STUDY THE BIBLE 15
“The
Gospel of John”
THE
MYSTERY with THE HISTORY
The gospel
of John goes beyond just
describing Jesus as the Son of man here on earth, to include Jesus the
Son of
God from heaven, with John tracing the beginning of Jesus Christ back
before
Genesis 1:1. Matthew1:1-17 and Luke 3:23-38 outline the physical
generation of Christ, with the former from Abraham, and the latter from
Adam.
John reveals more of the mystery of
Christ from heaven while Matthew, Mark and Luke speak more of the
physical history and earthly events of Christ
here on earth.
Many
heresies and sects had quickly sprung up after
Jesus had risen bodily from the dead, and they were trying to downgrade
and
discredit the fact that Jesus was God. So John, Jesus’ favourite
disciple,
writes strongly to refute these heresies. The modern day sects, JW’s,
SDA’s,
Mormons, Christadelphians and so on, are nothing new, just a re-working
of the
1st century ones as outlined below. John is also written for
the Buddhists
, Hindus, New Agers, the Roman Catholics and others. This is why in the
Mormon
‘bible’ and the New World Translation and other corrupt translations,
have the Word was a God.
JESUS
CHRIST IS THE “I AM”
Imagine
someone
asking you “Who are you?”, and you reply “I AM THAT
I AM”.
You would
be
calling yourself both Jesus Christ and God, and describe yourself as
follows:-
I AM the
bread of life (John 6:35)
I AM the
light of the world (John 8:12)
Before Abraham was I AM (John 8:58)
I AM the door (John 10:9)
I AM the good
shepherd
(John 10:11)
I AM the
resurrection (John 11:25)
and
I AM the life (John 11:25)
I AM the way, I AM
the truth and I AM the life (John 14:6)
I AM the true
vine (John 15:1)
The
greatest and best man in the world must
say “By the grace of God ‘I am what I am’ ”,
but Jesus Christ says absolutely
- and is more than any creature, man or
angel can say – ‘I am THAT I am’.
Being self-existent, Christ
is self-sufficient, and
therefore all-sufficient. Christ
is eternal and unchangeable, and
always the same,
yesterday to-day
and for ever. Christ will be what he will be and what he is. Christ
says of
himself “I am Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which
is
to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8. We cannot
by searching find him out (Job 11:7).
And God
said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus
shalt thou say unto the children
of Israel,
I AM hath
sent me
unto you.Ex 3:14
Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
John 8:58
AUTHOR and
DATE
John
Zebedee, the writer of John, and Jesus
were cousins, as James Zebedee’s (Matt 4:21) mother was Salome, who was
sister
to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
It was
probably written, along with 1-3 John,
before AD 70, and sometime between 45AD – 65AD. Why? As the heresies
about
Christ quickly soon arose after his resurrection, would there be any
point
writing this book of John fifty years
after? Hardly. If you, the reader, were Christ’s beloved disciple,
as John
was, wouldn’t you be rather eager to destroy the lies and rumours about
your
beloved master as soon as possible?
Now,
John’s book of Revelation concerning future events, is
probably written on the
Isle of Patmos between 70-80AD.
Revelation has entirely different content,
being removed from the urgent
and destructive heresies mentioned in the gospel of John and 1st,
2nd
and 3rd John.
Docetists have
Christ simply an
angel, that appears as a man.
Ebionites say Christ
was not
divine.
Arians (Jehovah Witnesses and
Mormons) deny his deity as God, saying he was
a created being
Semi-Arians have
Christ was
similar of divine essence to God but subordinate to God.
Adoptionists have
Christ being adopted
by the Father at his baptism.
Monothelites
have Christ
with only
a human will.
Monarchians have
Christ with the
same essence as God but a lesser being.
Apollinarians denied
Christ’s human
nature which was taken up by the divine nature (these are the modern
day Hagin,
Copeland & the Word Faith
movement).
Nestorians have
Christ with two
distinct natures - divine and human.
Eutychians
have
the divine and human natures of Christ so blended together as to form one nature.
Monophysites said that
Christ was
a fusion of the natures, with a deified human nature.
BRIEF
OUTLINE OF
MODERN DAY HERESIES
All
heresies stem
from a misunderstanding of the blood of Jesus.
1.
Charismatic groups 2. Church
of Christ 3. Jehovah’s
Witnesses
4. Roman
Catholics 5. Seventh
Day Adventists
6. Mormons 7.
Christian Science
8. Unity School 9.
Worldwide Church of God
10.
Christadelphians 11. Scientology 12. Bahai
Numbers 6,7,8,9,10,11,12 have no blood atonement
whatsoever
The
Presbyterian Calvinist Jesus’ blood is heresy - not
shed for all, only for those God chooses to save.
(showing
less of the
description of Christ’s earthly life)
No
genealogy
is recorded – neither through his legal lineage through Joseph (as
given in
Matthew)
not
his personal descent through Mary (as given in Luke).
No
birth account.
Why? He was “in the beginning”
No
boyhood account; No temptation account; No transfiguration; No
appointing of
disciples; No parables; No ascension account; No great commission
John the
Baptist says
“This is the Son of God” (John 1:34)
Nathaniel says
“Thou art the Son of God” (John 1:40)
Peter says
“Thou art that
Christ, the Son of the living God”
(John 6:69)
Christ says of
himself “I AM the Son of God” (John 10:36)
Martha says
“Thou art the
Christ, the Son of God” (John 11:27)
Thomas says “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28)
John says
“Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31)
(Power
over earth,
water, body, sight, life)
1.
He
is Lord over his creation - turns
water into wine (John 2:1-11)
2.
He
is Lord over his creation – walks on
water (John 6:15-21)
3.
He
heals on the spot – the man at
Bethesda (John 5:1-47)
4.
He
heals from afar – the nobleman’s son
(John 4:46-54)
5.
He
feeds people – the 5,000 (John 6:1-14)
6.
He
gives sight – the blind man (John 9:1-41)
7.
He
raises the dead – Lazarus (John 11:1-57)
CHAPTER
TITLES
Chap
1 = Jesus is God. Deity; Light of
the world; The Word made flesh; John’s testimony; First disciples
C2
= Establishes authority. Cana
wedding; cleanses the temple
C3
= Nicodemus
C4
= Samaritan woman. Nobleman’s son
C5
= Crippled man at pool. Man healed
on Sabbath. Moses established
v46.
C6
= Feeding 5,000 True bread from
heaven
C7 = Jesus at Jerusalem Plot
to kill him; Debate over Christ’s
identity
C8
= “I AM” Woman in adultery “I
AM’
C9
= The blind man from birth
C10
= Jesus is the door Jesus is the
shepherd
C11
= Lazarus
C12
= Entry into his city of Jerusalem
THE
LAST SUPPER: C13 =
The last supper Feet washing; Peter’s good intention
C14 = The last supper Let not your heart be
troubled
C15
= The last supper True vine
C16 = The last supper Send the Comforter
C17 = The last supper Prayer
THE CROSS: C18 = Betrayal
C19 = Cross
C20 = Resurrection
C21 = On the beach Disciples go fishing Feed my sheep
**** ****
This
website’s front page is:
www.
“JUSTIFIED:
To be
declared innocent”
**** ****
“If he
hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought,
put that
on mine account;”
(Philemon 1:18)
Australian
Bible Ministries, PO
Box 5058 Mt. Gravatt East 4122 Qld, Australia
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
