4. John

   
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4. JOHN

I. OUTLINE-BRIEF

1. Prelude. 1.

2. Christ's Glory and Power. 2-6.

3. Conflicts of Light and Darkness. 7-12.

4. Christ's Revelation to His Disciples. 13-17.

5. The Final Revelation. 18-20.

6. Appendix. 21.

II. OUTLINE-COMPLETE

1. Prologue. 1:1-18.

2. Witness of the Baptist. 1:19-51.

3. Self-revelation of Jesus. 2:1-4:54.

A. Marriage at Cana. 2:1-11.

B. Cleansing of Temple. 2:12-22.

C. At Passover. 2:23-25.

D. With Nicodemus. 3:1-21.

E. Testimony of Baptist. 3:22-30.

F. Witness from Above. 3:31-36.

G. Jesus and Samaritan Woman. 4:1-26.

H. The Samaritans. 4:27-42.

I. The Officer's Son. 4:43-54.

4. Signs and Controversies. 5:1-9:41.

A. Sabbath Controversy. 5:1-18.

B. Unity of Son and Father. 5:19-47.

C. The Bread of Life. 6:1-71.

D. At Feast of Tabernacles. 7:1-14.

E. Controversies. 7:15-31.

F. Attempted Arrest. 7:32-36.

G. Last Day of Feast. 7:37-52.

H. Woman Taken in Adultery. 7:53-8:11.

I. Light of the World. 8:12-20.

J. Divine Commission. 8:21-59.

K. Healing-Man Born Blind. 9:1-41.

5. The Shepherd Life Giver. 10:1-11:57.

A. Shepherd and Sheep. 10:1-18.

B. At Feast of Dedication. 10:19-42.

C. Raising of Lazarus. 11:1-57.

6. Close of Public Ministry. 12:1-50.

A. Anointing at Bethany. 12:1-8.

B. False Popularity. 12:9-11.

C. Triumphal Entry. 12:12-19.

D. Jesus and the Greeks. 12:20-26.

E. Agony. 12:27-36.

F. Unbelief and Rejection. 12:37-43.

G. Judgement. 12:44-50.

7. The Upper Room. 13:1-17:26.

A. The Last Supper. 13:1-30.

B. Farewell Discourse I. 13:31-14:31.

C. Farewell Discourse II. 15:1-16:33.

D. The Priestly Prayer. 17:1-26.

8. Gethsemane to Calvary. 18:1-19:42.

A. The Arrest. 18:1-11.

B. Trial and Peter's Denial. 18:12-27.

C. Jesus before Pilate. 18:28-19:16.

D. Crucifixion and Burial. 19:17-42.

9. Appearances of Risen Lord. 20:1-21:25.

A. The Risen Christ. 20:1-29.

B. Purpose of the Gospel. 20:30,31.

C. Epilogue. 21:1-25.

III. AUTHORSHIP

1. John was written in A.D. 101 by Nathan, a Greek Jew from Caesarea, under the direction of John. The book of 1 John was written by John himself as a covering letter. Urantia Book, (1342.5) 121:8.10.

2. The fact that Nathan wrote the Gospel enabled John the more gracefully to refer to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved."

3. Nathan was probably a mild-mannered man, which would explain how the ambitious young "son of thunder" could have become the "apostle of love.- even in his old age.

4. It is difficult to regard the Gospel of John and Revelation as being written by the same person.

5. John's purpose:

A. To supply what the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke had left out.

B. To bring Christian theology up to date.

C. To control the growing cult of John the Baptist. Some even taught that John was the real Messiah.

D. To withstand Gnosticism, especially the Docetist cult-which denied the incarnation.

6. It is interesting to note what John omits:

A. Account of the baptism.

B. The transfiguration.

C. Agony in Gethsemane.

D. All reference to casting out demons.

E. All parables.

F. Miracles are not acts of compassion, but revelations of divine power.

7. In this book the statement that Jesus was sent by God is made 26 times directly, 18 indirectly. Jesus himself refers to "Him who sent me."

8. John was little influenced by the Old Testament, but greatly influenced by Paul and the book of Hebrews.

9. The appendix does not claim that John was the author.

10. There is some indication that John's manuscript got mixed up before our present-day versions were finally copied.

IV. CHIEF CONSIDERATIONS

1. John is the "crown of the New Testament." It is the most simple and yet the most profound of all the New Testament books.

2. It is the philosophical and theological Gospel-the story is subordinated to doctrine.

3. John recognizes the "humanity" of Jesus, but his divine traits largely overshadow his humanity.

4. In the Synoptics, Jesus gradually arrives at a comprehension of his divine mission. In John, he always knew of the divinity of his bestowal.

5. John plays down the work of John the Baptist and plays up his endorsement of Jesus.

6. John spreads Jesus' ministry over about three years. Mark appears to limit it to about one year.

7. John puts the Last Supper on the evening before the Passover.

8. As regards the chronology of the Last Supper, Paul agrees with John.

9. The Urantia Book agrees with John where he differs from the others on the times of the Last Supper and other events.

10. The Godhead is the center of the theology of John-then the Son (Logos) and the Spirit.

11. John is clearly trinitarian.

12. The high point- "I am the way, and the truth, and the life." 14:6.

13. John makes the only attempt in the Gospels to define God:

  • God is spirit.
  • God is light.
  • God is love.

14. John smacks of determinism. There is much leaning toward predestination.

15. John talks like Paul about the new birth.

16. John does not say much about the "age to come." He seems to think that the "new age" is already here.

17. The author of John is something of a sacramental mystic. He recognizes a church and its ministry.

18. In a way, John is a drama-a conflict between light and darkness, something like the Persian philosophy.

V. CONTEMPORARY RELATIONSHIPS

1. The living Word is the whole concern of the fourth Gospel.

2. The Logos idea was, in part, borrowed from the Stoics.

3. The Logos concept shows Hellenistic influence in general, and Philo in particular.

4. Philo uses Logos to express the personified activity of God.

5. The Logos is "light and life"-even life eternal.

6. Forty years before John, Paul was fighting Gnosticism at Colossae.

7. John is silent about Simon's bearing the cross. One of the Gnostic beliefs was that it was Simon who went to death in the place of Jesus.

8. John was also combatting the "Hermes" cult. This cult produced a work on the "Shepherd of Men," but it was tainted with "speculative Egyptian mysticism." Wisdom is the womb of the "new birth."

9. Some of the Hermes literature was written long after John, but the ideas were early in circulation.

10. John also had in mind the mystery religions which were already in vogue at the time of the writing of his Gospel.

11. Mandaeism. Forty years ago there was discovered in the lower Euphrates a sect of John the Baptist's followers known as the Mandeaans. They are hostile to both Jews and Christians. Christ is alluded to as the "liar" and false Messiah.

12. They claim the true Messiah instigated the crucifixion of Jesus.

13. At the time of John's writing the "cult of the Virgin Mary" had not become widespread-accordingly John ignores the question.

VI. SELECTED TEXTS

1. The Word was God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 1:1.

2. The light of men. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." 1:4.

3. The true light. "The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world." 1:9.

4. Becoming children of God. "But to all...who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God." 1:12.

5. Word becomes flesh. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." 1:14.

6. John and Jesus. "He saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world'" 1:29.

7. Nathaniel and Nazareth. "Nathaniel said to him, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?.'" 1:46.

8. Cleansing the temple. "And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple." 2:15.

9. His body temple. "Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 2:19.

10. The new birth. "I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" 3:3.

11. God so loved the world. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." 3:16.

12. Jesus and baptism. "Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples." 4:2.

13. The water of life. "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water...will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'" 4:14.

14. Spirit. "God is spirit." 4:24.

15. Confesses his divinity. "Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you am he.'" 4:26.

16. Gather up the fragments. "He told his disciples, 'Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.'" 6:12.

17. The king episode. "Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew." 6:15.

18. The bread of life. "'I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.'" 6:35.

19. Eternal life. "'He who believes has eternal life.'" 6:47.

20. Come and drink. "Jesus stood up and proclaimed, 'If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink.'" 7:37.

21. Light of the world. "Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" 8:12.

22. Real freedom. "'If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.'" 8:36.

23. Never see death. "'If any one keeps my word, he will never see death.'" 8:51.

24. The blind man. "'One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see.'" 9:25.

25. Abundant life. "'I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly.'" 10:10.

26. Eternal security. "'I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.'" 10:28.

27. Thomas's courage. "Thomas...said to his fellow disciples, 'Let us also go, that we may die with him.'" 11:16.

28. I am the resurrection. "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.'" 11:25.

29. Jesus wept. "Jesus wept." 11:35.

30. Ever-present poverty. "'The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.'" 12:8.

31. Triumphal entry. "So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, 'Hosanna! Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" 12:13.

32. Parable of humility. "Then he...began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded." 13:5.

33. Disciple whom Jesus loved. "One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus." 13:23.

34. The new commandment. "'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you.'" 13:34.

35. Freedom from fear. "'Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.'" 14:1.

36. The many mansions. "'In my Father's house are many rooms.'" 14:2.

37. Perfect peace. "'Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.'" 14:27.

38. Light and guilt. "'If I had not come...they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.'" 15:22.

39. Receptivity for truth. "'I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.'" 16:12.

40. Spirit of truth. "'When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.'" 16:13.

41. Worldly tribulation. "'In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world,'" 16:33.

42. Creator glory. "'Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made.'" 17:5.

43. Sanctity of truth. "'Sanctify them in the truth; thy word is truth.'" 17:17.

44. What is truth? "Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?'" 18:38.

45. Bears his cross. "So they took Jesus...bearing his own cross." 19:17.

46Jesus and John. "When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near...he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother!' And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home." 19:26,27.

47. The end. "'It is finished'; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." 19:30.

48. The empty tomb. "Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed." 20:8.

49. The morontia Jesus. "Jesus said to her, 'Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.'" 20:17.

50. Jesus visits the apostles. "Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'" 20:19.

51. Breakfast with Jesus. "Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' ...Jesus...took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish." 21:12,13.

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