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Exploring how to apply the Bible to our lives today, with Bible Study resources for individuals and small groups. Bible Study New Testament Matthew Mark Luke John 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians Philemon Other Studies Jubilee Year 2025 Mary, Jesus' Mother Leading a Study Old Testament (I hope to get to the Old Testament, but the New Testament is my first priority.) Why use Faith Explored Bible Studies? Faith Explored Bible Studies provide study materials that equip individuals and small groups so that they can study the Bible confidently and apply it to their lives in practical ways. Each study includes: Thought-provoking questions that challenge us to apply the Word of God to our lives today. Just enough background and commentary to guide us through the passages that might be confusing. Challenging reflections that ask us to take Jesus seriously and live our lives fully for Him. Our studies are not scholarly tomes filled with dry academic analysis (although we provide analysis), and our studies are not simply devotional (although we provide reflections that encourage faith). What makes Faith Explored different and potentially life-changing is that we offer a wide variety of questions on every passage that lead people to grapple with the text: What does it really say? What does it mean? And how can we apply it in our lives today? Our goal is useful knowledge and spiritual transformation . Why study the Bible? The Word of God is "living and active" (Hebrew 4:12) When we read the Bible, the word of God comes alive in our hearts. It is not a dead letter from the past, but God’s timeless message for us today. When we study the Bible, God does amazing things in us. He comforts, encourages, teaches, challenges, and empowers us. The Word of God fills us with the love of our Father and Creator, transforms us to live like Jesus, and opens our hearts to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Word of God is “a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105) God’s Word shows us the way to live in this world. We face so many challenges in our desire to live lives that honor God. The Word of God shines a light that illuminates the way. It shows us how to deal with the challenges in our lives, how to think like Jesus, and how to be a follower of Jesus in every aspect of our lives. If you want to learn more about what God is saying to us and how to apply God’s Word to our lives today, pick a book of the Bible and dive in! Leading a Small-Group Bible Study We have leadership training materials with a variety of tips and techniques for leaders. These materials can help leaders guide a small-group Bible Study in a way that helps the group explore the Bible deeply and function well together. See our small group leadership training materials here: Leading a Small-Group Bible Study . Image at top and Bible Study group image both provided by Wix.

In the beginning, the Word was God, but he chose to come and live among us in order to give us light and enable us to become children of God. Previous Next John Index John 1:1-18 In the beginning, the Word was God, but he chose to come and live among us in order to give us light and enable us to become children of God. Image by Stephanie Leblanc, made available through Unsplash. Tom Faletti October 31, 2025 Welcome! This study is designed for anyone who is willing to approach the Bible with an open heart, including: Catholics, Protestants, evangelicals, and Orthodox. People who are active in their church, who have stepped away from a local church or the Church as a whole, or who have never found a church home. People who are familiar with the Bible and people who are just starting out. Seekers, doubters, agnostics, explorers, and the curious. Everyone is welcome to join us as we explore what the Bible says, what it means, and how we can apply it in our lives today. A NOTE FOR SMALL GROUPS This study material can be very enriching for personal study and growth, and it can be even more powerful and life-changing when it is used by a small group of people who explore God’s Word together. We will occasionally offer instructions, indented like this, that may be useful for a small-group study. Small-group leaders can find leadership training material and practical suggestions at Leading a Small-Group Bible Study . Leaders can see Preparing to Lead a Small-Group Bible Study Meeting for suggestions on how to prepare for a small group Bible Study. I encourage you to begin and end each meeting with a time of prayer, and to go through each passage in detail, often verse by verse. As you do so, try to explore what the passage says, what it means, and how we can apply it in our lives. Personal Introductions If you are studying with a small group, it would be helpful to take some time to build community. Introduce yourselves, make sure everyone has a chance to know everyone else’s name, and get to know each other a bit. Here are some questions you could ask everyone in the group to answer: What is your name and where are you from (or how are you connected to our church or this group? Can you describe some away that the written word or the spoken word is important to you? What is one thing you hope to learn more about as you participate in this study of the Gospel of John? NOTE: Whenever the chapter and verse for a passage are underlined, please read the passage before proceeding. John 1:1-18 The Word was with God and was God, created all things, and became human Verse 14 and 15 tell us who John is talking about when he refers to the Word. John doesn’t name him until verse 17, but who is he talking about? Jesus, the One who was God and became flesh, the only Son of the Father, the one John the Baptist pointed to, whom Christians identify as the Second Person of the Trinity. John 1:1-18 is a prologue to the Gospel of John. It sounds very abstract, because John is speaking in cosmic terms, but it is introducing some of the major themes of that we will see again in more detail later in the Gospel. How is this writing different than what you have seen in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke? What is your reaction to this passage? What questions does this passage prompt in you? What questions do you already have after having just read it? Re-read John 1:1-5 In the first verse, what does John tell us about the Word? The Word was already present in the beginning, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Greek word translated as “Word” is logos . John tells us a lot about the Word in this section. Let’s look at what logos meant. Although the Greek word logos did mean “word,” it also meant much more than that. It traditionally was used where we might use the word “reason” or “thought” or “speech.” Then a Greek philosopher named Heraclitus, who lived from around 540 BC to 480 BC, used the word Logos in a way that affected Greek philosophy ever after. He said the Logos was the divine reason or principle that keeps the universe orderly, that sustains and provides order to the world. Hundreds of years later, around the time of Jesus, a Greek-speaking Jewish philosopher named Philo tried to make connections between Greek philosophy and the Jewish worldview derived from the Torah. Philo described the Logos as the intermediary between God and the universe and said that God created the universe through the Logos . (For more on the Greek understanding of Logos , see Barclay, The Gospel of John, Volume 1 , pp. 2-14; and Encyclopaedia Britannica .) Even before Philo, the Jews thought that a “word” was much more than a unit of speech: In Jewish thinking, every word has creative power. When God created the universe, all he had to do was speak a word and things came into being. For everyone, once a word went forth, it had an independent existence and force. In the last few hundred years before Christ, a form of Old Testament literature arose that is known as “Wisdom literature.” In Wisdom literature, Wisdom is personified as a living being. Wisdom was present with God at the Creation (Proverbs 8:30). Wisdom is the breath of God (Wisdom 7:25). Wisdom is always actively seeking to guide humans (Proverbs 8:1-9:12 and Wisdom 7:7-10:21). (For more on the Jewish understanding of the word of God and of Wisdom, see Barclay, The Gospel of John, Volume 1 , pp. 2-14.) John brings all of this together at the beginning of his Gospel in a way that offers a truer understanding of the Greek concept of the Logos while remaining consistent with the Jewish Scriptures. John is asserting in verse 1 that the Word existed in the beginning, was with God, and was God. But in verses 14-17, he says that the Word became human and lived as the man Jesus. Why is it significant that he is connecting God and Jesus in this way, and how does it connect with our concept of the Trinity? John is saying that Jesus, who is the only Son of the Father, is the Word who was present with God in the beginning. The Word is distinct from God (he was “with God”), and yet the Word is God, not some lesser being. He is identifying on God but two Persons, a step toward our understanding of the Trinity (which also includes the Holy Spirit). Note: The official Bible of the Jehovah’s Witnesses mistranslates verse 1 to say that the Word was “a god”. The article “a” does not appear in verse 1 in the Greek. In fact, in the Greek, the verse actually says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word,” which makes it even clearer that the Word (i.e., Jesus) is not a lesser god. What else does John tell us about the Word in verses 2-5? * All things were created through him, and nothing was created except through him. * Life came from him. * This life provided light for the human race. * Darkness has not overcome this light. Why is it significant that the Word created the world? Verse 5 mentions darkness. What does the darkness not do? Darkness is not a physical thing – it is merely the absence of light. (Evil is also not a thing: theologians and church fathers have helped us understand that it is best understood as a corruption of a good or an overemphasis on one good that results in a lack or absence or loss or denial of another good – the technical terms is a privation.) What does the darkness stand for, metaphorically? There is not a single correct answer to this question. The spiritual darkness John is envisioning could be an absence of the knowledge of God, a resistance to God’s teachings, opposition to the way of Christ, a state of having embraced what is contrary to God, etc. When we do not embrace the light of Christ, we are turning to the darkness. This reference to darkness brings to mind Isaiah 9:1-7 (8:23-9:6 in the NABRE), which includes verses that are well-known at Advent/Christmas such as, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is. 9:2; 9:1 in the NABRE) and “For unto us a child is born, a son is given . . .” (Is. 9:5; 9:6 in the NABRE). John says that the Word brings life and light to us. How do the images of “light” and “life” capture important elements of the Christian faith? How have you experienced Jesus bringing you life or light? Can you describe a time that has happened? John 1:6-9 John the Baptist came to testify to the light In the first 5 verses, John establishes some eternal truths. In verse 6, he moves into the timeline of human history. Look at verse 7. What was John the Baptizer’s purpose? He came to testify, or give testimony, or serve as a witness. What does it mean to testify or be a witness? We use those terms in courts of law. What do they mean? The NABRE says of verse 7: “ Testimony: the testimony theme of John is introduced, which portrays Jesus as if on trial throughout his ministry. All testify to Jesus: John the Baptist, the Samaritan woman, scripture, his works, the crowds, the Spirit, and his disciples” ( NABRE , John 1:7, fn.). John the Baptist is the first of many people and sources that will “testify” to Jesus or serve as witnesses on his behalf. What do you think the purpose of their testimony is? What do they show? Are we also called to testify (bear witness, give testimony) about Jesus? Explain. In verse 9, John says that Jesus was the real light who gives light to every person. What does that mean? What is our relationship to the light and to the darkness? Where do you need the light of God to show in some part of your life right now? (It would be beneficial to bring to God in prayer those areas of your life where you feel the need for God’s light, and ask him to shine his light in your situation and help you let his light shine through you.) (We will continue with verse 10 in the next session .) Take a step back and consider this: Saint Augustine, in his book The Confessions written around AD 397-400, said that in the books of the Greek philosophers he found teachings that he also found in John 1:1-5, “not indeed in the same words, but to the selfsame effect” (Augustine, Book 7 , Chapter 9, par. 13): specifically, that the Word was with God and was God, that all things were created through him, and that he provides light and life to humans. But Augustine went on to say that he did not find in the Greek philosophers what John says in 1:12: that he gave those who believe in him the power to become children of God. Nor did he find what John says in 1:14: that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Augustine also did not find in the Greek philosophers that the Word emptied himself and became obedient unto death (Phil. 2:7-8) and died for the ungodly (Rom. 5:6) (Augustine, Book 7 , Chapter 9, par. 14). Augustine expressed appreciation to God that God allowed him to read the books of the Platonists (Greek philosophers in the tradition of Plato), because the Greek teachings about the Word helped prepare him for what he learned when he became a Christian and read John, even though they did not have the whole truth. Christians sometimes think they must disdain everything that is not “Christian.” Augustine would have disagreed, as would many of the early Church fathers. Here, John was clearly building on concepts from the Greek philosophers. Paul quoted a Greek philosopher-poet as he tried to bring the gospel to the people of Athens (Acts 17:28). Partial truths can be found in many places, even if they must be refined. In what ways can we learn from thinkers of the past, or people in our own lives who are not Christian, as we try to understand God’s nature and role in the world? How can you decide when drawing from non-Christian sources is appropriate and when it will lead you to error? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John Index Next

Bible Study materials for individuals and small groups for the Gospel of John, including questions, commentary, and background information. John Additional passages of the Gospel of John will be added approximately once a week, after I test-drive them with my Bible Study group and refine them. John 1:1-18 In the beginning, the Word was with God and was God, yet he chose to come and live among us. His life is the light that enlightens us, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:10-18 (Continuation of 1:1-18) When John says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, he is talking about Jesus, the only Son of the Father. Jesus invites us to be sons and daughters of God also. Introduction to John The Gospel of John shows us Jesus Christ, who is both God and man and Son of the Father. It provides spiritual insights that go beyond what the other Gospels have, so that we can believe and have life. John - Bibliography Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of the Gospel of John. John 1:19-34 The religious authorities want to know who John the Baptist is. John is more interested in identifying who Jesus is. That's the central question for us, too. John 1:35-51 As Jesus gathers disciples, they try to decide who he is. He invites them to “Come and see.” Jesus says that to us, too. What is he inviting you to see right now? Image at top by Travis Emmett, provided by Unsplash via Wix.

As Jesus gathers disciples, they try to decide who he is. He invites them to “Come and see.” Jesus says that to us, too. What is he inviting you to see right now? Previous Next John Index John 1:35-51 As Jesus gathers disciples, they try to decide who he is. He invites them to “Come and see.” Jesus says that to us, too. What is he inviting you to see right now? In the foreground, Simon Peter and Andrew kneel before Jesus; in the background, Jesus calls to James and John on the boat. Domenico Ghirlandaio. The Calling of the First Apostles . Sistine Chapel, The Vatican. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Domenico_Ghirlandaio_-_Llamada_a_los_primeros_ap%C3%B3stoles_(Capilla_Sixtina,_Roma,_1481-82).jpg . Tom Faletti October 31, 2025 John 1:35-51 Jesus’s first disciples In this section, John is giving us an abbreviated account of the calling of the disciples. A disciple is a follower of Jesus. (John never uses the word “apostles,” but he does refer to the Twelve in John 6:66-70.) John is telescoping into just a few “days” what took a longer period of time, as seen in the other Gospels. The reference to the “next day” in verse 35 is the first of a series of 3 days in which John shows Jesus gathering disciples and then going with them to the wedding feast at Cana (John 2:1-2), where, he says, Jesus first reveals his glory to them. Who calls whom to follow Jesus? Follow the linkages from person to person. Who issues the invitation and who responds in verses 35-36, 39, 40-41, 43, and 45-47? John the Baptist --> Andrew and someone else (could this be the Beloved Disciple?) Jesus --> Andrew and the other disciple of John Andrew --> his brother Simon (whom Jesus names Cephas/Peter) Jesus --> Philip --> Nathanael Notice the networking. The Bethsaida network was not unlike our alumni networks, LinkedIn and Facebook networks, etc. Notice that it is John the Baptist who first points people to Jesus. What does this tell us about John the Baptist? He is not possessive of his followers. He wants what is best for people, even if it means they leave him. What lesson might we learn from John the Baptist when we face situations where we might need to let a fellow believer move on from our circle so that he or she can go do something God wants them to do? What caused these people to follow Jesus? (Consider, for example, verses 31, 33, 39, 41-43.) This abbreviated story about who the calling of the disciples shows that Jesus calls people and people call people. What does this story suggest about our own potential role in encouraging people to become followers of Jesus? Think about how you became someone who follows Jesus. Who called you? (Jesus? Someone who was already involved in the Christian community? Both at different times?) What is your story of becoming a follower of Jesus? In verse 39, what is Jesus’s invitation? Jesus says, “Come and see.” Note that in verse 46, Philip also says, “Come and see.” Suppose you were there. If Jesus said to you, “Come and see,” would you have been willing to follow along and check him out? Why or why not? How can “come and see” be a useful way of inviting people to get to know Jesus? Is there someone in your life to whom you would like to say, “Come and see,” as a way of introducing them to your faith? If so, what would you invite them to “come and see”? Your Sunday worship? Your Bible Study? A service ministry you are involved in with other Christians? Something else? As our faith grows and develops, Jesus often has new things he wants us to “come and see.” In what ways is Jesus saying to you, “Come and see,” in your life today? In verse 41, Andrew tells his brother Simon Peter, “We have found the Messiah.” Earlier, in verse 21, John the evangelist (i.e., the Gospel writer) used the Greek word Christos for Messiah, but here he is quoting Andrew so he uses the Aramaic word for Messiah that Andrew would have used; and then, since he is writing in Greek, he explains by providing the corresponding Greek word Christos . The fact that John uses the Aramaic word here suggests that this story was preserved from the way the original eyewitness told the story orally – which appears to be John telling us what he himself actually heard – whereas in the earlier passage he was passing on the testimony of John the Baptist. In verse 42, Cephas and Peter are the Aramaic and Greek forms, respectively, of the name Jesus gives to Simon. In verses 45-46, John’s first mention of Nazareth is part of a derogatory comment Nathanael makes about Jesus’s hometown. How do we sometimes dismiss things without a fair consideration? Notice that Nathanael goes from skeptical (verse 46) to questioning (verse 48) to faith (verse 49). How does his transformation model the typical process of becoming a follower of Jesus? How can we honor the fact that coming to faith is usually a process in order to be effective in trying to help people come to faith in Jesus? Look at verses 50-51 and the “greater things” Jesus says they will see. The reference to angels ascending and descending comes from Genesis 28:10-17. Read Genesis 28:10-17 . What happens in this story about Jacob, and what does it say about the angels? When Jacob, in his dream, sees angels going back and forth between heaven and earth, he concludes that this place where he slept is the “gateway to heaven” (Gen. 3:17) – what people in our day might call a “portal.” In John 1:51, Jesus says that he is the portal, the staircase, the gateway to heaven. In what ways is Jesus a gateway to heaven? The reference to the “Son of Man” comes from Daniel 7:13-14. Read Daniel 7:13-14 . What does Daniel say, and who did the Jews think it was referring to? The Messiah. When you put it all together, what is Jesus saying about himself in John 1:51? In John 1:50-51, the first time Jesus uses the word “you,” the word is singular – i.e., spoken directly to Nathanael. But the other two times he uses the word “you” in these verses, it is in the plural: “you all” – i.e., everyone who is listening. Jesus’s claims about himself are not some kind of private revelation. They are meant for everyone, for every follower of his to hear – including you and me. How can we incorporate this understanding of Jesus into our lives? The Prologue (John 1:1-18) gave us many descriptions of Jesus. These passages add more: Verse 38: Rabbi, which is Hebrew for “teacher” (literally, great one or master). Verse 41: Messiah, which is Hebrew for “anointed one” – the word that in Greek is Christos or “Christ.” Verse 49: King of Israel. (And also, Son of God, but we already saw that in the Prologue.) Verse 51: Son of Man. Which of the descriptions of Jesus in verses 38-51 is most significant for you right now in your life? (Teacher? Messiah/Christ? King? Son of Man?) Explain. How are John 1:1-18 and John 1:19-51 different? How are they similar? What can you take away from these passages that might affect how you live your live this week or this year? Take a step back and consider this: In verse 47, Jesus says that Nathanael is a person in whom there is no “deceit” (NRSV) or “duplicity” (NABRE) or “guile” (RSV). Nathanael is genuine: What he shows you is really who he is. Let’s consider what this means on 2 levels: Spiritually, being genuine is a necessary component of coming to faith. We need to face up to who we are relative to who God is and be honest with God about our need for him. A lack of genuineness can hinder our growth in the faith. If we try to play games with God, pretend that we are holier or more faithful than we are, or put on an act of piousness, if what we reveal to God on the surface does not reflect what is underneath (of course, God see it all!), then spiritual growth is difficult if not impossible. And in our relationships, one of the things that most undermines a romantic relationship or a friendship or the opportunity to do good in the workplace is an unwillingness to be honest and transparent – to rely on deceit or guile to try to get what we want. When Jesus says that Nathanael is a person without deceit or duplicity, what does that tell you about the way he relates to other people? Why is Nathanael’s approach important for relationships? Jesus is also describing Nathanael’s lack of guile in his approach to God. How is that important? Would you like to be known as a person in whom there is no deceit? Explain. Nathanael was so honest that he even spoke aloud his negative opinion of Nazareth. Is it necessary to be brutally honest at all times in order to be a person with no deceit, or are there ways to keep some of our critical thoughts to ourselves and still be genuine? How do we find a balance that involves living without deceit but still being kind? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John Index Next

When John says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, he is talking about Jesus, the only Son of the Father. Jesus invites us to be sons and daughters of God also. Previous Next John Index John 1:10-18 (Continuation of 1:1-18) When John says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, he is talking about Jesus, the only Son of the Father. Jesus invites us to be sons and daughters of God also. Annibale Carracci (1560-1609). Saint John the Baptist Bearing Witness . Detail. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_John_the_Baptist_Bearing_Witness_MET_LC-2009_252-1_(Bild).jpg . Tom Faletti October 31, 2025 John 1:10-13 The world did not know him and his own people did not accept him, but some did In verse 11, John says the world did not “know” him. What do you think he means when he says they did not “know” him? They did not recognize him (they didn’t recognize that God the Word was with them). They did not understand him – in colloquial terms, they didn’t “get it.” Jesus was very real and performed miracles. How can it be that they didn’t recognize him? How do people in our day fail to recognize or understand Jesus? Verse 11 says he came to “what was his own” (probably referring to Israel as a nation), and “his own people” (the Jews). In what sense were they “his own”? Are there ways that people who are “his own” don’t accept or receive Jesus today? We could still consider the Jewish people “his own.” In addition, we could think about people who were baptized, people who grew up in the Church, but don’t accept Jesus today as still being “his own.” Verse 12 says that not everyone rejected him. Some accepted him. What did he give to them? What did John say they need to do, to become children of God? What does it mean, in verse 12, to accept or receive him? Anyone who is a child must have been born somehow. Verse 13 says that when they became children of God they were born of God, not by a biological process or human desire or the will of a man. We will see more in chapter 3 about what it means to be born “of God.” What does it mean to you, that you are a child of God? How do you experience that relationship with God? In what way do you see yourself as having accepted or received Jesus? What difference does it make in your life that you have accepted/received Jesus? John 1:14 What did God do? A mini-summary of the gospel What did God the Word do, and what does it mean when we say he did those things? He became flesh: he became a human. He dwelt among us – i.e., he lived with other humans, lived as one of us. The Greek word, variously translated as “dwelt” or “lived” or “made his dwelling” among us, literally means he encamped or pitched his tent with us. (This word might have been chosen to invoke the image of God living in a tent with us as he made himself present to the Israelites in a tabernacle/tent in the desert.) What does John mean when he says, “we saw his glory”? This could be a reference to seeing the resurrected Jesus; or seeing Jesus crucified, which Jesus considered part of entering into his glory; or seeing Jesus transfigured on the mountain; or seeing Jesus’s miraculous signs, which John says revealed his glory (John 2:11). In verse 14, where most translations say he is the Father’s “only son,” the actual Greek word is “only-begotten.” As we know from the “begats” in the Old Testament and the New Testament, when a man is begotten of someone else, it means they have a father-son relationship. The idea of sonship is embedded in having been begotten , and that may be a key point that John is trying to make by using that word. Modern translations mostly say “only son” rather than “only-begotten.” Doing so brings out the relationship that is embedded in the Greek word: John is telling us that Jesus is God’s only Son. We express this truth in the Nicene Creed. We say that Jesus Christ is the “Only Begotten Son of God,” echoing John’s reference to the Father’s only-begotten Son (verse 14). We also say he was “begotten, not made.” He cannot have been made or created because he was present in the beginning (verse 1) and nothing was created except through him (verse 3). John gives us the pieces that were fleshed out in the words of the Creed. In terms of your own faith, what stands out to you in verse 14, and what difference does it make in your life? John 1:15-18 Jesus brought grace and truth and revealed the Father John now makes it clear that when he says the Word is God and became human, the human he is talking about is Jesus Christ, who is the only Son of God. Looking at verse 15, what did John the Baptist say about Jesus? What does he mean when he says that Jesus existed before him, given that John was born months earlier that Jesus (Luke 1:36)? Looking at verse 16, when John says that we received from his fullness, what does that mean? What have we received? The last phrase in verse 16 is sometimes translated as “grace upon grace,” which can be interpreted to mean that we keep receiving God’s grace more and more abundantly. However, a translation that may be truer to the Greek is “grace in place of grace.” This makes more sense in the context of the next verse. People received a kind of grace through the revelation of the Mosaic Law, but we receive a fuller grace through Jesus. This happens as the New Covenant in Jesus Christ transcends the Old Covenant that was based on the Mosaic Law. In verse 17, John contrasts what we received previously from the Mosaic Law with the “grace and truth” we receive through Jesus. How is what we receive from Jesus greater than what the Mosaic Law offered? In what ways do you receive “grace” through Jesus? In what ways do you receive “truth” through Jesus? Verse 18 says that no one has seen God. Why is that, and how does Jesus change that? Now that Jesus has come, people have seen God in the flesh. What does Jesus’s presence as God-in-the-flesh (Emmanuel, “God with us”) teach us that we might otherwise not be able to understand about God? In verse 18, John refers to Jesus as God the only Son. He has now stated that Jesus Christ is the Word; that he was with God in the beginning; that he is God; that all things were created through him; that he became human and lived among us; that he is the Father’s only Son; and that he is God the Son. Contrary to the claims of skeptics, these are not ideas that were manufactured by the Church centuries later. It took time for the Church to settle on the exact words of the Creed, but John expressed all of these ideas here. In what ways has Jesus revealed the Father to you? Take a step back and consider this: For Christians, we hear so often the idea that God became human that we can easily forget how amazing this claim is. People who have never heard of Jesus have no concept that God would become one of us. The oldest religions in the world (Hinduism, etc.) don’t have this concept. When people create new religions, they might think that people can become gods, but they don’t envision the Creator of the universe coming to Earth and living as one of us. What kind of God is infinite, eternal, and transcendent, but chooses to come and live the life of a finite, mortal, limited creature so that they could become like him? What does this tell us about how much God cares about us? How can you recapture more of the awe and appreciation that might come with first learning that God cares so much about us that he came to live as one of us to bring us to himself? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John Index Next

The Gospel of John shows us Jesus Christ, who is both God and man and Son of the Father. It provides spiritual insights that go beyond what the other Gospels have, so that we can believe and have life. Previous Next John Index Introduction to John The Gospel of John shows us Jesus Christ, who is both God and man and Son of the Father. It provides spiritual insights that go beyond what the other Gospels have, so that we can believe and have life. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti October 31, 2025 Introduction: Background Regarding the Gospel of John (This background information is a synthesis of the scholarship presented in many sources, including the following: Brown, Introduction , pp. 362-376; Brown, The Community , pp. 22-24, 166-182; Bruce, pp. 1-12; Flanagan, pp. 101-104, 119-121; Perkins, pp. 942-950; Sloyan, pp. 8-28; Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , pp. 157-158; Ellis, pp. 1230-1231; and New American Bible, revised edition , New Testament, pp. 142-144.) Why was the Gospel of John written? The Gospel of John tells us why it was written: John wants us to believe and have life: At the end of chapter 20, John says that he could have written many more things about Jesus. “But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31, NRSV). Around AD 324, Eusebius, the bishop of Caesarea, tried to summarize everything he could find about the origins of the Gospels. In his Ecclesial History , he quotes from a document written by an earlier bishop, Clement of Alexandria (AD 150-215), that we no longer have: John tells about events before John the Baptist was arrested that are not in the other Gospels: Clement said that John wrote his Gospel partly because the first 3 Gospels did not tell about the beginning of Jesus’s ministry but only covered the final year of Jesus’s ministry after John the Baptist was arrested (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III , Chapter 24, pars. 7-8). Eusebius reports: “John accordingly, in his Gospel, records the deeds of Christ which were performed before the Baptist was cast into prison, but the other three evangelists mention the events which happened after that time” (par. 12). John wrote a “spiritual gospel”: Eusebius writes: “But, last of all, John, perceiving that the external facts had been made plain in the Gospel, being urged by his friends, and inspired by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel. This is the account of Clement.” (Eusebius, Book VI , Chapter 14, pars. 6-7) This suggests that John is going beyond the external, physical, material facts and exploring the meaning of what Jesus did He is exploring on a deeper level than the other Gospels, not just providing strictly what Jesus said and did. We might call this the “theological” Gospel, because it focuses on the symbolic nature of Jesus’s life and the metaphors that help us understand the true nature of Jesus. We can see this in the ways John talks about Jesus being the light, the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection, the good shepherd, etc. How important are metaphors like the light, the way, the truth, the life, etc. in understanding who Jesus is? How do you think this Gospel might help you believe in Jesus and have life? Who is the author? We are not sure of the identity of the author of the Gospel of John. None of the Gospel authors put their name on their Gospel. The titles that say they are “according to Matthew,” “according to Mark,” etc., were added early on and are not part of the original documents. There are two puzzles regarding the authorship of the Gospel of John: John’s Gospel never refers to “John,” but it does talk about “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” who scholars call the “Beloved Disciple.” Was this Beloved Disciple the same as John the apostle, or someone else? John the apostle and his brother James were the sons of Zebedee. This Gospel never refers to James or John by name, and it only refers to the sons of Zebedee once: in an epilogue (chapter 21) not written by the author of the rest of the book. Many scholars believe that the Beloved Disciple was the apostle John, the son of Zebedee. A smaller number of scholars think it was Lazarus or Thomas. A significant group of scholars think it was another disciple not named in the other Gospels: an eyewitness who was there through it all but was not one of the “Twelve” and only rose to prominence later. The simplest conclusion is that “the one whom Jesus loved” is the apostle John, the son of Zebedee. The Beloved Disciple appears in many places where we might expect John the apostle. He reclines at Jesus’s side at the last Supper (13:21-26). He is treated as a leader (20:1-2). He is at the foot of the cross and took Mary into his house (19:25-27). And he is the disciple who it is suggested would not be martyred as Peter was (21:17-24). These are all things that fit John the Apostle. So concluding that it was John the apostle requires the fewest additional assumptions, even though many scholars prefer the idea that it was an unknown eyewitness. Who wrote the Gospel of John? Was it the eyewitness Beloved Disciple/John the apostle, or was it another person from John’s community drawing on John’s oral accounts? Irenaeus, writing around AD 180, says: “John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon His breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia” ( Irenaeus , par. 1). Eusebius, reporting what Clement had written, says that “the apostle John . . . gave in his Gospel an account of the period which had been omitted by the earlier evangelists” (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book III , Chapter 24, par. 11). The belief that John the apostle provided the Gospel of John has a long history, and it is likely that he was the source of the eyewitness testimony (unless the scholars who think the Beloved Disciple was another, anonymous disciple are right). But that may not tell us who actually put pen to papyrus (or parchment). Several other facts complicate the question of who wrote the Gospel of John: Chapter 21 of John’s Gospel is clearly an epilogue added by someone else. Chapter 20 has a clear ending in verses 30-31. Chapter 21 tells several stories, including the story of the conversation about whether Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved would be martyred. It tells us that the story came from the beloved disciple, and “we know that his testimony is true” (21:24). The use of the word “we” indicates that some or all of chapter 21 was added by a group. Scholars talk a lot about the “Johannine community” – the community of which John was a central member in Ephesus. There was another John – John the “presbyter” or “elder” – who was also a highly respected member of the community at Ephesus. Some scholars, going all the way back to the time of Eusebius, have thought that John the Elder wrote the Book of Revelation; some also think he wrote, or at least compiled the final version of, the Gospel of John. All of the Gospels were developed through a process as they transitioned from oral stories to written accounts that compiled those stories. None of the Gospels appeared from out of nowhere. The stories were first told orally. Then, someone wrote them down. It appears that the 4 Gospels have material that was gathered from a variety of sources – probably mostly oral sources, though there also may have been written documents that were partial Gospels or collections of sayings or stories. So even if John the Apostle was the primary source for this material, it might have gone through stages, including possibly more than one written stage, before it arrived at the final version we have. Many scholars today think that the Gospel of John was the work of several people in the Johannine community. They think there was an original “John” who was an eyewitness; that there was an “evangelist” who first wrote a Gospel that built on what the original eyewitness reported; and that a redactor put it into its final form. Some think that there was a version written in Aramaic before the first version in Greek, but others find no evidence for that. We will call the author “John,” but whether it was John the apostle or an unnamed disciple whom Jesus loved doesn’t chang the outcome. What matters is that at its root, it came from an eyewitness, and the result – the Gospel we have today – was inspired by God. Where did the author of the Gospel of John get his material? The original source was an eyewitness. The Gospel shows great familiarity with Palestinian geography (for example, Solomon’s portico in the Temple area; the pavement called Gabbatha where Pilate decided Jesus’s fate; that there were 2 towns called Bethany; the pool of Siloam, which was only rediscovered in 2005; the pool of Bethesda with its 5 porticos, rediscovered in the 1800s; etc.); the details of Jesus’s trial and crucifixion (that 4 soldiers gambled for Jesus’s robe; the blood and water that poured from his side; the weight of the myrrhs and aloes used to anoint his body; etc.), and many other details (that the boy with the loaves and fishes had barley loaves; that they had rowed 3 or 4 miles before Jesus came walking to them on the water; that Judas objected that the perfumed oil used to anoint Jesus’s feet could have been sold for 300 days’ wages; quotes of statements made by Thomas; etc.). This original eyewitness had a unique perspective, separate from the other Gospel authors. Most of the material in the Gospel of John is different from what is in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) – not contradictory (except in one significant place), just different. There is some overlap with Mark, but that could just relate to the fact that different eyewitnesses saw the same events. Some of the material in the Gospel of John appears to come from the reflection of the Johannine community and not necessarily all from the mouth of Jesus while he walked the Earth. That would be consistent with the idea that John’s is a “spiritual gospel” that presents more of an interpretation or analysis of who Jesus is, not just what he did and said. The Johannine community appears to have placed a strong emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete), so some of the material may not have come directly from Jesus but from later revelations the Johannine community received that they believed were revealed to them by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. So, for example, in John 3:16-21, did Jesus say, “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son,” or is that an explanation by John? The Greek of that time did not use quotation marks, so we don’t know whether it is a quote or an explanation. But maybe it doesn’t matter, because either way, we believe it is part of the inspired Word of God. To what extent does it matter to you whether the Gospel of John was written by John the apostle or another eyewitness? To what extent does it matter to you whether the final version reflects a process of editing and refinement by other writers in the Christian community, or not? Do these questions affect whether the result that we have today is the Word of God? Explain. When was the Gospel written? Most scholars think the Gospel of John was written in the AD 90s, but a small case could be made that it was written before AD 70. John does not offer many textual clues for when it was written. Scholars think Matthew was written after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 in part because Matthew’s Gospel makes some statements that sound like the author knew that it had happened. John does not give us that kind of clue. There is one spot where John uses a phrase that could indicate that it was written before AD 70. John 5:2 says, “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool....” It would be odd for John to use the word “is” if he knew that the city had been destroyed and the pool was no longer there. However, the Gospel could merely be relating the story as it would have been told orally and handed down for decades, so a single “is” is not much evidence to base a conclusion on. John presents what is called a “high Christology” – a high view of Jesus’s identity as God. Many scholars believe that it took time for the understanding to develop that Jesus was not just the Messiah/Christ but God in the flesh. That argues for a later date. The latest it could have been written was the early 100s. For a while, some scholars argued that John’ Gospel wasn’t written until as late as 150 or later. That idea was shot down when a fragment of papyrus was discovered in Egypt that contains a few verses from chapter 18 of John’s Gospel and that is considered to be dated between 100 and 150. Since it would have taken some time for that copy of the Gospel to have reached Africa, John was probably published no later than the early 100s ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , p. 157; Bruce, pp. 6-7). On a separate note, people sometimes wonder whether the Gospels might have been doctored or rewritten over the centuries by people or factions who had agendas of one kind or another – for example, after the time of Constantine when Christianity became the state religion. The facts don’t support such a theory: We have a papyrus dating from the end of the 2 nd century (the late 100s, only 100 years after the Gospel of John was probably written) that contains most of the first 14 chapters of John’s Gospel and parts of the rest. Another papyrus from the end of the 2nd century contains most of Luke and the first half of John. We also have a papyrus from the early 3 rd century (100 years before Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire) that contains portions of all 4 Gospels and Acts of the Apostles (Bruce, pp. 6-7). The Gospels we have today are not hugely different from what the Church had in the 2 nd and early 3 rd centuries. Where was the Gospel written? There is widespread agreement that the Gospel of John was written in Ephesus. There is a large amount of evidence that John lived in Ephesus for much of his later life, with Jesus’s mother Mary. What do we know about John’s audience and community? Many scholars have written whole books presenting their theories about the Johannine community. These scholars try to read between the lines of John’s Gospel and compare it to what we know or think we might know about what was going on the Church at that time, to extrapolate what we might conclude about John’s community. The most important points are these: Many scholars think that John’s Gospel was written mainly for Jews and Jewish Christians, though not all agree. Although it does not quote the Old Testament as frequently as other Gospels, John’s Gospel would be nearly unintelligible to people who lack an understanding of Jewish traditions and concepts. For example, this is the Gospel with all the “I am” statements that echo God’s name for himself in the Old Testament. Non-Jews would tend to miss the import of those statements. John also focuses on Jesus’s attendance at Jewish feast days in Jerusalem, without bothering to explain them. John’s community appears to have faced intense opposition from Jews who did not believe in Jesus. Those Jews kicked Jewish Christians out of the synagogues. When John speaks negatively of “the Jews,” modern people tend to wonder why, since John was a Jew. He is talking about the leaders of the non-Christian Jews who persecuted Christians. It might be like a White person speaking negatively about “the Whites” who persecuted Black people in the South for 100 years after the Civil War. He doesn’t mean all Jews, just those who rejected Jesus and mistreated Christians. Many scholars think John’s community may have included Samaritans who converted to Christianity. They reach this conclusion because of John’s inclusion of the story of the Samaritan woman and the conversion of her town in John 4 and the lack of any negative references to Samaritans in his Gospel (Matthew and Luke each have one or more negative references to Samaritans). The idea would be that John originally gathered converts in Palestine, Samaritan converts joined him, and they all eventually moved to Ephesus because of Jewish opposition in Palestine. If indeed John’s community included Samaritans, that could have precipitated even more Jewish persecution since there was a longstanding hatred of Samaritans in the Jewish community. John’s community may have had a special emphasis on the Holy Spirit. John’s Gospel has much more material on the Holy Spirit than the other Gospels do. John’s community may have had frequent theological disagreements with other Christians and may eventually have had a split inside their own community. Scholars think the Johannine community was critical of what scholars call “crypto-Christians” – Jewish Christians who downplayed their Christian faith in order to remain in the synagogues. They see hints in his Gospel that he may have had disagreements with Christians who did not share his high Christology or who did not place such a high emphasis on the ongoing role of the Holy Spirit. And the New Testament letter 1 John, which might have been written as few as 10 years after the Gospel of John, indicates that the Johannine community eventually faced a serious internal disagreement that led to a painful split in which some Christians in the community left. In what ways do you think the experiences and difficulties the early Church faced might have shaped what the Gospels writers decided to include or not bother to include in their Gospels? Themes in the Gospel of John The Gospel of John is marked by a series of 7 “signs” – wondrous deeds Jesus does that demonstrate his authority – beginning with his turning water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana (2:1-11). The first chapter of John provides a first mention of many themes that will recur later in the Gospel. These themes include: Jesus is the Son of God the Father. Jesus is one with the Father and existed before he was born as a human. Jesus reveals the Father. Some people do not know the Father because they refuse to accept Jesus. Jesus’s followers are children of God. Jesus brings life. Jesus brings light. Jesus brings the truth. Many people and events provide testify that Jesus is who he says he is. John develops additional themes as the Gospel progresses , include these: There is a Third Person of the Triune God, the Spirit, who will be with Jesus’s followers when Jesus returns to heaven. Jesus is the Bread of Life. Jesus will be “lifted up” to bring people to himself. God loves the world and shows his love in Jesus’s sacrifice of himself. Jesus’s disciples are called to follow him, obey him, and love one another. Which of these themes of John’s Gospel intrigue you the most, and why? What do you hope to learn by studying John’s Gospel? What questions do you hope to have answered as you study? If you could ask John one question, what would you ask, and why? How do you think he would respond? Take a step back and consider this: Atheists criticize belief in the Gospels because they have such different perspectives, which they call contradictions. If God inspired them all, how could the authors have such different versions of the story? The differences do not trouble me. In fact, if the Gospels were all perfectly aligned, I would be more skeptical. If every book told the story in exactly the same way, it would make me wonder if some person or group doctored or coordinated all the writings. I can’t imagine that a genuine set of Scriptures could be any other way than our Scriptures are: different in tiny details because of the humanness of the human authors and how they obtained and crafted their material. The only way the accounts could be entirely identical and still genuine is if God turned the original authors into robots taking dictation from him, and that would go directly against what it means to be a human made in the image of God with freedom, a unique personality, unique experiences, and unique ways of telling what we know to be the truth. Not everyone has such confidence in God: to believe that he could work through humans to develop a collection of books and letters that are inspired by him and have sacred and eternal value even though they were written by human authors working with their various perspectives and limitations. But that is why we say God is the author of the sacred Scriptures even as humans were the authors of the various books. God, in his awesomeness, honored human freedom even as he guided the result. What does the fact that God used such different people to produce the 4 Gospels tell you about God’s confidence in working through human beings to achieve his purposes? How can that give you greater confidence that God can work through you? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John Index Next

The religious authorities want to know who John the Baptist is. John is more interested in identifying who Jesus is. That's the central question for us, too. [John 1:19-28; 1:29-34] Previous Next John Index John 1:19-34 The religious authorities want to know who John the Baptist is. John is more interested in identifying who Jesus is. That's the central question for us, too. Giovanni di Paolo (1398–1482). Ecce Agnus Dei (Behold the Lamb of God) . Circa 1455-60. Detail. Art Institute of Chicago, Public domain CC0, https://www.artic.edu/artworks/16159/ecce-agnus-dei . Tom Faletti October 31, 2025 John 1:19-28 What John the Baptist says about himself This man who was baptizing people in the desert is often called John the Baptist. People sometimes call him John the Baptizer, to avoid any confusion between him and the denominations of Christians known as Baptists that arose many centuries later. Who challenges John the Baptizer? Priests and Levites (verse 19), and then Pharisees (verse 24). Priests offered the sacrifices in the Temple. Levites served in the Temple but not as priests. Pharisees were a religious sect within Judaism that emphasized zealous adherence to the Torah and its purity laws. Who does John say he is not? He says he is not the “Christ or “Messiah.” “Messiah” is the word that Jewish people would have used in their own language to refer to the one whose coming they were awaiting, who they expected would bring them liberation. The Hebrew word “Messiah” means “Anointed One.” The Greek word Christos , from which we get our word “Christ,” is the Greek word for “Anointed One.” He says he is not Elijah. In the Old Testament, Elijah does not die; instead, in 2 Kings 2:1-12, he is described as being taken up to heaven in a whirlwind. And in a prophecy in Malachi 3:23-24, God says he is sending Elijah the prophet before the day of the Lord comes (when the Messiah comes). The scholars in the Jewish tradition interpreted these passages literally and expected Elijah himself to return before the Messiah comes. In Matthew 11:14 and Mark 9:11-13, Jesus indicates that John has played the role that people expected of Elijah. But John knows he is not literally Elijah and says so. He says he is not the prophet. In Deuteronomy 18:15-18, Moses says that God will raise up a prophet like Moses for the people. Again, this was part of Jewish tradition and the Jews of Jesus’s time waited expectantly for this Prophet. Who does John the Baptist say he is? John is quoting Isaiah 40:3. Read Isaiah 40:1-5 . Why do you think John the Baptist sees himself in this description? How is this a fitting description of John the Baptist? In verse 26, what does John say he does? In verse 27, how does John the Baptizer distinguish himself from “the one who is to come,” which is Jesus? How is this a fitting description for Jesus? John 1:29-34 What does John testify about Jesus? Notice that in verse 29, John the evangelist says that this happens “on the next day.” John divides his episodes into days. Day one: If John is not the One, what is his role? Day two: Here is the One. How does John describe Jesus? Let’s look at each of the things John says. Notice that John telescopes into one paragraph here what happens over a longer period of time in the Synoptic Gospels. John is trying to get to the spiritual meaning of what was happening. What is the significance of calling Jesus the Lamb of God? This image probably evokes the Passover or “paschal” lamb whose blood saved the Israelites from the death of the firstborns in Egypt before Pharaoh finally let them go (Ex. 12). It may also evoke the Suffering Servant in Isaiah who is led like a lamb to the slaughter (Is. 53:7) and whose life is an offering for sin (Is. 53:10). What is the significance of saying that he takes away the sin of the world (note that the word “sin” is singular – John is referring to the whole state of sinfulness, not just specific sins)? What is the significance of saying that “he existed before me”? What is the significance of saying that the Spirit descended on him like a dove and remains on him? What is the significance of saying that he will baptize with the Holy Spirit? What is the significance of saying he is the Son of God? John the Baptist was a relative of Jesus (Luke 1:36ff), so scholars have puzzled over the fact that in verse 33 he says that he had not known Jesus (he uses a special form of the past tense). If they were relatives as Luke says, why does he say this? There are two main possibilities: John may merely be saying that he had not “known” in the sense that he had not realized previously that Jesus was the Messiah. John may never have spent much time with Jesus. Jesus’s early years were spent in Egypt and his family settled in the north, in Galilee, a multi-day walk from the territory where John’s family lived. They were “relatives,” but not necessarily close cousins. As an adult, at some point John went off and lived in the desert. So it is possible that they never interacted with each other before Jesus showed up to be baptized. In verses 33-34, how does John explain why he is so confident that what he is saying is true, (even though he had not known previously)? Looking over all the ways that John the Baptist describes Jesus, which description is most important to you and your life, and why? (John says: he is the Lamb of God, he takes away the sin of the world, he existed before me, the Spirit is on him, he will baptize with the Spirit, he is the Son of God.) And can you describe a time when that understanding of Jesus especially mattered for you? Take a step back and consider this: Identities are important. Sometimes, it matters a great deal who you are – or are not. The religious authorities want to know who John is (or who he thinks he is). John the Baptist wants his followers, and everyone listening to him, to know who Jesus is. Sometimes we want to know who someone is so that we can put them in the proper box in our mental assessment of who’s who in the world. That can be helpful (“this teenager is one of my students; I need to help him”) or unhelpful (“I’ve never seen this teenager here; he must be up to no good”). John the Baptist not only identifies Jesus; he testifies (verse 34) that Jesus is the Son of God. This role of testifying or bearing witness is sometimes crucial (“this is one of my most diligent students; he’s here to talk with me about his scholarship essay”). If we have experienced that Jesus takes away sins, is filled with the Spirit, or is the Son of God, we can testify to what we have seen, as John the Baptist did. How would you introduce Jesus to someone who does not know him? How would you describe him – what words would you use to identify him – so that others might be motivated to learn more about him? Bibliography See John - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/john/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John Index Next

Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of the Gospel of John. Previous Next John Index John - Bibliography Bibliography of major sources and additional sources used in this study of the Gospel of John. Some of the resources on the author's bookshelf. Tom Faletti October 31, 2025 Major Sources Barclay, William. The Gospel of John, Volume 1. 2 nd edition. The Daily Study Bible. The Saint Andrew Press, 1956. Note: All of the volumes in Barclay’s Daily Study Bible series can be viewed online at “William Barclay's Daily Study Bible,” Bible Portal , https://bibleportal.com/commentary/william-barclay . Barclay, William. The Gospel of John, Volume 2. 2 nd edition. The Daily Study Bible. The Saint Andrew Press, 1956. Note: All of the volumes in Barclay’s Daily Study Bible series can be viewed online at “William Barclay's Daily Study Bible,” Bible Portal , https://bibleportal.com/commentary/william-barclay . Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament . Yale University Press, 1997. Bruce, F.F. The Gospel of John . Eerdmans, 1983. Ellis, David J. “John.” The International Bible Commentary: With the New International Version . F.F. Bruce, General Editor. Marshall Pickering/Zondervan, 1986. Flanagan, Neal M., O.S.M. The Gospel According to John and the Johannine Epistles . Collegeville Bible Commentary. The Liturgical Press, 1983. Fredrikson, Roger L. John . The Communicator’s Commentary (Mastering the New Testament) , Lloyd J. Ogilvie, general editor. Word Books, 1985. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The New Testament, Revised Standard Edition, Second Catholic Edition . Ignatius Press, 2010. Interlinear Bible. Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/interlinear/ . The International Bible Commentary: With the New International Version . F.F. Bruce, General Editor. Marshall Pickering/Zondervan, 1986. Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott . A Greek-English Lexicon . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. Internet Archive , Volume I: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0001/mode/2up , Volume II: https://archive.org/details/b31364949_0002/mode/2up . Also at Furman Classics Editions, http://folio2.furman.edu/lsj/ . New American Bible, revised edition (NABRE) . Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2010. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version: With the Apocrypha: An Ecumenical Study Bible . Eds. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Z. Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, and Pheme Perkins. 4th ed. Oxford University Press, 2010. New Revised Standard Version Bible , copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Perkins, Pheme. “The Gospel According to John.” The New Jerome Biblical Commentary . Edited by Raymond E. Brown, et al. Prentice Hall, 1990. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance . Bible Hub , https://biblehub.com/greek/21.htm . Vine, William E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary , 1940, StudyLight.org , https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/ved.html . Additional Sources Augustine. The Confessions . Circa AD 397-400. Translated by J.G. Pilkington. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series , Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff. Christian Literature Publishing Co., Buffalo, NY, 1887. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. New Advent , https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1101.htm . Brown, Raymond E. The Community of the Beloved Disciple . Paulist Press, 1979. Encyclopaedia Britannica (the editors of). “logos.” Britannica , https://www.britannica.com/topic/logos . Eusebius. Ecclesiastical History , Book III. New Advent , https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250103.htm . Eusebius. Ecclesiastical History . Book VI. New Advent , https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/250106.htm . Irenaeus. Adversus Haereses ( Against Heresies ). Book III, Chapter 1. New Advent , https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103301.htm . Sloyan, Gerard S. What Are They Saying About John?, Revised Edition . Paulist Press, 2006. Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous John Index Next

Faith Explored welcomes everyone to explore how we can apply the Scriptures to everyday life, with free Bible Study resources for individuals and groups. We apply Bible verses and Bible commentary to our individual lives and to issues of faith and justice in our world today. Please explore with us! See our full set of Bible Studies for the Gospel of Matthew Read our Latest Blog Post Take a look at our Jubilee Year 2025 Study Guide Based on the Word of God Faith Explored Exploring how to apply God’s Word to our lives today Applied to Real Life Bible Study Materials Resources for Justice Resources for Growth Faith Explored offers resources for anyone interested in exploring how to apply God’s Word to our lives today. The website was launched by Tom Faletti to bring to a wider audience the study materials he has developed in more than 40 years of small-group Bible Study. Tom has been a committed follower of Jesus since 1976 and a Bible Study leader for nearly 40 years. He also devoted 24 years of his life to working for justice on Capitol Hill and taught high school for 13 years. Faith Explored is his attempt share what he has learned and help others be all that God intends them to be. Our Latest Posts We are continually developing new materials that apply God’s Word to our lives and our world. Here is a sample of our recent articles: I Wince When I Hear People Say That Bad Things are God’s Will I was watching a movie last night, and a character explained something bad that happened by saying, "It was God's will." Christians sometimes say this. But, while God allows evil, he does not cause evil, and evil is never his will. We need to be more precise in our language and ask the right questions. Tom Faletti 1 day ago Empty Yourself to be Filled God doesn’t force us to let him be part of our lives. Read this wonderful poem by Thomas Edward Brown, touted by Madeleine L’Engle, that calls us to make room for him so that he can fill us with himself. Are we too full of ourselves to make a space for him? “If thou could'st empty all thyself of self....” Tom Faletti Oct 26 A Lesson from the Creators of Les Misérables Les Misérables director John Caird says, "As a bunch of liberal humanists, we had tried to avoid every mention of religion, [but] sewing God into the show was what animated the characters." We have the same opportunity: to let God sew himself into the fabric of our lives so that he animates our character and gives life to everything we do. Tom Faletti Oct 18 Read More Articles Subscribe to Be Notifed of New Posts Bible Study Materials Our Bible Studies provide study materials that equip small groups and individuals to study the Bible confidently and apply it to their lives in practical ways, with thought-provoking questions, background commentary where needed, and challenging reflections. Explore Our Bible Study Materials Justice The Justice section of the website explores God’s repeated call for justice throughout the Old and New Testaments and how we can respond to that call by working for justice in our time. God is not willing to settle for only saving our individual lives; He also wants to transform our societies, businesses, governments, and cultures. This section explores how we can participate in that work. Respond to God's Call for Justice Christian Faith The life of a follower of Christ is an adventure. The Christian Faith section of our website addresses a variety of questions and challenges that arise as we try to live the Christian life. Each article focuses on one aspect of the faith or one component of Christian living, such as joy or forgiveness. The goal is to help us understand how we can put our faith into action in every area of our lives. Grow in the Christian Faith and Life God's Purposes God’s Purposes explores what God is trying to do in our world, why He doesn’t make life easy for us, and how each of us is called to join in God’s work to transform the world in our own unique ways. Consider God’s Purposes for Your Life Images at top of Bible, individual with Bible, and small group provided by Wix. All other images by Tom Faletti.

How to pray: The Lord’s Prayer shows the way. Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 6:9-15 How to pray: The Lord’s Prayer shows the way. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti May 18, 2024 Matthew 6:9-15 The Lord’s Prayer: How to pray This prayer has two parts: 3 petitions focused on God and 3 petitions focused on our needs. How does the prayer known today as “the Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father” begin? What does this first part – "Our Father who art in heaven" – say about the nature and character of God? “Heaven” tell us God is not human, or like a human. “Father” tells us what God is like – what God’s character is, relative to us. Note: Matthew is writing in Greek and here uses the Greek word for “father.” However, if Jesus taught the prayer in Aramaic, he might have used the more intimate Aramaic word “Abba,” which means “Daddy.” “Abba” only appears 3 times in the New Testament – in Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; and Galatians 4:6 – but it casts a new light on our relationship with God that is not taught prior to Jesus. What does this beginning of the prayer say about our relationship to God? . . . and our relationship with each other? This part of the prayer establishes that we are children of God – and therefore that we are brothers and sisters of each other. What does “hallowed be thy name” mean? “Hallowed” establishes that God, by his very nature, is holy. In combination with “heaven” it establishes that God has a supreme degree of holiness, and this indicates a distinction between God and us. Is this just about treating God’s name with respect, or is there more to it? What are some ways we can “hallow” God’s name in our everyday living? Verse 10 has the form of a typical Jewish couplet: two statements that say the same thing in different ways, so that the second amplifies the first (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 211-212). How do “thy kingdom come” and “thy will be done on earth as in heaven” make the same point? How does the second petition in verse 10 – “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” – go further than or further explain the first of these petitions? The petitions in verse 10 suggest that wherever God’s will is done, there the kingdom of God is. Anywhere on Earth where the will of God is being done is part of the kingdom. What does this say to you about how you live your life? Barclay suggests that the last 3 petitions in this prayer focus our attention on 3 great human needs that are related to the present, past, and future: bread now, forgiveness for what we have done in the past, and help in future temptation. He also suggests that these petitions point us to God the Father as Creator (bread), God the Son as savior/redeemer (forgiveness), and God the Holy Spirit as source of strength and guidance (in temptation) (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 199). What do you think Jesus meant by “bread”? Is it just about meeting our physical need for food? Is it about all of our material needs? Is it expressing a desire for spiritual food? Is it about the Eucharist? Is it about desire to participate in the heavenly banquet to come? Throughout the ages, people have found benefit in all of these interpretations. What might be the significance in praying for “our” daily bread, not “my” daily bread? The word usually translated “daily” is uncertain. It is used in the New Testament only here and in Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:3), and it only appears once in other Greek literature outside the New Testament. Scholars suggest that it could mean “daily” or “tomorrow’s” or “needful” or “future” (Viviano, par. 39, p. 645). Although in the Lord’s Prayer today many people pray, “Forgive us our trespasses,” the word is better translated as “debts,” which is what we find in both the NRSV, the NABRE, and most other modern translations. The word “debts” is a metaphor for our sins. If we are talking about sin, what does “Forgive us our debts” mean? What does the word “debt” suggest about our sins? What does “as we forgive those . . .” mean? “as” means in the same proportion or to the same degree – with the same measure. So we are asking God to forgive us to the same degree that we forgive others, or using the same measure we use to measure out forgiveness to others. How do verses 14-15 amplify the message of the importance of forgiveness? Why is forgiveness so important? Forgiveness isn’t always easy. How can we move to a place of forgiveness when we have been deeply hurt? It is important to acknowledge the hurt, and sometimes we need time to process the hurt. But ultimately, when forgiveness is hard, it comes down to a decision. We can decide to hold on to the hurt or to give it to God and decide as an act of the will to stop holding it against the other person. This does not necessarily mean “forgetting” the offense; for self-preservation we sometimes need to remember what has been done to us. But we can still decide to stop holding it against the other person. Sometimes, when we do this, we find that letting go of it provides a release for ourselves as well, allowing us to put the matter in the past and move forward. In the Lord’s Prayer as we pray it today, we say, “Lead us not into temptation” (verse 13a). There is a lot going on behind the scenes in this verse. First, although we pray, “Lead us not into temptation,” the word “temptation” is not the best translation of the word. Modern translations often say “test” or “trial” in verse 13. The Jews of Jesus’s time expected that there would be a time of severe testing before the coming of the Messiah. A common understanding of the petition is that it is asking God to spare us that trial. Second, although the first part literally means “Lead us not,” we know that God does not lead people into temptation – see James 1:13-14. Therefore, it is better to interpret this metaphorically. The Catholic bishops in a couple of countries in Europe have sought and received approval from the Vatican to rephrase this part of the prayer in their liturgies to remove the implication that God might lead us into temptation. They are adopting other wordings that might be translated into English as: “Do not let us fall into temptation” or “Do not abandon us to temptation.” The point is that, while God allows people to be put to the test, we want to ask him to spare us from that trial. Where is God when you are tempted – leading you into the temptation or trying to lead you out of it ? Explain. What is the test or trial you need to ask God to keep you from? In the Lord’s Prayer, we usually pray, “Deliver us from evil.” This acknowledges that evil is real, along with temptation. What is the response to evil that Jesus is calling us to take? In modern translations, the "deliver us" line in verse 6:13 is translated: “rescue us from the evil one” (NRSV) or “deliver us from the evil one” (NABRE), because the Greek word is sometimes used for the devil (for example, Matthew 13:38) – i.e., evil personified, not some abstract notion of evil. What does this add to your understanding of what we are praying here? Compare this prayer to your picture of the heaped-up, empty phrases Jesus rejects in Matthew 6:7. How is this prayer different? How can you capture some of the Lord’s Prayer’s simplicity and directness in your personal prayers to God? For some people, this prayer has become so rote that it has lost some of its power. If we could reclaim this prayer – every petition of it – so that it was a conscious expression of our intimate reliance on God as we face life in the real world, how might that affect our lives? Which of these petitions is speaking must directly to your heart today, and why? What might you consider doing differently because of today’s study? Take a step back and consider this: Barclay writes: “In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us to bring the whole of life to the whole of God, and to bring the whole of God to the whole of life” (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 199). How does this prayer invite us to make God the center of all that we face in life? How can you use the Lord’s Prayer to help you invite God into “the whole” of your life? What are the short, simple, direct things you need to say to God right now? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew Index Next

When you welcome children as God does, you never know the impact you might have. Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 19:13-15 When you welcome children as God does, you never know the impact you might have. Image provided by Wix. Tom Faletti February 13, 2024 Matthew 19:13-15 Welcoming children Who do you think was bringing children to Jesus, and why? Why do you think the disciples were trying to keep them from Jesus? Some commentators argue that this is not about playing up how wonderful children are. A footnote in the New Oxford Annotated Bible says that this is: “Not an idealization of childhood” ( The New Oxford Annotated Bible , footnote to Mark 10:1-16, p. 1810). This may be about status, not about how cute or sweet or innocent children are. Children had the lowest status in Jewish society. The disciples were trying to maintain “control” so that Jesus could focus on more important things than children; but Jesus disagrees. What is Jesus’s view of those who have no status? No one is unimportant to Jesus. What is important to Jesus? What does this passage tell us about how things look or feel in the kingdom of heaven? How should this affect how we go about our lives? Take a step back and consider this: If parents are modeling the love that Jesus has for children, it will have lifelong effects on their children. The effects may sometimes be hidden at the time, but later, that love may manifest itself in powerful ways. In the movie Belfast (directed by Kenneth Branagh, TKBC and Northern Ireland Screen, 2021), the deeply loving relationship between 10-year-old Buddy’s grandparents has generation-crossing effects on their children and grandchildren. When Buddy’s father teaches Buddy to be welcoming to people of all faiths, we understand that he learned it from his parents. And now he is shaping his child (who became the actor Kenneth Branagh we know), who has shaped the thinking of millions of people through his movies. Our faithful love, reflecting the love of God in our marriages and family relationships, and the ways we pass on that love to our children, matters deeply. By our love, we shape how well our world reflects its Creator. So let us not lose sight of how important our treatment of children is. We have an awesome calling to show children the love of God and let them experience what it means to be part of the love in God’s kingdom. When we love them, we may be setting in motion good things that may bear fruit years later. How can we use well the awesome opportunity to love the children in our families and help them experience the welcoming and love of Jesus? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew Index Next

To follow Jesus, we need to make some choices. Previous Matthew Index Next Matthew 8:18-34 To follow Jesus, we need to make some choices. Rembrandt (1606-1669). Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee . 1633. Detail. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_Christ_in_the_Storm_on_the_Lake_of_Galilee.jpg . The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/10953 , stolen in 1990. Tom Faletti July 31, 2024 Matthew 8:18-22 Jesus cautions people who claim they want to follow him There are two stories here. The first story involves a scribe. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus undermined the common understanding of many Old Testament passages by his novel interpretation of the Scriptures. Yet now a scribe, a scholar trained in analyzing the Law, comes to him and says he will follow Jesus. Why is it significant that a scribe expresses interest in following Jesus? Jesus’s response if rather cryptic. What is the meaning of his reply to the scribe (verse 20)? What is Matthew hoping we will take from this story about the scribe? In verse 21, another man approaches Jesus. This man is a “disciple” – in other words, someone who has already been following Jesus around. What does he say? Scholars suggest that when he says, “Let me go and bury my father,” he probably doesn’t mean that his father just died. Rather, he is saying: I will follow you after my father dies. This might be meant literally, but it also might be meant figuratively: When I am no longer under his authority, or when I no longer have any obligations to him, or when I won’t have to deal with his disapproval of my following you. In any of these cases, it might be years before this “disciple” could actually envision following Jesus with his whole self. When or how do we sometimes put off following Jesus, or put off getting more serious in our commitment to him? What is the meaning of Jesus’s reply? Some scholars think that “let the dead” means let those who are unresponsive to the new life Jesus is proclaiming. If so, what is Jesus saying? Sometimes people are unresponsive to new ideas because they don’t want to question what they already believe – they’re too embedded in their comfortable mental ruts. My high school drama teacher Tom Beagle, the teacher who had the greatest impact on my life, was fond of saying, “People who stop thinking are as good as dead. They haven’t lain down yet, but they sure do stink up the place.” What is Jesus implying in calling some people “dead”? The key to this passage may be the word "first" in verse 21, which involves the issue of priorities. Matthew is trying to make a point about discipleship – about being a follower of Jesus. What is he trying to tell us? How important is it to be a 100%, all-in follower of Jesus? What do these two interactions with Jesus say to you about your own level of discipleship? Do these passages make you more or less eager to be a follower of Jesus? Explain. In the next set of 3 miracles, Jesus expands beyond the narrow realm of physical healing. Matthew 8:23-27 Jesus rebukes the storm There are anecdotal stories of sudden, fierce storms on Lake Kinneret, the modern name for the Sea of Galilee. The lake is nearly 700 feet below sea level, in a valley surrounded by rugged and arid terrain, and it is affected by Mediterranean sea breezes as well as the temperature dynamics in the valley. What is the disciples’ reaction to the storm in verse 25? What is Jesus’s response in verse 26? What does his rebuke say to them and to us? Note that Jesus doesn't say they have "no" faith – just "little" faith. How might this be an encouragement to us? What does Jesus do? What is the meaning behind the question the disciples ask in verse 27? What are they really wondering? In Jesus’s time, how might this kind of miracle – calming a storm – have been considered a sign of even greater power than physical healings? What does this miracle tell us about Jesus? People often see this incident as metaphor for how we deal with the storms of life. What does it say to you personally as a metaphor for life? Matthew 8:28-34 Jesus, men, demons, and pigs There is uncertainty about the location of this event, because Mark 5:1 says it is in the land of the Gerasenes, whereas Matthew says Gadarenes. Gerasa was 35 miles from the Sea of Galilee. Gadara is a more likely location. It was a predominantly Gentile town (one of the 10 cities of the Decapolis) just 6 miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee ( Ignatius Catholic Study Bible , Matthew 8:28 fn., p. 21) . However, the early church father Origen believed it happened in Gergesa, a town that was directly on the shore (Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , p. 326), and that name appears in some of the later manuscripts ( New American Bible, revised edition , Matt. 8:28 fn. ) and ended up in the King James version of the Bible. It was common for Jews in Jesus’s time to think that demons were everywhere and were behind every bad thing that happened. This incident happens in a town that had many Gentiles. We know this because Jews would not have had a herd of pigs, since it was forbidden to eat pork – even dealing with live pigs was considered unclean. This is the second miracle (the first involved the centurion) where Matthew shows that Jesus is for all people – Gentiles as well as Jews. How do you think the people in this town felt about the two demon-possessed men, as they approached Jesus? What do they shout at him in verse 29, and what does it mean? In Jesus’s time, many Jews expected that the Messiah, when he came, would vanquish demons as well as earthly powers. The demons are implicitly recognizing Jesus as the Messiah and suggesting that he is acting before his appointed time. What do the demons ask of Jesus? Why do you think Jesus agreed to do this? People sometimes object to the possibility that Jesus might have caused the death of these innocent pigs. Those of us who eat pork and do not have a religious objection to pigs might be more sympathetic to the pigs than a Jewish audience would have been. Barclay has an interesting response. In Jesus’s time, many people believed that legions of demons were all around them everywhere they went in their daily lives. Jesus might have realized that it would be hard for the two men to believe that they had been freed from their demonic tormentors without some visible sign. The stampeding of the pigs served as physical evidence that the demons were no longer in the men. And since it was believed that demons are killed by water, it would be clear that these demons are now dead and could no longer torment them or anyone else. In this view, a herd of swine is not too high a price to pay to save two men ((Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 , pp. 329-330). How do you think that Jews observing this would have felt about what happened? Why would Jesus’s power over demons have been seen as a greater power than even power over the storm? What does Matthew want his readers to understand about Jesus? The swineherds run off and tell the whole town what happened, and the people come out to Jesus. But whereas the people who heard about Jesus from the woman at the well in the Gospel of John came out to learn from him and ultimately believed in him, the people of this town had a different reaction. How do the people of the town react? What do the ask Jesus to do? Why do you think that is their reaction? They probably were concerned about the economic impact of the loss of the swine. They may also have had other fears. Isn’t it sad that the people of this town, when given an opportunity to spend time with the Messiah, ask him to leave? Compare this tragedy to the loss of the swine. Are there ways in which we ask Jesus to stay at a distance from us because of fear that he might ask us to do things that would affect our pocketbooks or finances? How might it be true that we don’t even see the choices we are making, small and large, that keep Jesus from being an integral part of our lives? If you were God, how would you respond to the fact that some people don’t want quite such a powerful, active, and personal God? Take a step back and consider this: Previously, Jesus healed people, showing his power over illness and therefore, in a sense, his power of the human body. In these two miracles – the calming of the storm and the freeing of the demon-possessed men – we see Jesus revealing his power over nature and over the demons in the unseen spiritual world around us. This is monumental power he is showing. And since how power comes from his Father in heaven, he is showing that he has been given authority over all of creation – both visible and invisible, seen and unseen. Most Christians do not see God working in such dramatic, physical ways. But to tell the truth, most Christians would be uncomfortable if God did act in such dramatic, physical ways. Is it possible that we don’t often see God working in dramatic ways because, deep down inside, we’re not sure we want to be quite so close to such a powerful, active, personal God? What might hold us back? Are there ways in which you might be afraid of the uncertainty of living with a God who acts so powerfully? Are there ways in which you might be afraid that you might have to give up too much of what you own, if you give your life totally to this kind of God? Are there ways in which you might be afraid of the level of discipleship and commitment this powerful and active God might want of you? How would Jesus respond to your concerns? As he got in the boat and left that town, he probably did so reluctantly, with deep sadness in his heart. He would have wanted to stay, and teach them, and share with them the love of his Father. He wants to be with us and teach us, and love us, and work through us. What is Jesus saying to you as you consider this story? Bibliography See Matthew - Bibliography at https://www.faithexplored.com/matthew/bibliography . Copyright © 2025, Tom Faletti (Faith Explored, www.faithexplored.com ). This material may be reproduced in whole or in part without alteration, for nonprofit use, provided such reproductions are not sold and include this copyright notice or a similar acknowledgement that includes a reference to Faith Explored and www.faithexplored.com. See www.faithexplored.com for more materials like this. Previous Matthew Index Next