Summary - Gospel of John

 

TL;DR - Super Summary of the Gospel of John

1. Jesus is the Son of God, and himself is one with God.
2. Jesus the Source, Giver and Sustainer of Life.
3. Jesus is Sovereign.
4. Jesus is Love.
5. Jesus is Truth.
6. Jesus calls all of us to follow him.

Map of the Gospel of John

I created a map of the Gospel of John so everyone can see more clearly the structure and main teachings of the gospel. This is because it is often easy to get lost in the middle of individual lessons and stories that one fails to see the forest for the trees. 

The map emphasizes these two main teachings of the Gospel:

1. Jesus is the source, giver, and sustainer of life.
2. Jesus calls everyone to believe and trust in him as God's son, thereby gaining for themselves eternal life. 

Gospel of John - Jesus the Source, Giver, and Sustainer of Life

What is a "Gospel"?

The word "gospel" means "good-news" (coming from the Old English "god-spel"). In the New Testament we have four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But when you read them, what kind of book are you actually reading? Is it a history? A biography? A newspaper account? An essay?

A Gospel is a little bit of all of those combined. It is a description of events because it is “news” but its not just a description of events like a history or a newspaper article. It is shown to be a description of good events, or good news! As such, it has a specific agenda to tell you what the news is and why it is good for you and for everyone else who reads it!

So when you read a Gospel, read closely all the stories and signs the writer has placed in the book, pay attention to what the writer is trying to show about Jesus, and reflect for yourself what this means for you and your faith in God. 

The Gospel answers the Christian's three questions

A Gospel answers three questions. These three questions are the same questions that everyone seeking to follow Jesus will have to answer:

1. Who is this “Jesus”?
2. Why do I need this “Jesus”? 
3. How do I believe or follow this “Jesus”?

Note that these questions are consecutive. You first need to know the “who”, then you need to know “why” this “who” is here. And lastly, if you’re convinced with the “why” then you’ll ask the “how” question.

That’s why this Gospel was written, to answer these important questions about Jesus.
John wrote the “thesis” or “purpose” of his book at the end!

“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." John 20:31

The famous verse John 3:16 also answers these three important questions. Note that these questions have not changed from the beginnings of Christianity, and that is why this book is as relevant 2,000 years ago as it is today! And in fact, the Gospel of John is one of the most widely distributed Gospel book for evangelism today, because it beautifully presents the good news of Jesus. 

Chapter 1: Prologue and John the Baptist

The first chapter begins with the most magnificent openings in a book:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

Rather than beginning with a genealogy (as in Matthew), or with a history (as in Luke), or beginning somewhat abruptly (as in Mark), John begins with a cosmic, abstract (mystical?) introduction about God and a being called the Logos (the "Word" in English translation), who is identical, yet distinguishable from God, and is Creator and the source of Life and Light. From hereon the words "life" and "light" are central to understanding who this Jesus is and why he has come.

The second half of the first chapter then provides the early testimony to Jesus' identity. John the Baptist's testifies that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God who has come to bear the sins of humanity. When Jesus calls his first disciples, one of them, Nathaniel, declares "You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" The irony, of course, is that the next chapters will show how the Jewish leaders will fail to see what these first witnesses have seen. 

All of the primary and main teachings of Christianity are beautifully outlined by John in the first chapter!

1. Jesus is God, creator of heaven and earth, taking on human form (John 1:1-5)
2. Jesus came to be the savior of all humanity (verses 9-10)
3. Jesus was to be rejected by the people (verses 10-11)
4. Salvation is offered to everyone without distinction, Jew or Gentile (verses 12)
5. Salvation is by faith and through being born again to a new way of life (verses 12-13)
6. Salvation is by the amazing grace of God, apart from works and obeying the law (verses 16-17)
7. The way to God the Father is only through Jesus Christ (verses 18)
8. Jesus will send the Holy Spirit (verse 33)
9. Jesus will build a church on the foundation of the apostles (verses 35-51)

Chapter 2: The Wedding, Temple and the Book of Signs!

John first tells the familiar story of Jesus turning water into wine. He describes it as "the first of his signs". So a few pointers on how the Gospel of John is organized:

• The first half is often called "The Book of Signs" because here John selects 7 "signs" that point to Jesus' identity as the Son of God
• The whole Gospel contains 7 "I AM" statements by Jesus which are Jesus' own revelations of himself to his disciples, as the Source, Giver, and Sustainer of Life

Next, John describes Jesus in the Temple, cleaning the house of God which has now become a marketplace, telling everyone "Do not make my Father's house a house of trade!" Jesus then speaks of the temple of his body, how if it were to be destroyed he will raise it up again in three days. The Jewish authorities, of course, failed to understand and thought that he was referring to the Temple building. 

The two incidents: Jesus providing a newer, better wine than what has been given, and Jesus' cleaning a corrupted temple, to be replaced by the new temple of his body, are both meant to point to Jesus' ministry as a revolutionary change in how God deals with his people. The Old Testament Law (old wine, old temple) are to be replaced by Jesus through his death and resurrection into something better (new wine, new temple). 

John is showing how Jesus is to be the bringer of a new and better covenant, not based on works of the Law but on the grace of God through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. 

"Therefore [Jesus] is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant." Hebrews 9:15

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4

Angels | A Study on God's Messengers

Etymology

The word “angel” comes from the Greek angelos. In Old Testament Hebrew, the word for angel is mal’ach. Both words mean “messenger”. Similarly, the word evangelism refers to the spreading of the evangel or “good message / news”.

Creation and Nature

Angels were created by God:

“Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his heavenly hosts. […] Let them praise the name of the Lord for at his command they were created.” Psalm 148

“For in [Jesus] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rules or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.” Colossians 1:16

Angels were created before the Earth. In the Book of Job, God asks Job (in an epic speech in chs. 38-41 which you should def read if you feel like questioning God):

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? […] when the morning stars sang in chorus, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Job 38:4,7

Here is a great summary on the nature of angels from Bible.org:

Though at times they have revealed themselves in the form of human bodies (angelophanies) as in Genesis 18:3 [and at Jesus’ resurrection], they are described as “spirits” in Hebrews 1:14. This suggests they do not have material bodies as humans do. This is further supported by the fact they do not function as human beings in terms of marriage and procreation (Mark 12:25) nor are they subject to death (Luke 20:36).

Mankind, including our incarnate Lord, is “lower than the angels” (Heb. 2:7). Angels are not subject to the limitations of man, especially since they are incapable of death (Luke 20:36). Angels have greater wisdom than man (2 Sam. 14:20), yet it is limited (Matt. 24:36). Angels have greater power than man (Matt. 28:2; Acts 5:19; 2 Pet. 2:11), yet they are limited in power (Dan. 10:13).

The Fall of Satan and Demons

Satan was already there at the Garden in Genesis 3, without any mention before that. So whence demons? Interestingly, in a declaration to an evil king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28:11-19, perhaps controlled by Satan the “prince of this world”, this is said:

“You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings.

On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.

In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

The descriptions here seems to refer to a power that is much greater and perhaps behind the evil king of Tyre (see here). 

There are other passages that refer to the fall of Satan:

“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” Revelation 12:9

“God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment.” 2 Peter 2:4

Angels in the Old Testament

First occurrence of an angel is in Genesis 3:24

“He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Elsewhere in the OT, the word “angel(s)” is found 115 times in the ESV. Angels appear to have various tasks: messengers, warriors, worshipers of God, and guardians of the people of God. 

"The Angel of the Lord" – Theophanies / Christophanies

When you read the OT you will encounter a mysterious figure described as “The Angel of the Lord”. While called an “angel”, this being would then speak as God himself and those he encounters claim to have encountered God himself.

Just a few examples:

• Genesis 16:7-14 – Here the Angel says to Hagar “I will increase your descendants” and after the meeting Hagar says “I have now seen the One who sees me”
• Genesis 22:11-18 – The Angel says “Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son” and he later says “I swear by myself, declares the Lord… I will surely bless you”
• Genesis 32:22-31 – Jacob wrestles with a man and then later says “I saw God face to face and yet my life was spared”.
• In Exodus 3, the Angel of the Lord appears to Moses but later in the narrative the Angel says “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”
• Judges 13:3-22 – The Angel of the Lord appears to Manoah and says to them “if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord” and later ascended in flame. Manoah then said “We are doomed to die… We have seen God!”

Many theologians equate the Angel of the Lord to God, and even to Christ himself as a pre-incarnate appearing for at least these reasons:

• Christ is said to be the “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). 
• John 1:18 says “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known”. Note distinction between God the Father and God “who is at the Father’s side”.
• The phrase “The Angel of the Lord” never appears in the New Testament anymore.

Angels in the New Testament

In the New Testament, the word “angel(s)” is found 185 times in the ESV. Angels are described as having the same responsibilities in the OT as messengers, worshipers of God, and guardians of the people of God, but interestingly not explicitly mentioned as warriors in the present church until the end times. 

References to angels in the NT are mainly found in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth (as messengers) and in the ministry of Jesus and the apostles as helpers. Demons also appear as adversaries of Jesus and the apostles. In the epistles, Paul says that the gods pagans worship are actually demons (1 Cor. 10:20). Angels are mentioned having dominions over certain churches in the Book of Revelation. 

Angels' Roles and Responsibilites

As earlier stated, in the Biblical accounts we find that angels primarily act as messengers, warriors of God, worshipers of God, and guardians of the people of God. 

Oftentimes Biblical names often give us clues to a being's nature and character. We can do the same for angels and demons. Two angels are explicitly named in Scripture: Micha-El “Who is like God?” who is described as an archangel (“chief angel”), and Gabri-El “Man of God”. From Gabriel we find perhaps the best (and most epic) job description for angels: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.” (Luke 1:19) At least two demons are explicitly named: Satan “Adversary/Accuser” and Abaddon “The Destroyer”.  

There are other words and descriptions that refer to specific types of angels. 

Illustration of seraphim from the Middle Ages. 

• Cherubim – description of the prophet Ezekiel is very mysterious and near-incomprehensible (Ezekiel 10)
• Seraphim – the “burning ones” that stand next to God’s throne in Isaiah 10:

“Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”

• Other angelic beings are described although their precise role or hierarchy (if any) is not clear: “thrones”, “powers”, “rulers”, and “authorities” (Col. 1:16 and 2:15, Rom. 8:37-39, Eph. 3:10-11)

Angels and Demons Today

Does each person have a personal “guardian angel”? 
Probably not. In the Book of Revelation John writes to different churches with the heading “To the angel of the church in Ephesus/Smyrna/etc.” It seems angels play “zone defense” rather than “man-to-man”

How should Christians consider angels or demons?
Angels are to be regarded as co-worshipers of God and are not to be worshiped or venerated themselves (Col. 2:18). Demons are not to be feared when one fully trusts in the sovereignty and power of God. If God had defeated Death and Satan at the Cross, how much more his minions? However, demonic influence is real and its power is considerable if one is not under the protection of God. No Christian should entertain any demonic activity because in this warfare “not against flesh and blood” we have chosen to be on God’s side. 

Is demonic influence or possession real?
Scripture shows the possibility of being controlled by demons, either actively (possession as in Acts 16:18) or passively (1 Tim 4:1, Jam 3:15). Christians however, are protected by God and God’s spirit is in them (Romans 8:1-11). Therefore, it is not possible for Christians to be possessed by demons (see here).

Other notable verses on angels or demons

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:2

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” 1 Peter 5:8-9

The Great Sin | by C.S. Lewis

Note: This is an excerpt from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. 

The great 20th century Christian writer and apologist, C.S. Lewis. 

Today I come to that part of Christian morals where they differ most sharply from all other morals. There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves.

I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which We are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.

The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. You may remember, when I was talking about sexual morality, I warned you that the centre of Christian morals did not lie there. Well, now, we have come to the centre. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

Does this seem to you exaggerated? If so, think it over. I pointed out a moment ago that the more pride one had, the more one disliked pride in others. In fact, if you want to find out how proud you are the easiest way is to ask yourself, "How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronise me, or show off?" The point it that each person's pride is in competition with every one else's pride.

It is because I wanted to be the big noise at the party that I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise. Two of a trade never agree. Now what you want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive—is competitive by its very nature—while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.

We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If every one else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone. That is why I say that Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not. The sexual impulse may drive two men into competition if they both want the same girl. But that is only by accident; they might just as likely have wanted two different girls. But a proud man will take your girl from you, not because he wants her, but just to prove to himself that he is a better man than you. Greed may drive men into competition if there is not enough to go round; but the proud man, even when he has got more than he can possibly want, will try to get still more just to assert his power. Nearly all those evils in the world which people put down to greed or selfishness are really far more the result of Pride.

Take it with money. Greed will certainly make a man want money, for the sake of a better house, better holidays, better things to eat and drink. But only up to a point What is it dial makes a man with £10,000 a year anxious to get £20,000 a year? It is not the greed for more pleasure. £10,000 will give all the luxuries that any man can really enjoy. It is Pride—the wish to be richer than some other rich man, and (still more) the wish for power.

For, of course, power is what Pride really enjoys: there is nothing makes a man feel so superior to others as being able to move them about like toy soldiers. What makes a pretty girl spread misery wherever she goes by collecting admirers? Certainly not her sexual instinct: that kind of girl is quite often sexually frigid. It is Pride. What is it that makes a political leader or a whole nation go on and on, demanding more and more? Pride again. Pride is competitive by its very nature: that is why it goes on and on. If I am a proud man, then, as long as there is one man in the whole world more powerful, or richer, or cleverer than I, he is my rival and my enemy.

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But Pride always means enmity—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison— you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

That raises a terrible question. How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious? I am afraid it means they are worshipping an imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of this phantom God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people: that is, they pay a pennyworth of imaginary humility to Him and get out of it a pound's worth of Pride towards their fellow-men.

I suppose it was of those people Christ was thinking when He said that some would preach about Him and cast out devils in His name, only to be told at the end of the world that He had never known them. And any of us may at any moment be in this death-trap. Luckily, we have a test Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good—above all, that we are better than someone else—I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.

It is a terrible thing that the worst of all the vices can smuggle itself into the very centre of our religious life. But you can see why. The other, and less bad, vices come from the devil working on us through our animal nature. But this does not come through our animal nature at all It comes direct from Hell. It is purely spiritual: consequently it is far more subtle and deadly.

For the same reason, Pride can often be used to beat down the simpler vices. Teachers, in fact, often appeal to a boy's Pride, or, as they call it, his self-respect, to make him behave decently: many a man has overcome cowardice, or lust, or ill-temper by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity—that is, by Pride. The devil laughs. He is perfectly content to see you becoming chaste and brave and self-con trolled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride—just as he would be quite content to see your chilblains cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer. For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.

Before leaving this subject I must guard against some possible misunderstandings:

(1) Pleasure in being praised is not Pride. The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman whose beauty is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says "Well done," are pleased and ought to be. For here the pleasure lies not in what you are but in the fact that you have pleased someone you wanted (and rightly wanted) to please.

The trouble begins when you pass from thinking, "I have pleased him; all is well," to thinking, "What a fine person I must be to have done it." The more you delight in yourself and the less you delight in the praise, the worse you are becoming. When you delight wholly in yourself and do not care about the praise at all, you have reached the bottom. That is why vanity, though it is the sort of Pride which shows most on the surface, is really the least bad and most pardonable sort. The vain person wants praise, applause, admiration, too much and is always angling for it. It is a fault, but a childlike and even (in an odd way) a humble fault.

It shows that you are not yet completely contented with your own admiration. You value other people enough to want them to look at you. You are, in fact, still human. The real black, diabolical Pride comes when you look down on others so much that you do not care what they think of you. Of course, it is very right, and often our duty, not to care what people think of us, if we do so for the right reason; namely, because we care so incomparably more what God thinks. But the Proud man has a different reason for not caring.

He says "Why should I care for the applause of that rabble as if their opinion were worth anything? And even if their opinions were of value, , am I the sort of man to blush with pleasure at a compliment like some chit of a girl at her first dance? No, I am an integrated, adult personality.

All I have done has been done to satisfy my own ideals—or my artistic conscience—or the traditions of my family— or, in a word, because I'm That Kind of Chap. If the mob like it, let them. They're nothing to me." In this way real thoroughgoing Pride may act as a check on vanity; for, as I said a moment ago, the devil loves "curing" a small fault by giving you a great one. We must try not to be vain, but we must never call in our Pride to cure our vanity; better the frying-pan than the fire.

(2) We say in English that a man is "proud" of his son, or his father, or his school, or regiment, and it may be asked whether "pride" in this sense is a sin. I think it depends on what, exactly, we mean by "proud of." Very often, in such sentences, the phrase "is proud of" means "has a warm-hearted admiration for." Such an admiration is, of course, very far from being a sin. But it might, perhaps, mean that the person in question gives himself airs on the ground of his distinguished father, or because he belongs to a famous regiment.

This would, clearly, be a fault; but even then, it would be better than being proud simply of himself. To love and admire anything outside yourself is to take one step away from utter spiritual ruin; though we shall not be well so long as we love and admire anything more than we love and admire God.

(3) We must not think Pride is something God forbids because He is offended at it, or that Humility is something He demands as due to His own dignity—as if God Himself was proud. He is not in the least worried about His dignity. The point is, He wants you to know Him; wants to give you Himself.

And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble—delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible: trying to take off a lot of silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up and are strutting about like the little idiots we are.

I wish I had got a bit further with humility myself: if I had, I could probably tell you more about the relief, the comfort, of taking the fancy-dress off—getting rid of the false self, with all its "Look at me" and "Aren't I a good boy?" and all its posing and posturing. To get even near it, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert.

(4) Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call "humble" nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

Source: http://www.timesandseasons.org/The_Great_Sin_condensed.pdf