Introduction to the Gospel of John

Learning the Bible with JD Wilhite

Gospel of John – Lesson 1 Introduction to the Gospel of John The word “Gospel” means “good news”, and the good news is about Jesus Christ dying on the cross and then 3 days later conquering death and rising from the dead, offering salvation to all mankind. John is sometimes called the “Gospel of belief,” or the holy of holies of the 4 gospels. Simple in language but profound in meaning. Author: John the apostle is the writer of the book. John 13:23 describes John “as the Disciple that Jesus loved.” John knew Jewish life well and he was an eyewitness of the Gospel. John was the son of Zebedee and Salome (sister of Mary, Jesus’ mother, which would make John and Jesus cousins). John had a brother, James. Jesus nicknamed John the son of thunder, showing his temper. John was one of the three inner circle of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus left his mother Mary in John’s care, having spoken the words from the cross. When: The Gospel of John was written between 85-90 A.D. It is also important to consider John 5:2 when it mentions “Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep [market] a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.” This verse would indicate that this existed at the current time the Gospel of John was written. This would place the written work before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Overview/What: In the NT, there are 4 gospels. Three are called the synoptic gospels. They are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew was written for the Jews Mark was written for the Romans Luke was written for the Greeks And John was written for the wretched or needy The synoptic gospels provide a chronology of Jesus’ life. John contains 93% original...
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