Welcome to this course on Jesus in John’s Gospel.
Lesson 1 – Background Information
Before delving into the gospel text, we will dedicate one lesson to look at some background information about the Fourth Gospel. For example: Who wrote it? When and where was it written? How is it structured? And what are its main characteristics? This background information can be useful in helping us understand and interpret the text.
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Lesson 2 – The Prologue (1:1–18)
The Gospel opens with a beautiful hymn, called the Prologue. It is poetic summary of the story of the Gospel and introduces us to important themes and terms. In this lesson, we will study how John used the Prologue to draw his readers into his Gospel. Also, we will see how the use of imagery borrowed from the creation and exodus accounts in the Old Testament tells us that Jesus is bringing about a new creation and a new exodus.
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Lesson 3 – The First Week (1:19–2:12)
The Book of Signs begins with a description of Jesus’ first week of public ministry. We can recognize this because the events occur during seven continuous days. In this lesson, we will study these events to see how John uses them to introduce us to the main characters and set up the plot for his story.
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Lesson 4 – Jesus’ Early Ministry (2:1–4:54)
In this section, Jesus begins his public ministry: he converts water into wine at Cana, cleanses the temple, speaks with Nicodemus and later the Samaritan woman, and then heals the official’s son. In this lesson, we will study how Jesus, through his words and actions, gradually reveals that he has come to renew the realities of the Old Testament.
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Lesson 5 – Rising Opposition and Rejection (5:1–10:42)
This section is a continuation of the previous section. We find Jesus continuing to reinterpret and renew important elements of the Old Testament. However, Jesus’ actions and teachings begin to cause divisions among the people and his enemies begin to openly persecute him. In this lesson we will study how this rising opposition and rejection thickens the plot of the story.
Lesson 6 – The Decision to Kill Jesus (11:1–12:50)
In this lesson, we will study how the tension between Jesus and his adversaries continues to rise. Jesus’ enemies decide to kill him. However, John lets us know that despite this, Jesus always remains in control of the situation. He will willingly lay down his life because this has been his plan all along.
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Lesson 7 – The Climax (13:1–19:42)
The Gospel of John reaches its climax in chapters 13 to 19. In them, Jesus clashes head on with his enemies. They will arrest him, condemn him, and kill him. They think that they have defeated Jesus, but in reality, the opposite occurs. John shows us how Jesus’ death is the moment of his glory.
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Lesson 8 – The Piercing of Jesus’ Side (19:31–37)
The piercing of Jesus’ side is an important moment in John’s description of Jesus’ death. In fact, it is so important that John interrupts his narration to tell us that he really saw this happen. In this lesson we will study various interpretations of this event.
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