- Show respect
- Treat others as we want to be treated
- listen to others
- Everyone is entitled to their own opinions (The Bible (God’s Word) has the final say)
- Put your hand up if you want to speak /answer or write in the chat
- Try to limit questions and comments to 2 minutes(because I need a concise amount of info to address)
- I plan to address questions and concerns, however some may have to be addressed after the study or I may have to get back with you that’s typically < 48 hrs, just to ensure I give you accurate information
Schedule
6:30 – 6:40 pm – quick prayer, meet & greet, praise report, how was your day
6:40 – 7:20 pm – main topic/lesson may end early to answer more questions!
7:20 – 7:30 pm – closing remarks, prayer requests
(Try to keep all questions, comments, etc. <2mins, this helps with conciseness & time)
The Goal is Truth!
We are going to start with the Truth of scripture, not Epistemology (we will pursue truth through the frame work of John’s eyewitness account (His Gospel), we will investigate his I witness account!
*Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemologists study the nature of knowledge, epistemic justification, the rationality of belief, and various related issues. Epistemology is considered one of the four main branches of philosophy, along with ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
When a question or comment is made I will often ask on what scriptural bases is the claim being made? I will ask this to get a contextual understanding!
Hence this will be the bases of the Bible study, we will examine everything in light of scripture! For,
- 1 Thessalonians 5:20Do not treat prophecies with contempt, 21 buttest all things. Hold fast to what is good. (prophecies here could refer to spoken revelation from God, But it most often referred to written revelation!) ( when God’s word is preached or read it is to be received with great seriousness.)
- 1 John 4:1
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.For many false prophets have gone out into the world. (test the spirits – in other words exam what is being heard and read like the Berean Jews in Acts 17:11 who received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
– 1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly (explicitly) says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
Illustration – Deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
* Eve was asked in Gen 3:1Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”3:4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
*Eve states that the devil deceived (tricked) her and Paul restates this in 1 Timothy 2:14
The purpose of John is found in John 20:30-31
The Purpose of This Book
30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these are written so that you may believethat Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have lifein his name.
Therefore, John has two objectives apologetic(that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (defending)) and evangelistic(“and that believing you may have life in His name).
In keeping with his evangelistic purpose, John used the verb “to believe” nearly one hundred times – more than twice as much as the Synoptics (Gospels), emphasizing that those who savingly believe in Jesus will receive eternal life(3:15-16,36;4:14;5:24,39-40;6:27,33,35,40 etc)
* With this purpose in mind the book centers on the person and work of Christ. With this purpose in view we see three predominant words (signs, believe and life) reemphasized throughout the gospel to enforce the theme of salvation which is first set forth in the prologue (John 1: 1-18)
Overarching Rule: scripture interprets scripture (We will let the Bible explain itself)
*We often are able to find a clear understanding of a text and historical context by looking at different accounts of Scripture. We get a thorough understanding of the life of David by looking at the accounts of his life from the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, as well as many Psalms. (like an investigator uses tools (a magnifying glass, microscope, measuring tape) to help him to get his job accomplished, however his main focus is the evidence ( the Bible))
The Bible is a collection of divinely inspired writings (2 Timothy 3:16) written by a number of authors, living in different geographical areas in some cases, and written over a long span of history, yet it retains an amazing unity. Because the many voices of Scripture make up God’s unified revelation, we want to let Scripture interpret Scripture. This involves examining what the Bible has to say on a topic as a wholerather than just picking stray verses here and there and coming to a conclusion.
Scripture most often interprets itself. For example in John 1:1, we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” If we keep reading, the rest of the passage helps us interpret this verse as we read, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .” (John 1:14), showing us that the Word is Christ.
Another example is the parable of the sower in Luke 8. After Jesus shares the parable, we read, “And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, he [Jesus] said . . .” (Luke 8:9). In the verses that follow (Luke 8:11–14), Jesus tells us what the parable meant:
“11Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
12The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
13And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away.
14And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”
A Key to Properly Understanding the Text:
The Bible is Divinely inspired. The Bible was written by authors with specific intents, the way to determine a text’s meaning is to discern the original author’s intent for it.
To do this, we employ the grammatical-historical method, which examines the writer’s historical context and the text’s grammatical structure. We treat verbs as verbs and nouns and nouns, for while the Bible is God’s Word, it is written according to normal grammatical conventions, not in some esoteric tongue.
Moreover, we look at the historical setting of a text so that we can discern the issues the author is addressing. Such things help us get into the mind of the author so that we can know what he means.
& cross reference:
A cross reference is a verse that has a similar theme or topicas the verse that you are reading. Cross references are a great tool when you are trying to study themesor topics found in all of scripture. But if you are wanting to do a specific word study then you’ll want to use a concordance.
All of this is done to affirm/ensure what the Bible in this case the Gospel of John is proclaiming and what does it mean for us.
> In other words the class will not consist of my opinions or anyone else’s, but rather we will be searching of the scriptures.
* John’s eyewitness account refers to his recollection of events that took place when he walked with Jesus here on earth John, he makes this clear in his first letter when he writes:
1 John 1:1
1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4And we are writing these things so that oura joy may be complete.
Our Goal is to search God’s Word to get a right view on life, righteousness and salvation.
Proverbs 3
*5Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight. a
7Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
So I plan to have a sheet similar to this one when we come together, so you can see the different verses, terms, Greek words, etc.
Why pursue it this way?
Isa. 55:11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
John 17:17
Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Sanctify – set apart as or declare holy; consecrate, So believers are set apart to serve the Lord exclusively so that the believers desire to obey God’s commands and walk in holiness
John 8 The Truth will Set You Free
31So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Real faith expresses itself in true discipleship – which is more than a simply learner in the academic sense!
disciple primarily refers to a dedicated follower of Jesus. This term is found in the New Testament only in the Gospels and Acts. In the ancient world, a disciple was a committed (devote) follower or adherent of a teacher. It is not the same as being a student in the modern sense.
We will follow a method of interpretation known as the historical-grammatical approach.
That is, we try to find the plain (literal) meaning of the words based on an understanding of the historical and cultural settings in which the book was written. We then follow standard rules of grammar, according to the book’s particular genre, to arrive at an interpretation. We seek to perform careful interpretation or exegesis—that is, to “read out of” the text what the author intended it to mean. This is in contrast to eisegesis, which occurs when someone “reads into” the text his own ideas—what the reader wants the text to mean. In other words, exegesis is finding the AIM (Author’s Intended Meaning) of the passage because its true meaning is determined by the sender of the message, not the recipient.
*We will do this to avoid– being deluded with plausible arguments as Paul explains the church at Colossae (Col. 2:4).
*Paul explains to the church at Corinth that – his message and preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,
(1 Corinthians 2:4)
I other words it is nothing special about me, rather God’s Word will produce the effects when we simply read, study and feed on His Word (Matt. 4:4)
The study will be held online via Zoom every other Tuesday starting 7/14/2020, more details and the like can be found on Meetup:
https://www.meetup.com/Christian-Bible-Study-through-the-Gospel-of-John-Meetup/