The Gospel of John Jet Tour pt. 1 Ch. 1-3 (8/2/2010)

The Gospel of John Ch. 1-3

by: Jamen Smiley

Hi everyone,
This is round one of the Gospel of John jet tour.  The format will be as follows 1.) Read 3 Chapters of the Gospel of John in the NASB (http://nasb.scripturetext.com/john/1-1.htm) once a day for 7 days. 2.) Read the blog I post once a day that relates to the reading that you did. 3.) Feel free to interact with me.

Overview and main point of the Gospel: The theme verse of the whole book is found in Ch. 20:30-31, "Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name."

This Gospel was written to declare two things 1.) The Deity of Christ i.e. Jesus is God in the flesh, and 2.)  Only those who trust in Christ for salvation will have eternal life. That is to say, sinful man must come to the Son for eternal life and forgiveness of sins.  This is done without any works or merit of our own, for if we could earn salvation, then why did Christ die?

Authorship:  John the Apostle, written around c. 90 A.D.

John Ch. 1-3

The Prologue Ch. 1:1-18   Main point:  Jesus is the Eternal God who became flesh and offered salvation to the world.



The Eternal Word
The Eternal Word (Jesus) existed from eternity past with the Father in intimate "face to face" communion.  He was, is, and always will be The Eternal God (V. 1-2).   He was the agent of Creation (V. 3) And eternal life was in Him (V. 4-5)

The Witness of John the Baptizer (FYI not the author of the book: see Authorship)
John the Baptist was not the Christ (or Messiah), but rather the fore-runner for Him (V. 6-8).  Although proclaimed by John to be the Christ, Jesus was still rejected by many (V. 10-11) yet to those who trusted Him, He gave salvation. This act was apart from any human merit "who were born...of God" (V. 13).

The Incarnation
The eternal Word (Logos in the Greek) became a human being i.e. the God man.  Unique, beloved, and full of grace and truth.  It would be He who explained God the Father (V. 18)

Time to speed up...

 The testimony of John and the first disciples Ch. 1:19-51
 Main Point: John proclaims that Jesus is the God man, which launches the public ministry of Christ.

The first miracle of Christ Ch. 2:1-12
Main Point: After accumulating the initial disciples, Jesus manifests His person and power to His disciples. (FYI disciple means learner).  

This book contains 7 miracles of Jesus which are (This section is FYI)


1.) Water into wine at Cana of Galilee (Northern Israel) Ch. 2:1-11
2.) The healing of the Nobleman's son (same location) Ch. 4:46-54
3.) The healing of the Invalid. (In Jerusalem or Southern Israel) Ch. 5:5-9
4.) The feeding of the five thousand (Tiberias near the Sea of Galilee) Ch. 6:1-14
5.) Jesus walks on water (On the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel) Ch. 6:16-21
6.) Jesus heals a man born blind (In Jerusalem) Ch. 9:1-7
7.) Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (near Jerusalem and His impending death) Ch. 11:38-44

Each sign gives Jesus validity, authority, and proof to back up His multiple claims to be God.

The Cleansing of the Temple Ch. 2:13-25
Main Point: Jesus shows His zeal for God the Father's Holiness, as God's Son.

The Nicodemus Discourse Ch. 3:1-21
Main Point: Jesus discusses the Gospel of Grace through faith with a high ranking Jewish official from the Sanhedrin i.e. Jewish supreme court.

The Dialogue V. 1-9

Jesus meets with a ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus, who was of the sect called the Pharisees; who were leaders in the religious community*. ( FYI Most of the encounters Jesus had with the Pharisees were hostile.  In Matthew 23 Jesus exposes the sinfulness of the pharisees.)

Although Nicodemus is religious and carries a high ranking position, he is not saved.  Therefore Jesus explains to him the gospel.  Jesus does so by explaining the birth from above i.e. spiritual regeneration. (V. 1-3)

Nicodemus does not understand the spiritual truth that Jesus has explained, but rather thinks about a physical birth. Therefore Jesus will began to use language that is more plain in the monologue. (V 4-9)


Monologue V. 10-21
Main Point: In this section, Jesus explains the Gospel in simple terms.

This section begins with a strong rebuke to Nicodemus for being a leader, yet not having understood the concept of spiritual regeneration (a concept found in the Old Testament). (V. 10-13)

Jesus now begins to tell Nicodemus the plain truth of the Gospel by using an Old Testament story.  He says "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life."  Jesus is referring to the story found in Numbers 21:5-9, were the sinning Israelites were bitten by venomous snakes sent by God.  The only hope they had was to look with faith at the fiery serpent that Moses sat on a standard (this means he lifted it up).  If they looked at it, they were healed.  Likewise Jesus said that He would be lifted up (on a cross) in the same manner as the fiery serpent so that whoever looks to Him for salvation will be saved.  (V. 14-15)

Because of the previous truth  Jesus just spoke (V. 14-15), He begins V. 16 with a "For."  This is to link what has just been said to the following truth as an explanation of 14-15.

16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”




The Last recorded words of John the Baptist Ch. 3:22-36
Main Point: John the Baptist, who is the forerunner or herald to announce Christ, is now fading into the background.  This is only natural, because by definition the forerunner must decrease and the Christ must increase.

To be continued...