 So, welcome to class. Before we begin, would anyone open class and prayer, please? Father, Father, thank you for the wonderful God you are. We come to you as a family, Lord. To praise you, glorify you and worship you with everything that we do. We thank you for instilling this desire to know more about your Word. We know that we are here not by coincidence, but because you willed us to come here, to learn more about you, to... because you have a specific mission for us, and... and therefore Lord, we just surrender everything into your hands. We commend this... this lesson into your hands, Lord Jesus, and we ask you to anoint us that everything that we learn will be embedded in our hearts, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, thank you. So, we'll just go into some more of the introductory, the background information on the book of John, and then try and finish the outline as well today. So, what do we know about the author of the Gospel of John? We know that there is someone in this Gospel who is referred to as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And we have specific references here in the Gospel where this disciple is mentioned. This disciple is part of the inner circle, so we know that Jesus had these three disciples who were with him at certain times when no other disciples were with him. So, that's Peter, James, and John. But in the Gospel of John, Peter is mentioned strictly from the disciple whom Jesus loved. Okay, and then James was martyred before the writing of this Gospel, so it can't be James, so that leaves John as the disciple whom Jesus loved being that person. Okay, so, we also believe that it was a Palestinian Jew because of the content that is written in the Gospel is very linked to what was happening with Jews in Palestine at that time. So, John was also from Palestine, even though it's believed that he moved away and he lived in Ephesus, which is in Asia Minor. We look at that on the map. So, he moved away from Palestine and lived there. It's believed that he lived there after Paul's ministry in Ephesus. But his background was from Palestine and so a lot of this Gospel could have been reports from people who continued to be in Palestine before the temple was destroyed in AD 70. According to the Gospel, the writing comes from someone who is an eyewitness. We see there's a lot of attention to detail in terms of numbers, weights, those kinds of things in a lot of detail. Names of people where in other Gospels you may have a story about healing, but it's just a woman or a man. We don't know the name of the person. In this Gospel, we have the name of the person mentioned. So, there is a lot of attention to detail or a lot of information that only an eyewitness would remember or be able to record for us. He also claims to be a witness to the events itself. In chapter 1 verse 14, he says, we have seen his glory. So, the word became flesh and we have seen his glory. So, claiming to be someone who actually witnessed Jesus' ministry and saw Jesus in the flesh ministering and doing the work that he did. So, we also have in 1935, if someone could open that for us, John 1935. And he who has seen as testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe. Thank you. So, this is written with regard to the sword being pierced through the side of Jesus and seeing the water and the blood come out. So, he's saying that this testimony came from someone who actually was present. And right before that, we have the story about Jesus telling the disciple whom he loved to take care of his mother. He says, a woman here is your son and to the disciple, he says, here is your mother. So, we have that testimony saying that that disciple was there at the cross. And then we have this sword piercing story and then he says that the account we have is from an eyewitness. So, all of these things seem to point to the fact that John wrote it. Apart from this, we also have the testimony of the early church. So, the apostle John discipled someone named Paulicup. So, Paulicup was one of the early church fathers and then Paulicup discipled Irenaeus. And Irenaeus himself said that this gospel was written by John. So, based on early church fathers' testimonies and that tradition, this gospel has been accredited to the disciple John. So, there are some modern scholars who question whether it was really written by John for various reasons. One of which is the disciple whom Jesus loved to claim to being the author. Are they actually claiming that they are the author of this book? They also think that John could not have written so late because this book was written much later towards AD 90. So, could someone of that age have written something with so much, they've put a lot of thought into it, right? They have to have a lot of mental strength or sharpness to be able to write a gospel like this. So, could someone at that age have written this gospel? So, those are some of the questions that people have. But based on the early church's testimony itself, we continue to accept this book as a book written by the disciple John. So, what do we know about John? He is named as, he's given the nickname of sons of Thunder, he and his brother James. Jesus himself gives them this nickname in Mark 3.17. His father was Zebedee, his mother was Salome. Now, we know from the references here in Mark and Matthew that Salome also was part of the women who followed Jesus, minister to Jesus when he was in Galilee and she's also one of the women who was with him right up to his death and burial. Okay, so not only John but also his mother continued to follow as a disciple of Christ. John was a fisherman in Galilee, that's when he was called to follow Jesus. He's selected to be one of the 12 apostles and then in Galatians 2.9, we have a record that he was one of the pillars of the church after Jesus' resurrection. So, maybe if we can just read that Galatians 2.9, someone can read that for us. Galatians 2.9, and when James and Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Thank you. So, we see here that John continued to be a strong leader in the church after Jesus' ascension. Peter and John in Acts, we have three records of Peter and John continuing to minister together after Jesus ascended. So, we have them healing the beggar at the temple gate and in Acts 8.14, they both are sent out to minister to the Samaritans because the Samaritans have received the gospel. And so, the church elders sent Peter and John to minister to the Samaritans further to build up the church there. And then we, as I mentioned before, that as per tradition, John went to Ephesus after Paul was there, after Paul had established the church there, John went and he lived in Ephesus and eventually was exiled to Patmos. So, date of writing is believed to be between 85 to 95 AD, so this is the last of the four gospels. And John's books in the New Testament, his five books are also the last five books that were written in the New Testament. So, it's 20 years after the rest of the synoptics that this gospel was written, so much later. So, his goals in writing are very, very different from why the synoptics were written. While the synoptics focus on Jesus' ministry, Jesus' life, Jesus' birth, John's gospel, we look at more, has a very different take on who Jesus is and presents Jesus in a very different light because of what was happening at this time, AD 85 to AD 95. So, this is where John lived in Ephesus and this is basically Asia Minor and he was exiled eventually to Patmos, which is not too far away. So, it's believed that he was writing his letter from here. So, he moved away from Galilee, I don't know if I have that, okay, I don't have that map, but Galilee was north, right? So, there's Judea, Samaria and Galilee right up in the north. So, this is where John was originally from, he was from Galilee, but he moved to Ephesus and continued to minister from Ephesus to the people in Galilee. It's believed that he continued to write letters to them. So, why did he write? If someone can read for us, John 2031 please. John 2031, since it was the day of preparation and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day. The Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. This is John 2031, John chapter 20 verses 31. Sorry, sorry. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name. Okay, so within the Gospel itself, we have the author's intent given. So, it's saying written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah. So, having faith that Jesus himself is the one who was promised in the Old Testament to be the one who would save His people. And then in addition to Jesus the Messiah, He's the Son of God and by believing you may have life. Okay, so these are the three things that he mentions. Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God and by faith in Jesus, you will have life, you will have eternal life. So, based on that, we see here one thing that there was a lot of heresy going on within the church. So, some of the things that John addresses in this Gospel of the word becoming flesh. So, he's emphasizing the fact that Jesus took on a physical body. So, one of the Greek philosophical thoughts that was being propagated and also spreading into the church is that Jesus didn't actually take a physical form. Jesus was divine but he was not fully human and so this teaching of the word became flesh addressed that part of the heresy. The other was that Jesus was fully human but not fully God. And so, we see John also addressing that Jesus was there in the beginning, right? He was there with God before creation. And so, both of these aspects of Jesus' divinity, Jesus' humanity, are brought out in the Gospel to address wrong teaching, wrong thinking that had come into the church through these Greek philosophies that were and the Gnostic heresy that was present and coming into the church as well. The other aspect of this is to encourage Jewish Christians. So, at that time there was a lot of persecution of Jewish Christians. So, Jewish Christians were being thrown out of synagogues because the Jews themselves were rejecting the faith of these people who had followed somebody named Jesus and believed that he was a Messiah. So, they were not being welcomed into synagogues and then the Romans were also quite doubtful about what was this group because they knew about the Jews and the Jews were people who didn't worship the Emperor but the Christians were a new group that had come up. And so, for them, they questioned who these people were, why were they not worshipping the Emperor. So, there was persecution coming from both the Romans as well as the Jews and the Jewish Christians were having to deal with that persecution. So, we'll see here in John's Gospel there's a lot that addresses persecution and there's a lot of encouragement to confessing their faith in Christ. We see the story of Nicodemus right in John 3. Nicodemus comes in the night. He's scared because he's part of the Jewish Council but he's not yet sure about who Jesus is. But by the end of the Gospel you see how Nicodemus' faith grows and he comes to take Jesus' body with Joseph of Armitea. So, he's identifying as a disciple of Jesus by the end of the Gospel. We see other examples of Joseph of Armitea as well. We see Jesus' call. So, let's just look at that verse. John 12, 24 to 26. If someone can read that for us. Shall I go ahead, sister? Yes, please. John 12, 24 to 26. Yeah. Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, let him follow me and where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves him, my father will honor. Thank you. So, this can be seen as one of the key verses in the Gospel of John because right here we see Jesus' call to discipleship. That if you are called to follow me, you are called to lay down your life for me. And if we look at John's intent of encouraging persecuted Christians, then we recognize that this verse is meant to tell them persecution is something that will come. But through that, you can expect that your life will bear fruit for Christ. So we see that kind of tension between persecution, between suffering, between fear about following Jesus. And then on the other side, this promise of eternal life. Those two things are highlighted a lot through the Gospel of John. And almost as a reminder to those disciples who John is writing to say that even though all of this is what comes as a result of following Jesus, the hope that we have is an eternal hope. Right? We're not looking for life here on earth as the end. Our life is with Christ in heaven. And so we see a lot of that. There are many examples throughout the Gospel that we can see where people who were afraid before like Peter's denial and Peter's restoration, all of these things being highlighted through the Gospel of John as ways to encourage these believers. On the other hand, we also see the theme of eternal life through Christ. So that believing in Jesus Christ, like what we looked at in that John 2031. Right? So it's the Son of God, the Messiah and eternal life by believing. So that is the other theme that we see here in the Gospel of John. And the key verse for that is John 3.16. We all know that verse. So for God, so love the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. So that promise I write at the center and given right in the beginning of John. And then some key words that we see throughout the Gospel. So God mentioned his father. That's 121 times. Believe. So that importance given to continue to have faith in Jesus. And then word is mentioned 78 times Jesus as the word. Under distinctive features, I've only included things we haven't already covered. So we covered a lot of things earlier in last week's class. So I haven't taken everything from the textbook, only the ones we didn't cover already. So some of the distinctive features is the I am sayings of Christ. So through this Gospel, we see that I am and then Jesus says I am the Messiah. I am the bread of life. That use of the I am is pointing back to the Old Testament where Yahweh reveals himself as I am. Right? Where does he do that? What's it? Yeah. So he reveals himself as the I am to Moses. So that is something that the Jews recognized right as unique to God himself that I am title belongs to God. And Jesus uses this to talk about himself in the Gospel of John. One of the very key ones is before Abraham was I am. And that's when he really offends the Pharisees because he's using that title, that divine title. So John's Gospel is very unique because it uses that title for Jesus. And these are all of the examples of where it has been used. Then we have the divine commission. So where Jesus talks about the fact that he has been sent from the fathers. That's especially in chapter five of John's Gospel. The Gospel also emphasizes the fatherhood of God. So over 127 times it's mentioned. These are just a few examples. God is a spiritual father, life-giving father. The message that Jesus is preaching is from the father himself. Father is greater than all. What Jesus is doing is the works of the father. God is the indwelling father, the eternal father, the holy father, the righteous father. So emphasis on God as father. And Jesus as the Son of God. Another thing that's very unique to the Gospel of John is that more than half of the book is focused on Jesus's life and whatever he taught as he was going to the cross. So whereas the other Gospels are focused on his birth, his ministry, the three years of ministering. This Gospel is very focused on Jesus heading towards the cross and what are the main things that he does and he teaches as he is going to the cross. So more than half of the book is dedicated to that. Also there are several conversations and teachings that are only found in this Gospel. So the one with Nicodemus, the Samaritan women, the Jews at the feast, the parable of the Good Shepherd. This is teaching to the disciples and his prayer for the disciples in chapters 14 to 17. And then his meeting with the disciples after his resurrection, which is in chapter 21. This is where the restoration of Peter happens. And then there are eight miracles mentioned out of these eight miracles. Only two are found in the other Gospels. Six of them are unique to John. So two of the main thoughts that flow through the book are faith and eternal life. So considering John's intent of encouraging persecuted believers, you can see why he chose these two things as themes that he would continue to talk about throughout the book. So continue to have faith in Christ and the hope of eternal life. It is through Christ that we have eternal life. So encouraging them throughout the book, we'll see these two themes repeated. Okay, so we'll just do this last part and then we'll go into the outline. So compared with the synoptics, again, I've only taken things we haven't already covered. So your textbook has a few more things, but I just took whatever we haven't talked about already. We have the recording of the washing of the disciples' feet in this Gospel that is not included in the other Gospels. So from this Gospel, we know that the washing of the disciples' feet happens in the Last Supper. But from the other Gospels, we have the institution of the Lord Supper itself, that is the breaking of bread and the sharing in that cup of Christ. Okay, so those two things come from the synoptics, but the washing of the disciples' feet is only mentioned in John. Compared to one John, so first John, there there is kind of establishing believers in their faith. John's Gospel is introducing Jesus as the one who gives eternal life. So introducing that concept in the Gospel of John and then in one John establishing believers in their faith. And then compared to Revelation, John's Gospel presents the earthly ministry of Jesus. And in Revelation, it's Jesus who's been exalted to heaven and Jesus's continued role of being worshiped in the heavens. So that's the difference between Revelation and this Gospel. So with that, we'll go into the outline. I hope everyone is here. So we'll just go through from John 1. If your name is up, please unmute or if you're in class, you can take the mic. And you can share a summary of the chapter that's been assigned to you. We start with Brother Kofi, John 1. John chapter 1 has 51 verses. And from verse 1 to 5, we see the beginning, the Word as it's set in the beginning. The Word was God. And from verse 6 to 13, we see John, the Baptist, who is introducing Jesus Christ as the light of the world. From 13 to 18, the world become flesh and made it well in among men, 19 to 28. Also, he had done the Baptist in Bethany, baptism, saying he is not the light of the world. So he shows whom he is as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, making street the way of the Lord. Then we also look at verses 29 to 34, where God through the Spirit showed John the Baptist the lamp of God in the person of Jesus Christ. And John testified about him. Verse 35 to 46, the call of disciples, that is Andrews and Philip, who also intend calling their brothers or witnessing about the Messiah to their brothers. And then they also come in to follow Christ. And then from 47 to 51, we see Nathaniel's encounter with Christ. Amen. Thank you brother. John 2, Comer. John chapter 2. In this chapter, we can see only two incidents happen. The first one is from 1 to 12, we can see Jesus performs his first miracle at a wedding in Ghana by turning water into wine. Here we can see that Jesus went to a wedding and his mother said that there is no wine. Then he said to service that fill the water pots with water. And they fill the water pots with water. And he said that draw some out and take to the master of fish. And when they took that water to the master of the fish, when it taste, it was wine. This miracle reveals his glory and his disciples believe in him. And second thing is that from 13 to 22, Jesus then cleanses the temple in Jerusalem, driving out the money changers and those selling animals. And when they asked for a sign of his authority, Jesus predicts his own death and resurrection. And from 23 to 25, he's writing about the decisionals of hearts. When Jesus did so many miracles, signs, many people believed in him. But he did not committed himself to anyone because he knew all men. Thank you, Komal. John 3, Sister Lucy. Yes, Sister. John 3 from verses 215. It's about the conversation between Jesus Christ and Echodimus, a Pharisee, a Jewish council. He comes to Jesus at night and says, Teacher, we know you are a teacher coming from God and no one can do these things unless God is with him. Further to the conversation, Jesus Christ says to him, Unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh and spirit is spirit. So do not be marveled that you must be born again. And also says, if you don't accept our testimony, if you don't believe the earthly things I told you, how will you believe if I tell you the earthly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must be the Son of Man. We lifted up everyone who believes will have eternal life. From verses 16 to 21, John the Baptist says, For God so loved the world so much, he sent his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. He sent his Son not to condemn the world, but to save the world, whoever believes in him is not condemned. And who does not believe is condemned already for not believing in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And from 22 to 36, it's about John the Baptist testifying about Lord Jesus Christ, talking about Jesus Christ. Then here the instant there is a dispute that is between John the Baptist disciples and Jews over Jesus Christ baptizing people at the other end, at that time John the Baptist testifies about Jesus Christ that he missed increase and high must decrease. He who comes from heaven is above all and who is of earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. For Son of God whom God sent speaks words of God for God empowers him with the spirit in abundance, not by measure for the Father loves the Son and is given all things in his in abundance to him. For he who believes in the Son has everlasting life and who does not believe the Son shall not see life but have wrath of God on him. Thank you. Thank you. Should we go to John 4, Miriam. Okay, I don't think Miriam is in class today, so I'll just cover John 4. So John 4 is the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus and his disciples passed through Samaria. Now this in itself was not common. Jews usually avoided going through Samaria because they didn't associate with Samaritans. But Jesus intentionally goes through Samaria and stops at the well while his disciples go to bring some food. While he's there he meets the Samaritan woman who comes to take water. She's by herself and Jesus starts to talk to her. So in this conversation he's crossing a lot of boundaries that were set in place culturally based on gender, based on religion, all of that he shouldn't have been associating himself with this woman at all. But he chooses to cross over all of those boundaries and have this conversation with her and in that reveal himself as the Messiah. Through this conversation many people within her village as well come to faith in Christ and then Jesus and his disciples move on and go back to Galilee. So we see the disciples come back. We see many Samaritans believe. Then Jesus goes back to Galilee and while he's in Galilee there is a government official whose son is dying who comes to Jesus and asks Jesus to heal his son. Jesus tells him your son will live and sends him back. The man believes and as he's returning back his servants come to him saying that his son is well again and so he asks his servants what time was he healed and discovers that it was the exact time that Jesus told him to go back home because his son would live. And so he and his whole household believe in Christ because of this miracle. We'll go into John 5. Oh, Nelson is not here, right? Okay. So I look at John 5. So this is the story of the man at the pool at Bethesda. He's a man who's been who's paralyzed. He's lying on a mat. And we have a record here that he's been in the state for 38 years. He's been there and not been able to receive healing. So what is the belief that an angel comes and stirs the water every year and the first person who enters will be healed. But this man has never been able to get in when that happens. So Jesus asks him a very important question. Do you want to get well? Okay. So he says I have no one to help me. So he doesn't answer the question and actually say, yes, I want to get well, but Jesus still heals him anyway. But what happens? He tells him, don't go and tell anyone that I did this. The man initially doesn't know that it's Jesus who healed him. So when he's questioned by the Jewish leaders about who healed him, he's not able to answer their question. And why the Jewish leaders are upset is because he's healed on the Sabbath. But then when he does discover that it's Jesus who healed him, he goes and tells the Jewish leaders, which then leads into the next section of the Jewish leaders being upset with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. And so they ask him why he's doing these things on the Sabbath day, why he's breaking the Sabbath rules. And Jesus answers that his father is working at all times and continues to work even at present. And so Jesus too works with the father, whatever the father is doing, Jesus does with him. And so he says, whatever the son can do nothing by himself, he can only do what he sees the father doing. And basically this is his testimony about him being the son of God. He then goes on to also talk about the fact that the things he's doing are the things that testify to who he is. It's not his words. He's not testifying about himself, but the work that he's doing that points to his identity as the Messiah and the son of God. With that, we come to the end of John 6. John 7 is Parumita here. Parumita, are you ready to share on John 7? Yes ma'am. Okay, you can go ahead. In John 7, we see that Lord Jesus attends the Feast of Tabernacle in Jerusalem. Initially, when his brothers urged him to go public with his teachings, he was reluctant and emphasized that his time has not come. This point, this is one of the key teachings of this chapter that there is a divine time for everything. For everything that happens in our life, there is a divine time. Despite this, he eventually goes to the temple and openly teaches in the temple. They are sharing a controversy among the people. Jesus also speaks about living water and claims himself to be sent by God. There are debates about his identity with some believing in him and others seeking to arrest him. When he talks about the living water, he also emphasizes about human behavior who tend to judge people by mere appearances. He teaches us not to judge someone by his appearance but make a right judgment. Here he also emphasizes about the Holy Spirit which will come after his ascension. There are debates about his identity, especially the Pharisees and chief priests sent officers to arrest Jesus but they are unable to do so. The chapter finally highlights the growing tensions and divisions surrounding Jesus' teachings. There are some people who believe in him and some who are still confused about his teachings. Thank you. Thank you. We are going to John 8. I don't think Papi is here. John 8, Jesus goes from here to the Mount of Olives. At night he goes to the Mount of Olives and again in the morning he is in the temple coach teaching. This is where the woman caught in adultery is brought by some men before God. I thought you were ready to share. The woman is brought before Jesus and they ask Jesus to give a judgment. What does Jesus do? He says let whoever has not committed any sin throw the first stone and all her accusers leave. Then Jesus says neither do I condemn you and send her away. Go and sin no more. After that Jesus testifies about himself as being the light of the world. Whoever follows him will walk in the light and will not walk in darkness. He is talking about the fact that whatever he is doing testifies about who he is. Pointing to God as his father. The disputes about who Jesus is continue. People questioning where he is from because he talks about being from above. He talks about being from heaven and they question how can he be from heaven. Then there is a question of Jesus's opponents. They say they are children of Abraham and Jesus says you are not Abraham's children. If you were Abraham's children you would believe in me. But you are trying to kill me. He talks about the fact that they are children of Satan because Satan is also a murderer. They claim that Jesus is demon possessed. But then Jesus ends with saying that he was before Abraham. So verse 28 very truly I tell you Jesus answered before Abraham was born I am. At this they picked up stones to stone him but Jesus hid himself slipping away from the temple grounds. So that is the end of John 8. John 9. In chapter 9 Jesus healed the blight man. Now Jesus was passing by. He saw a man, a blight man, brought the man. The blight man received two sides. He said he is brought to the Pharisees verse 30. They are offered at it verse 35. But he is received for Jesus as confesses him. 39 who they are whom Jesus unlights. Thank you Prem. John 9 is a very important chapter even like we were talking about. Because we see this blight man healed and his parents don't want to testify about his healing because they are afraid of the Pharisees. But the blind man boldly declares that he has been healed and that Jesus himself has healed him. And so we see that standing up for his faith in Christ even in spite of the fact that there is the threat of the Pharisees that is very real. And then he is thrown out of the synagogue because he confesses. John 10. Rupers and then we will end with this. John chapter 10 verses 1 to 42 verses. This chapter verse 1 to 6 says Jesus is a good shepherd. Jesus is a good shepherd. And these 7 to 10 verses says Jesus is a door of the shepherd. Jesus of the door of the shepherd. And these 10 verses says these devils come and destroy and destroying. And 11 verses 2. 11 to 18 verses. Jesus is a good shepherd who lay down his life for the ship. This 19 to 21. This says Jesus devises among the Jews. 22 verses 23. Jesus claimed to be the son of God. The 31 to 29 Jews attempt to stone Jesus. 21 and 42 is Jesus' escape for the Jews. Thank you so much. We will continue from there on Monday. John 11 to 20. And we will finish with the Gospel of John and then start continue from then on. So please be prepared for those of you who didn't get a chance yet to share for the rest of the chapters. So I'll post the quiz after Monday's class because we'll cover all the content till the Gospel of John. So I'll post the quiz after that. Thank you.