The Gospel According to John | Sermon 08/21/2022

The Fourth Gospel is unique in many ways compared the others. In John we see the “I Am” statements, Nicodemus’ visit, the woman at the well, and the high priestly prayer to name a few distinctives. From very early on, although it contains no formal authorship, the accepted belief of the church was that John the Apostle penned the Fourth Gospel. Irenaeus, disciple of Polycarp, a disciple of John understood it was John, the son of Zebedee, who authored this account. John and his brother James were called “Boanerges” which means “sons of thunder.”

This title is an accurate depiction of these brothers as they were characterized by passion, zeal, and determination. But in John’s early days he often acted rashly rebuking the one removing a demon in Jesus’ name, trying to call down fire from heaven to destroy Samaria, having his mother ask Jesus if he and James could sit on the Lord’s right and left in His kingdom which caused a rift amongst the apostles. But as we see in the Acts and in his three epistles as well as the Revelation that John had matured and grown in the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

John’s life is a testament to the fact that Christ actually works on those whom He saves. John was a Jewish eyewitness to the historical events of Jesus of Nazareth. However, he is not merely an eyewitness but in his gospel account, he demonstrates he is one who seeks to define a high Christology. And he defines a high Christology because although Christ did many things that if written all the books in the world could not contain them, his hope is that all would read it and know that Jesus is the Christ. That’s John’s purpose. This apostolic writer wants the whole world to know Jesus is the main character of not just this written account but of this whole existence.