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REL 103 - New Testament Survey
Class Notes - St. John's Gospel
The following notes are provided as a supplement to the REL 103 course.
They are intended to supplement, not replace, the readings from the text book.
Comments or questions should be sent to: Dr. Rollinson.
The Gospel according to St. John was written after the other Gospels, and seems to assume that the reader is familiar with the material contained in them. John does not record the Lord's Prayer or any of Jesus' parables. His record of the Last Supper does not mention Jesus blessing and giving the Bread and Wine to His disciples, but gives us much more of what Jesus said and prayed after the meal (John 13:2).
Similarly, John does not give any account of the birth and genealogy of Jesus, but relates Jesus to the pre-incarnate Christ who was a member of the Trinity even before the creation of the world. The Greek word used by John, "Logos" would have been more understandable to Gentile Greek readers than the Hebrew "Messiah", or its Greek translation "Christos".
Although John recounts several of the miracles of Jesus, he uses them mainly as "Signs" to show Jesus' power and identity as Christ. The text-book refers to 7 "Signs", because it does not include the Resurrection and Jesus' post-Resurrection appearances. However, John seems to count these also as "Signs" - see John 20:30-31.
| Sign | location | event |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | John 2 : 1 - 11 | Turning water into wine. |
| 2 | John 4 : 46 - 54 | Healing of the nobleman's som |
| 3 | John 5 : 1 - 9 | Healing of a crippled man |
| 4 | John 6 : 1 - 15 | Feeding of 5,000 men |
| 5 | John 6 : 16 - 21 | Jesus walks on water |
| 6 | John 9 : 1 - 41 | Healing of a blind man |
| 7 | John 11 : 1 - 45 | Raising of Lazarus from the dead |
| 8 | John 20 : 11 - 31 | The Resurrection, and Jesus' appearances |
Another characteristic of John's Gospel is his recording of Jesus' statements which begin with an emphatic "I AM". English can only show this emphasis by the tone of voice or the stress on the words; both Greek and Hebrew can show the emphasis by using a pronoun. A stressed "I AM" was normally avoided by Jews, as it was part of the sacred Name of God - "I AM THAT I AM" (Exodus 3:14)
| location | statement |
|---|---|
| John 4 : 26 | I AM He (the Christ) |
| John 6 : 35 | I AM the Bread of Life |
| John 8 : 23, 24, 28 | I AM from above, I AM the Son of man |
| John 8 : 58 | Before Abraham was - I AM. |
| John 9 : 5 | I AM the Light of the world |
| John 10 : 7, 9 | I AM the door of the sheep |
| John 10 : 11, 14 | I AM the Good Shepherd |
| John 11 : 25 | I AM the Resurrection and the Life |
| John 13 : 13 | I AM (Master and Lord) |
| John 14 : 6 | I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life |
| John 15 : 1, 5 | I AM the True Vine |
| John 18 : 5, 8 | I AM (Jesus) |
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