The Gospel of John

How to Study These Lessons:

1. PRAY to God and ask Him to open your mind and teach you by His Holy Spirit.
2. READ the scripture portion several times before you begin to answer the questions.
3. ANSWER EVERY QUESTION by searching for the answer in the lesson or from the scripture portion you have read.
4. In each lesson you will find several parts:

• FIRST, you will find some answers in the commentary in your book.
• SECOND, you will find other answers from the scripture portion which you read at the beginning of the lesson.
• THIRD, you will answer some questions from your own experience or understanding of the lesson.
• FOURTH, you will be asked to do something to put what you have learned into practice.

Lesson 1: Introduction

OBJECTIVES: When you complete this lesson you will be able to:

1. Tell who the author of John is and tell a little about him.
2. Explain why John wrote this book.
3. Explain when this book was written.
4. Tell the difference between the Gospel of John and the other Gospels.
5. Explain how a doctrine is made.

OUR WAY OF STUDYING

In this course we will not be trying to prove a certain doctrine or teaching, but we will study exactly what the Bible says itself. We will be looking to see what it may say on any subject. We will write what we discover. Then we will try to arrive at some conclusions as to what John was trying to teach. When we put these findings all together, we will arrive at some conclusion on what John was saying about the person of Christ, or what Jesus was revealing about Himself.

Some people study the Bible to try to prove what they believe. But, we want to study the Bible with an open mind and allow the Holy Spirit to teach us what we need to believe.

1. What book will we use for a textbook to discover the doctrine of Christ? ______________

THE GOSPEL

Gospel simply means “the Good News”. There are four Gospels in the Bible. They were not written during the life of Christ. The disciples at that time had not yet recognized that Jesus was the Son of God and the Savior of the world. They did not understand why He had come or what He hoped to accomplish.

It was only after His death and resurrection that they realized who He was and what He was doing. They then immediately went everywhere telling what they had seen and heard. They established churches everywhere.

1. Did the disciples understand who He was and what He was doing during His lifetime? ___
2. Why didn’t the disciples write the history of Jesus when it was happening? ____________

After the disciples had already preached and told the story of Jesus many times, they realized that when they died, their knowledge and understanding of the message of Jesus might be lost. They had been eye witnesses of all that Jesus did. Others who weren’t might change the story of Jesus. The disciples then one by one wrote what they had seen and heard.

1. Why did the disciples decide to write their Gospels of the life of Jesus? ______________

1. When were the Gospels written? ______________________________________________

There were also some false teachers and false apostles even in those days who taught false doctrines or teachings. The Gospels were also written to preserve the truth. Lastly, according to II Peter 1:21, the apostles wrote because they were moved by the Holy Spirit to do it.

1. What forced the apostles to finally sit down and write what they knew? _______________

We commonly say that there are four Gospels. It would be better to say that there is one Gospel written by four witnesses. All the Gospels are the message of God’s Good News to men, therefore the real author of them all is God. We might say that each of the Gospels is like one of the witnesses of an accident on the road. If a doctor witnessed it, he would certainly describe how each person was injured. If a mechanic arrived on the scene he would describe the condition of the cars. When the police arrived they would describe how it happened to determine who was at fault. Only one accident but with several accounts, each one according to his own point of view.

No one Gospel is complete without the others. They each give their own point of view or commentary on the story. They did not always write the stories in the order in which they happened. Sometimes they arranged the stories in another way so that we could better understand the teachings of Christ. All of this was done under the leadership of the one author, the Holy Spirit.

1. Are all of the Gospels the same? ________
2. Why are they different? _____________________________________________________

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

READ OUT LOUD John 1:1-5 before you begin this part of the lesson.

The Gospel of John is written differently from all the other Gospels. All of the stories are written to help us understand the teaching of Christ.

1. Which Gospel is different from the others? ____________ How is it different? ________

John emphasizes especially what Jesus taught and what Jesus said about Himself. The book of John contains many doctrinal truths and especially the Doctrine of Jesus or teaching of who Jesus is. In each chapter we find one or more stories that reveal the person of Jesus. John also gave his own commentary as the Holy Spirit had shown him. Most of the time Jesus Himself explains what he wanted the disciples to know and understand. Really this book is a book of Jesus’ own doctrine about Himself written by the hand of John.

1. What is the main theme of John? ____________________________________________

The author of this Gospel is the disciple and apostle John. He doesn’t give his own name. Even in the book he refers to himself but doesn’t say his own name. We think he was the youngest of the disciples. He had a brother James and his father’s name was Zebedee. He enjoyed a close relationship with Jesus and tells us that it was he who was leaning on the breast of Jesus at the last supper (see John 13:23). Jesus committed the care of His own mother to John while he stood at the foot of the cross (see John 20:26). John was quite emotional and was the disciple who used the word LOVE the most.

1. Who is John? ____________________________________________________________

1. How do we know that he had a special relationship with Jesus? _____________________

John wrote his Gospel very late in his life. Already there were people that were teaching Jesus was not truly human but only a spirit. Others taught that He was not truly God, but only a man with godly character. John wanted to show clearly that Jesus was at the same time both God and man.

1. What two false doctrines had already begun even before the end of the first century? ____

1. What is a doctrine? ________________________________________________________

For example, in the first chapter of John we find that Christ is the Eternal Word of God and that Jesus is the Word. The Word was with God in the beginning, the Word created all things, and finally it says that the Word was God.

1. How did John see Jesus? ___________________________________________________

The other Gospels begin with Jesus as a baby, or Mark introduces Him as a prophet. John begins by declaring that Jesus is God.

CLASS DISCUSSION

1. READ John 1:1-5 AGAIN OUT LOUD
2. Do you believe that Jesus is truly God Eternal?
3. Why is it important for us to know that Jesus is truly God?
4. Is there any difference between Jesus and God?
5. If you saw Jesus today, right here, what would you do?
6. If you see Him in His Word, the Bible, what will you do?
7. Let us say together: JESUS I BELIEVE IN YOU, YOU ARE MY GOD.