Copyright 1997MWSC/Jeanie C. Crain All rights reserved.

The Gospel of John

Difficulty of Believing

bulletJn 1.18 "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known."
bulletPriests and Levites expected Elijah or a prophet.
bulletDisclosure of Christ: "heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" Jn 1.51
bulletTestimony of John 1
bulletTrue, underived light that lights every man coming into the world;
bulletCame to the world;
bulletBrings grace and truth.
bulletThe Wedding 2.1-11 Cana, Galilee
bulletDisciples believed as result of sign: turning water into wine.

Jerusalem

bulletPurifying of the Temple: God’s visible dwelling place on earth Jn 2. 14 ff. ; promises new sign: his body as temple will survive human death: "be raised up" 2.21
bulletDisciples remember this saying after the death of Christ, believe the scripture, and believe these words, after the fact 2.22

Representative of Sanhedrin

bulletNicodemus--confused about second birth 3
bulletWhat is born of flesh is flesh; what is born of spirit is spirit 3.6
bulletIf people don’t believe finite things, how will they believe infinite things? 3.12
bulletBelief saves the world from perishing. 3.16
bullet"No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven." 3,27

Woman of Samaria

bulletConfused about living water ("spring of water welling up into eternal life" 4.14)
bulletPerceives Christ to be a prophet, the Messiah still to come 4.19, 25; wonders if this might be the Christ 4.29 Confused about place of worship--mountain where fathers worshiped, Jerusalem
bullet"The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship" 4.21

Gentile military officer believes, interpreting the healing of his son as a sign 4.53 4.45 "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe."

Sick man, who has waited thirty-eight years for others to put him in the water, is healed when he shoulders his pallet and walks: "Do you want to be healed?" 5.6

Jews misunderstand rest (Sabbath): "My Father is working still, and I am working" 5.17

bulletBelief is individual action.
bulletJesus feeds multitude with two fish and five barley loaves 6.9.
bulletJesus walks on water 6.19
bulletThe multitudes ask for signs: "Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you?" 6.30
bullet"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" 6.44
bulletPeople believe due to signs. 6. 30

Galilee

bulletBrothers do not believe. 7.5
bulletPeople believe he is a "good man," has learning. 7.13; wonder if He is the Christ 7.41

Mount of Olives, Jerusalem

bulletWoman caught in adultery is forgiven. 8.11
bulletLaw is exact and calls for stoning; cf. Jeremiah 17.13 "Those who turn away from thee shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water."
bulletJews misunderstand Abraham and the prophets. 8.54-58
bullet"Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." I am=Yahweh

Blind Man, Synagogue

bulletBelieves because "he sees" ; Jews misunderstand blindness.
bullet"One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see." 9.25
bulletJews believe physical blindness is result of sin. 9.3
bulletSin has to be seen: "If you were blind, you would have no guilt." 9.41
bulletJews accuse Jesus of blasphemy, not understanding his words, "I and the Father are one." 10.30
bulletJesus reminds them that their own law makes mortals children of God.
bulletPs 82.6 "I say, ‘You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you."
bulletTest for son-ship: "If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me." 10.37

Lazarus, Bethany 11

bulletLazarus raised from dead: Disciples misunderstand Jesus’ statement on sleeping and awakening. 11.12
bullet"He who believes, though he dies, he shall live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." 11.25
bulletPharisees fear "everyone will believe in him" as a result of this sign: raising of physically dead/spiritually alive."

Jerusalem Passover 12

bulletCrowd follows Jesus due to "sign" : raising of dead; Pharisees say, "Look, the world has gone after him." 12.19
bulletHe who raised dead must die: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." 12.24
bulletCaiphas: "It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." 11.50
bulletWashing of feet: "The servant is not greater than the master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him." 13.16
bulletDeath of one becomes door into life for all: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." 14.6
bulletNew dwelling is prepared: "When I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again." 14.3

"Behold, the dwelling of God is with men." Rev 21.3

bullet Love one another: "Greater love

has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." 15.12

bullet"I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father." 16.25
bulletGoal is unity: "The glory that thou has given me I have given to them, that they may become one even as we are one." 17.22

Arrest, Death, Burial, and Resurrection 18-20

bulletUniversal family: "When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then he said to his disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’" 19.27
bulletJesus did many other signs: "But these are written that you may believe." 20.31
bulletBusiness of disciple: "Feed my sheep." 21