“God does not justify us because we are worthy, but by justifying us makes us worthy.”
–Thomas Watson
The next book of the Bible that we will focus on is the Gospel of John. John’s Gospel is both simple and profound. It is in the words of one commentator, “a book in which a child can wade and an elephant can swim.” Clement of Alexandria called it a “spiritual gospel.” Some ancient commentators likened the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) to the body of Jesus and the Gospel of John to the soul of Jesus. Interesting! The Gospel of John has been the subject of very close scrutiny. All manner of critics have voiced opinions about its authorship, date, key themes, the import of the ‘signs,’ and many other topics. Our study of the Gospel of John will follow the central purpose of its author, which is stated in John 20:30-31:
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (ESV)
The purpose of this gospel is evangelism. Pastor Richard D. Phillips, in the following lengthy quote describes in some detail the glorious truth of justification and eternal life in Jesus:
Finally, the ultimate purpose for this evangelistic book concerns the reader: “that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).
Eternal life is the standard definition given to salvation in this Gospel, occurring seventeen times and referred to many more times simply as “life.” This salvation first involves the gift of judicial life in Christ. Consider a lawbreaker who faces the penalty of death but receives an unexpected pardon. That person received life and rejoiced greatly for it.
So it is for us, sinners condemned to eternal death under God’s holy law (Rom. 6:23). Through faith in his name, Jesus by his death served the penalty due to us. This is why John’s Gospel teaches, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).
A memorable illustration of a man seeking judicial life comes from the first chapter of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Bunyan’s Christian learns from the Bible that he and his city are doomed to the just penalty of death.
Fleeing for safety to the cross, Christian cries out, “Life! Life! Eternal life!” John the apostle would have us flee to Jesus, the Son of God and the Christ, that in his name we might be forgiven through his shed blood, acquitted because of his satisfaction of the law’s demands, and declared just in his perfect righteousness. Justification through faith in Christ is eternal life, free from the deadly penalty due to our sins. (Richard D. Phillips, Reformed Expository Commentary, Vol. 2, 691–692.)
Please begin to read the Gospel of John, especially the first five verses of the prologue for this Sunday (John 1:1-5) and we will see you then. D. V.
Love in Christ,
Pastor Dale
