Lecture 2 – The Gospel of John, part 2

1. The cosmic spiritual battle, launched in heaven, but fought on earth, is between light and darkness


2. Life


3. Discipleship


4. The Ministry of the Holy Spirit


5. Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

Dependency

The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing (5:19).

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me…apart from me you can do nothing (15:4-5).

Obedience

whatever the Father does the Son also does (5:19).

• Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him (14:21).
• A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (13:34-35).

Intimacy

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. (5:20)No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known (1:18).

• Intimacy
• One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him….Leaning back against Jesus [literally, ‘on the breast [chest] of Jesus,’ he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” (13:23-25; cf 1:18)
• On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you (14:20).

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you (15:15).

• Authority
• (5:21-27)For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him….
• For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. (5:21-27)

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it (14:12-14).

I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete(16:23-24).

1. Jesus models the message (ch. 13)

“Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love (13:1). “Now that I your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (13:14-15).

2. Jesus proclaims what he has modeled

• Jesus reveals the future (14:1-4)
• Jesus reveals the Father (14:5-14)

Jesus promises the Spirit, his abiding presence (14:15-21)

• Jesus calls for discipleship: love, obedience, Spirit, peace (14:23-27)
• Jesus goes to the Father (14:28-31)

• Jesus reveals himself as the “true vine” (i.e., Israel, 15:1)
• Jesus invites his disciples into a cleansed (15:2-3), dependent (15:4-5), prayerful (15:7), obedient (15:9-10), joyful (15:11), loving (15:12-13), intimate (15:14-15), secure, fruitful (15:16), suffering relationship with himself (15:18-16:4)
• Jesus predicts his departure, the coming of the Spirit, and his resurrection/return (16:5-33)

3. Jesus intercedes that the model and message may come into being (ch. 17)

• Jesus prays for his glory (17:1-4).
• Jesus prays for our good: protection, sanctification, communion/union, destiny, and our filling with the Father’s love for the Son and his presence (17:5-26).

"Love" is the trait that stands at the heart of a disciple.

John 20:21-23

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”


1.1 How Jesus commissions his disciplesJesus prepares his disciples by giving them:

• 1.1.1 The confidence to go“Peace be with you!” (20:21)
• 1.1.2 The command to go“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (20:21).
• 1.1.3 The power to go“And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’” (20:22).
• 1.1.4 The authority to go“If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (20:23).

the mission of the Holy Spirit

• 1. Dependency
• 2. Obedience
• 3. Intimacy
• 4. Authority