mosaic law (Exodus 30:17-21; Psalm 26:6-7), used for the ceremonial washing. Miraculously turning this ceremonial water into fine wine as a part of a wedding feast between a husband and wife may have symbolic implications for the marriage relationship between Jehovah and Israel. If the wine representing the joy of marriage had run out between Jehovah and Israel, Yeshua’s miracle of changing the water (Mosaic Law) into fine wine in abundance (New Covenant) represents His coming ministry as Messiah to restore the joy of the Divine marriage. Regardless of interpretation, Yeshua displayed his glory. And His disciples believed in Him (John 2:11). Afterwards, He—with His mother, His brothers, and His disciples—went down to Capernaum (John 2:12).

An Evangelist’s Perspective

A Prophetic Witness

Contrary to the story line from the Judean authorities that Yeshua was merely a country bumpkin from the sticks of Galilee (John 7:48-52) and that after His crucifixion and resurrection the disciples stole His body and secretly buried it (Matthew 28:12-15), John’s readers now know that the leadership of Israel received an authoritative eyewitness testimony regarding Yeshua from John the Baptist, the prophetic forerunner of Messiah. The Father, the Holy Spirit and John the Baptist, all three testify that Yeshua is the Son of God who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Would this witnesses bring conviction to John’s first century audience that the Judean authorities were lying about Yeshua? Would knowledge make the Judean authorities accountable in their eyes?

The Judean Authorities Compared to the Disciples

Imagine John’s first century readers weighing the differences between those sent by the Judean authorities and the disciples: 1) those sent from the Pharisee were uninvited while each of the disciples in one form or another were invited to come and see; 2) those sent from the Pharisees received John the Baptist’s authoritative witness and then returned to the Judean authorities in Jerusalem while the disciples received this same witness and remained with Yeshua; and 3) those sent from the Pharisees failed to witness the miracle of water turned into wine while the disciples not only witnessed His first miracle, but believed in Him. How might the disciples response to Yeshua and His invitation to come and see be a vital invitation to John’s first century audience to believe in Him? is this an invitation to unbelievers today to come and see?

The First Sign

Many scholars within Christendom disparage faith based upon signs as temporary or spurious faith. If you and I could ask the disciples what they thought when Yeshua turned water into wine, what might they say? Would they dismiss faith based upon Yeshua’s sign turning water into wine as defective? How might John’s readers respond to this first sign? How might you and I explain this miracle to an unbeliever?

Lessons for Today

Affording intimate personal time with Yeshua to those with whom you and I share the good news to come and see for themselves is vital. Furthermore, what we share needs to be an authoritative eyewitness. John the Baptist’s and the Apostle John’s testimonies are both primary witnesses of historical events both seen and heard and ultimately confirmed by three or more eyewitnesses. Although you and I can never be first century eyewitnesses to our Lord and Savior, we can share the testimony of those who were and rely on Yeshua and His Word to persuade them of the truth that He is both the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and the Son of God who promises eternal life.

Appendix A

The Internet is rife with magic tricks/science experiments to create an illusion (http://www.sciencecompany.com/Turn-Water-into-Wine-Kit-P16807) designed to mimic the miracle Yeshua performed in Cana; however, a very simple comparison between water and wine reveal the magnitude of this miracle.

Wine has five basic components: water, alcohol, acid, sugar, and phenolic compounds. Water makes up of 80 to 90 percent of wine; ethanol alcohol 8 to 15 percent. There are potentially five different acids present in varying concentrations: tartaric, malic, lactic, acetic, and succinic. When fermented the sugars in the grape, both glucose and fructose, create ethanol alcohol. Phenolic compounds in the grape skins, seeds, and stems (tannins, flavanols, resveratrol, vanillin, anthocyanins) provide both color and flavor (http://www.crushedgrapechronicles.com/wine-composition-and-chemistry/) The subtle art of making wine from all of these elements comes under scrutiny when the master of ceremonies declares: Everybody sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are intoxicated, the inferior, but you have kept the fine wine until now (John 2:10; underlining added)! Assuming that each water jar contains twenty gallons, creating 120 gallons of fine wine from water requires mastery of the art of making wine.

This miracle is more than sufficient to convince an individual of John the Baptist’s testimony especially if that person is already a disciple of both John and Yeshua. Any hint of an inferior sign-based faith being present imposes a theological category simply not found in the text: And His disciples believed in Him (John 2:11).

Copyright © 2025 by The True Vine Fellowship.

[1] Commentaries on the Gospel of John were written as early as the 2^nd century, notably fragments of Heracleon’s Gnostic work (ca. 170). www.gnosis.org/library/fragh.htm

[2] All Scripture quoted from the Gospel of John is from The Gospel of John—Logos 21 Version (Glide, OR: Absolutely Free Inc., 1996). All other Scripture is quoted from The New King James Version of the Holy Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).

[3] Robert N. Wilkin, “John,” The Grace New Testament Commentary: Revised Edition, ed. Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010.2019), 177.

[4] The term synoptic expresses the commonality of narrative or perspective found in the three accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke as opposed to John which is frequently noted as a spiritual gospel. The relationships between the synoptic accounts remains a source of much debate and conjecture. Merriam-Webster’s defines gospel in broad terms as “the message concerning Christ, the kingdom of God, and salvation.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary: Eleventh Edition (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster Inc., 2014), 540.

[5] Note Matthew 16:13-20; the Father reveals the truth of Jesus’ witness to Peter.

[6] John MacArthur, “John,” The MacArthur Bible Commentary, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 1339.

[7] Except for the external evidence and the necessity of dating the Johannine epistles prior to 44AD, there remains the possibility that James was the disciple whom Jesus loved.

[8] Geza Vermes, The Changing Faces of Jesus (New York: Penguin Books, 2000), 20.

[9] Ibid., 21.

[10] Ibid., 262.

[11] Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002), 263.

[12] Ibid., 265.

[13] Ibid., 266.

[14] Even to this day, a Jewish scholar reflects on the events leading up to 70AD. Frederic Raphael writes: “In Josephus’s eyes, God was a moral enforcer, not a celestial croupier. It followed that Jerusalem would never have fallen, on any occasion, if He had not had reason to withdraw His sympathy. Why would the God of the Hebrews turn His face from His chosen people? The answer had to be that they had sinned.” Frederic Raphael, A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of Flavius Josephus (New York: Pantheon Books, 2013), xx-xxi. How then should the Jewish people, in the immediate wake of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, not investigate the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion in light of the testimony of his disciples?

[15] Even if you and I were to accept a late date for the writing of John’s account based upon external witnesses (80-90 AD), the content of John’s witness is very clearly reflected in Peter’s sermon; at the very least, the content of John’s account of the apostle’s witness did not wait 50-60 years to be authoritatively proclaimed, but was immediately preached in the temple following our Lord’s ascension.

[16] New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 2006), 1327.

[17] NET Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1996, 2019), 1991. Underlining added.

[18] In the popular magazine Grace in Focus, Bob Wilkin makes an insightful observation, “The promise of everlasting/eternal life doesn’t occur just seventeen times in John’s Gospel. It occurs over thirty times when we count in places where life by itself has that significance.” Bob Wilkin, “Life in John’s Gospel,” Grace in Focus September/October 2024, Vol 39. No. 5 (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2024), 7.

[19] Although He performed His first miracle at the wedding feast in Cana, Jesus reminds His mother that the hour of His ministry had not yet come (John 2:4).

[20] A literary devise that uses repetition of key words, themes or phrases as bookends to frame or define a literary unit or pericope.

[21] The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, Ed. Spiros Zodiates (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1992), 960.

[22] Luke uses the words repentance and repent, combined, the most of any New Testament writer: the verb to repent—4 times in the Gospel of Luke and 5 times in Acts for a total of 9 times; the noun repentance—5 times in Luke and 7 times in Acts for a total of 12 times. Ironically John uses not at all the noun, but 12 times the verb to repent, all in the book of Revelation (Revelation 2:5, 2:16, 2:21, 2:22, 3:3, 3:19, 9:20, 9:21, 16:9, 16:11)… Luke uses the verb only 9 times in both Luke and Acts.

[23] BDAG offers the rendering “be converted.” Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third Edition (BDAG), Revised and Edited Fredrick William Danker (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1957, 1979, 2000), 382, (4)b. According to BDAG the normative meanings are: “(1) to return to a point where one has been… (2) to change direction… (3) to cause a pers. to change belief or course of conduct, with a focus on the thing to which one turns… (4) to change one’s mind or course of action, for better or worse.” In each instance a person turns away from something to something.

[24] In John the verb μαρτυρέω (to bear witness, testify) is used 33 times; the noun μαρτυρία (testimony or witness) 14 times.

[25] See Jan Krans, “Why the Textus Receptus Cannot be Accepted,” Evangelical Textual Criticism, 10/22/20 http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2020/10/why-textus-receptus-cannot-be-accepted.html

[26] Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament: A Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament, Third Edition (London: United Bible Societies, 1971), xx.

[27] The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text: Second Edition edited by Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1985), ix. Underlining added.

[28] The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text, x.

[29] Some go so far as to only include the text of John 5:3b-4 in the footnotes, “Few textual scholars today would accept the authenticity of any portion of vv. 3b-4, for they are not found in the earliest and best witnesses… The present translation follows NA²⁸ in omitting the verse number, a procedure also followed by a number of other modern translations” NET Bible, Footnote C., 2009. John 7:53-8:11 is frequently bracketed. According to the translators of the NET: “This entire section, 7:53-8:11, traditionally known as the pericope adulterea, is not contained in the earliest and best MSS and was almost certainly not an original part of the Gospel of John. Among modern commentators and textual critics, it is a forgone conclusion that the section is not original but represents a later addition to the Gospel” NET Bible, Footnote R., 2020.

[30] Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York, NY: Bantam Books, 1988, 1996), 191.

[31] Kelsey Johnson, Into the Unknown: the Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos (New York: Basic Books, 2024), 55-56.

[32] If God is confined to our imaginations of time and space in a finite world, then He may well appear capricious to some: “Test after test indicates that the universe is almost 14 billion years old. However, if we are being intellectually honest, we must also acknowledge that we cannot actually disprove that the entirety of the universe is a contrived set-up job by a higher power to fake us out” (Kelsey Johnson, Into the Unknown, 54). “The bottom line is that there is a mountain of evidence, using radically different predictions and experiments, that supports the Big Bang theory. The only hypothesis to date that is 100 percent consistent with the experimental data is that a higher power contrived this universe as a set-up job to fake out us mere mortals into thinking there was a Big Bang. The hypothesis, however, notably lacks testability or predictive power” (Kelsey Johnson, Into the Unknown, 64). Well said! Thankfully the Higher Power earnestly desires to be known through the perfect power and authority of His Word. Peering out from the interstices of a finite world confined by the bars of time and space, the origins of God’s Creation remain untestable and outside the predictive power of man … big bang indeed: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1)… (See Appendix A, 46.)

[33] Cut beds are the valleys between the bittings or pointed teeth on the blade of the key, that slides into the key way of the lock.

[34] Dr. John Niemelä makes an insightful argument that God ought to be understood not as a name, but as a title; the noun God then functions to describe Yeshua much like the adjective Divine.

[35] Both the jussive (3^rd person) and cohortative (1^st person) are grammatical forms or conjugations expressing a wish or command. In English, the words “let” or “may” are used to translate both forms. The Creation account reveals that the wishes or commands of God are fulfilled perfectly… whether ex nihilo or not it was so… according to His Word.

[36] NET Bible, Full Notes Edition (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2019), footnote L, 1992.

[37] The text refers to those who have already accepted (ἔλαβον, 3^rd person plural aorist active indicative) or believed (πιστεύουσιν, present active participle masculine plural) and who the Word gave (ἔδωκεν, 3^rd person singular aorist active indicative) the right to be (γενέσθαι, aorist middle infinitive) God’s children. Likewise, verse 13, who were born translates ἐγεννήθησαν, a 3^rd person plural aorist passive indicative to describe a completed action in the past on their behalf. The many as did accept Him refer to an existing body of believers who possess the right to be God’s children and have already been born… of God. The NET translates: But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name–he has given the right to become God’s children (John 1:12; underlining added).

[38] NET Bible, footnote H, 1993.

[39] Ibid., footnote J, 1993.

[40] According to John Niemelä, “ ’Inclusio is just another word for sandwich.’ Ancient Greek and Hebrew literature, such as the Bible, did not have punctuation and paragraph breaks, so the authors had to use other methods to tell their audiences when certain things were happening in the structure of their books…. An inclusio pattern is one in which a paragraph or longer portion of literature ends in a similar fashion to how it began…. If you think about the Bible as a bunch of books in scrolls without chapters and verses, it helps to have these markers to know when and where sections begin and end.” themileses.com/2016/05/15/what-is-an-inclusio/

[41] The Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 379.

[42] Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam Books, 1996), book cover.

[43] Hawking, Time, 53.

[44] Kelsey Johnson, Into the Unknown: the Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos (New York: Basic Books, 2024), book cover.

[45] Ibid., 47-50.

[46] John 1:15-34 introduces John the Baptist’s witness; John 10:40-41 concludes his witness.

[47] Some translations like the English Standard Version treat verse 15 as a parenthetical statement while other translations end the quotation marks at the end of verse 15. Most scholars link verses 15 through 18 to John’s prologue (1:1-14). The Logos 21 ends John the Baptist’s words at verse 18. Adding verses 15-18 to the prologue (1:1-14) ignores a vital inclusio and creates an awkward transition between verses 15 and 16.

[48] The NET footnotes the expression, χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος: “The meaning of the phrase χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος …could be: (1) love (grace) under the Sinai Covenant, thus replacement; (2) grace ‘on top of’ grace, thus accumulation; (3) grace corresponding to grace, thus correspondence. The most commonly held view is (2) in one sense or another, and this is probably the best explanation.” (NET, footnote O, 1993.)

[49] The NET footnotes their translation of μονογενοῦς, one and only: “Although this word is often translated ‘only begotten,’ such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. …the word means ‘one-of-a-kind’ and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God, Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense.” (NET, footnote J, 1993.)

[50] John 1:32 reads, And John testified, ” I observed—Καὶ ἐμαρτύρησεν (3^rd person singular aorist active indicative) Ἰωάννης λέγων ὅτι Τεθέαμαι(1^st person singular perfect middle indicative).

[51] The Greek expression ὥρα ἦν ὡς δεκάτη literally means “about the tenth hour” raising the question what is the tenth hour? “Roman time, which started at midnight… would make the time 10:00 a.m., …Jewish reckoning, which begins at 6 a.m. …would make the time here in 1:39 to be 4 p.m.” (NET, footnote L, 1996.) If the hour is 10:00 am, then the events of John 1:41-42 took place on the same day; however, if the hour was 4:00 pm, then the implication might be that the events of John 1:41-42 had to have taken place on the next day, which begs the question: In a timeline so carefully delineated with the expression, Τῇ ἐπαύριον, (John 1:29, 35, and 43) translated, ˹the next day, why would John not use this same expression to delineate yet another day in his timeline?

[52] See footnote 54.

[53] Many interpretations of this miracle abound, but the miraculous nature of transforming water into wine reveals Yeshua as God. See Appendix A.