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
...itten in, and can also be seen because there is no mention anywhere of the parables, Jesus' primary teaching method according to the synoptic gospels. Instead, John makes use of miracles and uses examples from Jesus' ministry to demonstrate his power and divinity. He uses his power over nature to raise people from the dead, heal a blind man and feed 5000 people with the physical amount of food for only a few.
John focuses on the profound meaning of the life of Jesus, whom he saw as the
The tone and allusions are important for John to portray how death is insignificant and irrelevant and that after death one moves on to a better place: heaven.
The New Testament teaches about who Jesus is and what he did on the earth. John wrote the last of the four gospels which recount Jesus’ life and what is to come. The gospel of John is somewhat different from the other three gospels, in that it is more symbolic and less concrete. For example, John expresses Jesus as the Passover Lamb when Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not. This gospel is showing that Christianity is moving away from the long-practiced Jewish traditions. John’s gospel can be laid out into four parts: the prologue or the incarnate word, signs of the Messiah with teachings about life in him, the farewell teaching and the passion narrative, and the epilogue or the roles of Peter and of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The Gospel of John is arguably the most
The first verse concludes with, was “blind but now I see.” Jesus stated, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (KJV John 9:5) This stands out because those that choose to remain in the wickedness of Satan, are unsighted in this world filled with sin and corruption.
Simply stated, “the word "gospel" means simply good news.” With that definition, then the good news would summarize all of the information found in the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul recaps the most basic components in the gospel message. These are found in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, specifically listed in 15:3-4 (NRSV) “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,”. “These verses, which were an early Christian confession, give us the heart of the gospel” and show the importance of three incidents; that Christ died
John’s Gospel is unspeakably mission oriented. John the Baptist come out and go to the community and tell them what it means to get rid off their sin, enjoy freedom, and being justified. John the Baptist did not present the one to come (the Son) as a humble and ordinary human rather he presents him as powerful, mighty (John 1:27). But later in John Chapter 13 we see a humble and feet washer Son of God. Does Jesus came as a mighty and powerful who human being is even unworthy to untie His sandals straps (John 1: 27 NIV) or humble feet washer and fish cooker (John 13 and 21:7), came to create incredible relationship with humanity? How do we see both John the Baptist and Jesus mission to community, how much the humanity (becoming flesh) favor the mutuality between the messiah and human being. There no time when Jesus’ Divinity overshadow his humanity. Our justification is based on...
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, exemplifies the idea that in an ever-growing modern world, one who demonstrates traditional values about love will be unable to cope up with the questionable morals and differentiating, controversial values present, seen through John’s difficult experience in the Brave New World. In the novel, there is a severe disconnect between what John was taught and the ideals of the Brave New World, which encouraged ruthless, unemotional, and quick interactions with someone found attractive instead of a stable relationship with a loved one. As a result, John struggled greatly to try to adapt to the Brave New World while still trying to maintain his own values, and proved to be unfit to stay there. It is evident that John could have never survived in such a society, due to the great difference in between both of their morals, and the Brave New World’s disapproval of his own values, seen through John’s reaction to the recreational activities, the people in the Brave New World’s mockery of his most favorite pieces of literature, which formed his ideas on love, and finally in his own relationship with Lenina. However, while John’s downward spiral of his mental and emotional state in the Brave New World and his unwillingness to accept their values cause him to leave London, his final conformity and unwilling acceptance to the Brave New World ideals cause the final tragedy at the end of the novel, revealing that he would have never been able to survive in this society, for he was bound to be tainted by their values.
...hung from the church’s walls john has ended the pain for his family and John was hung. All the event that occurred showed that John’s action effect the people around him in a positive and negative way, having cheating on his wife had an major effect on his wife and there relationship he completely took away all the trust she had for him, also form being a very selfish man and only caring for himself to a man who gave him life for his wife so that she can live a easier life.
John was one of the first twelve disciples of Jesus and therefore an eye-witness (John 19:35); John brings out the spiritual significance as well as recording the practical aspects of Jesus' works and words. John lived to be older than any of the other writers. It is therefore likely that he was familiar with their accounts and wanted to supplement theirs with additional teaching and miracles by Jesus which had a bearing on the situation towards the end of the first century AD.
No part of the Bible and its interpretation is more controversial than the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is the last profound book in the New Testament. It conveys the significant purpose of Christianity by describing God’s plan for the world and his final judgment of the people by reinforcing the importance of faith and the concept of Christianity as a whole. This book was written by John in 95 or 96 AD. What is, what has been, and what is to come is the central focus of the content in Revelation.
In the gospels of Mark and John, both showed a vivid portrait of Jesus in their writing. Mark’s gospel describes much more of Jesus' life, miracles, and parables as suffering servant. However, John’s gospel was written to convince people to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Nonetheless, both John and Mark present many of the crucial events of Jesus' life, including his trial, crucifixion, and resurrection.
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
God’s salvation is a common theme found in the gospels. Salvation in terms of being rescued from judgement because of our sins. Luke's gospel centers on God's plan to provide salvation to everyone. Luke emphasizes the Old Testament and its promises of a Messiah and clearly shows that it is Jesus. The gospel remains forever good news to anyone who realizes that he needs to be saved or he will eternally perish. It is believed that the world will not let you down if you give your life to it in faith because all other gospels will fail you in the end. This one saves you from the final wrath of God and leads you to the only true joy and fullness of His presence forever. John sums it up
While both the Gospel of Matthew and John tell of the global reordering plan for the world, each does so in a unique way. The Gospel of Matthew is able to show the reordering of the world by focusing on the aspect of Jesus as a teacher and the results of this; while the Gospel of John shows the reordering occurring as God works through Jesus showing signs to the people of who he is, focusing on the belief this brings to people. “But all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (John 1:12). Through this verse, we see the reordering in effect, as all who receive him and believe in him have the power to become children of God.