Did you know that John wrote his gospel roughly 50 years after Jesus’ ministry on earth and His ascension to Heaven? That might seem like an insignificant bit of Bible trivia, but I think it’s important. Why? Well, have you ever tried to write about or even talk about events that you were a part of 50 years ago? It’s difficult, right? It’s difficult to bring back to memory every little detail with historical accuracy. Can you even get the order of events right? As a test try to remember the colors of the clothes the last person you saw was wearing. It’s hard to get that right yet here John is remembering and writing about events that took place about 50 years ago.

To a non-believer this little bit of “trivia” could be something to take hold of to bolster their argument that surely the gospel writers got it wrong or just dreamt up these “stories”. However, as a believer I know in my heart that the gospel of John is true and accurate. The idea of John writing this 50 years after the fact only bolsters my faith that his writings are true and accurate.

There are two reasons for this. First, as a believer I know the power of the Holy Spirit and that He can bring to mind any detail He chooses. John wrote under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Therefore we’re not relying solely on an unreliable human memory.

How many times have I been confronted with something (good or bad) and a verse (one that I don’t remember memorizing) will come to the forefront of my mind. It’s the Spirit speaking to me. Likewise, as a Christian I believe the only way that John could have written such detail in truth so many years later is due to the working of the Holy Spirit.

Second, we, as humans, tend to remember events with the utmost clarity when the event itself is intensely emotional. Emotions make things memorable. What could be more emotional than God incarnate calling John personally to follow Him? What about Jesus walking on water or feeding the multitudes or even bringing Lazarus back from the dead? These and other miracles would not easily be forgotten or diminished from John’s mind.

It is these things that bolster my faith that the gospel of John was written and handed down to us with accuracy and clarity. Where a non-Christian might see doubt and a reason for disobedience, I see faith and the Spirit at work calling me to obedience.

It’s funny how the Spirit can use seemingly insignificant or “trivial” bits of knowledge to glorify the Father.

Now, before I get into the meat of the gospel of John, it’s important to understand why this gospel was written. After all, the other three gospels had already been written and what more needed to be said? It turns out a lot more needed to be said about Jesus and our believing in Him.

To understand why a book of the Bible was written I like to look for a key passage that summarizes the book. Fortunately, John explicitly points this out to us in John 20:30–31:

³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;

³¹but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John wrote this gospel so that we might believe who Jesus is, the Christ and the Son of God! And through our belief and trust in Him we have hope for life, a real life, an eternal life and a life in Jesus’ name!

Notice that the word “believe” is mentioned twice in verse 31. In fact, the word “believe” is mentioned 98 times in this gospel. From this we can see that “belief” is a key aspect of John’s writing. It would be a good idea to precisely define what John means by “believe”. To be sure, if one is to believe in God then that person must acknowledge that God does indeed exist. However, that is the most basic and incomplete definition. True, you have to know that God exists before you can do anything else, but that knowledge alone will not save. Remember that even the demons believe and shudder…but they will not be with Jesus in eternity.

The most important part of believing, especially how it is used in the gospel of John, is that of having a real and active faith and putting your full trust in God. This type of full belief leads to our committing ourselves to God. And as the book of James says, our faith produces works and these works not only prove that we are God’s children but also glorify our Father in Heaven.

John 1:1-5:

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

²He was in the beginning with God.

³All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

⁴In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

⁵The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Some of the most important words you will ever write as an author are the first few. In these words you must capture the reader’s attention, you must set the stage for what comes after, and you must do so while keeping the main point of your argument in clear sight (in this case, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God). To do this John begins his gospel with six crucial words: “In the beginning was the Word”.

For the Greek, reading these first six words must have provoked great interest. Why? Well, to begin with, the first four words, “In the beginning was” spoke not of Jesus’ finiteness, but of His infiniteness. Let’s break this phrase down into two parts. First, “In the beginning” speaks of time…at the beginning of time. Or we can think of this as when time was created and set into motion. Secondly, we have the verb “was” that follows. This word in both English and Greek is designated as an imperfect verb, which means that it denotes a past or previous action that is still in progress…a previous action that happened before creation began. Additionally, this verb is speaking about the existence of Jesus as the Word (more on that shortly). Putting this all together we have Jesus who existed before the beginning of time. Jesus was not a finite being who was created, He was the un-created infinite Son of God. John is setting the stage for us to truly understand who Jesus really is.

Next, John refers to Jesus as the Word (Logos in Greek). This would have made a big impact on the Greek reader who, at that time, saw special meaning in using “the Word” as a title for Jesus. In short, the Greeks considered a person’s words (logos) to be the best representation of that person. A person’s words could lay bare the essence of that person. Likewise, John is saying here that Jesus was the ultimate Word. He was the Word of God or the exact representation of God in human form (see verse 18).

In verse 3 John explains that Jesus created everything. This strengthens the defense that Jesus “in the beginning was!” He was not created alongside creation or with creation. He Himself was creation’s creator. Therefore, He had to have existed before the beginning.

In verse 4 John explains that Jesus is the Light. We will delve into Jesus as the Light more in verses 8-9 as well as when we encounter John 8:12:

¹²Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”

In these first five verses John begins his gospel in the most grandiose way possible. He introduces exactly who Jesus is in a way that resonates with his audience, the Greeks. John is keeping with his main point that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (John 20:31).

John 1:5–9:

⁶There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.

⁷He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.

⁸He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

⁹There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

To progress John’s theme in his gospel, God calls on John to testify as to who Jesus is. No, this is not John the Apostle and writer of this gospel. This is John the Baptist. Actually, John the writer of this gospel never mentions himself by name in his own gospel.

While John the Baptist was not the Light of the world, he was the one to testify that Jesus was the one true Light. This Light was not just a light that illuminates but also the source of all light, pure and brilliant. He was the source of truth and knowledge of God and was in contrast to the darkness, which was falsehood. However, the Light was unable to be overcome by the darkness. Jesus was pure, brilliant, and the source of truth and knowledge of God, unable to be overcome by evil…truly the Son of God.

John 1:10-11:

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

¹¹He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

But the Light is even more than this. The Light is able to enlighten those who do not know the Light. In a word, the Light saves. Verses 10-11 describe the Light coming to those He created and yet they did not know Him. These verses are speaking of all humanity in more general terms. No one in the world, no one created by the Word knew the Word, much less believed in Him. We will see more of this unbelief throughout the gospel of John in spite of the miraculous signs that Jesus performed.

John 1:12-13:

¹²But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

¹³who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Yet in verses 12-13 John speaks of a remnant of all of humanity that will receive and believe in Jesus as Savior and Lord. This remnant is born anew of God. This is not a human birth of which all humans experience but a second birth that only God can perform on our hearts. More of this second birth will be discussed in John 3 where Jesus explains this concept to Nicodemus. In reading through verses 10-13 we can see how all of humanity is born into unbelief, not knowing our Creator. But then as we see, read, and hear of the work of Jesus our Creator He draws us to Himself so that we may have life eternal in Him.

John 1:14-18:

¹⁴And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ ”

¹⁶For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

¹⁷For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

¹⁸No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

In verses 14-18 John speaks of Jesus’ glory. The very essence of who God is, the Word, became flesh to us. Jesus became like us. He was someone who experienced what we experience both good and bad, but He and only He remained sinless. Jesus’ glory is unlike any other. This glory is complete and full of grace and truth. So full of grace and truth is His glory that it lacks nothing. As we seek Jesus in the gospel of John keep in mind that Jesus brings with Him the full glory of God. This means we know that as we are in Christ we too lack nothing in the way of grace and truth. Knowing this, let us shine forth His Light to everyone we meet.

Throughout verses 14-18 we hear of Jesus’ glory, grace, and truth, rank, and fullness. Then in verse 18 we are told that no one has ever seen God. So God gave us Jesus, the Word, to explain to us who God is. Therefore, we can be assured that as we behold Jesus throughout the gospel of John we know that we see the fullness of God in all His glory and His glory that is complete and perfect, lacking nothing in the way of grace and truth.