Alright, I've prayed as earnestly as I could (aloud, just in case it makes a difference) and I have read the first chapter of John in NIV & NASB translations. I will take the rev's suggestion and dwell on it until tomorrow when I'll continue with Chapter 2.
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"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death"
I have to admit - your earlier post that you and your wife, Bible study, etc. were praying for me brought a smile to my face. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up though - I'm not going to be an easy sell ... but I'm open to whatever happens.
My thoughts on John 1 ... it was a little confusing with the way the pronouns were thrown around ("he" and "him" and it wasn't always clear who it was referring to), but I got the gist of it.
The book mentions John a lot ... was John writing in the 3rd person, or did someone else write it?
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"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death"
Location: I'd prefer to be absent from the body and present with the Lord!
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This is all per the NASB
In verses 1-6:
The Word = Jesus
all the He's and Him's are Jesus (note the capital letter too.)
v. 7-9
John = John the Baptist (not the author who is John, Jesus' disciple.)
all the He's and Him's are Jesus
v. 10-13
He's and Him's = Jesus
v. 14-18
He's and Him's = Jesus
I (in v.15) = John the Baptist
v. 19-26
I's, he's and him's = John the Baptist
v. 27
He is Jesus
I = John the Baptist
I think the rest is pretty easy to figure out.
Just a quick note, most of the time (maybe every, I'm not sure) that John (Jesus' disciple refers to himself, he does so saying "the disciple whom Jesus loved."
Ahh ... so John is not John the Baptist (I got that part wrong).
When was John written? What is the difference between a Gospel and Disciple?
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"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death"
John was not written by "John". The people who wrote the New Testamnt books were not there with Jesus, they were written many years after to transmit the very important messages that Jesus was trying to get across.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Xyress Ahh ... so John is not John the Baptist (I got that part wrong).
When was John written? What is the difference between a Gospel and Disciple?
The author of the book is John, Jesus' disciple. In the first chapter the author (the disciple) mentions John the Baptist (who is not the author.
Gospel = "Good News" this is a message, not a person. Like I come bearing Good News, I come bearing the Gospel.
Disciple = a student; in this case a follower and student of Jesus. Jesus had a core group of 12 of these men, though He had many other followers (also disciples in a general sense.)
It's hard to tell when the Gospel of John was written though we have some good evidence that it was probably written before AD 70 because no where in the book does the author mention the destruction of the temple (in Jerusalem). This was a huge event in the biblical time and certainly would have been mentioned if it occured before the book was written. Some critical scholarship suggest a date sometime in the second century however this was proved impossible with the finding of the Rylands Fragment which dates from AD 135 and records that the original writing occurred several decades earlier. Mid 60's is probably a good date for the book.
Gotcha - so John the person isn't a "Gospel" ... it's the book of John that is one of the Gospels. I also think I got confused because I thought of "Disciple" as meaning one of the 12 original disciples. Are all Christians considered "disciples" then?
I know this is pretty basic stuff, but I've heard those words thrown around so many times and apparently never got them quite straight.
Ok, so I finished Chapter 2 - it was pretty short.
SPOILER WARNING
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Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding and alludes to the resurrection in three days (though the people at the time thought he was talking about a physical temple).
The only question I have about it is the meaning of the last two verses:
24 - But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men.
25 - He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
What exactly does that mean?
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"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death"
That is basically a statement of the Deity of Christ. It means that, although while he was about doing His Father's business and many people came to believe Jesus was the Son of God because of what they'd seen, Jesus didn't base His certainty of who He was upon the testimony of the people. In other words, Jesus KNEW who He was, and He knew how fickle man's mind is, and He wasn't going to let Himself be swayed because of man's belief or unbelief--He had a mission to complete, regardless of what others believed.
In a nutshell, that's my understanding of those passages. In fact, at the risk of getting way ahead of the game here, I like those scriptures because they also indicate how we should be as Christians. Once we are born again need to grow spiritually and be so solid on our understanding of who we are in Christ that we cannot be swayed by people and circumstances around us. God has a plan for each of us to accomplish and without a solid foundation it's easy to get distracted from that mission when we rely on others to "validate" us or what God has us set about doing.
I'm sorry to have gotten long winded, but that's just how inspiring the Word is. But good questions!
Ok - finished Chapter 3 ... and this chapter highlights an inconsistency that has long bothered me. It happens to be probably the most famous verse in the Bible:
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"
So ... God gave his one and only son. But some people think that God is Jesus? It seems pretty clear to me that Jesus is God's son as stated there and several other places in the Bible. Which do you believe and why?
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"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death"
Location: I'd prefer to be absent from the body and present with the Lord!
Posts: 361
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Re: God == Jesus
Quote:
Originally posted by Xyress Ok - finished Chapter 3 ... and this chapter highlights an inconsistency that has long bothered me. It happens to be probably the most famous verse in the Bible:
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"
So ... God gave his one and only son. But some people think that God is Jesus? It seems pretty clear to me that Jesus is God's son as stated there and several other places in the Bible. Which do you believe and why?
The problem that you struggle with is a "trinitarian" one.
In the Godhead we have three persons:
God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are 3 persons in the Godhead and all three person are God.
I think of it sort of like a pretzel. It has three holes in it put it is still one pretzel.
Go back and take a look at John 1:1-5. It says that Jesus was WITH God and it that Jesus WAS God. There are many other places in scripture that Jesus says that He is God. You'll see this in a few days in chapter 10.
I know that it is something that is hard to understand, and I don't even understand it but scripture is clear that Jesus is God.
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Bible Study - The Book of John
The book of john is my fav.It is an a great book to study.
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