John

Introduction

The Gospel according to John presents Jesus as the eternal Word of God, who “became a human being and lived among us.” As the book itself says, this Gospel was written so that its readers might believe that Jesus is the promised Saviour, the Son of God, and that through their faith in him they may have life (20:31).

After an introduction that identifies the eternal Word of God with Jesus, the first part of the Gospel presents various miracles which show that Jesus is the promised Saviour, the Son of God. These are followed by discourses that explain what is revealed by the miracles. This part of the book tells how some people believed in Jesus and became his followers, while others opposed him and refused to believe. Chapters 13–17 record at length the close fellowship of Jesus with his disciples on the night of his arrest, and his words of preparation and encouragement to them on the eve of his crucifixion. The closing chapters tell of Jesus’ arrest and trial, his crucifixion and resurrection, and his appearance to his disciples after the resurrection.

The story of the woman caught in adultery (8:1–11) is placed in brackets because many manuscripts and early translations omit it, while others include it in other places.

John emphasizes the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, a gift which begins now and which comes to those who respond to Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. A striking feature of John is the symbolic use of common things from everyday life to point to spiritual realities, such as water, bread, light, the shepherd and his sheep, and the grapevine and its fruit.

Outline of Contents

Prologue 1:1–18

John the Baptist and the first disciples of Jesus 1:19–51

Jesus’ public ministry 2:1–12:50

The last days in and near Jerusalem 13:1–19:42

The resurrection and appearances of the Lord 20:1–31

Epilogue: another appearance in Galilee 21:1–25

The Word of Life

1 In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2From the very beginning the Word was with God. 3Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. 4The Word was the source of life,a and this life brought light to people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

6 *God sent his messenger, a man named John, 7who came to tell people about the light, so that all should hear the message and believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came to tell about the light. 9This was the real light—the light that comes into the world and shines on everyone.

10 The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through him, yet the world did not recognize him. 11He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him. 12Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God’s children. 13They did not become God’s children by natural means, that is, by being born as the children of a human father; God himself was their Father.

14 The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son.

15 John spoke about him. He cried out, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘He comes after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’ ”

16 Out of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. 17God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

John the Baptist’s Message

(Matt 3:1–12; Mark 1:1–8; Luke 3:1–18)

19 The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John, to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 John did not refuse to answer, but spoke out openly and clearly, saying: “I am not the Messiah.”

21 *“Who are you, then?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”

“No, I am not,” John answered.

“Are you the Prophet?”b they asked.

“No,” he replied.

22 “Then tell us who you are,” they said. “We have to take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23 *John answered by quoting the prophet Isaiah:

“I am ‘the voice of someone shouting in the desert:

Make a straight path for the Lord to travel!’ ”

24 The messengers, who had been sent by the Pharisees, 25thenc asked John, “If you are not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?”

26 John answered, “I baptize with water, but among you stands the one you do not know. 27He is coming after me, but I am not good enough even to untie his sandals.”

28 All this happened in Bethany on the east side of the River Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’ 31I did not know who he would be, but I came baptizing with water in order to make him known to the people of Israel.”

32 And John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and stay on him. 33I still did not know that he was the one, but God, who sent me to baptize with water, had said to me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and stay on a man; he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34I have seen it,” said John, “and I tell you that he is the Son of God.”

The First Disciples of Jesus

35 The next day John was standing there again with two of his disciples, 36when he saw Jesus walking by. “There is the Lamb of God!” he said.

37 The two disciples heard him say this and went with Jesus. 38Jesus turned, saw them following him, and asked, “What are you looking for?”

They answered, “Where do you live, Rabbi?” (This word means “Teacher”.)

39 “Come and see,” he answered. (It was then about four o’clock in the afternoon.) So they went with him and saw where he lived, and spent the rest of that day with him.

40 One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41At once he found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah.” (This word means “Christ”.) 42Then he took Simon to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas.” (This is the same as Peter and means “a rock”.)

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come with me!” 44(Philip was from Bethsaida, the town where Andrew and Peter lived.) 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the book of the Law and whom the prophets also wrote about. He is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

46 “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” answered Philip.

47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him, “Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!”

48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered, “I saw you when you were under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

49 “Teacher,” answered Nathanael, “you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

50 Jesus said, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you when you were under the fig tree? You will see much greater things than this!” 51*And he said to them, “I am telling you the truth: you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.”

The Wedding in Cana

2 Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine had given out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine left.”

4 “You must not tell me what to do,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

5 Jesus’ mother then told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 The Jews have rules about ritual washing, and for this purpose six stone water jars were there, each one large enough to hold about a hundred litres. 7Jesus said to the servants, “Fill these jars with water.” They filled them to the brim, 8and then he told them, “Now draw some water out and take it to the man in charge of the feast.” They took him the water, 9which now had turned into wine, and he tasted it. He did not know where this wine had come from (but, of course, the servants who had drawn out the water knew); so he called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone else serves the best wine first, and after the guests have had plenty to drink, he serves the ordinary wine. But you have kept the best wine until now!”

11 Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana in Galilee; there he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

12 *After this, Jesus and his mother, brothers, and disciples went to Capernaum and stayed there a few days.

Jesus Goes to the Temple

(Matt 21:12, 13; Mark 11:15–17; Luke 19:45, 46)

13 *It was almost time for the Passover Festival, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. 14There in the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons, and also the moneychangers sitting at their tables. 15So he made a whip from cords and drove all the animals out of the Temple, both the sheep and the cattle; he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins; 16and he ordered those who sold the pigeons, “Take them out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market place!” 17*His disciples remembered that the scripture says, “My devotion to your house, O God, burns in me like a fire.”

18 The Jewish authorities replied with a question, “What miracle can you perform to show us that you have the right to do this?”

19 *Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple, and in three days I will build it again.”

20 “Are you going to build it again in three days?” they asked him. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple!”

21 But the temple Jesus was speaking about was his body. 22So when he was raised from death, his…