We are moving on with reading the Bible for the first time and sharing what we learn a long the way to the gospel according to John.
We have seen and heard many people quote scripture from John or talk about John being their favorite.
This will be our first time actually reading it ourselves.
As we started working on gathering all the resources we will use to study it, we were overwhelmed with how many people have written or discussed John.
After spending about a month reading it in as a whole book (we have done it twice) and learning the background on it, we can see why.
It is loaded, deep, rich and meant to be read over and over to see more connections. Although, yes the whole Bible is this way, but there is something unique about John.
We are excited to dive deeper into this book.
I (Michelle) created this as a guide to keep out next to me while I read it.
I did my best to highlight the major themes.
I couldn’t get it all on as there is so much.
Our thoughts on the gospel of John
Here are the resources we are using to study through John’s gospel – verse by verse :
The main online sources:
Pastor Mark Vroegop from College Park Church – a bunch of John sermons
Dr. Kevin DeYoung from Christ Covenant – John series
Pastor Dan Plourde from Calvary Church – Book of John series
Calvary Chapel Chattanooga – The Book of John series
Bema podcast – season 6 – they are going through the book of John
Robert Breaker – John playlist
Books – commentaries:
John: An introduction and Commentary (Tyndall New Testament Commentaries) by Colin Kruse
Spurgeon’s Verse Exposition Of John: The Expansive Commentary Collection
The Gospel According to St. John by CK Barrett – this one is a bit hard to follow and understand, so won’t look at it much, but already bought it so keeping it
John for Everyone, Part 1 and Part 2 (New Testament for everyone) – by NT Wright
John’s Wisdom: A Commentary on the Fourth Gospel by Ben Witherington
NEW BOOK – History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel (Revised and Expanded) (NTL) (The New Testament Library) by J. Louis Martin
Extra books:
John: The Gospel of Wisdom by Michael Card
And He Dwelt Among us by A.W.Tozer
*This is the first time we have read anything from Tozer and Spurgeon
Extra online sources:
The Word of the Lord endures forever – will listen to a few as we read through if want another view on a part of scripture
Door of Hope – has a few sermons on the first 4 chapters, won’t listen to them all but a few
Is the Gospel of John Really About Eternal Life? | N.T. Wright – one video
The Spoken Gospel has some videos covering John
Here are the resources we used to learn the overall layout of the book, the introduction and themes:
Afterclass podcast – had a few episodes on John
Overview : John 1-12 by Bible Project
Overview: John 13-21 by Bible Project
John 1 – The Word Becomes Human
ASL – the Bible explained – John –
Tim had more videos on John we watched – we highly recommend them:
Please note we are in the process of reading and studying it, so the Bible study workouts will be coming, probably once a month.
CLICK HERE TO SEE JOHN BIBLE STUDY WORKOUTS
Home workouts where you work out to hearing God’s word – the gospel according to John.
Disclaimer: Please remember this is our first time reading and studying it, so we don’t know everything and we will continue to learn and grow.
We do our best to speak God’s truth.
We are not pastors or anything, just 2 girls that were lost and Jesus saved us sharing our journey of reading the Bible again.
Here to encourage you to read and study God’s word.
The format of our Bible study workouts will be overall the same, there might be slight changes in how we do it for John.
We appreciate your understanding, patience and support.
Remember we offer this for free, so any support from sharing about them, giving the video a like and subscribing all help us all.
Of course watching the videos too.
We pray they bless you.
A little overview of John:
The book’s purpose, according to 20:31, was to help people believe that Jesus is the Christ and so that they might have life in his name.
John writes in the first chapter some of the themes you will see throughout the book.
John is writing to both a Jewish audience, who would of known the Old Testament, and to Greeks/Romans who were pagan and had multiple gods and beliefs about the universe. Logos, “the Word,” meant something to the Greeks and their philosophy around the reality of the universe. And for Hebrew thought it was connected to the revelation of God and the law of God, the Torah.
During the time in which John wrote his gospel it was a prominent perspective that the soul was the only thing that mattered. This view point saw the body as bad, so those who believed this had a really hard time believing Jesus could be truly human.
There are 7 signs, 7 “I am” statements and 7 witnesses. John feels these are the best ones to make his point.
John focused on more who Jesus was and what you believe, as the other gospels focused more on what Jesus said and did.
John the Baptist was very popular in this area too, so John wrote this to help others have a high view of Jesus and lower view of John the Baptist.
Other things we researched:
- the Greek/Roman god history and philosophy
- we watched some videos on Greek creations belief
- the history of Ephesus (where most scholars believe John wrote this)
- We looked into all the gods and goddesses like Artemis, Vesta, and a few others
We feel when you look at that culture you can see a lot of what John was doing when his words would have altered their views of gods and the world.
John with both Jew and Gentile in mind. Everything he says about Jesus affects everyone.
Hebrews had more of horizontal mindset of time – past, present, future – that time has purpose and progress
Greeks thought more vertical – heaven and earth.
Which you can see John speak to both of these in his gospel from up and down language and age to come.
John’s gospel helps new believers come to believe who Jesus was as well as it helps believers keep believing in Jesus.
Here are some other articles and videos to check out:
Important Themes in John’s Gospel
Jesus the Fulfillment of the Jewish Festivals in John’s Gospel
The Holy Spirit as the Paraclete
The Prologue to John’s Gospel (Jn 1:1-18) – Jesus the Logos
The Greek Jesus Christ: Apollonius of Tyana
The Gospel of John – unlocking the Bible part 1
The Gospel of John – unlocking the Bible part 2
Have you studied John before? Let us know in the comments. What resources did you use to study it?
As we study through John we come across other articles, podcasts and things that we wanted to document here.
John 1 additional resources:
John Lennox: The Word Became Flesh
Glory and Temple in John’s Gospel with particular reference to John 1:14
John 2 additional resources:
Did Anyone Ascend Into Heaven?
Why did Jesus say that nobody has ascended into heaven when Elijah ascended?
Jesus Christ and Apollonius of Tyana
The “Other Jesus” Story That Scares Christians: Apollonius of Tyana – video
Was Jesus Copied Off the Greek God Dionysos?
The Mythology of Wine VII: The Wine Miracles of Dionysus and Jesus Compared
What the wedding at Cana tells us about creation
Stone jars and water to wine miracle
When did Jesus cleanse the temple
Did Jesus cleanse the temple twice
Chronology and the Cleansing of the Temple
John 3 additional resources:
Born of the Spirit – I Am Who I Am – Tim Mackie
Net Bible John 3 – offers notes with it
How can a person be born again?
Misunderstand Greek present tense
Does the idea of being “born again” have a root earlier than John/Peter (or Jesus)?
Mikvah (Baptism): The Connection Between Immersion, Conversion and Being Born Again
What About John 3:16?, Part 1/3 – David Pawson
Being born again in Hebrew thought
Jesus and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21)
John 4 additional resources:
OnScript Podcast – Caryn Reeder – The Samaritan Woman’s Story
The Samaritan Woman Story: An Alternative View (dr. Eli Lizorkin-eyzenberg And Lisa Loden)
Attitudes to women – The rabbis vs Jesus
Jesus offers living water and marriage
Why Does Jesus Use the Phrase “I Am”?
Purpose and Meaning of “Ego Eimi” in the Gospel of John
The miracle of the “I AM” statements of Jesus
5 or 6 husbands or the one true God
The Relationship between Eschatology and Pneumatology in the Fourth Gospel
Genesis, Jesus and John: connecting the dots
Anti Semitism – flawed interpretation of John
The place of women in the greco-roman world
The status of women in greek roman and jewish society
The Samaritan woman meets the bridegroom Messiah
A historical perspective on the Samaritan woman
WHOA that’s good podcast – nov 2 2022 – How you can avoid asking this question – Kathie Lee Gifford
3 articles on living water:
A historical perspective on the Samaritan woman in John 4
Living Water – From One for Israel
Living water from Beulahnazarene
Living water from our rabbi Jesus
Greek and Latin Origins of Living Water
Jewish Biblical Origins of Living Water
John 5 additional resources:
Temple Christology in the Gospel of John
The Pool of Bethesda and another article on the pool
The Pool of Bethesda as a healing center
Greek mythology and Jesus Christ
Proving the trinity in the OT – Sam Shamoun has lots of other videos around this if it interest you that are really good
Additional resources for John 6:
John 6 commentary – Enduring Word
John 6:44: Unconditional Election & Irresistible Grace? | Dr. Leighton Flowers
Christian vs. Protestant on John 6:44