Gospel of John Course

In this expositional study of the book of John, Prophet Russ brings dynamic, inspirational insight into the study of the Gospel of John that will impact your life and supercharge your understanding of the life of Jesus.

The Gospel of John is of a character far different than Matthew, Mark, or Luke. The first three gospels are assertive concerning who Christ is. They declare Jesus to an unbelieving world. The Gospel of John is a presumptive gospel maintaining that Jesus is more than the spotless Lamb, more than a suffering Savior, but is the very creative principle from which all glory proceeds in giving the world its existence and mankind salvation.

The gospel of John stands alone among the four gospels for its unique character and high emphasis on Christology, that is, the examination and declaration of Jesus as Messiah, the Christ of God. The first three gospels are called the “synoptic gospels” because they are very similar in narrative and structure. It is strongly believed that Matthew, Mark, and Luke drew from a common source, often referred to as the “Q” or “Quelle” gospel that is now lost to history. The Gospel of John is not one of the synoptic gospels because it is so different from the others. It is generally believed that John was written after Matthew, Mark, and Luke. That being the case, interestingly, the earliest fragment of the gospels that we have (dating back to the early second century) is a fragment of the gospel of John. Though scholars debate this, tradition holds that this gospel was written by John the beloved. John was the only disciple to die a natural death, the other eleven all offering up their mortality as martyrs. The gospel of John was written from the city of Ephesus, perhaps the most spiritually pure of the early Christian communities. John lived to such an advanced old age and was so venerated by the early church that he was carried about on a stretcher when he could no longer walk so that even in his more aged years, he could visit and teach the congregations in and around the city of Ephesus.

The city of Ephesus influenced the message contained in the gospel of John. Ephesus was a seat of learning where the philosophers studied. One of the concepts that the schools of Ephesus taught was that of the “logos.” Logos was not a term that originates with John but was picked up by John from the Greek philosophers Aristotle, Heraclitus, and the Jewish thinker Philo to explain who Jesus was to the believing community in Ephesus. The “logos” was understood by the philosophers to be “that which proceeds from God and gives all things their created reality.” Thus when John writes in verse 1 “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…” and that (v. 2) there was not anything made that was made that did not originate in Him, what he is doing is identifying Christ as God and Christ as that principle in eternity past from which all creation springs. In so doing, John is establishing the preeminence of Christ and the preexistence of Christ before He was born of Mary and laid in a manger. This may be standard fare for us, but for the early community to whom this gospel was addressed, this was a groundbreaking revelation. They would have seen Jesus yes, as the Son of God and the spotless Lamb, but John is saying something much deeper and more profound. Jesus is not just from God, He IS God, and the world and creation would not have its existence were it not for Him because out from Him, all things were created. In fact, all things are sustained on an ongoing basis through Jesus, the Christ of God, the Logos from which all created reality springs, and which is held transfixed in space and time on a moment by moment basis. This is the truth that John is postulating by calling Jesus “the Word” and using the term “Logos” in the Greek language to do it.

Each of the four gospels is unique, presenting the claims of Christ and the narrative of Jesus’ life in a particular light:

1. In Matthew, we find Jesus as the Messianic Savior, the hope of the Jews.

2. In Mark, Jesus is the Servant sent to fulfill the purposes of God.

3. In Luke, He is the Savior of all mankind, very human and approachable.

4. Finally, in John, Jesus is the Cosmic Christ, the living essence of the Creative Principle of the Universe, clad in the flesh, paying for our sins.