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John

Κατὰ Ἰωάννην Kata Ioannen, “according to John”. Gospel. 21 chapters, 879 verses.

Jesus, the Word who was with God, becomes flesh and, through signs, long conversations, his death and his resurrection, makes the Father known, so that readers may believe and have life.

Read John 1 →

Overview

John begins before creation: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). A few verses later John makes clear that the Word is Jesus: “The Word became flesh and lived among us” (1:14). The first half of the book, often called the Book of Signs, follows Jesus between Galilee and Jerusalem. It is built around miracles that John calls signs, from water turned to wine at Cana (2:11) to the raising of Lazarus. Each is joined to conversations and debates about who Jesus is.

From chapter 13 the pace slows. Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, and five chapters record what he says to them and to the Father on his last night. The arrest, trials and crucifixion follow, then appearances to Mary Magdalene, to the disciples and to Thomas. The book gives its own purpose, saying these signs “are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (20:31). A last chapter, set by the lake, shows the risen Jesus restoring Peter.

Author and date

The Gospel does not name its author. Its closing verses credit “the disciple whom Jesus loved” with its testimony, and add, “We know that his witness is true” (21:20–24).

Traditional view

John the apostle, son of Zebedee · c. AD 90s

Beginning with Irenaeus, a bishop writing around AD 180, the church identified the beloved disciple as John, one of the Twelve. It held that he wrote the Gospel late in life at Ephesus. The book’s close knowledge of places and customs in Judea is taken to support an eyewitness source.

Academic view

The beloved disciple’s community · c. AD 90–100

Many academic scholars see the Gospel as the work of a community that looked back to the beloved disciple as its founder and witness. They think it was written in stages and edited by others, pointing to the “We know” of 21:24. Some think the beloved disciple was someone other than John son of Zebedee. One suggestion is John the Elder, whom Papias, an early 2nd-century bishop, seems to treat as a different person from the apostle.

Both views date the Gospel’s final form toward the end of the 1st century, making it the latest of the four. Both also find in it traditions about Judea and Jerusalem that the other Gospels lack.

Audience and setting

John writes so that readers “may believe” (20:31), which could mean coming to faith or continuing in it. At this point the Greek manuscripts differ by a single letter. The book explains Jewish festivals and Aramaic terms, and speaks of “the Jews” in a way that suggests a community in bitter conflict with the synagogue. Tradition places it in Ephesus. Its setting moves between Galilee and Jerusalem across three Passovers.

Genre, and how to read it

John differs in shape from the other three Gospels. It has no exorcisms, no parables of the kind found in the other three and no account of the bread and cup at the Last Supper. It gives more room to long dialogues, with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman and the crowds. It also has sayings in which Jesus says “I am” with an image: the bread of life (6:35), the light of the world (8:12), the door (10:9), the good shepherd (10:11), the resurrection and the life (11:25), the way, the truth and the life (14:6), and the true vine (15:1).

• 2:11 The beginning of his signs
• 4:54 The second sign
• 12:37 So many signs
• 20:30 Many other signs

Two passages raise questions about what the original text contained. The story of the woman caught in adultery (7:53–8:11) is missing from the earliest manuscripts and appears in different places in later ones. Most modern Bibles print it with a note, and the reading text here includes it. The explanation of an angel stirring the pool (5:4) is also absent from the oldest copies.

John’s calendar of feasts

One week, a third of the book

Each gospel’s favourite words

Outline

Prologue (1)

• 1:1–1:18 The Word — In the beginning, and the Word made flesh

The Book of Signs (1–12)

• 1:19–2:25 The first witnesses and the first sign — John the Baptist, the first disciples, water into wine, the temple cleared
• 3:1–4:54 New birth and living water — Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, the official’s son
• 5:1–6:71 Sabbath and bread — The healing at the pool, the feeding, the bread of life
• 7:1–10:42 At the festivals — The Feast of Tabernacles, the light of the world, the man born blind, the good shepherd
• 11:1–12:50 Lazarus, and the hour comes — The raising of Lazarus, the anointing, the entry into Jerusalem

The Book of Glory (13–21)

• 13:1–17:26 The last night — The foot-washing, the farewell speeches, Jesus’ prayer
• 18:1–19:42 Arrest, trial and cross — Before Annas, Caiaphas and Pilate, and “It is finished!”
• 20:1–20:31 The risen Jesus — Mary Magdalene, the disciples, Thomas and the book’s purpose

Epilogue (21)

• 21:1–21:25 By the lake — The catch of fish, Peter restored, the beloved disciple

Key themes

The Word made flesh

The one who “was God” (1:1) becomes flesh and makes the unseen God known (1:18).

Signs and belief

The signs reveal Jesus’ glory and call for faith (2:11). Thomas’s “My Lord and my God!” (20:28) is the book’s high point of confession.

Life

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (3:16). In John eternal life begins now, as knowing God through Jesus.

The hour

At Cana Jesus says, “My hour has not yet come” (2:4). Later he says, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23), and John treats the cross itself as that glory.

At a glance

39 people and 28 places named.

Most mentioned: Jesus Christ, Simon Peter, Pontius Pilate, John the Baptist, Lazarus

Main places: Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, Capernaum, Nazareth

In the Almanac: Stadion, What things cost, Holy Week, Tabernacles, Dedication, Hours of the day, Samaritans, Pharisees, Sanhedrin, Casting lots, Solomon's temple