READ IT! - Introduction to John 1

Introduction to John 1

Context of John 

Author 

Unknown. Traditionally, John son of Zebedee. The Gospel itself claims to be the testimony of the unnamed “disciple whom Jesus loved.” This individual’s identity is intentionally kept secret in this Gospel. 

Other possibilities 

If we eliminate characters who are named in this Gospel, particularly Lazarus, Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, Philip, Andrew, and James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, and Judas Iscariot, who is left? 

Of the Twelve apostles it is noteworthy that the only ones not named in the Gospel of John are the “other” James, the “other” Jude, the “other” Simon, and Matthew. Jesus has three brothers: James, Simon, and Jude, as well as a fourth, Joseph. 

In this Gospel’s portrayal of the Crucifixion, Jesus tells the “beloved disciple” to take care of Mary, his mother, so it is possible that the “beloved disciple” is actually Jesus’ younger brother James, who would become the leader of the Jerusalem church.

However, we’ll just stick with church tradition for now, and say that John wrote it. 

Some evidence for this is that the writer or writers were very familiar with the religious beliefs and customs of the people of Asia Minor at the time, so it would make since for John to have written at least the portion known as “The Signs Gospel” because John is traditionally known as the apostle of Asia Minor who did much of his work there. 

Structure of John 

Prologue (1:1-51) 

The Book of Signs (2:1–11:57) 

The Book of Glory (12:1–20:31) 

Epilogue (21:1-25) 

Themes of John 

John’s Gospel was most likely written for the Johannine community living in Asia Minor. One of the main headquarters of the church at the time this Gospel was written was in the city of Pergamum. It is interesting to see how this Gospel has been custom made for those living in Asia Minor at this time. Jesus’ story is laid out before them in such a way as to show Jesus’ superiority over the various local pagan gods. 

In Pergamum, there are six interesting phenomena about the local pagan gods. First, there is the god Dionysus, who every year turns water to wine on his birthday. Second, is the god Asclepius, who was born of a virgin, had the power to heal, and he healed with moving water. He got so good that he raised a man from the dead. Zeus was mad, so Zeus killed him. Then he felt bad, so on the third day he raised Asclepius from the dead, and ascended Asclepius to heaven to sit at his right hand. There’s a goddess, Demeter, who was the goddess of groceries, who could feed thousands of people. And there was the god Serapes who had the ability to heal sight. 

These different miraculous signs were well-known among the people at the time, and they would have recognized when they heard John’s Gospel that he was stating that Jesus was not inferior to these other gods because he could do all of those things, too – and better! 

Chapter 1 

The Gospel of John begins with a Hymn to the Word, or Logos, which identifies Jesus as the Logos and the Logos as divine. It is an introduction to the Gospel as a whole, stating that the Logos is "God" and acts as the mouthpiece (Word) of God "made flesh", i.e. sent to the world in order to be able to intercede for humans and forgive their sins. This portion of John's gospel is of central significance to the development of the Christian doctrine of Incarnation.

Comparisons can easily be drawn from this part to Genesis 1 where the same phrase In the beginning first occurs along with the emphasis on the difference between the darkness (such as the earth was formless and void, Genesis 1:2) vs light (the ability to see things not understood/hidden by the darkness, John 1:5). The summation of this comparison occurs in the statement, the law given through Moses... grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Here John successfully bridges the gap for the reader – including Jewish readers well-versed in the Torah – from the Law to the One who would fulfill the Law (such as the requirement of animal sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins), Jesus. 

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 

The second part of chapter one shows the preparation that John the Baptist was in the process of doing for the coming of the Messiah, the Messiah's arrival and the Messiah's first disciples. First, John consistently denies being the Light himself and instead to be making the way for the Light to come. When asked, he also denies being Elijah and The Prophet, but instead refers to himself with the words of Isaiah as “the voice calling in the desert…” 

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John explains that Jesus is the one he was talking about when he said that someone greater than himself was coming after him. 

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” 

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus and spent the day with him. 

Andrew was one of these disciples, and the text says that the first thing he did was to go find his brother Simon and introduce him to Jesus, saying, “We have found the Messiah!” Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter). Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek) both mean rock. 

Jesus is leaving for Galilee with his new disciples and comes across a guy named Phillip. Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael is skeptical that anything good can come out of Nazareth. When Jesus sees Nathanael, he says, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Nathanael is like, “What do you know about me?” Jesus tells Nathanael that he saw him while he was still sitting under the fig tree. Nathanael is very impressed by this and declares that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is in turn impressed by Nathaniel’s faith, and tells him that he’s going to see much greater things than that – he will see “heaven open, and the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” 

Jesus is referencing the Genesis story of Jacob’s dream of the ladder between heaven and earth with the angels descending and ascending on it. Jacob, however, did not realize that he was in God’s presence until after he saw this sign; whereas, Nathaniel recognized God in his midst well before he would see the sign of the Son of Man bridging the gap between heaven and earth. Also, Jesus says that Nathanael is an Israelite without deceit, and Jacob was definitely a deceitful Israelite.