THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

The prevailing cultural expectation;
GENESIS 49:10
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

NUMBERS 24:17
17 …a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel…

DEUTERONOMY 18:15–18
15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen…

The Sign-Prophet Movement;
ACTS 5:34–38
34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

ACTS 21:37–38
37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? 38 Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”

Jesus’ warnings against the Sign-Prophets;
MATTHEW 24:1–5
1 Jesus left the temple and was going away, when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” 3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.
MATTHEW 24:10–11, 23-26
10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray…23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.

MATTHEW 12:38–39
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

The Jewish fascination with Sign-Prophets;
1 CORINTHIANS 1:22–23
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles…


The effect of Sign-Prophets in the Gospel of John;
JOHN 2:18–22
18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

JOHN 4:47–48
47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”

JOHN 6:30
30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?”

The cultural climate of John’s gospel: professing Jesus is dangerous;
JOHN 9:22
22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.

JOHN 12:42
42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;

JOHN 16:2
2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

—The Seven Signs of John—

The Wedding at Cana, 2:1-12;
JOHN 2:11
11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

The Healing of the Official’s Son, 4:46-54;
JOHN 4:54
54 This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

Healing the Invalid at the Pool of Bethesda, 5:1-9;

Feeding the Five Thousand, 6:1-15;
JOHN 6:14
14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

Walking on Water, 6:16-21;

Healing the man born blind, 9:1-7;

The raising of Lazarus, 11:1-44;



The Sign-Prophets sought to stir up rebellion, Jesus’ signs sought to instill belief;
JOHN 9:35–38
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

JOHN 11:24–27
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

The failure of the Sign-Prophets;
JOHN 12:37–43
37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them”…

A theme of John’s: Most will reject, but some will believe;
JOHN 1:11
11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

JOHN 3:19–21
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Jesus: a Prophet who does not fit the pattern;
JOHN 7:52
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

JOHN 7:40
40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”

JOHN 7:27
27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

JOHN 5:46–47
46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

John’s central theme: there is no going back to Judaism;
JOHN 1:14
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

JOHN 20:30–31
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 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.

8/3/2025