Highlights of the Master

Introduction to the Gospel According to John

       The Gospel of John was written by John, the brother of James, the younger son of Zebedee.  As the last living apostle, John would bring one final account of the events of Jesus’ life, and the spiritual implications they pointed to.  More than simply focusing on the activities of Jesus’ ministry, as the synoptic gospels had, John spoke about the humanity, as well as the deity of Christ from his personal experiences with the Lord. 

       John penned his gospel from Ephesus at approximately 100 A.D.   His writings are offered to both Jews and Gentiles for primarily two main reasons.  First, John wanted to combat the heresies that had crept into the church over the 70 years since Jesus had ascended into heaven.  One of the greatest heretical threats that the early church faced was the false teachings of the Gnostics.  One fundamental doctrine of the Gnostics was that Jesus was not God. So, John’s second primary reason for writing his Gospel was to confirm the deity of Christ. He uses the word “believe” over thirty times in this gospel to challenge people to believe that Jesus was fully-God and fully-man.  The key verse in the entire gospel is John 20:31: “But these are written 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 also authored the three epistles carrying his name, and would later write the book of Revelation from the Island of Patmos during his exile. This season’s curriculum on the Gospel of John is intended to keep our focus on the person of Jesus Christ; His teachings, His goodness, His grace, His promises, His acts of kindness, and His example.  The Gospel is as true today, as it was when John and the other Apostles wrote their account of Christ’s life.  That is because Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever.  We rejoice greatly in the confidence that what we read about Jesus doing in John’s gospel, Jesus will do in our lives today.  In a world with many people talking about different “truths,” it is comforting to know The Truth Himself, Jesus Christ.  His Gospel is, “The Gospel Truth!”