Ken Boa Reflections Ministries

Dr. Ken Boa: We're going to be spending—I've not done this before; I've taught the Gospel of John once, it took me three years to get through it, but I won't do that to you. It'll be a chapter a week, so you'll always know where you are. There are just so many gems to mine in this treasury of John, and so I want us to explore that as we go through this together.

Just as a coin has two sides, both valid, so Jesus Christ has two natures, and they're both very clear. He had a dual nature. First, we see him in Luke, especially in Luke we see him in his full humanity. In John, he is the Son of Man, but here he's especially seen as the Son of God. I'm giving you kind of an overview of how unique this gospel is in its contribution. Its purpose is crystal clear: to set forth Christ in his deity in order to spark believing faith in his readership. And so his gospel is topical, not merely chronological, because it revolves around seven miracles. It's highly selective material.

Remember, the gospels are thematic portraits. They're not just stories. You're looking at the life of Christ from each of those dimensions. They're thematic portraits, highly selective material, and each one has a particular emphasis to focus on. And so in John's Gospel, what we have is not primarily chronological, but it revolves around these seven miracles and also these seven "I am" statements of Christ. Then there's an extended eyewitness description of the upper room meal. That is particularly unique, and it contains Jesus's teaching to his disciples that we get to listen in on, knowing that this would be his last day with them.

We get to listen in to his last words and what he's sharing in this intimacy. John, the upper room discourse in John 13 to 17, really contains the seeds of all the epistles that would follow. So it's a very rich thing for us to explore. So the seven miracles, the "I am" statements, and events leading up to his resurrection, and then the final climactic proof that Jesus is who he claims to be, the Son of God. I'm going to skip the background about the authorship of the book and about some of the background because this is just a short 30-minute overview, and so I'm just not going to be able to go through all this content in this particular walk-through. I want to go into the story itself.

This most unusual gospel, with its distinct content and style, is a supplement to the three synoptics. The word "synoptic," *syn-optikos*, means to see together. So the three—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—see it in one perspective, and John provides a supplement that begins earlier with the early Judean ministry and ends as well in a different way than the other gospels. It's very powerful. So its distinct content and style is a supplement to the three gospels, and it's the simplest and most profound of the gospels.

In one sense it's simple. It uses the vocabulary of a child. And so when you're teaching Greek, I remember there was a course they called "baby Greek," and they would use John. The reason why they'd use John is because it's so simple, but don't let that deceive you because it's the most profound of all of them. So it's simple enough for a child to wade in and yet profound enough for an elephant to drown in. So it had both a profundity and the simplicity that's found in here and to bring us through the spiritual life through belief in the person of Jesus. And so it's very clear in its purpose statements as well.

The basic sections of this gospel are the incarnation of the Son of God. This prologue to John's Gospel, which we're going to explore next week, is unique, profound, and astonishing. It really gives us a portrait of the majesty and marvel of the one that is the author of all things. The presentation of the Son of God, the revelation of Christ in chapters one and following, opposition to the Son of God, preparation of the Son's disciples—that's the upper room discourse—and then the crucifixion and resurrection of the Son of God.

But what you have that’s interesting in this context is you have these signs that are given. The seven signs: the water to wine, which is the ritual of law is replaced by the reality of grace. And so we can see each of these signs is a portrait and has meaning. The healing of the nobleman's son: the gospel brings spiritual restoration. The healing of the paralytic tells us that weakness is replaced by strength. The feeding of the multitude: Christ satisfies their spiritual hunger. Walking on the water: he transforms fear to faith. Sight to the man born blind: Jesus overcomes darkness and brings in light. And then this raising of Lazarus: the gospel brings people from death to life.

So all these miracles have a great profound meaning behind them. And so we have the seven miracles, and then the upper room discourse, and then there's the supreme miracle. After the seven miracles, all of which point to him—because the number seven is very big in this gospel—but then there is a final miracle, and that is the resurrection of Christ. That's the capstone of all this. So he's written that you may believe and that you may have life.

He has an evangelistic purpose, and it takes place in Israel. It's interesting that from a timeframe, we have the first portion of John's Gospel leading up to the upper room discourse takes a few years. But then it slows down the pace. In the upper room discourse, it's merely a few hours, and all of a sudden we just listen to that pace. It's five chapters on that, and then after that's a few weeks. So it just gives you a little bit of a perspective on John's Gospel in that respect here.

And so the theme of John's Gospel has the clearest purpose statement in the Bible: but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. So he gives a very clear purpose statement. No other place is so clear as to why I wrote this: that you may believe and that you may have life. So he selected the signs he used with an apologetic purpose, an intellectual reason, that you may believe. But it's not just intellectual; it must be spiritual, that believing you may have life.

So it's not just an intellectual assent, but a personal reception. This theme of what it means to believe is going to be huge in this gospel. So what does it mean to have conviction about the Son of God? But the key word, "believe," means not only knowledge, but it also means volition, means choice, means reception. Someone can offer a gift, but someone has to receive that gift. You can believe it's there, you can want the gift, but unless you actually reach out and receive it, it's not yours. And it requires our personal reception because God will not impose anything upon us or force it upon us, but actually he gives us the invitation and he woos us, he romances us, he draws us to himself.

And so the key word "believe," then—these are written that you may believe—and to believe is to receive in John's Gospel. As many as believe in him, as many as received him, that is to those who believe in his name, John 1:12. So it's a very critical theme that you have there. The predominant theme of this gospel is the dual response of faith and unbelief in the person of Jesus Christ. It's an offer, effectively, of those who place their faith in the Son of God have eternal life, and those who reject him are under the condemnation of God—the basic issue that we have that starts off with chapter one and the reactions of reception and rejection.

Those reactions are traced throughout the rest of the book. So it is acceptance, but he was rejected by his own people. And so those who were his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave eternal life, to those who believe in his name. Some of the key words in this thematic are truth, and light, and darkness, and word, and knowledge, belief, abide, love, world, witness, and judgment. Fundamental, simple words, but a profound meaning attached to every one of them that's important.

So this is not only an evangelistic gospel, but it's designed to build believers in their faith and understanding of spiritual principles. John's Gospel, but also John's epistles, focus on light, life, and love. And so there's a simplicity about this, but there's a profundity to it as well because the more you go into it, the more you realize there's layers and layers and nuances that go on here. So it's really is a supplement to the others. So it's both evangelistic at the same time it's edifying; it builds you up, and you realize that you're drinking out of a deep well. It's a spiritual supplement, as I said, to the synoptic gospels. It gives us all this extra material and concentrates on Jesus's Judean ministry.

It's interesting, by the way, if we go back to those spiritual renewal cards—we have extra cards here if you want them—one of the new cards we've added to this list is this card about who Jesus is: "What Do You Seek?" And you'll notice that the first and the last questions are taken from John's Gospel. It's the very first—so we have in John's early ministry—he precedes the synoptics and asks that fundamental question. And then at the end, in John 21, the last question, "Do you love me more than these?" So it goes back to those motifs of what that looks like.

And so this is a critical theme. And so some of the keys: whereas Matthew portrays Jesus as King, Mark portrays Jesus as Servant, and Luke portrays Jesus as the Son of Man, but John stresses his divinity as the Son of God. And so we see he came to his own and his own did not receive him. As many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. So to receive, that is to believe and receive, are the same.

So that you may be born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So this is a very critical verse here that we see, this is a motif that's important for us to note. The other key verse in the book of John is found in chapter 20: and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. That's such a clear purpose statement, you see. There are other signs that he did, but these were all cumulatively building up a case for who he really claims to be.

Key chapter is going to be John chapter three, which contains without a doubt the most quoted and preached verse in all of Scripture in John 3:16: God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Just to capture that is the gospel in its clearest, simplest form. The fact that we can outline the gospel in such a short way is an astonishment. The fact that a child can somehow understand it enough to where they can grasp it, and yet it's the profundity that's involved in that, "for God so loved the world." Just what that means, that he gave, and love gives, his only begotten Son. It's just rich and thick in meaning.

So that salvation is a gift from God; it's by grace through faith, it's obtainable only through belief, through trust. This conversation with Nicodemus and the testimony of John the Baptist provide the setting that clearly points out that being born again is the only way to find the kingdom of God. And so you must be born again, in its clearest and simplest form. So it's a gift. It is not religion. And that's why I often stress the difference, as you know, between religion and a relationship. What you have here is really a divine, a sacred romance of one who's wooing us and pursuing us.

Religion, remember, religion is basically human attempts to achieve a salvation or to please or placate or somehow earn salvation, however it's described, whether it's Eastern or Western. It's our attempt to attain, to reach, to find that. And it's so different in this good news because the good news is God's pursuit of us, not our pursuit of him. We want to pursue things on our terms, but here is one who pursues us for ourselves and woos us and draws us to himself. It's the uniqueness of Christianity. We did a couple sessions on the uniqueness of Christianity in the past. It becomes more and more of a method of really showing that if this is true, I would expect it to be unlike anything else. And it is. There's just nothing like it.

So we have this great gift here that we must be born a second time. So those, as I've said, who are born once, die twice. Those who are born twice, die once. That's a very important theme. So this second born, you must be born again, having a spiritual birth, not just an earthly birth. Remember I've talked about the womb world, and the womb world was when you had the first birth, and that was biological life, *bios*. But the second birth is *zoe*, spiritual life. And that's where we are in this larger womb in which that is being forged in us. So that when we are—what we call death is really not death as it might be considered, but rather a second birth canal. And so we are in a womb right now and we're being birthed. It's a soul-forming world.

So it captures all these wonderful truths. The contribution of the Bible, John is the most selective and topical and theological of the gospels. Its simple style and vocabulary somehow capture the most profound theological concepts, making the book itself reminiscent of the teaching techniques of Jesus because Jesus often used those simple parables and so forth, but there was profundity underlying them. John uses simple linguistic constructions and avoids the complex sentence structure of the Pauline epistles. He's adept at parallelism, and by parallelism you're dealing with light versus darkness, life versus death, the children of God and the children of the enemy, all these contrasts that are found in there as well, which is an important feature in Hebrew poetry.

Unlike the synoptics, John doesn't contain parables; instead he uses these allegories of the Good Shepherd and the True Vine. So it's a different gospel in that sense. And instead of calling them miracles, they're called signs, which are pointers to that reality of what Christ is about. Although John is more fragmentary and selective in the use of the material, the structure of the narratives and discourses is tighter and it's more coherent than the other gospels. The discourses in John's are logical units that develop unified themes, these discourses. And the frequent sprinkling of questions and objections help to develop these themes.

There's a lot of motifs that are logical that develop these themes, symbolic narratives is what they really are in many ways, these signs. So he uses these discourses and these signs as narratives of the gospel. Of the eight miracles in chapters one through 12 and 21, only the feeding of the multitudes and the walking on the water are found in the synoptics. 92% of John is unique to John, which is remarkable. So without John, we would be pretty well impoverished in many ways. So we need this supplementary gospel to tie all those threads together.

One of the unique features of John's prologue is the highly theological prologue, which gives a matchless portrait, as I said earlier, of the incarnation of the truth and the life and the glory of the eternal God. John shows the relevance of the living word to all men. So in John 3:16 and 10:16 and 12:32, we see that there is a vitality, this living word relates to all of us. It's the most powerful case in the Bible for the deity of the incarnate Son of God. He was called a man called Jesus, but he's also called Christ, the Son of the living God. You know the word "Christ" has to do with the anointed one.

The deity of Christ can be seen in his seven "I am" statements. So again, seven miracles, seven signs, but also these seven "I am" statements. "I am the bread of life." "I am the light of the world." "I am the door." "I am the good shepherd." "I am the resurrection and the life." "I am the way, the truth, and the life." and "I am the true vine." So these are incredible. Just doing a study of the seven "I am" statements is rich and profound. So what wealth we have in this gospel, the simplicity and the profundity that we can enjoy. The seven signs and also five witnesses also bear witness to his character, his divine character, and we'll see those witnesses in chapter five. On certain occasions, Jesus equates himself with the Old Testament "I AM," or Yahweh.

And we see some of the most crucial affirmations of his deity are found in this gospel. So we have many signs and many words that are related to his deity and affirming that. The Word was God, but the Word also became flesh. The humanity of Jesus can be seen in his weariness. And so we see that he was not only God, but it emphasizes his humanity as well, that he was weary, that he would thirst, that he would be dependent, that he would experience great grief, that the Word became flesh and he became troubled in his anguish and death. And all of that emphasizes then the profundity of the Word who became flesh on our behalf. So these are motifs, these are thoughts that I think are very profound.

So going back to this concept here, there's just certain verses that come to my mind, and I'm thinking of John 1:12 and 3:16 and 5:24. So when I look at the Gospel of John, in John 1:12 again, "as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name." And so the simplicity of receiving and believing, they go together. And then the John 3:16 text: being born of water and of the Spirit, and that which is born of the flesh is flesh. "Don't be amazed I said to you you must be born again." And so this rich imagery of what it means to believe in him and not perish but have everlasting life because God didn't send the Son in the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

One of my favorite texts is John 5:24, and in John 5:24 you have this wonderful statement: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has present possession eternal life, number two does not come into judgment, but third has passed out of death into life." That's a rich thought. And what are the conditions? Who hears the word and believes. And so it's a question then of receptivity and receiving that gift. He doesn't come into judgment. He has a present possession of eternal life. He doesn't come into judgment, but he's already passed out of death into life.

And then I think about another text, 6:28 and 29. "Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, do not work for the food which perishes." And then in verse 28, I love this, when they said to him, "What shall we do that we may work the works of God?" And Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God," what? "That you believe." So the work is not a bunch of things that we do, but rather to transfer our trust. I want to emphasize again that belief has to do with a transfer of your trust from your own works to his, to transfer your trust from your own attempts to know him and please him and to realize you can't do that, but to trust in what he's done for you.

So it is a question of recognizing our own lack of capacity to be pleasing to God, that we were at enmity with him and alienated from him and estranged from him. Yet he's the one who wooed us and pursued us, purchased us, and provides for us, his beloved. And so what we must do, though, is to respond, and it requires then a choice that we believe in him whom he has sent. And so there's a powerful picture. So with this in mind, I'd like you to just kind of think about—I'm going to zoom in and focus on some of those seven miracles and see what they teach us about him as a good summary of the meaning of what he's done and what he has provided for us. Another one is the seven "I am" statements that we saw before. But I want you just to kind of focus on that and we're going to be looking next week at John chapter one, so you have no question about what you're going to be in. You know what you're going to be doing; it's going to be chapter one, and we're going to be looking at that fabulous prologue to the Gospel of John. So let's spend a few minutes together discussing these seven miracles.

I found this to be particularly helpful. I'm glad that we put these up. I think I'm going to use this as a devotional exercise, and I've never done that before. But it was meaningful for me to see as well just thinking about how every one of them relates to the Old Testament as well. You can just see how the bread of life and the manna in the wilderness, and each of these is an allusion to something in the Hebrew Bible as well. But I find this to be a powerful thing. Which one speaks to us the most?

Guest (Male): We're talking about number six, "I am the way." Yeah, that's the one that grabbed me the most: "the way, the truth, the life; no one comes to the Father but through me." What a profound statement that is, and how much is included in that, the simplicity and yet the profundity. So these seven "I am" statements, I'm going to use myself as a vehicle for devotion. I think it's a very—I recommend it, to give it a go. Funny, all these years I've never really used them as a devotional, but to meditate on this and just to go back and forth and zoom in and out of the door and the Good Shepherd. It's rich in imagery. What other thoughts? Yes, Dennis has got a comment.

One thing that struck me here, Ken, is that Jesus is the way. I mean, ours was number six, too, almost universally around our table. But what struck me is that Jesus is the way as an example. My brother here to my right, Ron, I've never been to his house, ever. But he could write down instructions for me in order to get me to his house. But a better way still would be for him to sit in a passenger seat and direct me. And that's what speaks to me there.

Dr. Ken Boa: He's with you in that. Yeah.

Guest (Male): Is it presumptuous of us and how do we witness to non-Christians, especially Hindus and people who believe that there are many ways to God?

Dr. Ken Boa: It's always going to be that issue, isn't there? Yeah. And then so what are the options you've got? So to ask another "what's another way," and you'll always find it'll be what?

Guest (Male): Works.

Dr. Ken Boa: Every time. Every time's a works. Every time it's our attempt at religion to earn or merit or achieve favor with the infinite and eternal and holy God. And the supposition behind that is always that God's going to grade in a curve and that somehow the cutoff point is the rung just below us. Where do you get that idea? What if the standard's 100%? Are you asking God to accommodate evil and darkness at all? In him there's light and there's no darkness at all. You can't do that. So only—it's a dilemma, isn't it? And so it offends our pride in our natural, our disposition.

So funny because it reminds me of a dream I had last night. It's one of my typical dreams where I'm lost. There's this massive building and I'm going through it and I realize I've lost my way and I'm trying to find my way back. And then I ran into this couple there and somehow we started talking about heaven and I started witnessing to them. It was a strange dream. I just realized that. But the idea of when you witness to a person, it's only the way—the only way it's going to break through is the Spirit of God's got to break through and illuminate that because remember they were called followers of the Way before they were called Christians. "Christians" wasn't until Antioch, Syrian Antioch, and that was around the year 50. So that's a long time after before that.

In fact, even now, by the way, I call myself a follower of Jesus more than a Christian because I find that to be a term that points to him and rather than the associations that are so often that accumulate. But I'd rather like the idea that I had; I just remembered that I had this dream about that. So even though I was lost, I was able to share something like that. It's very strange. What other thoughts do you have on this? Because this is for me, seeing them together is a pretty powerful collective.

Guest (Male): Well, as I was looking at that list, the thought that came to me was the people that really knew him the best, they believed every one of those after spending those years with him. We have people—the more we know somebody, we find out their flaws.

Dr. Ken Boa: Right. And they knew him better than anybody and they believed every one of them. And in him they knew there was no sin. So the ones who knew him best understood that. So it'd be hard for me to be with somebody for three and a half years and for them not to see a flaw. You see? Yeah, that's a good word. Yeah. Over here.

And also remember as well that they every one of them suffered a martyr's death in one way or another. John, it's said—we're not sure about that—but whether he was executed by being boiled in oil, but the idea of them suffering even a martyr's death when they're the ones who would have been in the best position to know if he who he was and whether he was who he claimed to be. Yeah.

Guest (Male): On number three, the way it says "I am the door," and it was pretty good consensus around the table. Any type of art that depicts Christ in the door, there's never a doorknob on the door.

Dr. Ken Boa: Yeah, it's like that Holman Hunt painting, "The Light of the World," there's no doorknob.

Guest (Male): And so, when you look at that, you always feel like that maybe Christ's just going to open the door for you, but I think it's the other around.

Dr. Ken Boa: We have to open it up. That's exactly right. He knocks on the door, but we have to open. It's also the idea of the one way, the one entrance. The tabernacle faced the east, there was only one entrance. There was only one entrance to the temple facing east. There was one sheepfold and one way in, one way out. And so then the thieves try to climb over, as you know, so they're not authentic. So the exclusivity of this is absolutely remarkable, but yet it's open to all. So it's an amazing thought how it it's available to all who will, but many will say no.

But it makes me think about again the uniqueness about the door, the pathway, the entranceway, and how that looks. Yeah. Any other thoughts? Well, I'm looking forward to our time together. So I want you to study John's Gospel chapter one, and particularly verses one to 18. That prologue is profound. It's unique and it will be a way in which your view of Christ will be amplified. So read it with the eyes as you're reading this text, read it not just for information, but for illumination, and ask the Spirit to illuminate the Son of God to you in a way that is real.

Asking the Spirit to take the text and make it more profound to you, make it more meaningful. It's an encounter, isn't it? You're dealing—this isn't just something to text to be known, but one to be submitted to. We're not mastering the text; the text is called the Master us, you see. And so coming to it with humility and receptivity and asking, "Lord, illuminate me, enlighten me." And let the Spirit of God who inspired the text, who also lives in the heart of the one who knows Jesus, let that become the one who now—He's in you, but he also revealed the text. Let him illuminate the text and invite him to do that. And I think it can be a pretty profound—to read it devotionally as you read this text. I think that'll be a strong—so I'm looking forward to our times together.