An Introduction to John’s gospel

"The Greatest Love Story Ever Told"

Stephen Covey, in his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, encouraged his readers to "begin with the end in mind." The idea is both terribly simple and deeply profound. He wrote:

"It’s incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the business of life, to work harder

and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it’s leaning against the wrong wall.

We may be very busy, we may be very efficient, but we will also be truly effective only when

we begin with the end in mind."

He drove his point home by asking the reader to visualize his\her own testimonial dinner. What would you hope they would say about you? By imagining the end of our lives, we can be better prepared to live today!

As we begin this study, let’s consider "the end in mind" and that leads us for a few moments to John 4:39-42: "Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." {40} So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. {41} And because of his words many more became believers. {42} They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.""

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While we will discuss this encounter in great detail later, notice what took place: she had a belief, which led her to share it with others, and still others came to believe on their own because of His words (vs. 41)!

 JESUS AND US

Nearly all of us begin the journey of faith by riding piggyback on the faith of someone stronger and more certain than we are at the time. For many, it is the faith of their parents; we see their conviction, dedication, and determination and, because of our respect for them, assume that what they believe must be true.

For others, it may be the faith of a friend, a respected preacher, a special teacher, or a loved youth minister.

Faith that begins on the back of someone else is not bad! It is natural and normal—something to be expected and prayed for, especially by parents.

The only problem with this kind of faith arises when it fails to grow and mature into something deeper and stronger. Eventually, a faith built on someone else’s faith becomes unsatisfying and cannot bear the weight of adult living.

This gospel was written to address the need we all have for a stronger, bolder, more personal faith. The Spirit’s purpose is expressed clearly:

"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. {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 20:30-31)

This is a faith that involves trusting Jesus to be true to His promises and putting the full weight of our lives on Him, knowing that He can and will hold us up. Some 98 times in the book we are prodded along to follow the Samaritans in seeking a faith of our own.

The journey is neither easy nor comfortable, but it is well worth any price, for the result is a personal faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, in whom we have eternal life!

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This book has been called "the greatest book in the world" and the "greatest love story ever told." It's the book on which many feed their minds, nourish their hearts, and rest their souls.

John’s gospel attains its stature based, in small part, to its theme as depicted on stain-glass windows.

The gospel writers are depicted in certain ways:

John writes with a simple, straight-forward style. Seldom will we find a word over three syllables: most are one or two. He is also a writer fond of contrasts: light and dark; life and death; Spirit and flesh. A story may jump from sadness to ecstasy, from stormy conflict to the sweetest calm, from a crisis of doubt to concrete assurance.

John also does not use a "running video camera" to record the life of Jesus. Rather, he uses a more selective snapshot approach; thus, the gospel reads more like a thematic scrapbook of Christ's life than a meticulously chronicled documentary.

There are no parables in this book. John omits the birth of Jesus, His baptism, His temptations. He tells nothing of the Last Supper, Gethsemane, Ascension...and no devils or evil spirits are mentioned.

John has a different account on the scene of Jesus's ministry. In the other three gospels, the main scene of His ministry is Galilee and Jesus does not reach Jerusalem until the last week of His life. In John, the scene is Jerusalem and Judea, with only occasional withdrawals to Galilee (John 2:1-13, 4:35-5:1, 6:1-7:14). And John is surely right!

The other gospels show Jesus mourning over Jerusalem as the last week came in (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34). It is clear that Jesus could not have said that unless he had paid repeated visits and made repeated appeals to it.

He gives specialized information on Palestine and Jerusalem: he tells us: how long it took to build the temple (2:20); that Jews and Samaritans had constant quarrels (4:9); he provides a picture of the low Jewish view of women (4:9); he shows us the Jews and the Sabbath and tells us that Cana is in Galilee (2:1).

John also has a different duration of Jesus’ ministry. The other three gospels imply that His ministry lasted only one year, as there is only one Passover Feast. In John there are three Passovers:

- one of the cleansing of the Temple (2:13)

- one near the feeding of the 5,000 (6:4)

- the last when Jesus went to the cross

This would put His ministry at least two years and likely closer to three. John also gives us information and a special flavor not seen in the other gospels:

a. He alone tells us of the marriage feast at Cana of Galilee (2:1-11).

b. He alone tells of the coming of Nicodemus to Jesus (3:1-15).

c. He alone tells of the woman of Samaria (cpt. 4).

d. He alone tells of the washing of the disciples' feet (13:1-17).

e. He alone tells about the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (cpts. 14-17).

It is only in John that the disciples come to life:

- Thomas speaks (11:16; 14:5; 20:24-29)

- Andrew becomes a personality (1:40-41; 6:8-9; 12:22)

- we get a glimpse of Philip (6:5-7; 14:8-9)

- we hear the carping protest of Judas (12:4-5)

Who Wrote This Book?

Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in A.D. 177, summarizes the testimony of the early church: "John the disciple of the Lord who reclined on his breast and himself issued the Gospel at Ephesus." (Quoted by RVG Tasker. The Gospel According to St. John. "Tyndale New Testament Commentaries," ed. by RVG Tasker. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1960, p.17.) Tradition says that John spent the latter years in Ephesus preaching, teaching, and writing. At some point he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos during the reign of the Roman emperor, Domitian.

The author was John, born in Bethsaida (John 1:44), son of Zebedee (Luke 5:10), the brother of James. They were called "the sons of thunder" due to their quick and impetuous personalities. Before his conversion, John had been a rugged fisherman casting nets on the Sea of Galilee.

His mother was Salome, and was first a follower of John the Baptist (John 1:35, 40). In keeping with the prophet’s teaching, however, he left to follow Jesus when His public ministry began. In fact, he was one of the first disciples called by Jesus (Matt. 4:18-22; John 1:35-40).

They seem to have been influential among the Jews...John, at least, was known to the high priest (John 18:15-16). Salome was one of a group who followed Jesus, ministering to Him and His disciples "out of their private means" (Matt. 27:56; Luke 8:3). She was ambitious for her sons, asking Jesus that they be allowed to sit on His right and left when the kingdom was established (Matt. 20:20-21; Mark 10:35-37).

In his deep humiliation, he refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" throughout this gospel. He also wrote 1, 2, 3 John and Revelation.

John’s name appears 35 times in other books of the Bible, almost twice as many as the names of the other three gospel biographers combined.

When Was It Written? Uncertain. Probably A.D. 80-95.

John lived at least until the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan, according to Irenaeus. Trajan’s reign began in A.D. 98. Clement of Alexandria, who died in A.D. 212, said: "Last of all; John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain in the Gospels, being urged by his friends and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel" (RVG Tasker. The Gospel According to St. John. "Tyndale New Testament Commentaries," p.24). Fragments of the Gospel were discovered in Egypt in 1925. These fragments were dated in the first half of the second century. This would mean John wrote the Gospel in the first century.

This much is known. John was a young man when called by Jesus, and the early church fathers say that John’s Gospel was the last Gospel written. All this points to a late date somewhere in the latter years of John’s life; however, John’s exact age would have had a bearing as to when it was written. He probably would have been unable to write beyond a certain age because of feebleness.

A moving picture is painted of John by Jerome’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians. "When he tarried at Ephesus to extreme old age, and could only with difficulty be carried to the church in the arms of his disciples, and was unable to give utterance to many words, he used to say no more at their several meetings than this, ‘Little children, love one another.’ At length the disciples and fathers who were there, wearied with hearing always the same words, said, ‘Master, why dost thou always say this?’ ‘It is the Lord’s command, ‘was his worthy reply,’ and if this alone be done, it is enough’ " (RVG Tasker. The Gospel According to St. John. "Tyndale New Testament Commentaries," p.18).

What Was His Purpose?

He gives us a clear statement of purpose in John 20:30-31: "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. {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."

Following as it does the climactic confession of Thomas, this assertion closes the main narrative and makes the final appeal to the reader.

John writes to the lost (John 3:16), the unbelieving (John 20:31), the new believers (John 1:50-51; John 15:11; John 16:33), the philosopher (John 1:1), and the theologian (John 1:12-14).

However, there is a secondary purpose. The Gospel refutes almost any heresy that might arise in any generation.

1. To those who deny Christ’s deity John argues: He is the Son of God, the very Word of God Himself (John 1:1-5; John 7:1f; etc.)

2. To those who deny Jesus’ humanity, John argues: He is the Word become flesh, the very flesh which must be experienced (John 1:14f; John 6:31f; etc.)

3. To those who continue to look for a human messiah and an earthly utopia, John argues: He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the very One who had been promised by God from the beginning of time (John 1:1-51, etc.)

The Docetists or Adoptionist of the time said Jesus was not the Son of God until His baptism and the Spirit descended upon Him.

The Gnostics felt that divinity couldn't dwell in flesh since it's evil along with all matter.

Special features

1.      John is The Gospel of Simplicity. John used the simplest language and the most pure Greek possible. The Gospel serves as a first reader for many Greek students.

2.      John is The Gospel of Revelation. The stress and compulsion of John is to show that Jesus Christ is the very revelation of God Himself. A quick glance at the outline clearly shows this.

3.      John is The Gospel of the Messiah. John shows time and again that the Old Testament prophecies find their fulfillment in Jesus. However, there is a unique point in this that differs somewhat from the Synoptic Gospels. John shows that the salvation brought by Jesus is the very climax of Jewish religion. Jesus Himself is the fulfillment of the blessings promised Israel, the substance and truth, the symbolic meaning of the great Jewish festivals. Jesus claims the Messianic right to secure disciples (John 1:35-51); to cleanse the temple (John 2:13-22); to associate and converse with Samaritans (John 4:1f; esp. John 4:25-26); to work on the Sabbath, overriding the religious prohibitions (John 5:1-47, esp. John 5:17f; John 7:1-53); to feed the people even as Moses, and to claim that He Himself is the very Bread of Life (John 6:1-14; John 6:22-71, esp. John 6:31f); to forgive sins (John 8:1-11); and many, many other claims. He dramatically pictures His Messianic claim with the triumphal entry (John 12:12f).

4.      John is The Gospel of Redemption. This redemption is centered in the cross and death of Jesus Christ. He is "the (sacrificial) Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). His passion is the hour toward which His whole life is moving (John 2:4; John 7:7-8, 30; John 12:23; John 17:1). His own flesh and blood is to be eaten, that is, partaken of, if men are to have life (John 6:33-53). He compares His death to a grain of wheat that must fall into the ground before it bears fruit (John 12:24). He is to lay down His life for His sheep (John 10:11). He draws all men to Himself—but it is only by being lifted up on the cross (John 12:32-33). He is to sacrifice Himself that others might be set apart unto God (John 17:19).

5.      John is The Gospel of Jesus’ Humanity. John shows Jesus weary and thirsty (John 4:6-8, 31); spitting on the ground (John 9:6); weeping at the death of a dear friend, Lazarus (John 11:35); troubled because He is to die (John 12:27); disgusted with His betrayer (John 13:21); burning with thirst while dying (John 19:28); and having normal blood and water flowing through His body (John 19:34). John stresses this point by proclaiming that Jesus is the Son of Man (John 1:51; John 5:27; John 6:53; John 12:23; John 13:31).

6.      John is The Gospel of the Word. John shows Jesus to be the very Word of God. By this he means that Jesus is everything God ever wanted to say to man. God has done more than speak what He wanted to say; God has pictured what He wanted to say in the very life of Jesus. Jesus is the expression, the thought, the idea, the picture of what God wanted to say to man. The Word of God has become flesh.

7.      John is The Gospel of ‘I Am,’ of God Himself, of Yahweh, Jehovah. The words "I Am" are extremely important to Jewish history. It is the great name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-15). And John shows Jesus revealing Himself as the "I Am" at least ten times.

8.      John is The Gospel of Signs. John records eight miracles of Jesus, six of which are given only by him. What he does is select representative examples that point and show that Jesus is the Son of God. The miracles, he says, were not done to amaze people. They were performed as signs of His deity and godly powers (see note—^§ John 2:23). These signs are: the water turned into wine (John 2:1-11); the healing of the nobleman’s son (John 4:46-54); the healing of the man at the pool (John 5:1-9); the healing of the man born blind (John 9:1-7); the raising of Lazarus (John 11:1f); and the second draught of fish (John 21:1-6).

9.      John is The Gospel of the Holy Spirit. John gives the fullest teaching of Jesus on the Holy Spirit among the Gospel writers (John 14:16, 26; John 15:26; John 16:7-8, 13-15).

THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH JOHN WROTE

We have seen that there are very real differences between the Fourth and the other three gospels; and we have seen that, whatever the reason, it was not lack of knowledge on John's part. We must now go on to ask, What was the aim with which John wrote? If we can discover this we will discover why he selected and treated his facts as he did.

The Fourth Gospel was written in Ephesus about the year A.D. 100. By that time two special features had emerged in the situation of the Christian church. First, Christianity had gone out into the Gentile world. By that time the Christian church was no longer predominantly Jewish; it was in fact overwhelmingly gentile. The vast majority of its members now came, not from a Jewish, but an Hellenistic background. That being so, Christianity had to be restated. It was not that the truth of Christianity had changed; but the terms and the categories in which it found expression had to be changed.

Take but one instance. A Greek might take up the Gospel according to St. Matthew. No sooner had he opened it than he was confronted with a long genealogy. Genealogies were familiar enough to the Jew but quite unintelligible to the Greek. He would read on. He would be confronted with a Jesus who was the Son of David, a king of whom the Greeks had never heard, and the symbol of a racial and nationalist ambition which was nothing to the Greek. He would be faced with the picture of Jesus as Messiah, a term of which the Greek had never heard. Must the Greek who wished to become a Christian be compelled to reorganize his whole thinking into Jewish categories? Must he learn a good deal about Jewish history and Jewish apocalyptic literature (which told about the coming of the Messiah) before he could become a Christian?

As E. J. Goodspeed phrased it: "Was there no way in which he might be introduced directly to the values of Christian salvation without being for ever routed, we might even say, detoured, through Judaism?" The Greek was one of the world's great thinkers. Had he to abandon all his own great intellectual heritage in order to think entirely in Jewish terms and categories of thought?

John faced that problem fairly and squarely. And he found one of the greatest solutions which ever entered the mind of man. Later on, in the commentary, we shall deal much more fully with John's great solution. At the moment we touch on it briefly. The Greeks has two great conceptions.

(a) They had the conception of the Logos. In Greek logos means two things-it means word and it means reason. The Jew was entirely familiar with the all-powerful word of God. "God said, let there be light; and there was light" (Genesis 1:3). The Greek was entirely familiar with the thought of reason. He looked at this world; he saw a magnificent and dependable order. Night and day came with unfailing regularity; the year kept its seasons in unvarying course; the stars and the planets moved in their unaltering path; nature had her unvarying laws. What produced this order? The Greek answered unhesitatingly, The Logos, the mind of God, is responsible for the majestic order of the world. He went on, What is it that gives man power to think, to reason and to know? Again he answered unhesitatingly, The Logos, the mind of God, dwelling within a man makes him a thinking rational being.

John seized on this. It was in this way that he thought of Jesus. He said to the Greeks, "All your lives you have been fascinated by this great, guiding, controlling mind of God.

The mind of God has come to earth in the man Jesus. Look at him and you see what the mind and thought of God are like." John had discovered a new category in which the Greek might think of Jesus, a category in which Jesus was presented as nothing less than God acting in the form of a man.

(b) They had the conception of two worlds. The Greek always conceived of two worlds. The one was the world in which we live. It was a wonderful world in its way but a world of shadows and copies and unrealities. The other was the real world, in which the great realities, of which our earthly things are only poor, pale copies, stand for ever. To the Greek the unseen world was the real one; the seen world was only shadowy unreality.

Plato systematized this way of thinking in his doctrine of forms or ideas. He held that in the unseen world there was the perfect pattern of everything, and the things of this world were shadowy copies of these eternal patterns. To put it simply, Plato held that somewhere there was a perfect pattern of a table of which all earthly tables are inadequate copies; somewhere there was the perfect pattern of the good and the beautiful of which all earthly goodness and earthly beauty are imperfect copies. And the great reality, the supreme idea, the pattern of all patterns and the form of all forms was God. The great problem was how to get into this world of reality, how to get out of our shadows into the eternal truths.

John declares that that is what Jesus enables us to do. He is reality come to earth. The Greek word for real in this sense is alethinos; it is very closely connected with the word alethes, which means true, and aletheia, which means the the truth. The Authorized and Revised Standard Versions translate alethinos true; they would be far better to translate it real. Jesus is the real light (1:9); Jesus is the real bread (6:32); Jesus is the real vine (15:1); to Jesus belongs the real judgement (8:16). Jesus alone has reality in our world of shadows and imperfections.

Something follows from that. Every action that Jesus did was, therefore, not only an act in time but a window which allows us to see into reality. That is what John means when he talks of Jesus's miracles as signs (semeia). The wonderful works of Jesus were not simply wonderful; they were windows opening on to the reality which is God. This explains why John tells the miracle stories in a quite different way from the other three gospel writers. There are two differences.

(a) In the Fourth Gospel we miss the note of compassion which is in the miracle stories of the others. In the others Jesus is moved with compassion for the leper (Mark 1:14); his sympathy goes out to Jairus (Mark 5:22); he is sorry for the father of the epileptic boy (Mark 9:14); when he raises to life the son of the widow of Nain, Luke says with an infinite tenderness, "He gave him to his mother" (Luke 7:15). But in John the miracles are not so much deeds of compassion as deeds which demonstrate the glory of Christ. After the miracle at Cana of Galilee, John comments: "This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory" (John 2:11). The raising of Lazarus happens "for the glory of God" (John 11:4). The blind man's blindness existed to allow a demonstration of the glory of the works of God (John 9:3). To John it was not that there was no love and compassion in the miracles; but in every one of them he saw the glory of the reality of God breaking into time and into human affairs.

(b) Often the miracles of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel are accompanied by long discourse. The feeding of the five thousand is followed by the long discourse on the bread of life (chapter 6); the healing of the blind man springs from the saying that Jesus is the light of the world (chapter 9); the raising of Lazarus leads up to the saying that Jesus is the resurrection and the life (chapter 11). To John the miracles were not simply single events in time; they were insights into what God is always doing and what Jesus always is; they were windows into the reality of God. Jesus did not merely once feed five thousand people; that was an illustration that he is for ever the real bread of life. Jesus did not merely once open the eyes of a blind man; he is for ever the light of the world. Jesus did not merely once raise Lazarus from the dead; he is for ever and for all men the resurrection and the life. To John a miracle was never an isolated act; it was always a window into the reality of what Jesus always was and always is and always did and always does.

It was with this in mind that that great scholar Clement of Alexandria (about A.D. 230) arrived at one of the most famous and true of all verdicts about the origin and aim of the Fourth Gospel. It was his view that the gospels containing the genealogies had been written first-that is, Luke and Matthew; that then Mark at the request of many who had heard Peter preach composed his gospel, which embodied the preaching material of Peter; and that then "last of all, John perceiving that what had reference to the bodily things of Jesus's ministry had been sufficiently related, and encouraged by his friends, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote a spiritual gospel" (quoted in Eusebius, The Ecclesiastical History 6:14). What Clement meant was that John was not so much interested in the mere facts as in the meaning of the facts, that it was not facts he was after but truth. John did not see the events of Jesus's life simply as events in time; he saw them as windows looking into eternity, and he pressed towards the spiritual meaning of the events and the words of Jesus's life in a way that the other three gospels did not attempt.

That is still one of the truest verdicts on the Fourth Gospel ever reached. John did write, not an historical, but a spiritual gospel.

So then, first of all, John presented Jesus as the mind of God in a person come to earth, and as the one person who possesses reality instead of shadows and able to lead men out of the shadows into the real world of which Plato and the great Greeks had dreamed. The Christianity which had once been clothed in Jewish categories had taken to itself the greatness of the thought of the Greeks.

THE RISE OF THE HERESIES.

The second of the great facts confronting the church when the Fourth Gospel was written was the rise of heresy. It was now seventy years since Jesus had been crucified. By this time the church was an organisation and an institution. Theologies and creeds were being thought out and stated; and inevitably the thoughts of some people went down mistaken ways and heresies resulted. A heresy is seldom a complete untruth; it usually results when one facet of the truth is unduly emphasised. We can see at least of two of the heresies which the writer of the Fourth Gospel sought to combat.

(a) There were certain Christians, especially Jewish Christians, who gave too high a place to John the Baptist. There was something about him which had an inevitable appeal to the Jews. He walked in the prophetic succession and talked with the prophetic voice. We know that in later times there was an accepted sect of John the Baptist within the orthodox Jewish faith. In Acts 19:1-7 we come upon a little group of twelve men on the fringe of the Christian church who had never got beyond the baptism of John.

Over and over again the Fourth Gospel quitely, but definitely, relegates John to his proper place. Over and over again John himself denies that he has ever claimed or possessed the highest place, and without qualification yields that place to Jesus. We have already seen that in the other gospels the ministry of Jesus did not begin until John the Baptist had been put into prison, but that in the Fourth Gospel their ministries overlap. The writer of the Fourth Gospel may well have used that arrangement to show John and Jesus in actual meeting and to show that John used these meetings to admit, and to urge others to admit, the supremacy of Jesus. It is carefully pointed out that John is not that light (1:8). He is shown as quite definitely disclaiming all Messianic aspirations (1:20ff; 3:28; 4:1; 10:41). It is not even permissible to think of him as the highest witness (5:36). There is no criticism at all of John the Baptist in the Fourth Gospel; but there is a rebuke to those who would give him a place which ought to belong to Jesus and to Jesus alone.

(b) A certain type of heresy which was very widely spread in the days when the Fourth Gospel was written is called by the general name of Gnosticism. Without some understanding of it much of John's greatness and much of his aim will be missed. The basic doctrine of Gnosticism was that matter is essentially evil and spirit is essentially good. The Gnostics went on to argue that on that basis God himself cannot touch matter and therefore did not create the world. What he did was to put out a series of emanations. Each of these emanations was further from him, until at last there was one so distant from him that it could touch matter. That emanation was the creator of the world.

By itself that idea is bad enough, but it was made worse by an addition. The Gnostics held that each emanation knew less and less about God, until there was a stage when the emanations were not only ignorant of God but actually hostile to him. So they finally came to the conclusion that the creator god was not only different from the real God, but was also quite ignorant of and actively hostile to him. Cerinthus, one of the leaders of the Gnostics, said that "the world was created, not by God, but by a certain power far separate from him, and far distant from that Power who is over the universe, and ignorant of the God who is over all."

The Gnostics believed that God had nothing to do with the creating of the world. That is why John begins his gospel with the ringing statement: "All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3). That is why John insist that "God so loved the world" (John 3:16). In face of the Gnostics who so mistakenly spiritualized God into being who could not possibly have anything to do with the world, John presented the Christian doctrine of the God who made the world and whose presence fills the world that he has made.

The beliefs of the Gnostics impinged on their ideas of Jesus.

(a) Some of the Gnostics held that Jesus was one of the emanations which had proceeded from God. They held that he was not in any real sense divine; that he was only a kind of demi-god who was more or less distant from the real God; that he was simply one of a chain of lesser beings between God and the world.

(b) Some of the Gnostics held that Jesus had no real body. A body is matter and God could not touch matter; therefore Jesus was a kind of phantom without real flesh and blood. They held, for instance, that when he stepped on the ground he left no footprint, for his body had neither weight nor substance. They could never have said: "The Word became flesh" (John 1:14). Augustine tells how he had read much in the work of the philosophers of his day; he had found much that was very like what was in the New Testament, but, he said: "'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us' I did not read there." That is why John in his First Letter insists that Jesus came in the flesh, and declares that any one who denies that fact is moved by the spirit of antichrist (1 John 4:3). This particular heresy is known as Docetism. Docetism comes from the Greek word dokein which means to seem ; and the heresy is so called because it held that Jesus only seemed to be a man.

(c) Some Gnostics held a variation of that heresy. They held that Jesus was a man into whom the Spirit of God came at his baptism; that Spirit remained with him throughout his life until the end; but since the Spirit of God could never suffer and die, it left him before he was crucified. They gave Jesus's cry on the Cross as : "My power, my power, why hast thou forsaken me?" And in their books they told of people talking on the Mount of Olives to a form which looked exactly like Jesus while the man Jesus died on the Cross.

So then the Gnostic heresies issued in one of two beliefs. They believed either that Jesus was not really divine but simply one of a series of emanations from God, or that he was not in any sense human but a kind of phantom in the shape of man. The Gnostic beliefs at one and the same time destroyed the real godhead and the real manhood of Jesus.

THE PRODUCTION OF THE CHURCH

In our search for the truth we begin by noting one of the outstanding and unique features of the Fourth Gospel. The most remarkable thing about it is the long speeches of Jesus. Often they are whole chapters long, and are entirely unlike the way in which Jesus is portrayed as speaking in the other three gospels. The Fourth Gospel, as we have seen, was written about the year A.D. 100, that is, about seventy years after the crucifixion. Is it possible after these seventy years to look on these speeches as word for word reports of what Jesus said? Or can we explain them in some way that is perhaps even greater than that? We must begin by holding in our minds the fact of the speeches and the question which they inevitably raise.

And we have something to add to that. It so happens that in the writings of the early church we have a whole series of accounts of the way in which the Fourth Gospel came to be written. The earliest is that of Irenaeus who was bishop of Lyons about A.D. 177; and Irenaeus was himself a pupil of Polycarp, who in turn had actually been a pupil of John. There is therefore a direct link between Irenaeus and John. Irenaeus writes:

"John, the disciple of the Lord, who also leant upon his breast, himself also published the gospel in Ephesus, when he was living in Asia."

The suggestive thing there is that Irenaeus does not merely say that John wrote the gospel; he says that John published (exedoke) it in Ephesus. The word that Irenaeus uses makes it sound, not like the private publication of some personal memoir, but like the public issue of some almost official document.

The next account is that of Clement who was head of the great school of Alexandria about A.D. 230. He writes:"Last of all, John perceiving that the bodily facts had been made plain in the gospel, being urged by his friends, composed a spiritual gospel."

The important thing here is the phrase being urged by his friends. It begins to become clear that the Fourth Gospel is far more than one man's personal production and that there is a group, a community, a church behind it. On the same lines, a tenth century manuscript called the Codex Toletanus, which prefaces the New Testament books with short descriptions, prefaces the Fourth Gospel thus:

"The apostle John, whom the Lord Jesus loved most, last of all wrote this gospel, at the request of the bishops of Asia, against Cerinthus and other heretics."

Again we have the idea that behind the Fourth Gospel there is the authority of a group and of a church.

We now turn to a very important document, known as the Muratorian Canon. It is so called after a scholar Muratori who discovered it. It is the first list of New Testament books which the church ever issued and was compiled in Rome About A.D. 170. Not only does it list the New Testament books, it also gives short accounts of the origin and nature and contents of each of them. Its account of the way in which the Fourth Gospel came to be written is extremely important and illuminating.

"At the request of his fellow-disciples and of his bishops, John, one of the disciples, said: 'Fast with me for three days from this time and whatsoever shall be revealed to each of us, whether it be favourable to my writing or not, let us relate it to one another.' On the same night it was revealed to Andrew that John should relate all things, aided by revision of all."

We cannot accept all that statement, because it is not possible that Andrew, the apostle, was in Ephesus in A.D. 100; but the point is that it is stated as clearly as possible that, while the authority and the mind and the memory behind the Fourth Gospel are that of John, it is clearly and definitely the product, not of one man, but of a group and a community.

Now we can see something of what happened. About the year A.D. 100 there was group of men is Ephesus whose leader was John. They revered him as a saint and they loved him as a father. He must have been almost a hundred years old. Before he died, they thought most wisely that it would be a great thing if the aged apostle set down his memories of the years when he had been with Jesus. But in the end they did far more than that. We can think of them sitting down and reliving the old days. One would say: "Do you remember how Jesus said . . . ?" And John would say: "Yes, and now we know that he meant . . . "

In other words this group was not writing down what Jesus said; that would have been a mere feat of memory. They were writing down what Jesus meant; that was guidance of the Holy Spirit. John had thought about every word that Jesus had said; and he had thought under the guidance of the Holy Spirit who has so real to him. W. M. Macgregor has a sermon entitled: "What Jesus become to a man who has known him long." That is a perfect description of the Jesus of the Fourth Gospel. A. H. N. Green Armytage puts the thing perfectly in his book John who saw. Mark, he says, suits the missionary with his clear-cut account of the facts of Jesus's life; Matthew suits the teacher with his systematic account of the teaching of Jesus; Luke suits the parish minister or priest with his wide sympathy and his picture of Jesus as the friend of all; but John is the gospel of the contemplative.

He goes on to speak of the apparent contrast between Mark and John. "The two gospels are in a sense the same gospel. Only, where Mark saw things plainly, bluntly, literally, John saw them subtly, profoundly, spiritually. We might say that John lit Mark's pages by the lantern if a lifetime's meditation." Wordsworth defined poetry as "Emotion recollected in tranquillity". That is a perfect description of the Fourth Gospel. That is why John is unquestionably the greatest of all the gospels. Its aim is, not to give us what Jesus said like a newspaper report, but to give us what Jesus meant. In it the Risen Christ still speaks. John is not so much The Gospel according to St. John; it is rather The Gospel according to the Holy Spirit. It was not John of Ephesus who wrote the Fourth Gospel; it was the Holy Spirit who wrote it through John.

THREE KEY WORDS

1. Signs.

Signs in the English translation of the Greek is "semeion" (say-mi-on), which is the characteristic word for miracle by John.

There are seven signs revealed in the gospel which are peculiar to John and specify Jesus' power and person:

1. The changing of water into wine (2:1-11). This is the first miracle of His ministry, and Jesus revealed Himself as the master of quality by effecting instantaneously the change that the vine produces over a period of months.

2. The healing of the nobleman’s son, 4:46-54. By healing the boy who was more than 20 miles distance from Him, Jesus showed Himself the master of distance or space.

3. The healing of the impotent man, 5:1-9. The longer a disease afflicted a man, the more difficult it is to cure. Jesus, by curing instantly an affliction of 38 years, became the master of time.

4. The feeding of five thousand, 6:1-14. By multiplying the five flat loaves and two small fish of one boy's lunch into enough to feed 5,000 men, besides women and children, Jesus showed Himself the master of quantity.

5. The walking on water, 6:16-21. This miracle demonstrated His mastery over natural law.

6. The healing of the man born blind, 9:1-12, 41. The point of this miracle is not so much that Jesus healed a difficult case as that He did so in answer to the question as to why this man should have been so afflicted. Thereby Christ showed He was the master of misfortune.

7. The raising of Lazarus, 11:1-46. This miracle indicated that Jesus incontrovertibly was the master of death.

BELIEVE

This was the purpose of the signs. When signs are presented, two reactions are possible: acceptance or rejection. This entire book is an attempt to sway the person toward acceptance.

The main Greek word, "pisteuo" (pist-yoo-o) is rendered 98 times in the gospel, and means in just a few cases trust or commit. Never does it mean a mere assent to a proposition.

There is no other gospel which sets before us the deity of Jesus. John stressed the pre-existence of Jesus (John 8:58: "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!") and he tells of the glory which He had with the Father before the world was made (17:5). Again and again he speaks of His coming down from heaven (6:33-38). John saw in Jesus one who had always been, even before the world began.

The gospel writer also stresses more than any other the omniscience of Jesus. Jesus knew the past record of the woman of Samaria (4:16-17). He knew, apparently without anyone telling Him, how long the man beside the healing pond had been there (5:6). He knew the answer to the question he put to Philip (6:6). He knew that Judas would betray Him (6:61-64). He knew of the death of Lazarus before anyone told Him (11:14). John knew Jesus to be a man who needed to ask no questions because He knew all the answers.

LIFE

The Greek word "zoe" (dzo-ay) means more than animal vitality or the course of human existence. Jesus defined it in John 17:3 : "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. "

Consider the following items as we begin to close: Around the signs were clustered the teachings which interpret these phenomena in terms of spiritual truths. In belief and its opposite, unbelief, are seen the actions and reactions within the narratives. Through life and its opposite, death, is expressed the outcome of destiny determined by belief and unbelief.

John was selective, and what he wrote was attested by the disciples, with a purpose of bringing forth belief in Christ as the Son of God!

As we study this marvelous book, we’ll feel like a man or woman standing on holy ground. The gospel is simple enough for a child to wade in, but deep enough for the scholar and the most seasoned saint to swim in.

Let's approach out verse-by-verse study with the heart and mind of a worshiper. John did not simply write a book; he painted exciting pictures! And, remember, we are not studying a book--we are seeing a Person.

John 1:14: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

The Seven "I Am’s" Of John

1. "I am the bread of life," 6:22-71.

2. "I am the light of the world," 8:12-20.

3. "Jesus, the great I am," 8:46-59.

4. The double I AM: "the Door and the Good Shepherd," 10:1-21.

5. "I am the resurrection and the life, 11:1-27.

6. "I am the way, the truth, and the life," 14:1-6.

7. "I am the true vine," 15:1-8.

The following words come directly from Holman’s Bible Dictionary and add light on other aspects of this man.

Harmonizing Matthew 27:56 with Mark 15:40 suggests that John's mother was Salome. If she was also the sister of Jesus' mother (John 19:25), then John was Jesus' first cousin. This string of associations is so conjectural, though, that we cannot be sure of it. Because James is usually mentioned first when the two brothers are identified, some have also conjectured that John was the younger of the two.

The sons of Zebedee were among the first disciples called (Matt. 4:21-22; Mark 1:19-20). They were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee and probably lived in Capernaum. Their father was sufficiently prosperous to have "hired servants" (Mark 1:20), and Luke 5:10 states that James and John were "partners with Simon" Peter.

John is always mentioned in the first four in the lists of the twelve (Matt. 10:2; Mark 3:17; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13). John is also among the "inner three" who were with Jesus on special occasions in the Synoptic Gospels: the raising of Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:37), the transfiguration (Mark 9:2), and the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-33). Andrew joined these three when they asked Jesus about the signs of the coming destruction of Jerusalem (Mark 13:3).

The sons of Zebedee were given the surname Boanerges, "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17). When a Samaritan village refused to receive Jesus, they asked, "Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?" (Luke 9:54).

The only words in the Synoptic Gospels attributed specifically to John are: "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name ... and we forbad him, because he followeth not us" (Mark 9:38; Luke 9:49).

On another occasion the two brothers asked to sit in places of honor, on Jesus' left and right in His glory (Mark 10:35-41; compare Matt. 20:20-24). On each of these occasions Jesus challenged or rebuked John. Luke 22:8, however, identifies Peter and John as the two disciples who were sent to prepare the Passover meal for Jesus and the disciples.

The apostle John appears three times in the Book of Acts, and each time he is with Peter (1:13; 3:1-11; 4:13,20; 8:14). After Peter healed the man, they were arrested, imprisoned, and then released. They were "unlearned and ignorant men" (Acts 4:13), but they answered their accusers boldly: "we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). Later, John and Peter were sent to Samaria to confirm the conversion of Samaritans (8:14).

Paul mentioned John only once: "James, Cephas [Simon Peter], and John, who seemed to be pillars" of the church agreed that Paul and Barnabas would go to the Gentiles, while they would work among the Jews (Gal. 2:9).

The Gospel of John does not mention James or John by name, and it contains only one reference to the sons of Zebedee (21:2). An unnamed disciple who with Andrew had been one of John the Baptist's disciples is mentioned in John 1:35, and an unnamed disciple helped Peter gain access to the house of the high priest in John 18:15-16.

The disciple in these verses may have been the Beloved Disciple, who reclined with Jesus during the last supper (13:23-26), stood at the cross with Jesus' mother (19:25-27), ran with Peter to the empty tomb (20:2-10), and recognized the risen Lord after the great catch of fish (21:7). The need to clarify what Jesus had said about the death of the Beloved Disciple (21:20-23) probably indicates that the Beloved Disciple had died by the time the Gospel of John was put in final form by the editor who speaks in John 21:24-25 and attributes the Gospel to this Beloved Disciple.

Five books of the New Testament have been attributed to John the Apostle: the Gospel, three Epistles, and Revelation. In each case, the traditional view that the apostle was the author of these books can be traced to writers in the second century. Neither the Gospel nor the epistles identify their author by name. The author of Revelation identifies himself as "John" (1:1, 4, 9; 22:8) but does not claim to be the apostle. Much of the weight of the traditional view of the authorship of the Gospel rests on the testimony of Irenaeus, bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul (A.D. 130-200).

The origin of the attribution of the five writings to the apostle is difficult to trace. The strongest argument can probably be made for the traditional view of the authorship of Revelation. Its author claims to be "John," it is associated with Patmos and Ephesus, and in tone it fits the character of the apostle who was called "Boanerges." Justin Martyr, moreover, in the earliest testimony regarding the authorship of Revelation attributes it to John.

Internal evidence from the Gospel and Epistles provides many Bible students reasons to question the traditional view. The Gospel does not mention the "inner three" disciples as a group, nor does it refer to any of the events at which these three were present with Jesus: the raising of Jairus' daughter, the transfiguration, and the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Clearly, the editor of the Gospel, who refers to himself in John 21:24-25, links the Gospel with the Beloved Disciple. The question is whether that disciple was John or some other apostle.

The author of the epistles identifies himself as "the elder" (2 John 1, 3 John 1), but never claims to be the apostle. Neither does the author of these epistles claim the authority to command the church to follow his instructions. Instead, he reasons with them and urges the church to abide in what it has received and what it has heard from the beginning.

In sum, a strong tradition linking the apostle John to the authorship of these five New Testament writings can be traced to the second century. Modern scholarship has raised questions about the credibility of this tradition, and discussion of these matters continues.

Many would agree, however, that the strongest case can be made for the apostolic authorship of Revelation, followed in order by the Gospel and Epistles. Many Bible students continue to follow tradition and attribute all five books to the apostle.

Legends about the apostle continued to develop long after his death. According to tradition, John lived to an old age in Ephesus, where he preached love and fought heresy, especially the teachings of Cerinthus. The tomb of John was the side of a fourth-century church, over which Justinian built the splendid basilica of St. John. The ruins of this basilica are still visible in Ephesus today.

The Apocryphon of John is an early gnostic work that purports to contain a vision of the apostle John. Copies were found among the codices at Nag Hammadi. The work itself must go back at least to the second century because Irenaeus quoted from it.

The Acts of John is a third-century apocryphal writing which records miraculous events, John's journey to Rome, his exile on Patmos, accounts of several journeys, and a detailed account of John's death. In theology this work is Docetic, and it was eventually condemned by the Second Nicene Council in 787.

The apostle John also has a place in the martyrologies of the medieval church. A fifth-century writer, Philip of Side, and George the Sinner, of the ninth century, report that Papias (second century) wrote that James and John were killed by the Jews (Acts 12:2), but these reports are generally dismissed as fabrications based on interpretations of Mark 10:39.

Many Bible students regard John 15-17 as a longer version of the discourse material contained in John 14. Similarly, the Gospel seems to reach its conclusion at the end of chapter 20.

Jesus appeared to the disciples, comforted them, commissioned them, and consecrated them with the Holy Spirit. Thomas's doubt was overcome, and Thomas voiced the Gospel's climactic confession: "My Lord, and my God!" (20:28). Jesus pronounced a beatitude on all who would later believe, and the evangelist stated the purpose for which the Gospel was written (20:30-31).

To many Bible students the end of John 20 appears to be the original ending of the Gospel. No ancient manuscript, however, lacks the last chapter, which these Bible students think was probably added shortly later by the final editor. Regardless of the whether material in the Gospel was added early or late in the process of composition, it all derived from the witness of the Beloved Disciple as his teachings were developed and used in the worship of the community that gathered around him.

It is the inspired Word God has given us "that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (20:31).

The earliest period of the history of John's community took place within a Jewish synagogue. The account of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, which makes frequent allusions to the Hebrew Scriptures, was probably shaped during this period. Other sections of the Gospel, such as the calling of the first disciples (1:35-51) may also reflect the preaching of this group at a time when they were appealing to fellow Jews.

As a result of their confession of Jesus as the Christ, these Christian Jews were expelled from the synagogue and persecuted by the Jewish community.

The Gospel reflects conflict with the Jewish authorities both during the ministry of Jesus and at the time of the writing of the Gospel. By telling about the life of Jesus in such a way that later believers saw similarities with their own struggles, the Gospel's message took on greater significance for the Christian community.

The expulsion from the synagogue is referred to in John 9:22; 12:42; and 16:2, and other passages speak of "fear of the Jews" (7:13; 20:19).

The Gospel was written after the separation from the synagogue to proclaim the gospel message that gave the Christian community its identity and purpose.

The Gospel of John features episodes in which individuals are caught between Jesus' call for faith and the Jewish authorities' rejection of His claims (Nicodemus, John 3; the man at the Pool of Bethesda, John 5; the crowds in Galilee, John 6; and the man born blind, John 9).

The purpose of the Gospel, therefore, was twofold: (1) to call believers to reaffirm their faith and move on to a more mature faith, and (2) to call the "secret believers" (12:42; 19:38) to confess Jesus as the Christ and join the Christian community.

Eventually, a dangerous belief that either denied or diminished the significance of the incarnation began to develop. Some Johannine Christians taught that Jesus was certainly the Christ, but they denied that the Christ had come "in flesh" (see 1 John 4:2-3; 2 John 7). Finally, the community was divided. See John, The Letters of.

We do not know what happened to the Johannine community after the writing of the epistles, but we may conjecture that the remnant that followed the elder was assimilated into the emerging church of the second century while the elder's opponents, with their Docetic Christology, probably found their way into the developing Gnostic groups.

The roots of the Johannine tradition reach back to the ministry of Jesus, and the Gospel stands on eyewitness testimony (19:34-35; 21:24-25). The composition of the Gospel, described above, probably stretched over several decades, with the Gospel reaching its present form around A.D. 90-100. Its place in the New Testament, following the other three Gospels, may reflect the memory that it was the last of the four Gospels.

The Gospel of John draws a portrait of Jesus as the divine Logos, the Christ, the Son of God. Its message is thoroughly Christological. Jesus has a dual role as Revealer and Redeemer. He came to reveal the Father and to take away "the sin of the world" (1:18, 29).

As the Logos, Jesus continued God's creative and redemptive work, turning water to wine, creating eyes for a blind man, and breathing Holy Spirit into His disciples.

As the Revealer, Jesus revealed that he and the Father were one (10:30), so those who saw Him (that is, received Him in faith) saw the Father (14:9). All that Jesus does and says points beyond and above to the knowledge of God. Through Jesus' revelation of the Father, which reaches its fulfillment in His death on the cross, Jesus delivers the world from sin. Sin is understood in the Gospel of John primarily as unbelief (16:9).

John contains a profound analysis of the experience of faith. The human condition apart from God is characterized in John as "the world," which is under the power of sin. Some never believe because they love the darkness and the glory of men rather than the glory of God. All who believe are called, drawn, and chosen by the Father (6:37, 44; 10:3, 27; 17:6). Some believe only because of Jesus' signs. The Gospel accepts this response as faith but calls believers on to faith that is based on Jesus' words and on the knowledge of God revealed in Jesus.

Those who believe in His name are born "from above" (3:3 NRSV). They are the "children of God" (1:12), whose life is sustained by living water and the bread of life. They live in community as His sheep (John 10), the branches of the true Vine (John 15).

Jesus' disciples are to live "just as" he lived. The twin commands of the Johannine community were to have faith and to love one another (14:1; 13:34; 1 John 3:23). Those who believe already have eternal life, here and now (John 17:3). They have already crossed from death into life (5:24), and the judgment occurs in one's response to Jesus (3:19). John emphasized the present fulfillment of future expectations. Believers, however, will also be raised "at the last day" (6:39,40,44,54).

GNOSTICISM (Gnahs' tih kihsm)

Modern designation for certain religious and philosophical perspectives that existed prior to the establishment of Christianity and for the specific systems of belief, characterized by these ideas, which emerged in the second century and later. The term "gnosticism" is derived from the Greek word gnosis (knowledge) because secret knowledge was so crucial a doctrine in gnosticism.

Importance of Gnosticism.

The significance of gnosticism for students of Christianity has two dimensions: the first is its prominence in the history of the church, and the second is its importance for interpreting certain features of the New Testament. Gnosticism emerged in schools of thought within the church in the early second century and soon established itself as a way of understanding Christianity in all of the church's principal centers.

The church was torn by the heated debates over the issues posed by gnosticism. By the end of the second century many of the Gnostics belonged to separate, alternative churches or belief systems viewed by the church as heretical. Gnosticism was thus a major threat to the early church; and the early church leaders, such as Irenaeus (died about 200), Tertullian (died about 220), and Hippolytus (died about 236), wrote voluminously against it.

Many of the features of gnosticism were incorporated into the sect of the Manichees in the third century, and Manichaeism endured as an heretical threat to the church into the fourth century.

Gnosticism is also important for interpreting certain features of the New Testament. Irenaeus reported that one of the reasons John wrote his Gospel was to refute the views of Cerinthus, an early Gnostic. Over against the gnostic assertion that the true God would not enter our world, John stressed in his Gospel that Jesus was God's incarnate Son. Other interpreters of the New Testament understand gnosticism to be crucial at many other points in interpreting the New Testament as will be discussed to follow.

Heretical Gnostic Sects

The Gnostics who broke away or were expelled from the church claimed to be the true Christians, and the early Christian writers who set themselves to refute their claims are the major source for descriptions of the heretical gnostic sects. Although wide variations existed among the many gnostic sects in the details of systems, certain major features were common to most of them--the separation of the god of creation from the god of redemption; the division of Christians into categories with one group being superior; the stress on secret teachings which only

divine persons could comprehend; and the exaltation of knowledge over faith.

The church rejected such teachings as heretical, but many people have continued to find attraction in varieties of these ideas.

Gnostics generally distinguished between an inferior god whom they felt was responsible for the creation and the superior god revealed in Jesus as the Redeemer. This was a logical belief for them because they opposed matter to thought in a radical way. Matter was seen as inferior, sin-causing, and always deteriorating; thought or knowledge distinguished persons from matter and animals and was imperishable, capable of revealing god, and the only channel of redemption.

The gnostic Marcion thus rejected the Old Testament, pointing out that the lesser or subordinate god revealed in it dealt with matter, insisted on law rather than grace, and was responsible for our decaying, tragedy-filled world. The god who revealed himself in Jesus and through the additional secret teachings was, on the other hand, the absolute god, and was not incarnate in human flesh because the absolute god would not enter evil matter--Christ only seemed or appeared to be a person, but He was not.

Gnostics divided Christians into groups, usually the spiritual and the carnal. The spiritual Christians were in a special or higher class than the ordinary Christians because they had received, as the elect of the good deity, a divine spark or spiritual seed in their beings which allowed them to be redeemed.

The spiritual Christians were the true Christians who belonged to the heavenly world which was the true one. This belief that the spiritual Christians did not really belong to this world resulted in some Gnostics seeking to withdraw from the world in asceticism.

Other gnostic systems took an opposite turn into antinomianism (belief that moral law is not valid for a person or group). They claimed that the spiritual Christians were not responsible for what they did and could not really sin. Thus they could act in any way they pleased without fear of discipline.

Gnostics placed great stress on secret teachings or traditions. This secret knowledge was not a product of intellectual effort but was given by Jesus, the Redeemer from the true deity, either in a special revelation or through His apostles. The followers of the gnostic Valentinus claimed, for example, that Theodus, a friend of Paul's, had been the means of transmission of the secret data.

The secret knowledge was superior to the revelation recorded in the New Testament and was an essential supplement to it because only this secret knowledge could awaken or bring to life the divine spark or seed within the elect.

When one received the gnosis or true knowledge, one became aware of one's true identity with a divine inner self, was set free (saved) from the dominion of the inferior creator god, and was enabled to live as a true child of the absolute and superior deity.

To be able to attain to one's true destiny as the true deity's child, one had to engage in specific secret rituals and in some instances to memorize the secret data which enabled one to pass through the network of powers of the inferior deity who sought to keep persons imprisoned. Salvation was thus seen by the gnostics in a cosmic rather than a moral context--to be saved was to be enabled to return to the one true deity beyond this world.

The Gnostics thought faith was inferior to knowledge. The true sons of the absolute deity were saved through knowledge rather than faith. This was the feature of the various systems that gave the movements its designation: they were the Gnostics, the knowers. Yet what this precise knowledge was is quite vague.

It was more a perception of one's own existence that solved life's mysteries for the Gnostic than it was a body of doctrine. The knowledge through which salvation came could be enhanced by participation in rituals or through instruction, but ultimately it was a self-discovery each Gnostic had to experience.

Origins of the Gnostic Concepts

Gnosticism would not have been a threat to the early church if it had not been quite persuasive in the first centuries of the Christian era, and the question of where such ideas came from and what human needs they met must be addressed.

The classic answer to the question of why gnosticism arose is that it represents the "radical Hellenizing of Christianity." In this view, gnosticism resulted from the attempt of early Christian thinkers to make Christianity understandable, acceptable, and respectable in a world almost totally permeated by Greek assumptions about the reality of the World.

The expansion of Christianity from Palestine and its Jewish world of thought to the Roman Empire where Greek thought reigned called for an interpretation of Christianity that was more understandable.

Common Hellenistic perceptions, such as the fact that matter and spirit were thought to be alien to one another, were incorporated into this re-statement of Christianity with the various gnostic systems as a result.

This classic view of the heretical gnostic sects as distortions of Christianity by Hellenistic thought has much strength because it is easily demonstrated how the Gnostics could use New Testament texts, bending them to their purposes.

In 1 Corinthians 3:1-4, for example, Paul chides the Corinthian Christians for being "people of the flesh" (NRSV) or carnal when they should be spiritual. This text could with ease be used as the foundation for supporting the Hellenistic idea of the superiority of certain persons in the Christian community. In this and many other instances, terms or expressions in the New Testament, especially in the writings of Paul and John, could be lifted out of context and used in ways not originally intended by the authors to support gnostic doctrines.

The classic explanation does leave some problems unsolved, however. Little doubt exists that there are ideas, attitudes, and practices incorporated into many of the gnostic heresies that are found outside of Hellenistic thought and much earlier than the second century of the Christian era. In particular, the ultimate goal of the Gnostics--to return to the absolute deity beyond matter and to be in some sense absorbed into the deity--belongs to near eastern pre-Christian mystical thought and not primarily to the Hellenistic world.

The existence of such non-Hellenistic features in the gnostic sects has occasioned studies of the possibility of there being a pre-Christian gnosticism which could be understood in itself rather than as an heretical offshoot of the Christian faith. Some researchers came to the conclusion that there was a full-fledged, organized, pre-Christian gnostic religion with a literature and most crucially--the hope of a redeemer who would be sent from the true deity and ascend back to him after awakening the spiritual persons to their redemption.

Some radical scholars even went so far as to maintain that the way the early Christians proclaimed Christ was dependent on and modeled after such gnostic expectation. This view thus came to be almost the exact opposite of the classic view of the gnostic sects as Christian heresies and made Christianity heavily dependent on gnosticism. This quite radical view of gnosticism has been shown to be inadequate because no literary evidence whatsoever exists for a full-blown pre-Christian gnosticism.

As for a pre-Christian gnostic redeemer expectation, it is now generally acknowledged that this was a figment of the researcher's imagination without any relevant documentary evidence.

Although the radical conclusions of some scholars regarding a highly developed pre-Christian gnosticism have been discounted, it does seem clear that there were many ideas, assumptions, and perceptions about deity, reality, and the relationships of persons to gods and the world that were incorporated into the gnostic sects from outside Hellenistic sources.

Two literary discoveries have both inspired and tended to support this line of research--the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran in 1946 and the Nag Hammadi library in 1945 with many gnostic documents.

The value of the study of gnosticism for interpreting the New Testament is greatest from the point of view that there was a pre-Christian gnosticism which was not an organized religion but was more a general attitude among thoughtful persons that although ignorance abounded, one could through knowledge come to understand one's true identity and find union or relationship with the absolute deity.

Outline of John’s Gospel

I. The Prologue (1:1-18)

II. Jesus Before the World (1:19-12:50)

A. Calling Disciples (1:19-2:11)

B. The Temple and Nicodemus (2:12-3:21)

C. An interlude in Judea (3:22-36)

D. The Samaritan woman and the nobleman

(4:1-54)

E. The man at the pool of Bethesda (5:1-47)

F. Feeding the multitude (6:1-71)

G. Confrontation in Jerusalem (7:1-8:59)

H. The blind man and the shepherd's sheep

(9:1-10:42)

I. The raising of Lazarus (11:1-54)

J. Preparations for the Passover

(11:55-12:50)

III. Jesus with His Own (13:1-20:31)

A. The Farewell Discourse (13:1-17:26)

1. The footwashing (13:1-30)

2. The Farewell (13:31-16:4(16:5-33)

5. The high priestly prayer (17:1-26)

B. The trial of Jesus (18:1-19:16a)

C. The death of Jesus (19:16b-42)

D. The resurrection of Jesus (20:1-29)

E. Conclusion (20:30-31)

IV. Epilogue (21:1-25)