Article archive
01/13/2014 07:32
Jesus continues his explanation to Nicodemus by emphasizing again the contrast of the two categories of human beings—of image bearers: those born of God who faithfully follow the covenant and those born of Adam who have broken the covenant. Jesus, of course, is the only one of the righteous (the...
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12/10/2013 07:39
The last three verses of chapter 2 provide a transition from the temple cleansing to Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus. In verses 23 and 24, John presents a contrast. He says that many of the people in Jerusalem trusted in Jesus, but that Jesus didn’t trust them. The fact that Jesus didn’t trust...
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11/25/2013 08:06
Following the wedding in Cana, John states in 2:13 that the Passover was near. He uses that statement to transition to the incident in which Jesus cleanses the temple. But is his transition a connection of chronology or merely one to switch scenes? The reason for the question is that every other...
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11/18/2013 09:36
Not having enough wine would be a social embarrassment, and social embarrassments were not easily sloughed off in early 1st century Palestine. Jesus was invited to the wedding. He likely came toward the end, bringing with him at least five disciples, who were immediately welcomed (invited) as well....
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11/11/2013 07:12
On day 3 of John’s record concerning this opening series of events that highlight the presentation of Jesus, we find John the Baptist again declaring that Jesus is the Lamb of God, just as he did on day 2. On day 2, however, he was speaking to the priestly contingent that had come from Jerusalem....
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11/04/2013 10:50
The first section of the prologue, verses 1-5, explained the Communication of God. The second section, verses 6-9, spoke of the Testimony of God. The third section, verses 10-13, show us the Revelation of God. In the progression from one section to the next, John follows “the Word” from...
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10/28/2013 09:41
We have been talking about the Communication of God – the heading I’ve given for the first five verses of John’s prologue. In verse 1, we’ve seen the explicit message focusing on the second half of each of the three clauses, that Jesus, in his preincarnation, was in the beginning, with God, and...
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10/21/2013 08:03
I think we find three distinct points in the very first verse of the prologue. First, John wants to ensure that his readers understand that the One who became incarnate as Jesus existed from the beginning. Second, that One who existed from the beginning was “with God” in the sense of part of...
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10/15/2013 07:01
The headings of most manuscripts give the title to this book (in Greek, of course) as The Gospel According to John. In fact, the earliest record of this title is from AD 125, only about 40 years after the book was written. Yet still, many of the last century’s higher criticism scholars have...
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10/14/2013 12:26
Finishing the discussion of Isaiah’s ending chiasm—
E – God’s people are restored (65:17 - 66:2a)
The chiasm’s central point is the glory of the restoration. The first thing we notice in this passage is that God declares creation of a new heaven and a new earth. Verses 17 through 19 parallel...
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