The gospel of John presented Jesus in multiple ways compared to the synoptics. John shared his eyewitness account (the last three and a half years of Jesus’ ministry) and seems to ignore much of what Matthew, Mark, and Luke described. Why is John’s gospel so different? For instance:
Apart from the cleansing of the Temple, Leon Morris points out: “nothing else in the first five chapters of this Gospel is to be found in any of the Synoptics.”2 As we can see from a simple reading of John’s Gospel, we immediately notice he painted a different picture. Furthermore, a careful analysis reveals John wrote about many things not contained in the other Gospel accounts. For instance, note several unique images:
Professor Edwin Blum of Dallas Theological Seminary surmised, “John’s distinctive portrait of Jesus contains 93 percent original material in comparison to the Synoptics.”3 Most scholars agree that the purpose of John’s gospel is found at the end of his book: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through his name” (John 20:30-31). This simple yet profound book was written to convince men and women that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the only Savior of mankind and by believing in His name, they may have everlasting life.
Nonetheless, John presented the Person of Jesus Christ in several unique ways. Charles Ryrie further explained, “This is the most theological of the four gospels. It deals with the nature and person of Christ and the meaning of faith in Him. John’s presentation of Christ as the divine Son of God is seen in the titles given Him in the book:”4 So how does John portray the person of Jesus Christ? Let me share six ways:
LOGOS
First, John portrayed Jesus as the Logos (Word). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Englishman’s Greek Concordance shows us the word translated “Word” is (logos).5 John Phillips says the word logos, “was familiar to Greek philosophers and a word adopted for his own purposes by Jewish philosopher Philo. To the Greeks, the word had reference to the abstract conception that lies behind everything concrete – to the ideal, to what we could perhaps call wisdom. Thus, when John calls Jesus “the Word,” the logos, he is referring to Him as the thinker, the omniscient genius behind the created universe.”6 F.F. Bruce sheds light on this word when he says, “What is meant is that the Word shared the nature and being of God, or (to use a piece of modern jargon) was an extension of the personality of God. The NEB paraphrase ‘what God was, the Word was,’ brings out the meaning of the clause as successfully as a paraphrase can. John intends that the whole of his gospel be read in the light of this verse.”7 John introduced Jesus as the Pre-existent God of the universe who was involved in the creation process. Merrill C. Tenney further explained the concept when he said, “The use of logos implies that John was endeavoring to bring out the full significance of the Incarnation to the Gentile world as well as to the Jewish people. He does not adopt the Greek concept in its entirety, but he uses this term to indicate that Jesus had universal rather than local significance and that He spoke with ultimate authority. He was preexistent, involved in the act of creation, and therefore superior to all created beings.”8
There are five things we learn about Jesus, the logos in John chapter 1:
The logos, God in the flesh entered this world through a womb He created and was born of a virgin enabling Him to dwell among men. This logos, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, humbled Himself by taking on a human body, accepting the limitations of sleep, hunger and thirst. Here we see so many great theological truths such as the kenosis, the hypostatic union, the incarnation, and the mediator ministry of this One made flesh. Bruce says it so beautifully, “To expand the implications of the incarnation of the Word in terms of historical or systematic theology would carry us beyond the Evangelist intention. What he is concerned to emphasize here is that God, who had revealed or expressed himself—‘sent His word’—in a variety of ways from the beginning, made Himself known at last in a real historical human person: when ‘the Word became flesh’, God became man.”9 How else did John portray Jesus?
LIGHT
Second, John portrayed Jesus as the Light. He said, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” (John 1:7-8). The word “light” is found 43 times in the first 12 chapters of the gospel of John. In chapter 1 and verse 9 John tells us that Jesus is the “true,” authentic Light, “which lights every man that comes into the world.” Does this verse mean every man who enters the world is given a measure of the light at birth? A.T. Robertson offers some interesting thoughts on this verse. He said, “The Quakers appeal to this phrase for their belief that to every man there is given an inner light that is a sufficient guide, (it’s called the Quaker’s text). But it may only mean that all the real light that men receive comes from Christ, not necessarily that each one receives a special revelation.”10 George Beasley-Murray says, “In face of false claims (concerning John or any other alleged prophet-redeemer) the authentic Light is affirmed to be the Word who illumines the existence of every man (positively and negatively), for salvation and judgment; see 3:19-21.”11 Three times in the gospel of John, Jesus calls Himself the Light of the world (See John 8:12, 9:5, 12:46). In reference to the phrase “the Light of the world,” Lenski says, “The emphatic ‘ego’ means I and I alone, I and no other.”12 Christ and Christ alone is the Light of the world that gives life. Two other times Jesus boldly proclaimed to be the Light of the world. Jesus gives to every man the wonderful promise that if we believe on Him we will not continue in darkness (John 12:46). Lenski said, “Yet note the universality in both the term ‘the world’ and in ‘everyone that believes’ (the present participle as in v.44 and v.45). This term ‘everyone’ is like a blank space into which every believer is entitled to write his own name, or—Jesus himself by his Word writes it there for him”13 Praise God. Jesus is the Light of the world.
LAMB
Third, John portrayed Jesus as the Lamb. John wrote, “The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The day before this proclamation, the Sanhedrin interrogated John the Baptist about whether or not he was the Messiah. In verses 20-27 of chapter 1, John recorded this cross-examination by the Sanhedrin as well as the response of John the Baptist. It was now the following day, and Jesus had arrived at Jordan when the messenger saw Jesus coming and announced to all mankind, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.” Concerning this proclamation John Phillips offers this insight, “The Passover feast was approaching, a feast that commemorated the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, the birth of the Hebrew nation, and the demonstration of redemption by the blood of the lamb. We can be sure that Jesus chose this moment unerringly for his formal presentation to the nation by his now famous herald. From John’s first words we can see that he had the approaching Passover in mind.”14 Blum further reveals, “the Passover lamb (Ex.12) and Isaiah’s mention of the Messiah’s likeness to a lamb (Isa. 53:7) may have been in John’s mind. John, by the Holy Spirit, saw Jesus as the sacrificial Victim who was to die for the sin of the world (cf. Isa. 53:12).”15 In the gospel of John the title “Lamb” (amnos) is designated for Jesus two times. But it is interesting to note John uses another word for Lamb, (arnion) in the book of Revelation revealing more of a triumphal title, glorifying the sacrificial work of the Lamb. According to the Englishman’s Greek Concordance, Lamb (arnion) is found 27 times in the apocalypse, and 26 times refers to the redemptive nature of Jesus as the Lamb of God. In John’s gospel the Lamb “takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The Montgomery’s New Testament translation says, “who takes and bears away the sin of the world.” Concerning the words “takes away”, A.T. Robertson says, “airo, to bear away.”16 It is interesting to note the Englishman’s Greek Concordance reveals airo is also translated “lift up” in Acts 4:24. John reveals to us Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away, who bears up, who lifts up the sin of the world and places it on another (Jesus, our sin-bearer). Thus, He is the Lamb.
LIFE
Fourth, John portrayed Jesus as Life. Three times in the gospel of John Jesus is said to be “life.” Notice, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Also verse 48 of this same chapter, Jesus again said, “I am that bread of life.” Here is the first of the seven “I am” revelations of Jesus found in the gospel of John.
Notice with me the other six listed in this book:
The Gospel of John is a portrait of Jesus using various titles. John wanted the Jew as well as the Gentile to understand historically who Jesus was. So, he begins his description of life with, “I am the bread of Life.” In verse 51 of this very same chapter, Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). This bread is said to be “living bread” in reference to Jesus, who bestows life everlasting upon all those who appropriate Him by faith. Concerning the word “flesh”, it is interesting what Beasley-Murray says, “The “bread” is defined as “flesh” rather than “body”, almost certainly by reason of the Evangelist’s insistence that the Word became flesh (1:14).”17 The Incarnate Logos became flesh and tabernacled among us for thirty-three years and went to the cross to give His life a ransom so that we might possess life everlasting.
The second passage of Scripture that described Jesus as life is found in John 11:25 where Jesus proclaimed to be the resurrection and the life. Speaking to Martha, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). F.F. Bruce makes this observation concerning verse 25, “This is more than an announcement of the general resurrection on the last day; this looks forward to Jesus’ own rising from the dead and affirms that believers in him, being united by faith, will share his risen life even though they experience bodily death.”18 Jesus shared this promise with His disciples in the upper room, “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19). Because of His resurrection all those who believe He is Messiah will also share with Him this eternal life. Concerning this statement made by Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life,” Blaikie said, “The terms are not synonymous. When Christ says, “I am the Life,” He claims an attribute of God. None but God is “the Life,” and can impart it. “I am the resurrection” implies that He can keep life when given and restore it after it is lost. These powers measure the difference between the finite and the infinite.”19
The third passage that described Jesus as life is found in John 14:6 where Jesus boldly announced He is the Life. “Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Once again Jesus in an uncompromising way declared He is the way, the truth, and the Life. Earl Radmacher shares with us these interesting thoughts, “Having made these three exclusive claims concerning Himself, Jesus then states unequivocally that He is indeed the exclusive means for anyone approaching the Father. When He says, “except through Me” He is saying unequivocally that entrance to heaven is exclusive to Him.”20 Jesus is not only the Creator of life, the giver of life, the sustainer of life, but the scripture says, He is “the Life.” We must keep in mind that there are not multiple ways to God, but only one way, through the living person of Jesus Christ. The context of this passage points to Jesus in verse 10 and reveals, He was the One crucified and risen from the dead. He is the only truth, the only way, and He is the only life. The evangelist portrayed Jesus as the Life.
LOVE
Fifth, John portrayed Jesus as Love. Any study of Johannine Christianity will reveal to the student the indescribable love of God. In the Gospel of John alone the word love in its various forms is found 44 times and in John’s epistles it is recorded 40 times. The evangelist presented Jesus and His great love for all humanity. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The word “greater” (meizon) is translated “greater 34 times and greatest 9 times.”21 The greatest of all love is revealed and demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ as He freely offers His life on the cross for sinful man. John not only tells us that Jesus possessed the greatest and highest form of love for mankind, but He tells us the reason Jesus loves us with everlasting love. John claimed, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God. He that does not love does not know God; for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). The disciple whom Jesus loved, gives us another description of God, “God is love.” Zane Hodges further explains, “This statement affirms that His basic nature is characterized by love. Naturally the statement does not mean that God has no other attributes, such as wisdom and justice. But it does indicate that love is fundamental to what God is and to what He does.”22 Dodd takes us a step further when he says, “All His activity is loving activity. If He creates, He creates in love; if He rules, He rules in love; if He judges, He judges in love. All that He does is the expression of His nature, is—to love.”23 Probably the most well-known verse in the Bible is John 3:16 where Jesus proclaims His love for the whole world. Concerning this amazing revelation of God’s love, Adam Clarke says, “Such a love as that which induced God to give His only begotten Son to die for the world could not be described; Jesus Christ does not attempt it. He has put an eternity of meaning in the particle so and left a subject for everlasting contemplation, wonder, and praise, to angels and to men.”24
LORD
Then finally, John portrayed Jesus as Lord. In John chapters 14-17 Jesus encouraged those who believed He was the Messiah and were threatened with expulsion from their Jewish synagogue. In chapter 13 Jesus taught His disciples a great lesson in humility and servanthood as He washed the disciples’ feet. He told them of the coming ministry of the Holy Spirit that would guide them into all truth in chapters 14-16. Jesus shared with them the key to bearing fruit was to abide in Him. He shared many intimate discussions with the disciples as He focused His attention on training the twelve to do ministry. But in John 14 during one of those special training sessions Jesus had to reveal to Philip just exactly who He was. “Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, Show us the Father” (John 14:8-9)? Jesus clearly declared to Philip He is the Father. If you have seen me (Jesus) you have seen the Father. In the Gospel of John, the phrase “the Father” is found 156 times. By using repetition Jesus wanted the world to know with certainty that He was the Father. As Bultmann observes, “The implication behind the reproachful question is that all fellowship with Jesus loses its significance unless He is recognized as the One whose sole intention is to reveal God, and not to be anything for Himself; but it also implies that the possibility of seeing God is inherent in the fellowship with Jesus. What need is there for anything further?”25 Jesus not only wanted the disciples to know who He was; He wanted them to comprehend He was the Lord God, the Creator of the universe. In John 20:19-25, we have another classic Johannine illustration teaching the deity of Jesus Christ. John tells us about the Sunday evening after Christ arose from the dead, when the disciples were secretly assembled together for fear of the Jews, “the door was shut”, yet, Jesus suddenly and mysteriously appears on the scene in His new resurrected body and stands in the middle of the room. The disciples saw the prints in His hands and the scar on His side. During this special meeting Jesus re-commissioned the disciples and breathed upon them the Holy Spirit. There was only one problem, Thomas was missing from this very important meeting. After they found Thomas in verse 25, the ten disciples began to rehearse this historical event with the doubter. Discouraged and disillusioned Thomas told the other disciples he would not believe, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side.” Eight days later, Jesus reappears to the disciples and Thomas was present this time. Notice the reaction of Thomas after He saw the resurrected Jesus. The text said, “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be to you. Then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side: Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God’” (John 20:26-28). Thomas realized that Jesus the Messiah was God in the flesh. Blum further claims, “Thomas’ response, My Lord and My God! Is the high point of the Gospel. Here was a skeptical man, confronted by the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. He announced that Jesus, the Man of Galilee, is God manifest in the flesh.”26 Thomas was no longer faithless but became faithful to his resurrected Savior.
A study of Johannine Christianity reveals a portrait of a person named Jesus Christ. Every stroke of John’s inspired brush portrays a beautiful “Master” piece of the incarnate God of the universe who desires His creation to trust Him as the supreme sacrifice for the sins of the world. In a most fitting way John completes His portrait of Jesus with these words, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen” (John 21:25). Jesus is the Logos, the Light, the Lamb, the Life, Love and the Lord. Oh, what a beautiful Savior.
1 Bob Deffinbaugh, That You Might Believe: A Study of the Gospel of John (Biblical Press, 1998). 38.
2 Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, The International Commentary on the New Testament (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI: 1971), 190.
3 Edwin Blum, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, John (Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1973), 269.
4 Charles Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible expanded edition, Introduction to John (Chicago, IL: Moody Press 1994), 1615.
5 The Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament, ninth edition (Zondervan Publishing House 1903), 462.
6 John Phillips, Exploring The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications 1989), 16.
7 F.F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1983), 31.
8 Merrill C. Tenney, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Vol.9 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House 1981), 28.
9 F.F. Bruce, The Gospel of John pg. 40.
10 A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament vol. 5 (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press 1932), pg. 9.
11 George R. Beasley-Murray, Word Biblical Commentary vol. 36 (Waco, TX: Word Books Publisher 1987), 12.
12 R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel (Augsburg Publishing House 1943), 593.
13 Ibid, pg. 894-895.
14 John Phillips, Exploring The Gospel of John pg. 39.
15 Edwin Blum, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, John (Chariot Victor Publishing 1973), 274.
16 A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament vol. 5 (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press 1932), pg. 23.
17 George R. Beasley-Murray, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 36 (Waco, TX: Word Books Publisher 1987), pg. 94.
18 F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John pg. 244.
19 W.G. Blaikie, The Biblical Illustrator, St. John vol. 14 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House), pg. 268.
20 Earl Radmacher, and Greg Derickson, The Disciplemaker: What Matters Most to Jesus (Salem, OR: Charis Press, 2001), pg. 106.
21 The Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament ninth edition (Zondervan Publications House), pg. 478.
22 Zane C. Hodges, The Epistles of John (Irving TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 1999), 184.
23 C.H. Dodd, The Johannine Epistles (MNT. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1946), 110.
24 Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1967), 905.
25 Rudolf Bultmann, The Gospel According to John: A Commentary trans. George R. Beasely-Murray, ed. By R.W.N. Hoare and J.K. Riches (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1971), pg. 608-609.
26 Edwin Blum, The Bible Knowledge Commentary John (Colorado Springs CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1973), 343-344.
- “Jesus’ genealogy
- an account of our Lord’s birth
- any events in our Lord’s childhood
- our Lord’s baptism
- our Lord’s temptation
- The Sermon on the Mount
- The account of John the Baptist’s doubts
- any casting out of demons
- any healing of lepers
- any parables of our Lord
- an account of our Lord’s transfiguration
- the selection and sending out of the 12, or of the 70
- any eschatological (prophetic) address
- a pronouncement of woes on the religious leaders (e.g., Matthew 23)
- the institution of the Lord’s Supper
- an account of our Lord’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane
- an account of our Lord’s ascension.”1
Apart from the cleansing of the Temple, Leon Morris points out: “nothing else in the first five chapters of this Gospel is to be found in any of the Synoptics.”2 As we can see from a simple reading of John’s Gospel, we immediately notice he painted a different picture. Furthermore, a careful analysis reveals John wrote about many things not contained in the other Gospel accounts. For instance, note several unique images:
- Jesus as the Creator (John 1)
- Jesus as the “only begotten” of the Father (John 1)
- Jesus as the promised “Lamb of God” (John 1)
- Jesus revealed as the great “I Am” (John 6:35)
- Jesus turning the water into wine (John 2)
- Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus (John 3)
- Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well (John 4)
- Jesus shows mercy to the woman caught in adultery (John 8)
- Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11)
- Jesus washing the disciples’ feet (John 13)
- The Upper Room Discourse of our Lord (John 13-17)
- Jesus’ teaching on the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 14-16)
- Jesus’ high priestly prayer (John 17)
Professor Edwin Blum of Dallas Theological Seminary surmised, “John’s distinctive portrait of Jesus contains 93 percent original material in comparison to the Synoptics.”3 Most scholars agree that the purpose of John’s gospel is found at the end of his book: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through his name” (John 20:30-31). This simple yet profound book was written to convince men and women that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the only Savior of mankind and by believing in His name, they may have everlasting life.
Nonetheless, John presented the Person of Jesus Christ in several unique ways. Charles Ryrie further explained, “This is the most theological of the four gospels. It deals with the nature and person of Christ and the meaning of faith in Him. John’s presentation of Christ as the divine Son of God is seen in the titles given Him in the book:”4 So how does John portray the person of Jesus Christ? Let me share six ways:
LOGOS
First, John portrayed Jesus as the Logos (Word). “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Englishman’s Greek Concordance shows us the word translated “Word” is (logos).5 John Phillips says the word logos, “was familiar to Greek philosophers and a word adopted for his own purposes by Jewish philosopher Philo. To the Greeks, the word had reference to the abstract conception that lies behind everything concrete – to the ideal, to what we could perhaps call wisdom. Thus, when John calls Jesus “the Word,” the logos, he is referring to Him as the thinker, the omniscient genius behind the created universe.”6 F.F. Bruce sheds light on this word when he says, “What is meant is that the Word shared the nature and being of God, or (to use a piece of modern jargon) was an extension of the personality of God. The NEB paraphrase ‘what God was, the Word was,’ brings out the meaning of the clause as successfully as a paraphrase can. John intends that the whole of his gospel be read in the light of this verse.”7 John introduced Jesus as the Pre-existent God of the universe who was involved in the creation process. Merrill C. Tenney further explained the concept when he said, “The use of logos implies that John was endeavoring to bring out the full significance of the Incarnation to the Gentile world as well as to the Jewish people. He does not adopt the Greek concept in its entirety, but he uses this term to indicate that Jesus had universal rather than local significance and that He spoke with ultimate authority. He was preexistent, involved in the act of creation, and therefore superior to all created beings.”8
There are five things we learn about Jesus, the logos in John chapter 1:
- We learn the logos is pre-existent (John 1:1-2).
- We learn the logos is God (John 1:1c).
- We learn the logos was involved in the creation process (John 1:3).
- We learn the logos possessed life eternal (John 1:4).
- We learn about the incarnation of the logos (John 1:14).
The logos, God in the flesh entered this world through a womb He created and was born of a virgin enabling Him to dwell among men. This logos, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, humbled Himself by taking on a human body, accepting the limitations of sleep, hunger and thirst. Here we see so many great theological truths such as the kenosis, the hypostatic union, the incarnation, and the mediator ministry of this One made flesh. Bruce says it so beautifully, “To expand the implications of the incarnation of the Word in terms of historical or systematic theology would carry us beyond the Evangelist intention. What he is concerned to emphasize here is that God, who had revealed or expressed himself—‘sent His word’—in a variety of ways from the beginning, made Himself known at last in a real historical human person: when ‘the Word became flesh’, God became man.”9 How else did John portray Jesus?
LIGHT
Second, John portrayed Jesus as the Light. He said, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” (John 1:7-8). The word “light” is found 43 times in the first 12 chapters of the gospel of John. In chapter 1 and verse 9 John tells us that Jesus is the “true,” authentic Light, “which lights every man that comes into the world.” Does this verse mean every man who enters the world is given a measure of the light at birth? A.T. Robertson offers some interesting thoughts on this verse. He said, “The Quakers appeal to this phrase for their belief that to every man there is given an inner light that is a sufficient guide, (it’s called the Quaker’s text). But it may only mean that all the real light that men receive comes from Christ, not necessarily that each one receives a special revelation.”10 George Beasley-Murray says, “In face of false claims (concerning John or any other alleged prophet-redeemer) the authentic Light is affirmed to be the Word who illumines the existence of every man (positively and negatively), for salvation and judgment; see 3:19-21.”11 Three times in the gospel of John, Jesus calls Himself the Light of the world (See John 8:12, 9:5, 12:46). In reference to the phrase “the Light of the world,” Lenski says, “The emphatic ‘ego’ means I and I alone, I and no other.”12 Christ and Christ alone is the Light of the world that gives life. Two other times Jesus boldly proclaimed to be the Light of the world. Jesus gives to every man the wonderful promise that if we believe on Him we will not continue in darkness (John 12:46). Lenski said, “Yet note the universality in both the term ‘the world’ and in ‘everyone that believes’ (the present participle as in v.44 and v.45). This term ‘everyone’ is like a blank space into which every believer is entitled to write his own name, or—Jesus himself by his Word writes it there for him”13 Praise God. Jesus is the Light of the world.
LAMB
Third, John portrayed Jesus as the Lamb. John wrote, “The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The day before this proclamation, the Sanhedrin interrogated John the Baptist about whether or not he was the Messiah. In verses 20-27 of chapter 1, John recorded this cross-examination by the Sanhedrin as well as the response of John the Baptist. It was now the following day, and Jesus had arrived at Jordan when the messenger saw Jesus coming and announced to all mankind, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.” Concerning this proclamation John Phillips offers this insight, “The Passover feast was approaching, a feast that commemorated the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, the birth of the Hebrew nation, and the demonstration of redemption by the blood of the lamb. We can be sure that Jesus chose this moment unerringly for his formal presentation to the nation by his now famous herald. From John’s first words we can see that he had the approaching Passover in mind.”14 Blum further reveals, “the Passover lamb (Ex.12) and Isaiah’s mention of the Messiah’s likeness to a lamb (Isa. 53:7) may have been in John’s mind. John, by the Holy Spirit, saw Jesus as the sacrificial Victim who was to die for the sin of the world (cf. Isa. 53:12).”15 In the gospel of John the title “Lamb” (amnos) is designated for Jesus two times. But it is interesting to note John uses another word for Lamb, (arnion) in the book of Revelation revealing more of a triumphal title, glorifying the sacrificial work of the Lamb. According to the Englishman’s Greek Concordance, Lamb (arnion) is found 27 times in the apocalypse, and 26 times refers to the redemptive nature of Jesus as the Lamb of God. In John’s gospel the Lamb “takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The Montgomery’s New Testament translation says, “who takes and bears away the sin of the world.” Concerning the words “takes away”, A.T. Robertson says, “airo, to bear away.”16 It is interesting to note the Englishman’s Greek Concordance reveals airo is also translated “lift up” in Acts 4:24. John reveals to us Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away, who bears up, who lifts up the sin of the world and places it on another (Jesus, our sin-bearer). Thus, He is the Lamb.
LIFE
Fourth, John portrayed Jesus as Life. Three times in the gospel of John Jesus is said to be “life.” Notice, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Also verse 48 of this same chapter, Jesus again said, “I am that bread of life.” Here is the first of the seven “I am” revelations of Jesus found in the gospel of John.
Notice with me the other six listed in this book:
- “I am the Light of the world” (8:12).
- “I am the Door of the sheep” (10:7).
- “I am the Good Shepherd” (10:11,14).
- “I am the Resurrection and the Life (11:25).
- “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (14:6).
- “I am the True Vine” (15:1).
The Gospel of John is a portrait of Jesus using various titles. John wanted the Jew as well as the Gentile to understand historically who Jesus was. So, he begins his description of life with, “I am the bread of Life.” In verse 51 of this very same chapter, Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). This bread is said to be “living bread” in reference to Jesus, who bestows life everlasting upon all those who appropriate Him by faith. Concerning the word “flesh”, it is interesting what Beasley-Murray says, “The “bread” is defined as “flesh” rather than “body”, almost certainly by reason of the Evangelist’s insistence that the Word became flesh (1:14).”17 The Incarnate Logos became flesh and tabernacled among us for thirty-three years and went to the cross to give His life a ransom so that we might possess life everlasting.
The second passage of Scripture that described Jesus as life is found in John 11:25 where Jesus proclaimed to be the resurrection and the life. Speaking to Martha, “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). F.F. Bruce makes this observation concerning verse 25, “This is more than an announcement of the general resurrection on the last day; this looks forward to Jesus’ own rising from the dead and affirms that believers in him, being united by faith, will share his risen life even though they experience bodily death.”18 Jesus shared this promise with His disciples in the upper room, “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19). Because of His resurrection all those who believe He is Messiah will also share with Him this eternal life. Concerning this statement made by Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life,” Blaikie said, “The terms are not synonymous. When Christ says, “I am the Life,” He claims an attribute of God. None but God is “the Life,” and can impart it. “I am the resurrection” implies that He can keep life when given and restore it after it is lost. These powers measure the difference between the finite and the infinite.”19
The third passage that described Jesus as life is found in John 14:6 where Jesus boldly announced He is the Life. “Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Once again Jesus in an uncompromising way declared He is the way, the truth, and the Life. Earl Radmacher shares with us these interesting thoughts, “Having made these three exclusive claims concerning Himself, Jesus then states unequivocally that He is indeed the exclusive means for anyone approaching the Father. When He says, “except through Me” He is saying unequivocally that entrance to heaven is exclusive to Him.”20 Jesus is not only the Creator of life, the giver of life, the sustainer of life, but the scripture says, He is “the Life.” We must keep in mind that there are not multiple ways to God, but only one way, through the living person of Jesus Christ. The context of this passage points to Jesus in verse 10 and reveals, He was the One crucified and risen from the dead. He is the only truth, the only way, and He is the only life. The evangelist portrayed Jesus as the Life.
LOVE
Fifth, John portrayed Jesus as Love. Any study of Johannine Christianity will reveal to the student the indescribable love of God. In the Gospel of John alone the word love in its various forms is found 44 times and in John’s epistles it is recorded 40 times. The evangelist presented Jesus and His great love for all humanity. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The word “greater” (meizon) is translated “greater 34 times and greatest 9 times.”21 The greatest of all love is revealed and demonstrated in the person of Jesus Christ as He freely offers His life on the cross for sinful man. John not only tells us that Jesus possessed the greatest and highest form of love for mankind, but He tells us the reason Jesus loves us with everlasting love. John claimed, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God. He that does not love does not know God; for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). The disciple whom Jesus loved, gives us another description of God, “God is love.” Zane Hodges further explains, “This statement affirms that His basic nature is characterized by love. Naturally the statement does not mean that God has no other attributes, such as wisdom and justice. But it does indicate that love is fundamental to what God is and to what He does.”22 Dodd takes us a step further when he says, “All His activity is loving activity. If He creates, He creates in love; if He rules, He rules in love; if He judges, He judges in love. All that He does is the expression of His nature, is—to love.”23 Probably the most well-known verse in the Bible is John 3:16 where Jesus proclaims His love for the whole world. Concerning this amazing revelation of God’s love, Adam Clarke says, “Such a love as that which induced God to give His only begotten Son to die for the world could not be described; Jesus Christ does not attempt it. He has put an eternity of meaning in the particle so and left a subject for everlasting contemplation, wonder, and praise, to angels and to men.”24
LORD
Then finally, John portrayed Jesus as Lord. In John chapters 14-17 Jesus encouraged those who believed He was the Messiah and were threatened with expulsion from their Jewish synagogue. In chapter 13 Jesus taught His disciples a great lesson in humility and servanthood as He washed the disciples’ feet. He told them of the coming ministry of the Holy Spirit that would guide them into all truth in chapters 14-16. Jesus shared with them the key to bearing fruit was to abide in Him. He shared many intimate discussions with the disciples as He focused His attention on training the twelve to do ministry. But in John 14 during one of those special training sessions Jesus had to reveal to Philip just exactly who He was. “Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, Show us the Father” (John 14:8-9)? Jesus clearly declared to Philip He is the Father. If you have seen me (Jesus) you have seen the Father. In the Gospel of John, the phrase “the Father” is found 156 times. By using repetition Jesus wanted the world to know with certainty that He was the Father. As Bultmann observes, “The implication behind the reproachful question is that all fellowship with Jesus loses its significance unless He is recognized as the One whose sole intention is to reveal God, and not to be anything for Himself; but it also implies that the possibility of seeing God is inherent in the fellowship with Jesus. What need is there for anything further?”25 Jesus not only wanted the disciples to know who He was; He wanted them to comprehend He was the Lord God, the Creator of the universe. In John 20:19-25, we have another classic Johannine illustration teaching the deity of Jesus Christ. John tells us about the Sunday evening after Christ arose from the dead, when the disciples were secretly assembled together for fear of the Jews, “the door was shut”, yet, Jesus suddenly and mysteriously appears on the scene in His new resurrected body and stands in the middle of the room. The disciples saw the prints in His hands and the scar on His side. During this special meeting Jesus re-commissioned the disciples and breathed upon them the Holy Spirit. There was only one problem, Thomas was missing from this very important meeting. After they found Thomas in verse 25, the ten disciples began to rehearse this historical event with the doubter. Discouraged and disillusioned Thomas told the other disciples he would not believe, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side.” Eight days later, Jesus reappears to the disciples and Thomas was present this time. Notice the reaction of Thomas after He saw the resurrected Jesus. The text said, “And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be to you. Then he said to Thomas, reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side: Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God’” (John 20:26-28). Thomas realized that Jesus the Messiah was God in the flesh. Blum further claims, “Thomas’ response, My Lord and My God! Is the high point of the Gospel. Here was a skeptical man, confronted by the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. He announced that Jesus, the Man of Galilee, is God manifest in the flesh.”26 Thomas was no longer faithless but became faithful to his resurrected Savior.
A study of Johannine Christianity reveals a portrait of a person named Jesus Christ. Every stroke of John’s inspired brush portrays a beautiful “Master” piece of the incarnate God of the universe who desires His creation to trust Him as the supreme sacrifice for the sins of the world. In a most fitting way John completes His portrait of Jesus with these words, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen” (John 21:25). Jesus is the Logos, the Light, the Lamb, the Life, Love and the Lord. Oh, what a beautiful Savior.
1 Bob Deffinbaugh, That You Might Believe: A Study of the Gospel of John (Biblical Press, 1998). 38.
2 Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, The International Commentary on the New Testament (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI: 1971), 190.
3 Edwin Blum, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, John (Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1973), 269.
4 Charles Ryrie, The Ryrie Study Bible expanded edition, Introduction to John (Chicago, IL: Moody Press 1994), 1615.
5 The Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament, ninth edition (Zondervan Publishing House 1903), 462.
6 John Phillips, Exploring The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications 1989), 16.
7 F.F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1983), 31.
8 Merrill C. Tenney, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Vol.9 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House 1981), 28.
9 F.F. Bruce, The Gospel of John pg. 40.
10 A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament vol. 5 (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press 1932), pg. 9.
11 George R. Beasley-Murray, Word Biblical Commentary vol. 36 (Waco, TX: Word Books Publisher 1987), 12.
12 R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Gospel (Augsburg Publishing House 1943), 593.
13 Ibid, pg. 894-895.
14 John Phillips, Exploring The Gospel of John pg. 39.
15 Edwin Blum, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, John (Chariot Victor Publishing 1973), 274.
16 A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament vol. 5 (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press 1932), pg. 23.
17 George R. Beasley-Murray, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 36 (Waco, TX: Word Books Publisher 1987), pg. 94.
18 F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John pg. 244.
19 W.G. Blaikie, The Biblical Illustrator, St. John vol. 14 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House), pg. 268.
20 Earl Radmacher, and Greg Derickson, The Disciplemaker: What Matters Most to Jesus (Salem, OR: Charis Press, 2001), pg. 106.
21 The Englishman’s Greek Concordance of the New Testament ninth edition (Zondervan Publications House), pg. 478.
22 Zane C. Hodges, The Epistles of John (Irving TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 1999), 184.
23 C.H. Dodd, The Johannine Epistles (MNT. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1946), 110.
24 Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1967), 905.
25 Rudolf Bultmann, The Gospel According to John: A Commentary trans. George R. Beasely-Murray, ed. By R.W.N. Hoare and J.K. Riches (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1971), pg. 608-609.
26 Edwin Blum, The Bible Knowledge Commentary John (Colorado Springs CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1973), 343-344.
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