How did my facination with John's Gospel begin?
I became interested in the gospel of John in 1999. As a youth pastor working busily preparing activities and messages to deliver on Wednesday Night, I had the additional responsibility of teaching the dozen or so faithful kids who showed up on Sunday Morning. I always needed something to teach and I always seemed to lack the time. Flipping through the Bible, in one particular frantic quest, I came to the gospel of John. John has it all, I thought. It’s a good place to start.
Up till that time in our Sunday School, I utilized a game called “Crack the Case.” Someone would read a case, normally having to do with a murder. They would present the case to the group and the group would have so many minutes to solve the case by asking yes and no questions. The youth really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too. It was a good way of using up time. At the end of each game, I would tell the class that this is how someone should perform bible study. Ask a question. No question is to dumb. Answers only come with questions and observations. The bible is a mystery, I said, and we who study the bible are the investigators.
Thus without studying the gospel of John or making a lesson plan, I began to read. We read a little each Sunday and then I began by asking some questions. Sometimes the class was better than others. I found quickly that I, the teacher, was becoming the student as I developed a deeper and deeper curiosity for the text.
My initial curiostiy began while exploring Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. Jesus tells Nicodemus “No one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he is born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5). Though I had read the gospel quit a few times, for the first time the water caught me by surprise. What does water mean? In my personal devotions I had come across 1 John 5:6, “This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only but by water and blood.” The water appeared almost identical. Water and Spirit and Water and blood. I thought, clearly water is short hand for a deeper truth.
I began to read the whole gospel of John, asking questions and looking for clues. I found that water is almost everywhere in the gospel of John. From John the Baptist testimony in chapter one to Christ crucifixion in chapter nineteen. Why did John use water so much and for what purpose? The more I searched the more I learned and gradually a thesis began to develop.
I began to tell everyone about my search. It fascinated me and I loved to see peoples faces as they learned something new. I wanted to write a paper on the subject. I shelved the idea, however, when in 2000 I moved to southern California to continue my education at BIOLA univesity. In the stacks of BIOLA's library I found a whole book on the topic written by Larry Paul Jones.
Two years later I picked up the quest again. In the mist of researching a paper on baptism and the reception of the Spirit in Acts 19, I encountered several articles on water in the gospel of John. I began to read the gospel of John again. I picked up Larry Paul Jones’ book and found that his arguments were incomplete. I found there was need for further research.
In Spring of 2002 I went to BIOLA’s library and began to copy every article of interest that I could find on the water, as well as the meaning and interpretation of John. I encountered ideas that I had only heard about in passing in my studies at Multnomah Bible College. I began to ask new questions about John’s gospel and to formulate new ideas.
The Summer came and with it a chance to devote all my reading to this single subject. Ideas began to pop inside my head like popcorn. By the time the summer ended and my final semester at Biola began, I had read over a hundred articles and books on the subject.
That Fall, I approached biblical studies department about the possibility of doing an independent research class on the subject. I found Wayne Flory an open professor. Over the course of the semester I poured myself into writing on this single subject. My paper "Water in the Writings of John" was now only a small portion of a theory that explained almost every aspect of John's Gospel.
Up till that time in our Sunday School, I utilized a game called “Crack the Case.” Someone would read a case, normally having to do with a murder. They would present the case to the group and the group would have so many minutes to solve the case by asking yes and no questions. The youth really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too. It was a good way of using up time. At the end of each game, I would tell the class that this is how someone should perform bible study. Ask a question. No question is to dumb. Answers only come with questions and observations. The bible is a mystery, I said, and we who study the bible are the investigators.
Thus without studying the gospel of John or making a lesson plan, I began to read. We read a little each Sunday and then I began by asking some questions. Sometimes the class was better than others. I found quickly that I, the teacher, was becoming the student as I developed a deeper and deeper curiosity for the text.
My initial curiostiy began while exploring Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3. Jesus tells Nicodemus “No one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless he is born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5). Though I had read the gospel quit a few times, for the first time the water caught me by surprise. What does water mean? In my personal devotions I had come across 1 John 5:6, “This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only but by water and blood.” The water appeared almost identical. Water and Spirit and Water and blood. I thought, clearly water is short hand for a deeper truth.
I began to read the whole gospel of John, asking questions and looking for clues. I found that water is almost everywhere in the gospel of John. From John the Baptist testimony in chapter one to Christ crucifixion in chapter nineteen. Why did John use water so much and for what purpose? The more I searched the more I learned and gradually a thesis began to develop.
I began to tell everyone about my search. It fascinated me and I loved to see peoples faces as they learned something new. I wanted to write a paper on the subject. I shelved the idea, however, when in 2000 I moved to southern California to continue my education at BIOLA univesity. In the stacks of BIOLA's library I found a whole book on the topic written by Larry Paul Jones.
Two years later I picked up the quest again. In the mist of researching a paper on baptism and the reception of the Spirit in Acts 19, I encountered several articles on water in the gospel of John. I began to read the gospel of John again. I picked up Larry Paul Jones’ book and found that his arguments were incomplete. I found there was need for further research.
In Spring of 2002 I went to BIOLA’s library and began to copy every article of interest that I could find on the water, as well as the meaning and interpretation of John. I encountered ideas that I had only heard about in passing in my studies at Multnomah Bible College. I began to ask new questions about John’s gospel and to formulate new ideas.
The Summer came and with it a chance to devote all my reading to this single subject. Ideas began to pop inside my head like popcorn. By the time the summer ended and my final semester at Biola began, I had read over a hundred articles and books on the subject.
That Fall, I approached biblical studies department about the possibility of doing an independent research class on the subject. I found Wayne Flory an open professor. Over the course of the semester I poured myself into writing on this single subject. My paper "Water in the Writings of John" was now only a small portion of a theory that explained almost every aspect of John's Gospel.
posted by Matthew Miller at 5:05 PM
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