Salvation and Symbolism in the Gospel of John

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The Gospel of John: Salvation’s Tide One day you might catch yourself asking, “I wonder what the most sold book in the world is?” Fortunately, I have the answer for you. It is the roughly 3,400 year old book called The Bible which is also, to many peoples’ surprise, the #1 most stolen book in the world. Why you may wonder? Leaving all beliefs aside, many scholars agree on the fact that The Bible itself uses the theme of salvation as its main “gravitational” pull. The Bible consists of sixty-six different books and forty different authors, one of them being John written by John the Evangelist. The book of John consists of many examples of salvation through the use of symbolism, imagery, and foreshadowing. Perhaps John can provide
“But upon closer observation, it becomes obvious that not all symbolism in John is easily identified or interpreted.” (Born, 4). Throughout the book, a word that often emerges is the “light.” Webster defines light as “radiation that is visible to the human eye” (Webster.com). It is not what John defines as light though, from the very first paragraph of the book of John readers come across the term by the verse, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (The Holy Bible, New International Version, John. 1.5). John uses this verse as a comparison to Jesus Christ and the world. John is stating the world is the sinful, wicked place filled with darkness, and Christ is the light. Even though the world is bigger and larger than Jesus in size, the light he provides still shines above the darkness and has not been “overcome” by it. This example of symbolism emphasizes the theme of salvation in a very simple way, darkness is depicted as evil, and light as noble, any super hero movie can teach us this. Nonetheless, this example lets us know the only way to receive salvation is by accepting the “light” and ignoring the darkness which surrounds it. Furthermore, another example from the book of John is, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father- and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep
Many different moments occur in the book so the images painted in our heads by the author definitely do not go unappreciated. From the introduction, when John recognizes Jesus for the very first time he states, “I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.” (The Holy Bible, New International Version, John. 1. 32). John used this to describe how he knew Jesus was the Chosen one, which helps us as readers understand how intense that exact moment was. A major climax in the book of John is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, in which John gives us very important visuals such as “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” (The Holy Bible. New International Version, John. 19.19). “When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took of his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.” (The Holy Bible, New International Version, John. 19. 23). These details of Jesus’s crucifixion really gave the readers a mental image of how his death came to be, even though the images are not the best to have in our head, it helps us deeper understand the story and meaning behind it. Webster defines salvation as, “deliverance from danger or difficulty” (Webster.com). The crucifixion, was a promise of difficulty and danger

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