THE GOSPEL OF JOHN, PART 1,
INTRODUCTION
By
Dr. Stephen Jones: Sep 09, 2019
Blog Post Date: 10-8-2019
Today
we start a new series, a commentary on the Gospel of John. I have long wanted
to do this study but was not led to do so until now. I first did an audio tape
series on John about 25 years ago. It took 30 tapes, each 90 minutes long! That
series, of course, is no longer available. Some years later, I reduced it to
just four tapes, but that was more of a summary.
I
included many historical details from the Gospel of John in my 8-book
commentary on Luke, but the time has come to do a separate study on John. I
imagine by the time this is completed (if ever), it will be at least as long as
my study on Luke or Revelation.
Dating John’s Gospel
There
are many theories as to the date that John wrote his gospel. John was the
youngest of Jesus’ disciples and lived to the year 100, which was two or three
years into the reign of Emperor Trajan (97-117), so he had many years to write
down his thoughts. Irenaeus (120-202) wrote in his book, Against Heresies,
XXII, 5,
“And he [John] remained
among them up to the times of Trajan.”
John
had been exiled to Patmos in 93 A.D. toward the end of the reign the emperor
Domitian (81-96), who had severely persecuted the church. Domitian had taken
upon himself the title Censor Perpetuus, “Perpetual Censor,” giving him
the right to determine the moral code for the empire. In 93 he added to himself
the title of Dominus et Deus, “lord and god.”
According
to Tertullian in his book, On Prescription against Heretics, XXXVI,
“How
happy is its church, on which apostles poured forth all their doctrines along
with their blood! Where Peter endures a passion like his Lord’s! Where Paul
wins his crown in a death like John’s! Where the Apostle John was first
plunged, unhurt, into boiling oil, and thence remitted to his island-exile!”
This
failed execution explains why John was exiled to Patmos, instead of being
executed as usual. Patmos was the Alcatraz of the day, a rugged island located
24 miles off the coast of modern Turkey, where hardened criminals lived on one
side and political prisoners on the other. The political prisoners were treated
with greater respect and allowed to roam the island freely.
After
Domitian was murdered in 96, his successor, Nerva, granted amnesty to many of
Domitian’s political prisoners, including John. The apostle and his friend
Prochorus, who had accompanied John and who ministered to his needs on Patmos,
returned to Ephesus to continue ministering to the church. Meanwhile, of
course, John had written the book of Revelation.
John’s
gospel was started around 65-69 A.D. at the start of the Jewish Revolt that had
resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. It was also about the time
that Peter and Paul were executed in Rome. But his gospel remained unfinished
for many years.
In
fact, it has three distinct endings (as we will see later), which shows that
the apostle continued to add to it and perhaps also to edit the gospel for many
decades. His gospel remained essentially an unfinished manuscript until 97 A.D.
Even so, there is no doubt that John had been teaching these things from the
beginning.
John
as a Type of High Priest
John’s
influence in the church was enormous, since he was essentially recognized sort of
as a high priest of the church since the death of Peter and Paul in 67 A.D. The
editors of Eusebius’ book, Ecclesiastical History, tell us in an
Appendix:
“The
Passion Narrative in the fourth Gospel seems to suggest that John was known to
the high priest (John xviii. 15), even though John was a Galilean fisherman,
the son of Zebedee. Polycrates tells us that he wore the petalon (like
James the Lord’s brother, q.v.), which perhaps suggests that he belonged to one
of the priestly families.” [Who’s Who in Eusebius, an addendum from
Penguin Books edition]
Eusebius
himself quoted Polycrates in his book, saying,
“Again
there is John, who leant back on the Lord’s breast, and who became a priest
wearing a mitre [petalon], a martyr and a teacher; he too sleeps in
Ephesus.” [Ecclesiastical History, III, 31]
When
Paul was in a Roman prison facing execution in 67 A.D., he sent for Timothy (2 Timothy 4:9)
and told him in 2 Timothy 4:13,
13 When you come, bring the cloak [phelonen] which I left at Troas with
Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.
Paul
was not asking for an overcoat. Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
says,
“Phelonen
was a wrapper of parchments, and was translated figuratively in Latin by toga
or paenula, ‘a cloak,’ sometimes of leather.” (quoted from Restoring the
Original Bible, by Dr. Ernest Martin]
It
is certain that Paul was asking Timothy to bring him the original copies of his
own letters, which he had left with his trusted friend Carpus. These were
protected by a phelonen, a leather carrying case, or “cloak.”
I
believe Paul wanted these letters in order to determine which were to be
included in the New Testament canon. He may have wanted to do a final edit of
these as well before sending them to John for inclusion in the canon, along
with Matthew, which had already been written in 37 A.D.
The
New Testament canon was completed (except for the Gospel of John and the
Revelation) by 74 A.D., just a year after the conclusion of the Roman War.
The
Hebrew Structure of the Gospel of John
In
order to truly gain an understanding of John’s gospel, one must see its
structure. The gospel is structured according to the popular Hebrew parallelism
of the day, known as a chiasm. It is a structure where an author builds
his case from one point to another, and when he reaches his climax, he
immediately begins to reverse course until he reaches the end of his thought.
Sometimes
chiasms are short, sometimes long, but the basic structure is the same. We see
many such examples in both testaments. Many of Jesus’ parables are structured
as chiasms. However, the Gospel of John as a whole is structured as a chiasm,
built upon eight miracle-signs (semeion) that Jesus did to manifest His glory.
By understanding this literary tool, we see evidence of organization and can
get a better idea about the flow of John’s teaching.
A.
The marriage in Cana (2:1-11)
B. The ruler’s son healed (4:46-50)
C. The impotent man healed (5:1-47)
D. The feeding of the five thousand (6:1-14)
D1. Walking on the sea (6:15-21)
C1. The man born blind (9:1-41)
B1. The sisters’ brother healed (11:1-44)
A1.
The 153 fish caught (21:1-14)
As
anyone can see at a glance, A is a parallel to A1, B is parallel to
B1, etc. The climax of John’s gospel is found in the fourth and
fifth signs in John (D and D1), which are in the middle of the
chiasm.
The
Miracle-Signs
The
main purpose of these miracle-signs is in the fact that miracles are not just
miraculous acts. They are signs. In other words, the miracles point to
something else on a prophetic level. That prophetic purpose was set forth after
Jesus’ first miracle, as we see from John 2:11,
11 This beginning of His signs [semeion] Jesus did in Cana of Galilee,
and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.
The
purpose of the signs was to manifest His glory. As we will see, this goes back
to the underlying purpose of creation itself. The earth was created to manifest
the glory of the Creator. Creation was to be filled with the glory of God.
Heaven and earth were to be married, and the earth (woman) was to reflect the
truth and glory of heaven by the law of the double witness.
We
know, of course, that Adam’s sin caused a great detour and delay in God’s
purpose. But God cannot be defeated, nor can He fail, because to fail (khawtaw)
is to sin. God is no sinner. Hence, in the end, His purpose must be fulfilled.
As Christians, we believe that God is able to fulfill all of His promises (Romans 4:21),
for that is the basis of New Covenant faith.
Christ
Himself, as the Logos (John 1:1), was the necessary beginning
of divine success. Without Him, nothing was created, and without Him,
nothing could be restored to fulfill the original intent and purpose of
creation. Hence, He is the original Promise of God and the Foundation of all
things.
As
we will also show in our study, these eight semeion link to the eight
days of the feast of Tabernacles, the climactic feast each year which
prophesied of the manner in which the glory of God must surely come to earth.
Without some understanding of the feast days in Scripture, one can hardly
understand prophecy, because the feast days prophesy on both a personal and a creation
level.
There
are two sets of feast days. The Spring feasts (in the northern hemisphere,
which is where the land of Israel was located) prophesy of Christ first coming
from the cross (Passover) to His resurrection and presentation to the Father
(Wave-sheaf offering) to the coming of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost).
The
Autumn feasts prophesy of Christ’s second coming, beginning with the
resurrection (Trumpets), the proclamation of the Jubilee (Atonement), the
transfiguration of the overcomers (1st day of Tabernacles), the
coming of the Head upon the body (middle of Tabernacles), and finally the
presentation of the Sons of God to the Father (8th day of
Tabernacles).
These
events are prophesied in the Gospel of John through the chiasm of the eight
semeion, which set forth the path of Sonship. The glory of God begins to be
manifested in the earth through Jesus Christ (John 2:11), and from there it proceeds
to a greater manifestation of the Sons of God. From there it proceeds to the
glorification of the church as a whole, and finally to “all men” who are
brought back to Himself (John 12:32).
Only
when all of creation has fulfilled its divine purpose will God be satisfied.
That is the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).
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