John: Divine Or Designed?, Transcript

(21) John: Divine Or Designed? | Secular Bible Study (Episode 43) - YouTube

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Transcript:

(00:00) welcome to mind shift I'm Brandon today is episode 43 of my secular Bible study Series in which we finish the gospels by looking at the Gospel of John in Matthew we saw Jesus as the Conquering King Mark depicted him as the suffering servant in Luke we saw a really dichotomous Jesus ultimately reflecting the son of man and in John we're going to go all the way and see Jesus as the Son of God this is the book of Jesus's Divinity forget all The Parables forget all the exorcisms we're going to focus on dialogue theological heavy dialogue which was

(00:33) clearly a reaction or a response to early Jewish and Christian ideas and questions and arguments about who Jesus was and what this theology entails so more than ever before I believe we have a gospel with a mission with an agenda it is the last gospel to be written and so it is working from a vantage point that the others were in the midst of creating and this will give the final answer to as I've covered these four GOP Els you've seen that it's taken less time we spent 55 minutes with Matthew like 50 minutes I think with Mark only 33 with Luke I don't know how long this one will be because we're gaining

(01:10) progress as we go and now we're just filling in the gaps so that's what I want to do with John I want to fill in the last gaps and it's so interesting I want you to think if we didn't have this gospel and we didn't have any of the Pauline Epistles that really helped flush out the concept of who Jesus was as Messiah and what it means to be saved in the extension to the Gentiles Etc what do you think Christianity would look like if all we had were the synoptic gospels I think that's so fascinating to think about and when you

(01:40) hear some of what we're going to cover in John you might have heard these things before but you might not have realized they were only contained in the Book of John so keep an ear out for that as well but let's dive in with breaking this down in a book overview I'm going to go a little bit deeper than what most people break this book down as which is four segments most of the time when you're talking about John you have a prologue which is just chapter 1 and then you have the ending which is chapter 21 that's the epilogue and in

(02:06) between you have two books you have the book of signs and then the book of glory and that is typically how John is taught or studied Etc I think for the purpose of a book overview we're going to expand this into seven segments so first is still chapter 1 and we still will call this the prologue the theme of this segment is going to be divine Incarnation we are really setting the theological tone here and I'm sure many of you will be familiar but I'm just going to read you how John starts in the beginning a call back to Genesis was the word and the Word was with God and the

(02:39) Word was God he was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men the light shines in the dark and the Darkness has not overcome it that used to be one of my favorite verses but I digress this is such a huge statement and so different as you can see from how the other three gospels start John is making an incredible claim here and just within the first few sentences alluding to Jesus being the word and still he and that he was there at the beginning of creation we're going to see other

(03:15) callbacks when Jesus says I am or I am that was before Abraham and things of this nature but we are proving that Jesus is the son of God and also part of God and this is where we're really going to start getting into some Trinity ideas and that gets flushed out again later in other parts of the new test and even theology that gets built around those verses centuries later so I won't get off on any Trinity tangents I'll try not to but the beginning of it is being formed so this idea of Jesus being the word the logos is going to be a really

(03:46) important theme all the way through John and into parts of the New Testament it's so funny to compare with Genesis in the beginning God created just God God is creating everything he's not claiming help these are supposedly the first words God ever wants recorded for his people to understand him and he didn't think to mention his son he didn't think to mention the word he didn't mention some trinitarian concept he just was it's just so obvious to me what an addition this is and it's hard to think of it that way I know you grow up

(04:17) Christian and it's just ingrained into you oh Jesus is the son of God he's part of the godhead three in one distinct Parts he became fully human and fully God all these things that we just accepted via indoctrination or even if you came in at a later stage in life through conversion it was just pushed on you as this is what it is but one of my hopes in going through the entirety of the Protestant Canon and we'll get into some of the other books as well is that you can see the evolution of this from Judaism into Christianity and how it is

(04:48) distinctly different and why it's so hard to reconcile but I have to focus here so again this prologue also includes John the Baptist and his testimony the calling of the disciples Jesus becoming flesh to well Among Us so again just Jesus being uniquely shown as a pre-existing Divine entity huge John has accomplished this in just one chapter the second segment will be chapters 2 through 4 and like many openings of the gospels we will talk a little bit about the early teaching and Ministry of Jesus however without all

(05:21) those exorcisms and Parables we get down to some new Miracles this is what would be starting the second section of the book of signs and I think we have seven total signs chapters 2 through 4 are just a couple of those Jesus's first miracle here turning water into wine at Canaan is huge and there are lots of theological aspects into that also different inklings about Jesus's character the way that he talks to his mother here we seem to see a sense of purpose in Jesus earlier on that we don't see in some of the other gospels

(05:53) and a shess of his divinity we also have the cleansing of the temple and then some unique stories to John again would be the woman at the well and very importantly Jesus's encounter with Nicodemus all of these are handpicked very carefully to show what John is trying to get across to us Nicodemus is coming to Jesus in the night showcasing the confusion and the Darkness of man's understanding and it's within talking about this light the need to be born again that we get John 3:16 so bam right off the bat theological impact to the highest degree we could spend I honestly

(06:29) believe episodes talking about the first few chapters of John and pulling out all the little threads and comparing everything and understanding John's goal here and how he's structuring and building and covering mishaps from the earlier gospels or what obviously has caused confusion as this community has now existed for a few extra Decades of Christianity and he's coming in or the writer of this book with all the answers setting the record straight but we just can't do that that's not the purpose of secular Bible study so we're going to move on segment number three is going to

(07:04) be chapters 5 through6 like in all good gospels we have Jesus's Authority being challenged here but the reason here is not because of the things Jesus is doing they are a little bit you have the feeding of the 5000 you have the Miracle at the healing pool but you get Jesus just blatantly preaching dialoguing about his Divine sunship and Authority this leads in the chapters to both belief but also to opposition position so the theme Here would be the authority being challenged only then to be affirmed but let's move forward into

(07:36) segment four which is going to be chapters 7 through1 where we have an escalating opposition to Jesus the theme here being increased conflict because we need to start Paving the way for why he has to die two specific highlights from this section is going to be the adulterous woman and the Good Shepherd discourse in addition to all of these Jewish traditions where Jesus is speaking and teaching further they revealing his identity leading to that increased tension among the Jewish leaders and things are starting to cook also something I think and we see this

(08:08) in all the gospels I think it's fair to call out though that in John we play down the general people or the Jewish leaders and their understanding everyone becomes a bit dumber and it I think is so that Jesus can teach more and reveal more clearly who he is Jesus was fine earlier with some of the Hidden Messianic them and other gospels and keeping things kind of on the DL seeing what people thought of him telling people after Miracles don't tell anybody but no here it is course correction reading John is just a whirlwind after reading the other three gospels to see how Jesus so boldly speaks about himself

(08:49) and his abilities and his gifts and his divinity honestly I know I'm highlighting it a lot but it's ey openening and for many Christians that jump around and they are doing a Bible study and they read something in John and they do another Bible Bible study and they read a pretty part of Matthew they never really get the differences between all the gospels if you do not sit down intentionally to look for them and to read them in close enough succession that you can pull these things apart or listen to hopefully something like this that is helpful you just don't see it but let's move on

(09:20) segment five is going to be chapters 11 and 12 this is the culmination of Jesus's public Ministry it starts with the death of Lazarus which is is really interesting and again we could spend a whole episode on but this climactic sign is what leads to the decision to kill Jesus we now see his power over life and death and it works on multiple levels here with the reason to kill him as well as kind of foreshadowing with his power over life and death what he can and will do and all of the associated power that comes along with that but thus sealing

(09:53) his fate and then in chapter 12 we get the triumphal entry but we also get many pro profound Reflections from Jesus as he is approaching death talking about how the son of man must be lifted up talking about the unbelief of people how Jesus came to save the world like we know that's the story that Jesus came to save the world but it's like a comic book as you hear it described we are reaching the Pinnacle here where we find out that the protagonist all along really was who he said he was going to be and really is going to make the ultimate sacrifice because of love to

(10:32) save everyone I mean it is powerful as we get to this part of the story in fact I'll read to you from this spot this is in 12:44 and Jesus cried out and said whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me and whoever sees me sees him who sent me I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness if anyone hears my words and does not keep them I do not judge him for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world what a line the one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last

(11:10) day for I have not spoken on my own authority but the father who sent me has himself given me a commandment what to say and what to speak we got nothing like this in the other gospels how insane to just put it all out there like this and how much more meaningful if all the gospels had said this from different Vantage points and different sources from the beginning right after Jesus's death and Resurrection but no we see a progression an evolution a lore being created and then people defending the lore and trying to go back and correct

(11:43) it from its onset it's almost like John went too hard but apparently not because you have two billion people today believing these words so we're starting segment six here in Chapter 13 going all the way through 17 this is when that second book would have started of Jesus's Glory so we just got done with Jesus's signs now we're moving into Jesus's Glory so what happens in these chapters a lot more than I'm going to be able to cover and we're already taking a really long time on this book overview but these are the final teachings of

(12:13) Christ and I'll just go through them very briefly in 13 Jesus washes the disciples feet we get to the prediction of judas's betrayal then we get the prediction of Peter's denial and we move on to 14 which is the classic I am the way the truth and the life within 14 we get something really interesting which is Jesus promise of the Holy Spirit and so we're starting to develop that Doctrine out a little bit further if you love me you will keep my Commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever even the spirit of Truth whom

(12:44) the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him you know him for he dwells within you and will be in you I will not leave you orphans I will come to you and so we are just building out such strong ideas about the Trinity who the holy spirit is what his role is what he was doing before this Jesus needing to ask permission from the father to leave the spirit here in the world afterwards like it's crazy Theology and again this is why I say what would this idea of Christianity be like if all we got was the Old Testament and Matthew Mark and Luke wholly

(13:17) different we get more on being hated the Christian persecution complex the role of the Holy Spirit as we get into 16 and to end this book of Glory we get chapter 17 which is the high High Priestly prayer talk about added agenda Exposition I'll let you read it on your own and see how unique it is amongst the gospels and then we move into the final segment segment seven which is going to be the passion the resurrection and the commission it's pretty standard for a lot of the other things I mean there's

(13:48) obviously some contradictions we have Jesus's last words are very different here in John and we'll get to all of this in the later Point here but also one of the big things that happens in John that doesn't happen elsewhere is Jesus is reinstatement of Peter this is theologically significant for so many reasons but again a video for its own day that's the book overview I wanted to very quickly before we move on go through 10 of what I think are the most unique aspects of John's gospel and I'm not going to take the time to explain all these and show a bunch of examples I just want to say what they are so first

(14:22) you have this theological prologue very different than the others then you have all of the I am statements Jesus really putting him self out there defining himself using these abstract ways of encompassing his divinity third would be extended discourse in almost everything whether it's his conversation with pilate whether it's when he corrects someone whether it's after one of his miracles extended discourse Exposition handling arguments handling objections all of the things that John was trying to do the emphasis on those Miracles as

(14:53) more than Miracles these are signs John tells us so that we may know it seems slight but it's actually a pretty important distinction five and I've referenced it a few times is the lack of exorcisms there's none compared with the synoptics that just seems crazy why not there's some theories around this and a lot of interesting discussion but again just laying it before you right now six would be the unique events and characters a lot of the synoptics the contradictions are within the same stories oh well you have the sermon on the plane versus The Sermon on the Mount but here we get such distinct stories

(15:25) again Nicodemus Lazarus the Samaritan woman the wedding at Kaa and on and on and on and it really depicts Jesus In a Different Light where did these stories come from this is so far after Jesus's death this is clearly after the circulation of at least three other gospels were these always floating around out there and by the way John would tell us that there's so much more than he can even write we'll get to that seven would be a different chronology very different than the other gospels we're jumping around we have multiple Passover which suggest a longer Ministry

(15:55) we also get unique timings relative to the Passover in terms of the last supper and the crucifixion again those are contradictions but the chronology here is strange eight would be the high christology from the very beginning we simply do not get that at all in the others we get a slow burn a build a revealing a mystery nope I am Jesus and this is what I'm about this is why I was sent this is who sent me nine is just the role of the author here you know he claims for himself that he is Jesus's beloved disciple and that he's also witnessed to things like the Last Supper

(16:27) the crucifixion the empty tomb we just get this whole other version of events and lastly and I think very strangely would be the absence of the Eucharist the bread and the wine we only get the washing of the feet at the Last Supper that's pretty big I've been saying what would it be like if we didn't have John and the rest of the New Testament what would it be like if our only gospel was John there would be significant differences within Christianity as well so that's it a very long point one we're going to Breeze through a bunch of the

(16:57) rest and then get to point 7 so let's talk about point two authorship and date this is traditionally ascribed to John John the Apostle again the best friend of Jesus part of the reason for this is early church fathers in this case I think it's irenius who declares in 2 Century yes John the Apostle is the author here also of note for this if we go to John 2124 I believe this is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things so claiming eyewitness testimony and who has written these things and we know

(17:29) that this testimony is true there are also many other things that Jesus did were every one of them to be written I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written that's the last two lines of John so first is the claim I'm the best I'm his favorite I was witness and then two there were so many other things I could have put in here you guys but literally the world couldn't contain it that's insane even for hyperbole it was a three-year Ministry someone could absolutely document each and every think

(17:59) thing that Jesus did so that is the traditional authorship view the scholarly has kind of two cases that it makes the first is one of a John andine Community a community that was either instituted and led by or passed down through John people that believe in kind of this different version of Jesus had these different versions circulating within themselves and then finally put it down and came to light and again we're talking about 90 to 110 CE so this would explain like maybe they were off on their own of a little special cult they had their Insider stories they had their own Miracles they had their own

(18:33) teachings but these other gospels are circulating and they say no we know Jesus our leader was the most loved of Jesus here's what he taught us about this Jesus here's his experiences and they put it down in his name this is one idea and tied to that I mean it could be from that same idea but just an anonymous author in general whether it's a single author or again a communal approach there's just things to understand we have a very sophisticated Greek going on here again the high chology and the very unique depiction of Jesus this shows uh evolution of thought

(19:04) and theology that was not happening obviously right off the bat there's a pretty robust manuscript tradition for John and something that again I hate to keep saying this really deserves its own video we have some really significant textual variance at play here parts of John that you can read in the Bible that are not in the earliest manuscripts and yeah they're called out as you read through but again can really change some some theological ideas so again let's revisit this another day skipping three as we've already covered that in the other gospels and moving straight into

(19:37) for literary analysis we've talked about this but I want to put it up in the screen and list it out so first and foremost the high christological focus it's the most important part of John and this is represented in the narrative in two Fashions first the theological introduction that we get and second the Divine and human aspects this back and forth this tugging this comparison that happens all the way through the book then you get into the narrative structure with the seven signs John is a big fan of sevens I didn't point that out as we went through but this is its

(20:09) own little technique this numeration part and again here each Miracle is not just a miracle it is a significant theological theme being uncovered where other gospels did it to just show Jesus's power or report on what was being done Jon is selective here's the seven signs here's why and then man talk about symbolism John is all about symbolism and we see a lot of symbolism in The Other gospels by the way but the light the water the life so many different analogies being used to pull forth the character traits of Jesus and the

(20:44) theological import of him and in addition to all the symbolism we have the dualistic nature not just with Jesus being both fully God and fully man but also distinctions between the light and the Darkness above and below the spirit Spirit and the flesh we then move into the Divine self-identification which is a huge narrative structure part and this is the I AMS the bread of life the light of the world the Good Shepherd and again these aren't arbitrary they're purposeful they're theological they're callbacks to things in the Old Testament or the revelations of new light and

(21:18) truth and then the last literary technique here would just be the dialogues and discourses we get straight up preaching in this gospel from the mount of Jesus himself so it shouldn't be too hard to figure out what main themes are but let's move into 0 five main themes the first one I think is interesting we get the difference between belief and unbelief really stated out in this book and we can thank Jesus here in this book specifically in verses like John 12 37-40 where unbelief is not simply not being convinced or some state of confusion it is a willful rejection of

(21:57) Christ suggesting our immorality our sinful nature talk about a cult leader hey if you don't believe in me after everything that I've done it's not because other people have done these same things or made these same claims and you're being wise and cautious and skeptical it's not because you're confused because I spoken Parables to confuse you like I say in Mark it's not because some of you didn't have access or just heard about this from a friend and we're supposed to take it as perfect truth no it's because you're all evil

(22:27) and wicked it's because you have a sinful nature it's because you refuse to believe clear evidence you are without excuse wo these are the things that I think when Christians think about Jesus and then they see some apologist or Pastor that is saying these kinds of things and it sounds harsh or it sounds un Christlike or unforgiving Etc and they don't realize how much the things in Christianity they don't like have indeed come straight from Jesus's mouth we should make a whole list of those things the second theme of course is the identity of Jesus as the Son of God

(22:58) that's why we have it on the thumbnail that is just huge for this book and I don't think I need to explain that three would be eternal life through Jesus again when you have John 3:16 coming from this book that's going to be a theme it's covered more than just in that spot it is a promise from Jesus eternal life and only being through Jesus is clear here in the Book of John and there's more we could talk about the true nature of discipleship or we could talk about the transformational process that happens once One Believes In Jesus those are kind of TI back to some of the

(23:29) earlier ones so we skipped six and now here we are moving right into seven contradictions