God becomes man so that all might have life.
Unlike Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which present comprehensive and similar, or synoptic, overviews of the Lord’s life, the Gospel of John is a highly stylized collection of carefully selected events and words, all directed toward one goal: that readers might find life by believing in Jesus as the Son of God (John 20:30, 31).
John introduces Jesus not as an infant but in the context of eternity, opening his book with the monumental truths that 1) Jesus is God; 2) Jesus has existed forever; and 3) despite His eternal, divine nature, Jesus took on human flesh to display God’s glory and offer grace to mankind (1:1–18). Jesus is our bridge between the eternal, spiritual, and supernatural, and the everyday, human, and natural. He is the divine Word (Greek: logos; original Greek word is shown in the accompanying illustration) of God, yet He became human and experienced life through our eyes. As we come to know Him and follow Him, we in turn can experience the life that He gives.
The Book of John does not name its author, but early church tradition usually identifies the writer as John the apostle of Jesus. The style and language of the Gospel resembles the style and language of 1, 2 and 3 John. Furthermore, the belief that the Gospel and the three epistles were produced by the apostle John is consistent with the author’s claim that he was an eyewitness of the events in his account (1:14; 1 John 1:1–4).
John and his brother James came from the affluent family of Zebedee, a successful fisherman who owned his own boat and had hired servants (Mark 1:19, 20). Together with their business partners Simon and Andrew (Luke 5:10), the brothers became loyal followers of Jesus. Their mother Salome also became a follower and supported Jesus’ ministry (Mark 15:4–41; Luke 8:3).
Modern Christians often regard John as the “apostle of love” because of the frequent appearance of that theme in his writings and because the Gospel of John calls him the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23). But this revered disciple certainly didn’t start out as a model of charity.
Apparently headstrong and opinionated, John and his brother were dubbed “Sons of Thunder” by Jesus (Mark 3:17). On one occasion they ignited a storm of protest and indignation from the other disciples by asking to sit on Jesus’ right and left hands in glory (10:35–45). On another occasion they offered to call down fire from heaven on an unreceptive Samaritan village; Jesus patiently rebuked them (Luke 9:51–56).
Somewhere along the way, John must have begun to truly hear his Lord’s words and see His actions—and want to imitate them in his own life. Though he was always an imperfect human being, John began to be transformed. After Jesus’ departure, John became a leader of the Christian movement. When word came that the gospel had spread to the Samaritans, John was sent with Peter to investigate. Where once he had wanted to call down fire to bring death, he now helped to call down the Holy Spirit to bring life (Acts 8:14–17, 25). The son of thunder had become a son of love.
Church tradition holds that after the execution of his brother James, John eventually migrated to Ephesus. It is widely believed that this John is the same man who late in his life was exiled for a time to the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea, where he wrote the Book of Revelation (Rev. 1:9). According to tradition, John was eventually allowed to return to Ephesus, where he died sometime after Trajan became emperor of Rome in A.D. 98.
It is difficult to say with certainty to whom this Gospel was addressed. It uses both Jewish and Greek thought forms in presenting Christ, and it appears to have been shaped for the widest possible readership. The Gospel is believed to have been composed in Ephesus sometime during the A.D. 90s.
Key Events in John
• John the Baptist baptizes Jesus (John 1:29–34).
• Jesus turns water into wine (John 2:1–11).
• Jesus informs Nicodemus that he must be born again (John 3:1–21).
• Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well (John 4:1–42).
• Jesus feeds the five thousand (John 6:1–15).
• Jesus heals a man blind from birth (John 9).
• Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd (John 10:1–18).
• Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1–54).
• Jesus speaks to His closest followers in the Upper Room (John 13–17).
• From the cross, Jesus commends His mother to John’s care (John 19:25–27).
• Jesus rises from the dead (John 20:1–18).
• Thomas doubts the Resurrection but believes when Jesus appears (John 20:24–29).