Lord Jesus Christ in the 1611KJV
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Lord Jesus Christ in John

Verses within this Study.

1:12, 17, 18, 20, 23, 25, 1:29, 34, 36, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 45, 45-Son, 47, 48, 49, 49-King, 50, 51;
2:1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 13, 19, 22, 24;
3:2, 3, 5, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 22, 28, 35, 36;
4:1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 13, 16, 17, 21, 25, 26, 29, 34, 42, 42-Saviour, 44, 46, 47, 48, 50, 53, 54;
5:1, 6, John 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 19-Son, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27;
6:1, 3, 5, 10, 11, 14, 15, 15-King, 17, 19, 22, 23, 24, 26, :27, 29, 32, 34, 35, 40, 42, 42, 43, 53, 61, 62, 64, 67, 68, 69, 69-Son, 70, 71;
7:1, 6, 14, 16, 21, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33, 37, 39, 41, 42, 50;
8:1, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 19, 20, 21, 25, 28, 28-Son, 31, 34, 35, 36, 39, 42, 49, 54, 58, 59;
9:1, 3, 11, 14, 19, 20, 22, 35, 35-Son, 36, 37, 38, 39, 41;
10:6, 7, 23, 24, 25, 32, 34, 36;
11:2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 23, 25, 11:27, 27-Son, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 45, 46, 51, 54, 56;
12:1, 3, 7, 11, 12, 13, 13-King, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 23-Son, 30, 34, 34-Son;
35, 36, 38, 44;
13:1, 3, 6, 7, John 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 31, 36, 37, 38;
14:5, 6, John 8, 9, 13, 22, 23;
15:15, 20;
16:19, 31;
17:1, 1-Son, 3, 12;
18:1, 2, 4, 5, 7, John 8, 11, 12, 15, 19, 20, 22, 23, 28, 32, 33, 33-King, 34, 36, 37, 37-King, 39;
19:1, :3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 19-King, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 33, 38, 39, 40, 42;
20:2, 2-LJ, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31;
21:1, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25

Click on the following links to jump to a section within the study of this Bible Book: Lord only, Jesus only, Christ only, Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, Lord Jesus, Lord Christ, Lord Jesus Christ, King, Son, Son of God, Son of Man, Saviour.

Lord  occurs 44 times in the gospel of John.  Jesus  occurs 243 times.  Christ  occurs 20 times.  Of the secondary roles, Son  occurs 58 times of which 16 are Son of God, and 12 are Son of man  and 10 are upper-case Son  by itself and 20 use a lower-case Son  for a human son (not necessarily the Son of God).  King  occurs 16 times in 13 verses of which 5use a lower-case King  for a human ruler and 2 are King of Israel  and 6 are King of the Jews  and are upper-case King  by itself.  Obviously, Jesus  is the most important role of the Son of God in Johns gospel.  John shows us time and again how the physical man named Jesus  proved that he was the Son of God.  John also tells us how Jesus  showed His disciples how to live as a Spirit led human in this world.  But more than anything else, John tell us what Jesus  said and taught.  In the breakdown of the verses that use Jesus  in Johns gospel, by far Jesus  speaking is the most occurring of any type of action reported by John.  More than anything else, John reports what Jesus  said and taught.

Lord Only

John 1:23; 4:1; 6:23, 34, 68; 9:36, 38; 11:2, 3, 12, 21, 27, 32, 34, 39; 12:13, 38; 13:6, 9, 13, 14, 16, 25, 36, 37; 14:5, John 8, 22; 15:15, 20; 20:2, 13, 18, 20, 25, 28; 21:7, 12, 15, 16.

Lord  occurs 44 times in the gospel of John.

  1. Jesus is called Lord  in recognition that He is God in John 1:23, 6:23, 68, 9:38, 11:2, 3, 34, 13:9, 13, 14, 37, 14:5, John 8, 22, 20:2, 13, 18, 20 25, 28 and 21:16.
  2. Jesus is called Lord  in recognition that He is their leader and is asked for information in John 11:12.
  3. Jesus is called Lord  by those who do not really believe he is God because they retain the right to argue in John 6:34 and 13:6.
  4. Lord  is used for God the Father in 12:13 and 12:38.
  5. Lord  is used for a human leader that represents God in His role as Lord  in John 13:16, 15:15 and 15:20.

Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord.

John 1:23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. 

There are several verses in each of the four gospels that tell about John the Baptist.  The main note, with the address of all other verses, is under Luke 1:5.  Please use this link provided to see the full Study on John the Baptist, including links to notes which deal with every place in the Bible where he is named.  This particular verse is a quote of Isaiah 40:3 and says the same thing as Matthew 3:3 and Mark 1:2-3 and Luke 3:4.  As explained in the note under Luke 3:4, Lord  is used for God the Son in this quote.  It was God the Son coming in human flesh that John was to prepare the people to meet.  John did his part but the people, especially the leaders, refused to accept what was offered and God will not take away anyone's free will, even to keep them out of Hell.

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John 6:23 (Howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks:) 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6:22-24 form a single sentence which is ooutlined and has the context explained in the note for this verse within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  Please also see the notes for John 6:22 and 6:24 within this Study since they are part of this same sentence.

This verse is referring back to the miracle of feeding 5 thousand men with 5 barley loves and two fish in all four gospels.  Please use this link to see the Table of Gospel Miracles.

This verse is in parenthesis because there is not a valid word-for-word translation between languages.  If there was, then we would have had computers accurately translating between human languages a long time ago. I have been hired to translate computer programs from one language to another, on several occasions, by people who knew both languages and could comfortable and properly work in either language.  However, languages are composed too exchange thoughts and thoughts that are easily expressed in one language are often difficult to express in another language.  Proper translation requires not only translating words but also requires complete retention of the idea that was expressed in the source language.  With computer programs, companies hire special translators who not only know the languages but also know how to provide a translation that retains all of the original thoughts, functions and intents.  Businesses do this to avoid being sued for lots of money.  Yet, Bible believers somehow think that they can be less diligent in the translation of God's Word when the fate of their eternal soul depends upon an incorruptible word of God  (1Peter 1:23).  When you see verses or phrases in parenthesis in the KJV1611, God had the translators add words that are not in the original language in order to retain all of the original thoughts, functions and intents.  It is God, not man, that preserves His Word to all generations, no matter what language He has to translate it into (Deuteronomy 7:9; 1Chronicles 16:15; Psalms 105:8).

While the prior paragraph might seem to be a side-track, it actually deals with a modern application of the same problem that our Lord  had with the multitude of the Jews.  Modern religious people, like the Jews, are / were willing to admit His power to do miracles and are / were willing to call Him Lord,  but both groups refuse to submit to His authority.  This sentence and this gospel deliberately link the title of Lord  to the miracle because not only does the power belong to the Lord  but He also has the authority because of that power which no other person can match.  People get away with denying His authority only in this life because God is collecting a non-refutable record of their attitude which will be used to condemn them when they are judged.

With that in mind, what we see in John 6:11 that Jesus  prayed.  That is, the people saw the physical man pray.  But, after seeing the miracle and gaining understanding, John understood that it was the Lord  that gave thanks to the Father.  Many people have the mistaken idea that if they just learn the right words to some magic prayer  then they can force the power of God to do what they want.  In truth, the saved have the Holy Spirit making Intercession for them.  When they pray, the Holy Spirit (God) prays the right prayer (with groanings which cannot be uttered) that we can not pray (Romans 8:26).  It is God praying for us that unlocks the power of miracles.  This parenthetical verse retains the original thought of John that it was the Lord  (God) who had given thanks  and unlocked the power for this miracle.  This verse uses Lord  for 'power and legal authority of God'.

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John 6:34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 

All of John 6 is related.  Please see all of the verses and related notes in John 6 to understand the context.  It tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion in John 6:63.  Remember this doctrinal difference as you go through these verses and the related notes.

As this discussion between Jesus  and the Jews goes back and forth, Jesus  has told them that their needs will be met by seeking them from a spiritual source (God the Father).  They are thinking about never dying physically, when Jesus  promised they would never die spiritually.  They asked several other things and then did not understand the answers from Jesus, but did understand that He was from God because He could do miracles.  At this point, they are tired of trying to understand.  They call Him Lord, and are planning on not arguing any further but (in their hearts) they retain the right to argue in the future.  Look at John 6:60-66.  Jesus  knew their hearts and that can be seen in His response of the next couple of verses which include ye also have seen me, and believe not.  So, in this verse, these religious Jews called Jesus,  Lord,  meaning ruler and God, but it was only a 'head belief'.  They did not really believe it in their hearts.

This is the exact problem that soul winners have with the prayer of salvation.  Someone might ask Jesus  to save them, but if they don't accept His absolute right to rule them without question, there is reason to believe that He refused their prayers just like He refused to accept these Jews calling Him Lord.  Jesus  said that we must come like little children (Matthew 18:3), which means we must be willing to obey just like little children obey.  The Bible does not tell us to ask Jesus  to save us but actually says that we must call upon the name of the Lord  in order to be saved.  That means that we must accept His power and authority over us for the rest of our life and agree to worship Him, as high above us, and agree to obey Him.  When people refuse to do this from their heart they end up with a false profession.

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John 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63, which directly relates to this verse.

After the miracles and all of the discussion in John 6 about fleshly religion verses the spiritual, Jesus  said It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.  In the first half of this sentence, Jesus  clearly told the Jews that their fleshly religion that they were relying upon profiteth nothing  and they needed the spirit to have spiritual (eternal) life (quickeneth).  In the second (equivalent) part of this sentence, Jesus  told them that spiritual eternal life came from the words that he spoke.  All of the discussion that they had trouble with can only be understood spiritually.

When Jesus  said that He was the bread of life  and that we must eat His body, He was making a spiritual analogy to show us that we had to take spiritual nutrition daily (bread) and that daily nutrition came from Him and His words.  After Jesus  tried (unsuccessfully) several times to show the Jews that they had to understand the spiritual from a spiritual perspective, they left Him.  They could not grasp the spiritual until after they let go of the fleshly religion.  As noted above, Jesus  then asked the twelve if they would also go, not because he expected them to go but so that they could demonstrate true faith.

True Biblical saving faith is put into the person of God and His promises (John 5:39) which are in the words that Jesus  told them gave spiritual life (6:63).  Peter speaks for all of them when he says thou hast the words of eternal life.  Peter and the other apostles also had trouble understanding what Jesus  said in this chapter, but they trusted Him and His words even when they didn't make sense at the moment.  They might not completely understand, but they were going to hang onto the words of eternal life  that came from their Lord  (God).  In Acts 5:20, the angel told Peter Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.  While Peter had trouble understanding in John 6, by Acts 5 he understood.  God's people need too follow Peters example and trust the words of eternal life  and the God who spoke them, even when they don't completely understand.  Over time and with spiritual growth, understanding will come.  Peter uses Lord  for God in this verse.

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John 9:36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.

In this verse we see this man address Jesus  as Lord  because the healing that the man received could only come from God.  This verse starts with He answered  because it is this Man's answer to the question that Jesus  asked in John 9:35.  (See the note for that verse under Son of God.) In John 9:35-9:37 we have a clear statement that Jesus  claimed to be the Son of God.  In John 5:18 and John 19:7 we see the Jews condemn Jesus  because they clearly understood that His claim to be the Son of God  was in fact a claim to be God.  There is a religious doctrine that claims that Jesus  never claimed to be God.  These verses, and other verses, show that claim to be a lie from the devil.

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John 9:38 And he said, Lord, I believe.  And he worshipped him.

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.

This verse plainly shows that this man believed that Jesus  was Lord  and God and backed that belief with personal worship.  Psalms 118:26 says Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.  This man showed this attitude by his personal worship and received personal blessings.  In Matthew 21:9 and Mark 11:9 the multitudes cried the same thing when they thought Jesus  would lead them to ruling the world.  They changed to crucify him  when they realized that they would not get their desires.  In Matthew 23:9 and Luke 13:35 Jesus  said that the Jews would not see Him, and therefore would be cursed, until they again had this praise and were willing to accept any blessing that he gave them.  Plain and simple, some blessings only come after we publicly worship God as our personal Lord.

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Jesus Only

John 1:29, 36, 37, 38, 42, 43, 45, 47, 48, 50; 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 13, 19, 22, 24; 3:2, 3, 5, 10, 22; 4:2, 6, 7, 10, 13, 16, 17, 21, 26, 34, 44, 46, 47, 48, 50, 53, 54; 5:1, 6, John 8, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19; 6:1, 3, 5, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29, 32, 35, 42, 43, 53, 61, 64, 67, 70; 7:1, 6, 14, 16, 21, 28, 33, 37, 39, 50; 8:1, 6, 9, 10, 12, 14, 19, 20, 21, 25, 28, 31, 34, 39, 42, 49, 54, 58, 59; 9:1, 3, 11, 14, 35, 37, 39, 41; 10:6, 7, 23, 25, 32, 34; 11:4, 5, 9, 13, 14, 17, 20, 23, 25, 30, 33, 35, 38, 40, 41, 44, 45, 46, 51, 54, 56; 12:1, 3, 7, 11, 12, 14, 16, 21, 22, 23, 30, 35, 36, 44; 13:1, 3, 7, John 8, 10, 21, 23, 26, 27, 29, 31, 38; 14:6, 9, 23; 16:19, 31; 17:1; 18:1, 2, 4, 5, 7, John 8, 11, 12, 15, 19, 20, 22, 23, 28, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37; 19:1, 5, 9, 11, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 33, 38, 39, 40, 42; 20:12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 24, 26, 29, 30; 21:1, 4, 5, 10, 13, 14, 22, 23, 25.

Click here for all of the Verses that use Jesus  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Jesus.  These verses in John which use Jesus  use His name to tell us the following things:

  1. Jesus  = human man
    1. The name or is of a human being
    2. Identified with place of His birth or childhood (Nazareth / Galilee)
    3. Jesus  is the Son of man.
    4. Someone talked to Jesus
    5. Jesus  gave a command as a man or talked as a man to other men
    6. Jesus  prayed so that other men heard Him
    7. Jesus  used the power of the Holy Ghost (also see point below on devils and chart on miracles under Table Of Miracles)
    8. Someone saw /could not see Jesus
    9. Someone physically dealt with Jesus
    10. Someone came to the physical man called "Jesus"
    11. Jesus  physically stood or moved
    12. Jesus  (Son of man) was physically betrayed and crucified
  2. Jesus  = 'God in human flesh'
    1. Jesus (human) is called the Son of God
    2. Jesus  is used for "God in the flesh"
    3. Devils addressed Jesus  or Jesus  dealt with devils
  3. Roles of Jesus
    1. Christ
    2. King of Jews or King of Israel (Christ)
    3. Prophet
    4. Lamb

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 

There are several verses in each of the four gospels that tell about John the Baptist.  The main note, with the address of all other verses, is under Luke 1:5.  Please use this link provided to see the full Study on John the Baptist, including links to notes which deal with every place in the Bible where he is named.  In this verse, we read that John seeth Jesus, which means that John the Baptist saw the physical man named Jesus.  Jesus  is used in this verse for the physical man.  In addition, we see that John the Baptist declared Jesus  to be the Lamb of God.  That title is best explained in the notes for Revelation.  In this verse, we can know that John the Baptist spoke by revelation from the Holy Ghost because he personally had doubts as seen in the fact that John sent from prison and asked Jesus  if He was the Christ  (Matthew 11:1-28; Luke 7:18-35).  1Peter 1:12 tells us that Old Testament prophets, including John the Baptist, were given prophecies that they didn't personally understand but were to pass on for our sake.

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John 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 

This verse uses Jesus  to identify the physical man that John the Baptist looked upon.  The general note for Jesus  divides the references within John's gospel by application.  The note for this verse, within the Book Study on the gospel of John, explains the context.  The sentences before this one, within the gospel of John, told of the legal testimony by John the Baptist which will be used by God when God judges people who rejected the testimony by John the Baptist.  Our current sentence tells us that John the Baptist repeated his testimony while with two men who became Apostles.  They not only could verify by John the Baptist testified but they then followed Jesus Christ  and obtained their own testimony.  Thus, this sentence tells us about the first disciples to follow Jesus Christ  and later become Apostles.  It also tells us that, physically, they only saw a man.  However, they also heard God's truth from a God-given source and obeyed that truth.  Thus, the application is that we need to believe God's truth when it comes from a God-given source even when it goes against what we would believe if we relied only on our physical senses.

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John 1:37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

Like the note above, this verse uses the name of Jesus.  to identify a literal physical man.  (Please see the prior note for more details.).  This verse tells us about the reaction of two of Johns disciples after they heard him proclaim that Jesus  was the Lamb of God.  They reacted by following the physical man identified as Jesus.  One of those two was Andrew, who went and got Peter (John 1:40-42).  The other was John.  Matthew 4:22-23 tells us about John and James leaving their fathers fishing business to follow Jesus.  See the note on John 1:36 for more details on that event.  As explained in the note for this sentence, within the Book Study on the gospel of John, this verse is the start of Jesus  calling disciples who would later become Apostles.  Thus, the notes for the rest of this chapter are dealing with that subject.

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John 1:38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?

This verse tells us about the reaction of two of John the Baptist's disciples after they heard him proclaim that Jesus  was the Lamb of God.  They reacted by following the physical man identified as Jesus  and that physical man spoke to them, as seen in this verse.  This verse is part of a section of this chapter which tells about Jesus  calling disciples who later became Apostles.  This section of the chapter goes from 1:36 through the end of the chapter.  See the note on John 1:36 for more details.

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John 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus.  And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

A lot of religions believe the false doctrine from the Catholic church that Peter is the Rock  of Matthew 16:18.  This verse clearly says that Peter is only a stone.  The Rock   of Matthew 16:18 is Christ   as we are literally told in 1Corinthians 10:4.  As explained in the Overview document, Christ   is used within the Bible for our ongoing personal relationship with God that is in Christ and it is used for the role of the Son of God within that relationship.  Within the Bible, Lord   is used for a role of God that does not deal with us on a personal level unless we make it personal on our end.  Thus, when Psalms 18:2  says The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower,  it is describing the attributes of Lord  that are applied to us personally but only through the role of Christ.  The rest of Psalm 18 describes how David made his relationship with the Lord  personal, which is what salvation is all about and is the relationship that is offered to us in Christ.  the uses of the word rock,  within the Bible, describe the personal relationship that is in Christ  and show us how Paul concludes that Rock was Christ.

Below is every reference to the word rock  within the Bible.  This is the evidence that every verse is either a direct reference to Christ  or is a type of Christ.  Verses that directly say that the Rock  is Christ  (can not be Peter) include:

  1. 1Corinthians 10:4 says ...that Rock was Christ  in reference to Exodus 17:4-6 and Numbers 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 8:15 and Nehemiah 9:15 and Psalms 78:16, 20, 35; 105:41; and Isaiah 48:21 and Matthew 7:24-25 and Luke 6:48
  2. Deuteronomy 32:13 uses a lower-case rock  for the blessings that saved people get from a personal relationship with God.  We see the same thing in Psalms 18:2, which says The LORD is my rock  and goes on to describe the blessings of our personalizing our relationship with God.  We continue to see a lower-case rock  used for the personal relationship with God in Psalms 94:22.  Again, Psalms 114:8 tells us how our Lord  made provision for the blessings that come through the personal relationship.  That is, God created the plan within His role as Lord  and made that plan open to everyone without regard to any person but only gave the blessings to those people who accepted His plan which included a personal relationship.
  3. Deuteronomy 32:31-37 directly compares a lower-case rock  to an upper-case Rock  as a direct analogy of comparing a lower-case god  to the upper-case God.
  4. 1Samuel 2:2 uses a lower-case rock  but states that the lower-case rock  is God.  So does 2Samuel 22:2, 3, 32, 47; Psalms 18:31, 46; 27:5; 28:1; 31:2, 3; 40:2; 42:9; 61:2; 62:2, 6, 7; 71:3; John 89:26; 92:15; 95:1; Isaiah 17:10;
  5. Isaiah John 8:14 and Romans 9:33 and 1Peter 2:8 all call Christ a stone of stumbling and for a Rock  of offence.  Psalms 81:16 tells how God's people missed out on blessings from God because they refused to make their relationship personal and ended up turning to another lord.  Jeremiah 5:3 goes on to describe how God's people have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return  when they turned from God's provision and stumbled  at the personal relationship because they trusted in religion.  Jeremiah 13:4 has God teaching about our personal filthiness when there is a hole in the rock  (we have part of our life not protected by Christ). 
  6. Exodus 33:21-22 and Song 2:14 and Isaiah 2:10, Isaiah 32:2 are the same type of the saved person being protected by being in Christ.  Judges 15:8, 11, 13 tell us about Samson being on a rock  that protected him from the Philistines.  Judges 20:45, 47 and Judges 21:13 tell about when Benjamin was almost destroyed and ran to a rock  for survival and protection.  Again, 1Samuel 23:25 tells of David finding protection in the rock.  1Chronicles 11:15 tells us about David being protected in the time of war by being in a rock.  In Job 24:8 we see that when all else fails, Christ  provides shelter.  In Job 28:9 we see God's hand on Christ  in the place of protection.  In Isaiah 42:11 we see God's people singing when they receive protection.  In Isaiah 51:1 we see that God dug them out of a pit  before providing protection.  Jeremiah 18:14 has God asking how people could leave this protection that He provides. Matthew 27:60 and Mark 15:46 tells us how God protected the body of Jesus  in a rock  while He went to Hell to pay for our sins.
  7. Deuteronomy 32:4 directly equates the Rock  to a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.  Other verses that use an upper-case Rock  to directly mean Christ  include Deuteronomy 32:15, 18, 30, 31; 2Samuel 23:3.
  8. Numbers 24:21 is a prophecy about the people from Moses' father in law.  They trusted in a rock  that was a type of the false security that religion gives in place of a true personal relationship that is in Christ.  The prophecy said that their rock would fail them just like all religious promises fail when they try to replace a true personal relationship that is in Christ.  Isaiah 22:16 also uses rock  for the supposed protection of religion when people have left their personal relationship with God.  Jeremiah 21:13; 23:29; 48:28; 49:16 and Obadiah 1:3 have God warning His people that He will destroy them for trusting in the false protection (rock)  of religion.  In addition, Ezekiel 24:7; 26:4 and 26:4 all use a rock  to show how God will expose personal sin when religious people expect their sin to be hid because of their religion.  In Amos 6:12 we read Shall horses run upon the rock?.  Horses  are symbolic of protection in a war.  Amos was trying to show the foolishness of expecting protection when you are outside of God's plan for protection (rock / Christ).  He also showed the lack of provision outside of 'God's plan.  We also see this truth in the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8:4-18) where the seed  that fell upon a rock  (outside of protection of a personal relationship and trusting in religion) as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture (Holy Ghost).  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.  Our spiritual root  is only in our personal relationship that is in Christ  (John 15:1, 5).
  9. Judges 1:36 identifies a place of protection that should have been for God's people but was used by their enemies because God's people failed to do what God told them to do.  The lesson here is that Christ  will not protect the disobedient and fearful.
  10. Judges 7:25 tells us about a prince of Midian (Oreb) being killed upon a rock.  He symbolized to oppressive things in the world that will be killed in our life when we base our life upon Christ.  Isaiah 10:26 also references the truth and symbolism within this verse.  In 2Chronicles 25:12 we see the presentation of a godly king who hired the army of Israel (religious but disobedient children of God) to help him with a war but did not use them when the man of God told him to not do so.  When he relied upon the word of God's man, he was able to kill 10,000 of God's enemies on the rock.
  11. Judges 6:20-21 tell about God sending an angel to Gideon and telling him how he was to serve God.  He prepared a meal for the angel, who told him to put it on a rock  and then the angel burned it up as a sacrifice to God.  When we serve God, we are to offer our service to God upon Christ.  That is: in obedience to Christ  and with the faith that Christ  will make our sacrifice acceptable to God.  Then in Judges 6:26 we see God tell Gideon to tear down the altar to the false god and offer a sacrifice to the true God on the rock  that is there.  This is symbolism for our replacing false religious worship with true worship once our life is based upon Christ  (the rock).  Judges 13:13 tells us about a similar act with an angel, a sacrifice and a rock  when the parents of Samson were told that they would have a son who was to be a Nasserite and serve God.
  12. 1Samuel 14:4 teaches us another lesson about Christ  that people like to deny today.  Saul was disobedient and rebellious to God.  Jonathan was trying to help Saul.  This verse tells us about two sharp rocks  that made it very hard for him to help Saul.  When we are rebellious against God, Christ  not only will be against us but will interfere with God's people helping us in our rebellion.  2Samuel 21:10 is part of a presentation about the sons of Saul being killed because of Saul's disobedience to God.  They were hung on a rock.  Christ  teaches us that judgment will come upon us and our children when we are saved and living in open rebellion to God's commandments.
  13. In Job 14:18 and in Job 18:4 we see Job complaining because God did not do as Job though he should do.  Job uses the phrase the rock is removed out of his place  and many people blame God when Christ  isn't where they think He should be or isn't doing as they expect. 
  14. In Job 19:24 Job wants his words preserved in a rock  and Christ  preserves our words.
  15. In Job 29:6 Job says the rock poured me out rivers of oil.  This is obviously symbolism and it represents the blessings of the Holy Spirit coming out of our personal relationship with God that is in Christ.  In Job 39:1 we see God dealing with Job and challenging him to explain the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth  (when Christ  will cause a blessing to come).
  16. In Job 39:28 we see God equate the blessings that an eagle  has to the fact that it dwelleth and abideth on the rock.  Many preachers have dealt with the symbolism of the eagle  found in the Bible.
  17. Proverbs 30:18-19 says There be three things which are too wonderful for me...the way of a serpent upon a rock...  The next verse says Such is the way of an adulterous woman.  That is, these two phrases are similar in action.  The serpent on a rock  is symbolic of how Satan turns what should be protection (rock)  into something dangerous (a serpent upon a rock  and an adulterous woman).  If we do not keep our personal vows to God (an adulterous woman)  then He will hurt us more than He hurts someone who never made those personal vows.

Once the reader studies all of these verses, they should be able to see that the Bible uses Rock  only for a type of Christ,  including our ongoing personal relationship that is in Christ, or a type of a devil trying to claim to be a god (an antichrist) or for the religious attempt to replace our ongoing personal relationship that is in Christ.  Please see the note for 1Corinthians 1:12  for links to every place that the Bible uses Cephas  and the explanation that this is a name given to Peter by Jesus.

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John 1:43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. 

Jesus called Philip to be one of the 12 in John 1:43.  The 12 are named in Matthew 10:2-4.and Mark 3:14-19 and Luke 6:12-16 and Acts 1:13.  After his calling, the first thing Philip did was go and get his friend Nathanael (John 1:45).  Although people are not exactly like their friends, you can tell something about a person by their friends.  Philip was from the same city as Peter and Andrew, and apparently friendly with them, but not necessarily close friends (John 1:44).  I suspect Philip felt about Peter and Andrew the same way as a lot of us feel about someone we know pretty good at church but don't share occupations with.  We might go to a week long church function with them, but not necessarily share family vacations together.  However, with Philip going and getting Nathanael, I believe that Nathanael was a much closer friend to Philip than Peter and Andrew were.  Nathanael was a skeptic (John 1:46).  In John 14:8 we read Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.  This makes me think that Philip wasn't the brightest person.  Again, in John 12:20-22 we read of men seeking Jesus  and Philip found Andrew to make the decision of whether to take them to Jesus  or not.  Andrew, of course, was less expressive than Peter and would be easier for a somewhat timid and shy person to deal with.  I believe that Philip wasn't the brightest and was somewhat timid and shy, yet he was chosen by the Lord  as one of the twelve.  God's standards aren't the same as men.  Men wouldn't have chosen Philip, but Jesus  did.  In John 6:5-7 we are told that Jesus saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.  Even the timid and shy need to act in faith.  Philip apparently went and got Andrew and had Andrew lead, but you can't have a leader without a follower and leaders need followers to let them know of things that need taken care of.  Instead of Philip trying to do something that he was not qualified for, he was meek and wise enough to find the right person to make the decision.  Jesus  didn't tell Philip the problem so that Philip would solve it himself but so that Philip would take it to the right person to get it solved.  Returning to skeptical Nathanael, Jesus  said Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!  With the emphasis that the author gives, we can figure that Nathanael was a very politically incorrect, blunt spoken person.  A lot of churches would prefer if the people like Nathanael would go elsewhere, but people like Philip need someone like Nathanael because they miss a lot of what is hid in 'gentle speaking'.  Philip had enough sense to know that he needed Nathanael and to appreciate his friendship.  When he needed the plain truth no matter how poorly others might receive it, Philip went to Nathanael.

There are a couple of other Philips in the Bible including the brother of king Herod and Philip the deacon turned evangelist in Acts.  Be careful to not confuse different people with the same name in the Bible.  The lesson of Philip is that God loves and calls all types of men, even those that we might not think are too bright.  As many preacher has pointed out, God is more concerned about faithfulness than brightness.  In this verse, Jesus  is used for the man who walked but also for man that shows us how to act in the flesh when He chose a not-too-smart but faithful Philip to be one of the twelve.

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John 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 

Please see the note for John 1:43 which gives some background for this verse.  Nazareth was considered the home of Jesus.  Jesus  was raised in Nazareth after leaving Egypt.  Jesus of Nazareth  is used here to positively identify the physical man.  Nathanael, like a lot of Jews, believed that the Christ  could not come from Galilee because nothing good came from Galilee, when 'good' was measured by human religious standards.  However, God relishes in using what man refuses to show that His power is greater than anything that men use for a measurement.

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John 1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! 

Please see the note for John 1:43 which gives some background for this verse.  While many people don't care for someone who speaks the blunt truth (no guile),  Psalms 32:2 and this verse make it clear that God values that trait.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that saw and spoke to Nathanael.

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John 1:48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. 

Please see the note for John 1:43 which gives some background for this verse.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to Nathanael.  Nathanael was apparently fairly quick.  When Jesus  told him something that only God could reveal to a prophet, he overcame his skepticism and believed on Jesus.

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John 1:50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. 

Please see the notes for John 1:43 and John 1:48 which gives some background for this verse.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to Nathanael.

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John '2:1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:

Please see the note for John 2:1 in the Book Study for a lot of very important doctrinal considerations about the account of this miracle.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who had a physical mother.

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John 2:2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 

Please see the note for John 2:1 in the Book Study for a lot of very important doctrinal considerations about the account of this miracle.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who was at this wedding.

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John 2:3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 

Please see the note for John 2:1 in the Book Study for a lot of very important doctrinal considerations about the account of this miracle.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who had a physical mother who spoke to him.

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John 2:4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come. 

Please see the note for John 2:1 in the Book Study for a lot of very important doctrinal considerations about the account of this miracle.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke.  Please also see the note for this verse, in the Book Study, for an explanation of why Jesus  spoke like He did.

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John 2:7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water.  And they filled them up to the brim. 

Please see the note for John 2:1 in the Book Study for a lot of very important doctrinal considerations about the account of this miracle.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and gave instructions to other men.

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John 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him. 

Please see the note for John 2:1 in the Book Study for a lot of very important doctrinal considerations about the account of this miracle.  This verse uses Jesus  for 'God in human flesh' who manifested forth his glory.

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John 2:13 And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 

This verse, through the end of the chapter form a single account of the last time that Jesus  went to Jerusalem and cleansed the Temple before His crucifixion.  his visit is what drove the Jewish leaders to have Him crucified because they realized that His turning the people to God would reduce their religious, and other, authority and power.  We also see this account reported in Matthew 21; Mark 11 and Luke 19.  Everything related to this account should be considered together in order to fully understand the context.

This account in the last time that Jesus  went to Jerusalem and His actions there caused the religious leaders to demand that He be crucified.  In the sentence, which this verse is part of, we read how that Jesus  went to Jerusalem at the time of Passover and found people, in the Temple, selling animals that were required for the Jews to offer in sacrifice for the Passover.  The main problem was that they were in the Temple instead of doing their business outside.  In the same sentence with this verse we read Jesus  saying: make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.  As I will show, this is the basic conflict between personal salvation that is a personal relationship with God verses formalized religion that promises to take care of peoples personal responsibilities if they pay the whore's price to religion.

The various accounts of this event, as told in the different gospels, have different details.  However, there is no conflict as the differences are due to the authors making different points about the event and no one account contains all of the details.  In addition, an event as significant can be used to teach many Bible truths.  The authors different things which they wished to tell their readers.  Therefore, there is not the conflict that some people might think exists.  For example, Where John 12:12-16 are talking about His triumphant entry into Jerusalem without mentioning the cleansing while John 2, and the accounts within in the other gospels, are talking about Jesus  cleansing the Temple.

This sentence uses Jesus  for the physical man who went to the Temple and was offended by the perversions that the religious leaders were leading the people of God into and decided to do something about it.  The events of this sentence were prophesized in Malachi 3.

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John 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that spoke and prophesized His own death and resurrection.  In addition, this verse is part of the account when Jesus  went to Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion.  Please see the note for 2:13 for the context and links to other notes which deal with this account.

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John 2:22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that spoke and prophesized His own death and resurrection.  In addition, this verse is part of the account when Jesus  went to Jerusalem for the last time before His crucifixion.  Please see the note for 2:13 for the context and links to other notes which deal with this account.

Please also see the note for John 2:19 and the note for John 21:15, which directly relate to this verse.  In John 2:19, Jesus  told people Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up..  People didn't understand that Jesus  meant His own body when He said temple, but, as this verse says, His disciples understood and believed after the resurrection.  In John 2:19 Jesus  told people that Jonas was a sign of His own death, burial and resurrection.  John 12:16 also tells us about another incident that the disciples didn't understand until after the resurrection.  Even then, they didn't understand everything and had to continue to grow spiritually through the Holy Ghost, as John 14:26 says.  We also don't understand everything when we first get saved but need to grow spiritually.  We also need to be understanding of those who are less spiritually, as the Bible teaches with the weaker brother  and other teachings.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical manwho spoke and taught spiritual things.

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John 2:24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,

This verse is related to John 6:15 which says they would come and take him by force, to make him a king.  The verse before this one says that many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.  So long as he was doing miracles and feeding them, they believed on Him.  But when the goodies stopped, they cried crucify Him.  They believed on Him here for the miracles.  They believed on Him in John 6:15 because they thought that He would make them rulers over the Romans .  They believed on Him many times in the Bible, but only so long as they were getting what they wanted.  This verse says But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men  were fickle, selfish, self-centered and just plain unreliable.  This verse and the next are one sentence which uses Jesus  to identify the human man that understood the nature of men.  Notice that these people, according to the prior verses, believed in his (Jesus) name.  They made a commitment to the physical man but did not call upon the name of the Lord  (Romans 10:13).  They did not accept Him as Lord  and, therefore, did not meet God's requirements for salvation.

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John 3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 

John 3:1 and 3:2 form a single sentence divided into three Equivalent Sections as explained in the Book Study on the gospel from John.  This sentence introduces John 3, which many people preach out of.

Nicodemus was a member of the Jewish religious leaders and a Pharisee who later became a disciple of Jesus.  We see in him an example of conversion and growth that many people follow.  He first became convinced that Jesus  spoke the words of God and sought to learn more.  Many people claim to believe that the Bible is the word of God, but die lost because they don't seek to know more.  Nicodemus did seek more knowledge here in John 3.  He was not ready to become, or to admit to becoming a disciple of Jesus, especially with what he knew would be the cost.  In John 7:48 we read the Pharisees say Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?  God used this to make Nicodemus see that he needed to take a stand for his faith.  While it was not as bold as his actions in John 19:38, it is a growth from John 3.  This type of steady growth is actually better and more reliable than some great conversion  most of the time.

Returning to our sentence, we see that the Third Equivalent Section tells us that Nicodemus looked at what Jesus  actually did instead of just listening to the religious leaders.  God gave us a brain and expects us to use it.  God condemned the Jews because they have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house  (Jeremiah 5:21; Ezekiel 12:2; Mark 8:18; John 12:40; Romans 11:8-10).  Psalms 115:4-8 tells us this describes false idols and followers of false religion.  Revelation 3:18 tells God's people that are trusting in worldly things that the only cure comes from the rebuke and chastening of the Lord.  So this Third Equivalent Section tells us that Nicodemus actually used his brain and looked at what Jesus  was doing instead of what his peers claimed.  See, the First Equivalent Section says that Nicodemus was among the leaders that led people into error and Hell, but Nicodemus wasn't one of those led into error.  This lets us know that salvation is personal.  In addition, the Second Equivalent Sections tells us that he came to Jesus  by night (because he was lost [in darkness] and from a group spreading the darkness of error) but that he came to a teacher come from God.  Many people wonder why they don't lead lost souls to salvation and it is because they are a preacher of their religions doctrine instead of being a teacher come from God.  There is a difference between presenting what God says in His word and giving your religions interpretation of the Bible.  There is also a difference between cramming a doctrine down someone's throat and teaching, which requires moving at the learning pace of the student.

In these three Equivalent Sections to this sentence we see a lost person who is in their false religion, then we see him hiding in darkness but seeking God's Word, finally we see him acknowledging that the messenger comes from God.  A lost religious person must go through these steps before they can hear the truth of God.  Please see the all of the sentences and related notes, as provided in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the full presentation and all of the context which must be considered together in order to get the full truth of this account.

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that a lost religious person recognized as a messenger from God.  Please also see the note for 3:13, within this Study, for the context and links to other notes which deal with this account.

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John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

In 3:1 through 3:21 we have the account of Jesus  telling Nicodemus that he must be saved.  Many people preach from parts of this account but it is important to consider the full context of what is presented within the Bible.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

Lots of religious people take born again  from this verse without realizing the context and Biblical meaning of this phrase.  In context, we see Jesus  getting directly to His listeners spiritual need and expressing it in a way that makes the person think.  We see the confusion of Nicodemus in his question of the next verse.  Jesus  then clarifies His answer, but he first waited to see if Nicodemus would use his brain or if he would just dismiss what Jesus  said as 'crazy talk' that did not fit in his preconceived ideas.

As we see in the answer from Jesus  in 3:5, there is a difference between spiritual life (born of the Spirit) and physical (born of water) life.  One of the main problems of religious people is that they have been taught that all spiritual activity means doing some physical world religious ceremony.  There are times that God tells man to do some religious ceremony in the physical world to demonstrate to other men that there is a spiritual agreement.  For example, God told Abraham to offer his only son named Isaac for a sacrifice.  However, another man offering his son does not mean that God has  to give this other man the things that God gave Abraham just because the man did the same ceremony.  There has to be a real spiritual agreement with God and a command from God before the ceremony has ant spiritual effect.  Another example of this principal is baptism.  Without a person first being born again, baptism only gets them wet.

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that spoke as a soul winner.  He gave us an example of making sure that the person is really thinking before proceeding with giving spiritual truths.

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John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

In 3:1 through 3:21 we have the account of Jesus  telling Nicodemus that he must be saved.  Many people preach from parts of this account but it is important to consider the full context of what is presented within the Bible.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

As noted above, Jesus  first made sure that Nicodemus was thinking then He told Nicodemus that he had to be born again  now he tells Nicodemus that there is a physical birth (born of water) and a spiritual birth (of the Spirit) and the second, optional, birth is of the Spirit.  Jesus  repeats Himself, in simpler terms, in the very next verse (John 3:6).  Jesus  then explains that you can not see the things of the Spirit but can see the results of the Spirit acting, just like you can't see the wind but can see the results of the wind.  Religious ceremony can be seen.  Religious ceremony is not doing the spiritual but is supposed to show what has already been done spiritually.  What a lot of people miss when talking about being born again  is that Jesus  said The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit  in John 3:8.  That is, there will be Spirit caused evidence in the life of everyone that is born of the Spirit.  Those that just have religious evidence or no evidence can not claim to have been truly Biblically born again.  What I am saying is made clearer in other places in the Bible and even is in the following verses of John 3, but John 3 assumes a Jewish understanding.  In the next verse, Jesus  says Art thou a master of  and then explains in terms that a master of Israel  can understand.  Let me put it into modern U.S.  English.  1John 5:13 and other places tell us that God gives eternal life  and God does this by putting His seed (1John 3:9) in us.  A woman does not get life growing in herself without a man putting his seed in her.  We do not get eternal life growing in us without God putting His seed in us.  All life grows including eternal spiritual life.  Something that does not grow and move is not alive.  At the time of birth, the life (DNA, etc) that the child received from the father is fixed and does not change further.  However, the child does continue to grow and change while they remain alive.  Further, while the child has the same life inside and outside of the womb, the relationship that the parents have with that child is different before and after birth.  The same is true about spiritual birth.  God plants the seed of His Word in our heart where it grows until we are born again.  Jesus  paid the price for us to be born again  and that does not change after our spiritual birth, just like our DNA does not change after our physical birth.  Since God gives eternal life, what is provided by Jesus  can not be lost or changed ever.  However, a good mother does not abandon her baby after birth but continues to have an ongoing relationship with it whereby she provides for it and guides the growth of this life that came from her.  While a lot of things about the life of that baby are fixed at birth, many things about that life and the relationship with the parents change after birth.  Furthermore, the parent can reward or punish the child after birth.  They can enhance or take away things that the child considers to be part of their 'life'.  So also does the life and relationship of a child of God go.  After the spiritual birth, God does not abandon His child after birth but continues to have an ongoing relationship with them.  This relationship is maintained through God the Sons role as Christ  and anyone without this ongoing relationship is not born of God.  Just as the mother provides for her child and guides the growth of it, so also does God.  While a lot of things about the life of that (physical and spiritual) baby are fixed at birth, many things about that (physical and spiritual) life and the relationship with the parents change after birth.  Just as the parent can reward or punish the child after birth, so also does God.  God can enhance or take away things that the child considers to be part of their salvation (life) without completely ending the spiritual life.  Romans John 8, among other places, teaches that there is a lot more to spiritual life in Christ that comes from growth after being born again  and that those who are born again  but do not grow spiritually after birth do not get these rewards.

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and told Nicodemus how to be born again.

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John 3:10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

In 3:1 through 3:21 we have the account of Jesus  telling Nicodemus that he must be saved.  Many people preach from parts of this account but it is important to consider the full context of what is presented within the Bible.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and told Nicodemus how to be born again.

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John 3:22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized.

In 3:22 through 3:36 we have the account of how Jesus,  and His ministry, affected John the Baptist, and his ministry.  The best description of this encounter is when John the Baptist declared He must increase, but I must decrease.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

This verse tells us that Jesus and his disciples baptized.  However, we also need to consider the verses and note for John 4:1-2 which tells us that Jesus  personally did not baptize but was responsible for the baptism done by His disciples.  As noted there, baptize  means 'identified with'.  Please see the note for John 1:25 for references to where forms of the word baptize  are used within the Bible.

In this verse, the disciples of Jesus  baptized people to identify them with the repentance that Jesus  preached and with His ministry.  This repentance is directly related to what Jesus  just told Nicodemus to do in the account which is in the start of this chapter.  Nicodemus was a leader of the 'religiously correct' religion but he had to turn from trusting what that religion taught him to trusting in the personal promise from God to all those that receive  (John 1:12) and love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind  (Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27).  Please see the notes on those verses for how they are the true definition of Biblical repentance and for how true Biblical repentance is a prerequisite of proper Biblical baptism.

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that went and stayed in Judaea.

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John 4:2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 

Please see notes under John 4:1 and John 3:22 for more details on this verse and about baptism.  This verse tells us that the man Jesus  did not personally baptize anyone at this time.  According to John the Baptist, he would not baptize personally until, as Christ, he baptized with the Holy Ghost.  This verse is part of the sentence in 4:1-3.

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John 4:6 Now Jacob's well was there.  Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 

Please See the under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  In this verse we see that Jesus  was physically tired.  However, as our example, He did not let His personal physical tiredness interfere with His Christian Spirit nor with His winning souls to salvation.

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John 4:7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 

See the under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  In this verse we see that Jesus  physically spoke to the woman in a way that would allow Him to tell her about her personal need for salvation.

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John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. 

See the under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  In this verse we see that Jesus  physically spoke to the woman in a way that would make her think about Spiritual things and lead to her personal salvation.  Romans 6:23 tells us that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So Jesus  was actually telling her 'If thou (you personally) knew about eternal life and that the person who provides that eternal life is talking to you, he would have given thee living water [the Holy Ghost (John 7:38-39)]'.

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John 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 

John 4:13 and 4:14 form a single sentence and the sentence outline, along with the explanation of every phrase and every word and the contextual considerations, are presented in the study on the gospel of John.  The sentence is divided into two Equivalent Sections with each verse being one of the Equivalent Sections.  The First Equivalent Section (our current verse) presents the physical reality and is contrasted with the Spiritual reality that is presented in the Second Equivalent Section of the sentence.  In this verse we see that Jesus  physically spoke to the woman in a way that would change her thinking from the physical to the spiritual in order to lead her to personal salvation.  Please see the under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  Please also see the verses and notes for John 6:27-58 where Jesus  talks about the same basic doctrine but uses bread for the type instead of water.

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John 4:16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 

See the under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  As pointed out there, Jesus  dealt with her personal sin.  Any true presentation of Biblical salvation requires making the person confront their personal sin in order to realize that true salvation is not earned (Ephesians 2:8-10).  In this verse, we see that the physical man named Jesus  spoke to this woman.

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John 4:17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband.  Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 

See the under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  As pointed out there, Jesus  dealt with her personal sin.  Please also see note above.  John 4:17 and 18 form a single sentence in which Jesus  repeats her half truth in the first part of the sentence, and then He presents the full truth in the second part of the sentence.  No one can get truly saved while lying to themselves and to God about their sin.  In this verse, we see that the physical man named Jesus  spoke to this woman.

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John 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 

See the under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  As pointed out there, Jesus  showed her truth that had to be spiritually understood.  True Biblical salvation requires making the person realizing, and accepting, spiritual truths that must come from God.  In this verse, we see that the physical man named Jesus  spoke these spiritual truths to this woman.  We see this truth interpreted in 1Timothy 2:8 where we read I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.  Today, we do not have to go to a particular place to worship God but, with the indwelling Holy Ghost, we can worship God anywhere provided we have holy hands  and are worshipping without wrath and doubting.

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John 4:26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. 

Please see the under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  As pointed out there, Jesus  showed her truth that had to be spiritually understood.  True Biblical salvation requires making the person realizing, and accepting, that they are personally dealing with God.  In this verse, we see that the physical man named Jesus  tell this woman that he is Christ  and 'God in human flesh'.  Jesus  also literally told Pilate that He is King of the Jews (Christ)  (Matthew 27:11; Mark 15:2; Luke 23:3; John 18:37).  In John 10:23-38 we read that Jesus  told the Jews that he is literally the Son of God.  Accepting that Jesus Christ  is literally the Son of God come in flesh is central to true Biblical salvation.  In this verse, the man named Jesus  clearly says that He is 'God in human flesh'.

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John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 

See the under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  As pointed out there, Jesus  told His disciples that they needed to be laborers in God's field.  Here, Jesus  tells them that God will meet their physical needs if they serve Him in His field.  In this verse, the man named Jesus  physically spoke to other men and taught them the things of god and service.

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John 4:44 For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. 

Matthew 13:54-58 and Mark 6:1-8 and Luke 4:14-31 and John 4:43-45 all tell about Jesus  making the same declaration, but they may be different (but similar) incidents.  Please also see those verses and related notes especially the note for Mark 6:4.  Please also see A prophet like Moses under Verses.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke.

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John 4:46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.

The Table of Miracles in the Gospels lists all that I have found, including this one.  The miracle where he made the water wine  is in John 2:1-11.  Please see those verses and related notes for more on that miracle.

John's gospel is known for having specific miracles that were selected to show that Jesus  is the 'Son of God in human flesh'.  John 4:46-54 tells of when Jesus  cures the nobleman's son of Capernaum and the notes for these sentences, within the Book Study on John's gospel, provide the details.  Matthew 13:58 is talking about Capernaum when it says And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.  Again, John 12:37-38 tells us But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?  So part of the importance of this miracle is that it is one of the few He could do in His home country before familiarity caused his family and neighbors to turn to unbelief.  In fact, the gospels indicate (but do not specifically declare) that His brothers didn't believe on Him until after His resurrection.  In addition, in John 4:49, this nobleman addresses Jesus  as Sir.  This indicates that he thought of Jesus  as a 'man of God' (preacher) and probably regarded Him as lower than his own noble birth, but definitely did not regard Jesus  as 'God in human flesh'.

We see the mercy of God in giving this miracle in the face of such unbelief but even here, Jesus  required him to exercise some faith.  Notice that Jesus  told him Go thy way; thy son liveth  in John 4:50 and refused to go with him or give any sign.  Indeed, in John 4:48 Jesus  had said Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe  and the man had responded with Sir, come down ere my child die.  He had asked for the sign of Jesus  physically coming and doing something and Jesus  had refused.  Jesus  demanded that the nobleman show at least enough faith to go home with only a promise from the 'man of God'.  How many Christians  today refuse to believe the word of their 'man of God?', when He speaks of Bible truths which require faith,  and end up losing out on their own miracles?

Going on, we see in John 4:50 that John reports the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him.  He still did not believe that Jesus  was 'God in human flesh', but he believed the word of God which came through the 'man of God'.  Finally, John 4:53 tells us that he received his miracle at the same hour [that he] himself believed.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who returned to His home country and dealt with this nobleman who refused to see Him as 'God in human flesh'.

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John 4:47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. 

John 4:46-54 tells of when Jesus  cures the nobleman's son of Capernaum.  Please see all of these verses and related notes together especially the note for John 4:46.  This nobleman had heard about this 'man of God' and came to Him in desperation.  We see here that the nobleman said that his child was at the point of death.  If we look at the answers and treatment from Jesus, we see that Jesus  was willing to let this man walk away if he refused to act in faith.  So many 'soul winners' are so desperate that they try to get people to do a religious thing (say a prayer, etc) even when the lost person refuses to act in faith.  Jesus  shows His followers how to act and here, He explicitly demands a show of faith from this nobleman before giving him his request.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who returned to His home country and dealt with this nobleman who refused to see Him as 'God in human flesh'.

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John 4:48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. 

John 4:46-54 tells of when Jesus  cures the nobleman's son of Capernaum.  Please see all of these verses and related notes together especially the note for John 4:46.  In John 6:26-40 we read how Jesus  told some other Jews that they only believed because He fed them.  In the notes for John 6, I point out how Jesus  was trying to make the Jews see things from a spiritual point of view and they kept getting offended because they insisted upon seeing the spiritual from a religious point of view.  Here, Jesus  refused to give any religious sign and demanded faith in His word (a spiritual act).  This nobleman received his miracle because he accepted the demand of Jesus  while the Jews in John 6 went away because they refused to abandon their religion for the spiritual.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and dealt with this nobleman who refused to see Him as 'God in human flesh'.

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John 4:50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth.  And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. 

John 4:46-54 tells of when Jesus  cures the nobleman's son of Capernaum.  Please see all of these verses and related notes together especially the note for John 4:46.  At this point, the man can obey in faith or stand and object and demand some religious sign like Jesus  physically coming.  As it says, And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way.  He acted in faith and left without Jesus.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and dealt with this nobleman who refused to see Him as 'God in human flesh'.

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John 4:53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. 

John 4:46-54 tells of when Jesus  cures the nobleman's son of Capernaum.  Please see all of these verses and related notes together especially the note for John 4:46.  Here, we see the man receive the reward for acting in faith.  How many of us loose our own miracles because we refuse to believe that God will honor the promise that he makes through a 'man of God'? This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and dealt with this nobleman who refused to see Him as 'God in human flesh'.

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John 4:54 This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judaea into Galilee. 

John 4:46-54 tells of when Jesus  cures the nobleman's son of Capernaum.  Please see all of these verses and related notes together especially the note for John 4:46.I am not sure what the significance is that this is the second miracle, but God would not have John include it if it wasn't important for some reason.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and dealt with this nobleman who refused to see Him as 'God in human flesh'.

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John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

All of John 5 is related.  In the second account of John 4, Jesus  dealt with those from His home town and country and they refused to believe that He was/is 'God in human flesh' because of familiarity.  Now, in John 5, Jesus  will deal with the religious crowd in Jerusalem.  They also will refuse to believe that He was/is 'God in human flesh' because religion rejects the truly spiritual.  However, Jesus  offers several proofs to the religious crowd.  If the religious person honestly looks at these proofs, they will see that Jesus  is greater than their religion.

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and offered a miracle of healing too this impotent man so that he could sin no more  and act as a witness to the self-righteous religious sinning Jews.

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John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and offered a miracle of healing too this impotent man.  Jesus used the Power of the Holy Ghost during His earthly ministry and is our example of how to live in the flesh and do the work of God.

Please notice that Jesus  asked him Wilt thou be made whole?  A lot of people make the error of thinking that Jesus  removes the consequence of sin but Gabriel told Joseph that Jesus shall save his people from their sins.  This is sins  plural.  That is not just the singular unbelief that sends to Hell but also includes the wrong deeds that we do after profession.  In John 5:14 we are told Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.  All through the Bible we find God telling the saved to stop their sinning.  In fact, this study has found that every place that relates the role of Christ  to Saviour  shows that God the Son uses His role as Christ  to enable the saved person to stop their sinning.  True salvation is first and foremost God's life in us  and God's life  does not end at birth.  If someone tells God they want Jesus  to save them from the consequence of their sin but (in their heart) they don't want Christ  to help them stop their sinning and they want to go on living in sin, God literally tells them to Go to Hell  (Matthew 1:21; Acts 26:18).

When Jesus  asked this man Wilt thou be made whole?,  Jesus  was offering him salvation.  So long as people are crippled by ongoing addictive sin in their life, they are not whole.  Jesus  didn't just remove the physical and spiritual consequences of this Man's sin, He made [him] whole  so that he could sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee  (John 5:14).  One of the major failures of today's church is telling people that they can be saved and live in sin and not have a worse thing come unto thee.  They call themselves Christians' and let their lives call Jesus  a liar and deny the ministry of Christ  by refusing to be made whole  and stop their sinning. 

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John 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and offered a miracle of healing too this impotent man.  Jesus used the Power of the Holy Ghost during His earthly ministry and is our example of how to live in the flesh and do the work of God.

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John 5:13 And he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  Please see verses and notes before this to understand the full context leading to this verse.  Jesus  had healed this man and let him celebrate and testify to those around him.  Jesus conveyed himself away  because what he had to say to this man was private and not for the multitudes (a multitude being in that place).  God deals with us privately about our sins (John 5:14) unless we have publicly sinned and he needs to undo a public testimony of condoning sin.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man how removed Himself from the center of attention while this man celebrated his miracle with the multitude  and while he answered the challenges of the religious crowd.  There are times that God leaves us on our own so that there is no question about the testimony being our own and not God working through us.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who conveyed himself away.

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John 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. 

This verse starts with Afterward, which connects it to the prior verse.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  Please also see the prior and verses with their related note for more of the context.  In Matthew 12:43-45 Jesus  warned that those who are freed from a devil. but don't get filled with God's Spirit, can find themselves possessed by seven worse devils.  Yes, the truly saved are protected from devil possession but not from devil oppression.  In Mark 8:38 and Luke 9:26 we are told For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.  There is absolutely nothing to prevent God from using a devil to punish His disobedient child like he used the heathen around the Jews to punish them in the Old Testament.  In deed, 1Peter 3:21 is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible because people think that Peter is saying that baptism saves from Hell while he is saying that the answer of a good conscience toward God  which comes by the resurrection of Jesus Christ  saves us from the consequences of sins after being saved from Hell.  Bottom line, everyone, saved and lost, will end up with worse things happening to them if they continue in sin after being miraculously set free by Jesus.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke and gave warning about continuing in sin.

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John 5:15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  Please see verses and notes before this to understand the full context leading to this verse.  After a person gets saved, the proper response is to witness for Jesus  and to tell people who you received freedom and healing from.  This man did exactly that.  This verse uses Jesus  for 'God in human flesh' that provides salvation and freedom from sin.

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John 5:16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  Please see verses and notes before this to understand the full context leading to this verse.  See the note for Matthew 12:8 about how Jesus  dealt with the sabbath in the gospels.  Like Cain did with Able and like religious men have done throughout all of history, the religious prove that they really have the spirit of Satan by trying to kill those that they disagree with.  They could not prove that He went against God, just against their religion.  The true 'man of God' is first and foremost a 'man from God', which means that he starts from God's Word and you can trace all of his doctrine back to God's Word.  We are on dangerous ground when we can only show our doctrine by our religions teachings and not by the Bible.  As shown in the note for John 5:1, we should have at least two witnesses (literal statements in the Bible) before we condemn another preacher or doctrine.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that these Jews persecute[d] and sought to slay  because He disagreed with their religious rules that they could not back up with the Bible.

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John 5:17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  Please see verses and notes before this to understand the full context leading to this verse.  We see Jesus  doing a similar thing (to what He does here in John 5) in John 9.  However, in John 9 there is a different miracle and the people being taught are disciples who believe in Jesus, not antagonistic, unbelieving religious people like we see here in John 5.  As pointed out in the note for 5:1, John reported this miracle as an object lesson that came before Jesus  taught that he was God's representative to men.  Jesus  told them that he was the Son of God, thereby making Himself equal to God in this verse.  From here, He gives several witnesses to the religious people that proves that He is God's representative to men.  In John 17 we read that Jesus  prayed to the Father, before men, and said that he fulfilled the job that the Father had given Him to do.  He provided all of the proof that men need.  If they reject that proof, they bring judgment upon themselves.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that plainly told these religious people that he was doing the work of God.

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John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  Please see verses and notes before this to understand the full context leading to this verse.  This verse is divided into two parts by a colon with each part being equal.  That is, the same thing is said twice to let us know that it is established by God.  The principal of two or three witnesses being used to show that something is established by God is explained more than once in this study.

This verse is part of Jesus  explaining to these religious Jews that the works (miracles) that he did showed that he was the representative of the Father  because He didn't do what he wanted to do but what the Father  told Him to do.  He said the same thing in John 8:28 and John 14:10.  In John 7:16-17 and John 12:44-50 Jesus  said that His doctrine was not His own but He said what the Father  told Him to speak.  Lots of preachers claim that a true 'man of God' preaches 'his convictions'.  However, these verses show that a true 'man of God' preaches God's message and that a man who preaches 'his convictions', which disagree with the written word of God, is in the same religious class as these Jews who not only preached their 'convictions' but killed Jesus  for going against their 'convictions'.  A true 'man of God' has personal 'convictions' from God but unless God shows him at least two places in the Bible where the Bible literally says that thing, those 'convictions' are for the 'man of God' and those that God says to submit to that 'man of God' but are not given for him to preach to everyone else.

John uses Son  8 times between here and the end of the chapter (the section with the teachings of Jesus).  He uses Father  13 times in the same section.  This section is about the relationship between the Father  and the Son  as related to the Son  representing the Father  to men.  This verse uses Jesus  for God in human flesh  who told these religious people about the relationship between the Father  and the Son.

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John 6:1 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.

There has been much preached about this miracle, and I can not go into all of that within this study.  However, the main note within this presentation that is about Jesus  is the compassion that he showed.  That compassion is very much due to His human nature.  This verse tells us that the physical man named Jesus  went over the sea of Galilee.  Other verses in this section let us know that His disciples went with Him.  John 6:17 and John 6:23 tell of their return toward Capernaum.  So, this verse is talking about a trip away from Capernaum.

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John 6:3 And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  The main point of this presentation is about Jesus  showing compassion.  That compassion is very much due to His human nature.  This verse tells us that the physical man named Jesus  went up into a mountain.

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John 6:5 When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? 

Please see the note for John 1:43 which gives more details about Philip.  All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  The main point of this presentation is about Jesus  showing compassion.  That compassion is very much due to His human nature.  This verse tells us that the physical man named Jesus  looked at the multitude.  The note for this verse in the Book Study on the gospel of John compiles the details from the three gospel accounts of this incident.  The reader is urged to read that note for those details on How Jesus  is our example of how to live in this flesh and deal with difficult situations.

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John 6:10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down.  Now there was much grass in the place.  So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  The main point of this presentation is about Jesus  showing compassion.  That compassion is very much due to His human nature.  This verse tells us that the physical man named Jesus  talked to His disciples.

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John 6:11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  The main point of this presentation is about Jesus  showing compassion.  That compassion is very much due to His human nature.  This verse tells us that the physical man named Jesus  physically handled the bread and fishes.

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John 6:14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  The main point of this presentation is about Jesus  showing compassion.  That compassion is very much due to His human nature.  This verse tells us that the Jews determined that the physical man named Jesus  was the prophet like Moses.  Deuteronomy 18:18 tells us that Moses told them that God promised I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee.  This prophecy is accepted as a prophecy about Christ.  So, this verse is a statement of belief that Jesus  is the promised Christ.  In Acts 3:22-26 and Acts 7:37-38, we are told that Jesus  did fulfill this prophecy (that prophet that should come into the world.  Also see A prophet like Moses under Verses) and that is part of the proof that Jesus  is Christ.

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John 6:15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  Please see the note for John 6:14 which provides the context of what came before this verse.  In John 6:14 we are told that some Jews determined that Jesus  was that prophet, which made Him Christ  and King of the Jews.  This verse tells us that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king.  Like lots of religious people, they want the promises of God without meeting the conditions of God.  They wanted to make Jesus a king  not accept the kingdom that Jesus  offered.  Notice that this king  is a lower-case king.  In John 18:36 Jesus  said but now is my kingdom not from hence.  As King of the Jews, Jesus  is an upper-case King  because there is only one in all of history.  This is the same way that Jesus  is the Son of man  but all other men are 'sons of man'.  These Jews were not willing to recognize the absolute authority of a King  that is also God.  They thought to rule through Him.  As the rest of the verse makes clear, Jesus  was not having anything to do with their plans.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that perceived their intentions and knew that those intentions went contrary to His plans and refused to accept them and their plans.

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John 6:17 And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.  And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  As seen in John 6:14-15, the Jews were going to try and force Jesus  to become their king so that they could rule the world through Him.  They wanted a puppet king and He disappeared on them.  John 6:16 and the first part of John 6:17 form a single sentence that says in the evening they got into a boat to go home.  Capernaum was their home.  They were in a desert place.  Matthew 14:22 says that Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship.  On the way, they ran into a storm that made professional fishermen afraid.  Matthew 14:22-36 and Mark 6:45-56 and John 6:16-21 tell about Jesus  walking on water during this storm.  John 6:21 tells us Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.  God lets us go through storms to increase our faith but removes the fear as soon as we have learned what He wanted us to learn.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that did not go with them even though Mark 6:48 tells us that he saw them toiling in rowing.  God was watching even when they were sure that he wasn't.

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John 6:19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  Please see all of the verses and notes for Matthew 14:22-33 and Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:16-21 which tell about Jesus  walking on water during this storm.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that walked on the water.  He was/is 'God in human flesh' and they thought that they saw a ghost, but other all of the accounts together make it clear that they were talking about a physical man.

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John 6:22 The day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none other boat there, save that one where into his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were gone away alone; 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6:22-24 form a single sentence which is ooutlined and has the context explained in the note for this verse within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  Please also see the notes for John 6:23 and John 6:24 within this Study since they are part of this same sentence.

Jesus  had fed the 5, 000 and sent them away.  They didn't want to go away but wanted to force Jesus  to become a puppet king that would let them rule the world.  Jesus  made His disciples get into a boat to return home (Capernaum) while He sent the crowd away and disappeared on them.  The disciples ran into a storm that they couldn't believe.  Jesus  came to them walking on water.  Peter walked on water.  They made it to shore at Capernaum and everything was calm.  In the meanwhile, these Jews that were sent away went back to where Jesus  had fed them (the people which stood on the other side of the sea), saw that he was gone with His disciples and headed to the home of Jesus  and the disciples.  They knew that Jesus  hadn't gotten into the boat with the disciples and, according to this verse, were wondering how Jesus  got to Capernaum when they got there and found Him already there.  When people go to church to try to get God and the church to promote their program, instead of submitting to God's program, they miss a lot of what God does.  This sentence uses Jesus  for the physical man that confused people by doing what a physical man can't do unless He has the power of God.  This sentence uses Jesus  for 'God in human flesh'.

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John 6:24 When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6:22-24 form a single sentence which is ooutlined and has the context explained in the note for this verse within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  Please also see the notes for John 6:22 and John 6:23 within this Study since they are part of this same sentence.

This sentence uses Jesus  for the physical man that confused people by doing what a physical man can't do unless He has the power of God.  This sentence uses Jesus  for 'God in human flesh'. 

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John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. 

This verse explains the dealing of Jesus  with these Jews.  All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  When Jesus  says Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, he means that they did not seek Him because He was God and was exercising the power of God.  When He said ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled, He meant they wanted their flesh satisfied.  Like most religious people, they came to have God become their magic genie and not to serve God.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that denounced the motives of these religious people.

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John 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63.  Remember this disconnect as you go through these verses and notes.

Many religious people still misinterpret what this chapter truly says, especially when they don't consider the context of the whole chapter.  As the note for John 6:27 says, John 6:27-58 is trying to teach is that our spiritual food comes from Jesus  and we need daily food.  However, like most religious men during all times, these Jews took what was meant to be understood spiritually and try to understand it through fleshly religion.

Jesus  did miracles and got their interest.  They wanted have Him keep on feeding them and He told them Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life  (John 6:27).  They didn't understand Him and thought He was saying that they could do something that keep them from ever physically dying (Labour for...everlasting life).  They heard what they wanted to hear and ignored the rest.  Look at their response of: What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?  Look back at the start of this chapter and you will see that in their minds works of God  meant 'miracles'.  They thought that Jesus  was saying that if they did the right religious works, they could also do miracles and live forever in this flesh.  Their reaction was 'Cool, I don't even need a personal relationship with God in human flesh (Jesus).  I learn what to do and will go to my own place and set myself up as king'.

Look at the answer that Jesus  gave them to this attitude of theirs.  Jesus  told them to believe on him [Jesus] whom he [God] hath sent.  So much for dumping a personal relationship with 'God in human flesh' (Jesus).  Look at their answer in the next few verses and you can see them getting mad at Jesus  and at the end of the chapter (John 6:66), a bunch of them stopped following Jesus.  Jesus  did not give them what they wanted but He did give an important doctrine for those who were willing to listen to what He really said.

We hear lots of arguments about 'works salvation' versus 'faith salvation', but here Jesus  said that the work of God  is faith (that ye believe on him [Jesus]).  Read Ephesians 2:10 which tells us that the reason God saves us is so that we will become his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.  There MUST be the work of God  for us to get saved and true salvation results in ongoing work of God  in our lives which displays his workmanship  which produces good works  that others can see.  Read James 2 and Hebrews 11 and the only conclusion that is possible is that faith without works is dead.

Since true Biblical salvation is life  more than anything else, a claimed 'faith salvation' without works is no more Biblically true than a works salvation without faith.  The major error about salvation made by a lot of people is to claim Ephesians 2:8-9 and cut off Ephesians 2:10 which says For we are his workmanship.  Here is true Biblical faith.  We find what God commands.  We obey believing that in God's time He will do what he promises to do if we obey.  According to the Bible, one of the most basic proofs of our claimed faith is our handling of money.  For example, in Luke 6:38 God says Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.  For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Preachers tell people 'Aren't you glad that God only requires 10% and not 90%' but as I understand from the remark of his pastor, the best known 'self made' Christian multimillionaire gives 90% of his income to the Lords work.  Based upon my own experience, I can say that if you only give 10%, after some time, God will increase your expenses until your income barely meets your needs.  If you don't tithe on your benefits, one way or another God will take away all of the value of those benefits.  However, when you tithe on all that comes into your field  (Deuteronomy 14:22) and give offerings above that, God gives spiritual blessings and you end up with spending money. I give over 33% of my gross income and have more spending money than any time that I gave less.  However, anyone who says it is easy, or denies that it is work to get enough faith to give 33% is a fool and I find it hard to believe that they ever tried to do the same.  (Between when I first wrote this note and when I reviewed it my giving increased to over 134% of my regular income and God still meets my needs and expenses.)  Living by faith  (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38) is work. I believe that anyone who denies this truth would have a hard time proving that they ever did it and most likely they never even tried to do it.  Find someone who has prayed for at least hour per day for more than a year and I will guarantee that they will tell you that it is work.  However, it isn't the work that anyone means when they are arguing about works salvation.  Those people use a different definition for work than Jesus  gave in this verse.  Look at 1John 3:23 which tells us the same thing.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that spoke.  He is the 'God in human flesh' that people will have to answer to when they refuse to accept His definition of the work of God.

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John 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from Heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63.  Remember it as you go through these verses and notes.

As this discussion between Jesus  and the Jews goes back and forth, we reach this verse which starts with Then.  Therefore, the meaning of this verse is based upon what was said in the statements of the prior verses.  The Jews wanted to do the work of God  which would let them live forever in the flesh and work miracles and drop their personal relationship with Jesus  and Jesus  told them that the work of God  was to believe on [Jesus].  Their response was (paraphrased) 'Our fathers believed Moses because he fed them for 40 years.  What are you going to do to top that so that we will believe you more than Moses?'

They are still thinking about their flesh, this physical world and religious ceremonies and things.  The response (Then) from Jesus  is this verse.  He is trying to get them to see things spiritually.  They understand that God is a Spirit (John 4:23) and understand that when Jesus  says my Father  he was talking about God the Father.  So, His answer (interpreted) was: 'Following religious traditions won't get your needs met (Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from Heaven).  Obeying God in the spirit will get your needs met (but my Father giveth you the true bread from Heaven)'.

This true bread  is what Jesus  will explain in the next few verses but it is essentially a daily spiritually consuming of Jesus  in a way that it changes the way that we live in this world.  That is, having His Word and His Spirit feed our spirit with daily prayer, Bible study (NOT just reading), and acts of spiritual obedience that allow His Spirit to work through our lives and give us the personal growth that only comes from experience.  Jesus  goes on in the next verse and gives us the outline of what I said with For the bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven, and giveth life unto the world.  For  means 'Here's why'.  This explains the prior verse.  Bread  is what provides daily nutrition and like the manna that God provided in the wilderness, it is supposed to only last for a day.  We need daily spiritual bread.  As Jesus  says, the bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven [Son of God - Jesus Christ]  (John 3:13-18).  And again, we have Jesus  equating salvation to life.  Not just the initial life  that comes through the ministry of Jesus  but the life more abundantly  (John 10:10) that comes through the ministry of Christ.  This verse, like most of the verses in this chapter, uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to these Jews and tried to teach them spiritual things.  He tried to talk to them as 'God in human flesh', but most of them heard Him as 'just a man'.

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John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  In addition, this verse is part of comments by Jesus  which can only be properly understood from a spiritual perspective and understanding the symbology used.  Please see the related note in the Book Study on the Gospel of John for that explanation.

As this discussion between Jesus  and the Jews goes back and forth, we reach this verse which must be interpreted in context of the rest of the chapter including the comparison to the manna which the Jews brought up as the ultimate sign of God providing daily needs.  This verse is broken into two Equivalent Sections with the first Section saying the same thing as John 6:48.  These verses also directly relate to John 6:54, which can not be understood outside of the context of these and other verses in John 6.  These verses also teach the same basic doctrine as John 4:13-14 and John 7:37-39, but in greater detail.  Having mentioned all of these related verses, I am sure that there are many more that can and have been presented by many people.  I am also sure that I can not match most of what is preached and written by many others and I am not going to even provide as much as I have for some other verses.

With that limit expressed, I will cover the basics of the doctrine found here.  Basically, Jesus  is using bread of life  as a spiritual symbol to teach about God providing our daily needs and, thereby, changing how we act in this physical world.  Many people call themselves Christians, and seriously consider themselves to be that, but are seriously threatened when told that they might loose their job. I speak from personal experience.  After almost dying several times, losing everything financially and other ways, having medical problems that resulted in expenses of over $100K in a single year, being out of work more than working for 4 years, I've had a bit of an attitude adjustment.  I have gotten rid of over 90% of my worldly possessions and want to get rid of most of the rest of the bulk.  I have moved across multiple state lines 5 times in the last few years and can fit my entire household in a pickup truck.  As I will answer to God, I testify that the last time that I was told that I was losing my job I openly testified that I had no worries because I was positive that God would provide me with another.  I did no more than the minimum required and received a good paying job in a state where everyone was telling me that all of the jobs were leaving.

I can't guarantee the future, but I can say that the last time I lost my job I did not take it as the least threat and was actually thrilled at the prospect of seeing God work.  I had no threat because I wasn't relying on the employer for my job and daily needs but was relying on God.  I was doing what I could to obey and serve God and expected Him to take care of my daily needs.  Yes, I've been saying that this chapter and what Jesus  says in it must be spiritually understood.  Yes, if we come to Jesus  (the Word) daily for our spiritual nutrition, we will not hunger or thirst spiritually.  However, at least on a personal level, I can say if we not only take in the nutrition, but actually believe it (which means obey it - James 2, Hebrews 11; etc), then God will take care of our physical needs and in the process will change and reduce our physical wants until they match what he wants us to have.  This verse, like most of the verses in this chapter, uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to these Jews and tried to teach them spiritual things.  He tried to talk to them as 'God in human flesh', but most of them heard Him as 'just a man'.

I reviewed this Study and this note several years after first writing it.  I did the review as a part for doing the Interpretive Study of John's gospel.  At the time of the review, I have been a full-time missionary for 4 years.  Before moving to the mission field, I looked at what the government said that an American needed as a minimal to live there and I looked at my finances.  I only could rely upon having about 2/3 of what I supposedly needed.  God told me to go without raising support and that He would use my life as an example of His provision for those who truly give their live to the service of God's kingdom in this world.  For the first 40 months on the mission field I gave and average of over 134% of my regular income to the Lord's work and ended up with more in the bank than when I started.  I then went to the U.S. to raise support for Filipino missionaries.  Before I left, I told the Filipinos that I was scheduled for no income for a year but would still give at least $50k to missions that year.  I told them 'Watch what my God will do!'.  After my disability insurance income was supposedly ended, they called me and told me that they had made a mistake and my regular income, which all went to support missionaries, would continue for the year that I was supposed to have no income.

If you have true Biblical faith  then God can use your physical life to prove how He provides for His children who truly serve His kingdom in this world.

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John 6:42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from Heaven? 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63.  Remember it as you go through these verses and notes.  As this discussion between Jesus  and the Jews goes back and forth, the Jews are again rejecting what Jesus  said.  This verse starts with And, which means it is added to the prior verse which tells us The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from Heaven.  Jesus  said this back in 6:35 and tried to explain it from there to here (see verses and related notes) but the Jews weren't listening to Him from a spiritual point of view.  We can see that because they insist upon considering Him to be the son of Joseph  and not the Son of God.  This chapter is highlighting what we see throughout all of the gospels and throughout all of life.  Lost religious men insist upon seeing Jesus  as 'just a man' while the saved see Him at 'God in human flesh'.

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John 6:43 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  This verse says therefore, or in reaction to their murmuring among themselves and trying to reconcile a spiritual saying with the physical world and a fleshly religious view that Jesus  is 'just a man'.  1Corinthians 2:14 tells us But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  People who don't have the Spirit of God or who aren't listening to the Spirit of God are wasting their time trying to understand spiritual things.  Further, their murmuring and discussing amongst themselves while excluding Jesus  only leads them into greater error.  Here, Jesus  tells them to not do that.  He goes on in the next few verses and tries to explain things again to them using another approach.  The next few verses should be matched with prior verses in this chapter (and related notes) to better understand them.  This verse, like most of the verses in this chapter, uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to these Jews and tried to teach them spiritual things.  He tried to talk to them as 'God in human flesh', but most of them heard Him as 'just a man'.

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John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6:1 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  In addition, this verse is part of comments by Jesus  which can only be properly understood from a spiritual perspective and understanding the symbology used.  Please see the related note in the Book Study on the Gospel of John for that explanation.

In John 6:51 Jesus  said the bread that I will give is my flesh.  So, when he says ye eat the flesh of the Son of man  He is trying to get them to see that He is making a spiritual analogy to taking daily spiritual nutrition from the fact that Jesus  physically died to pay for our sins and have the legal right to tell us how to live in this physical world.  Paul expands on this in Romans 6 where he explains how the death of Jesus  frees us from the control of sin.  One of the major doctrinal themes of this chapter is that we must allow Jesus  to change how we live in this life if God will truly Biblically save us.  People who make a profession but do not allow Jesus  to make this change have a false profession.

However, in addition to receiving basic salvation, Jesus  is telling us that we need to daily remind ourselves that he gave His body to free us from sin and that we are to live that day avoiding sin so that we do not make a mockery of His sacrifice.  That is daily nutrition from the bread of life.  This sentence is essentially saying that 'Easy Believism' is a lie.

This verse, like most of the verses in this chapter, uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to these Jews and tried to teach them spiritual things.  He tried to talk to them as 'God in human flesh', but most of them heard Him as 'just a man'.

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John 6:61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63.  Remember it as you go through these verses and notes.  As this discussion between Jesus  and the Jews goes back and forth, we reach an apparent conclusion in 6:59, but the Jews take it up again because they still will not accept the spiritual point of view.  So, we have it starting again in 6:60, but Jesus  makes a quick end to the renewal.  In this and the next verse we see Jesus  saying the same basic thing as God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 12:5.  This verse, like most of the verses in this chapter, uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to these Jews and tried to teach them spiritual things.  He tried to talk to them as 'God in human flesh', but most of them heard Him as 'just a man'.

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John 6:64 But there are some of you that believe not.  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63.  Jesus  knew who really did not believe.  This is the same as He told them back in 6:36.  Also see John 2:24-25 and 1John 2:18-19.  This verse, like most of the verses in this chapter, uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to these Jews and tried to teach them spiritual things.  He tried to talk to them as 'God in human flesh', but most of them heard Him as 'just a man'.

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John 6:67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63.  After many left, Jesus  gave the twelve the option of leaving also so that they could prove that they believed in Him personally.  They didn't understand any more than the ones who left, but they were sticking with their personal Saviour  even when they didn't understand.  That is the real proof of Biblical faith.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to the twelve as a physical man but they saw Him as 'God in human flesh' even when most of the Jews around them heard Him as 'just a man'.

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John 6:70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.

John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63 which says It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing:.  However, the religious man continues to take even the words of Jesus  and tries to make them apply to fleshly religion.  Religious men do this even with the words of this chapter that would be totally out of character for God and totally ridiculous if taken fleshly (such as eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood), While religious men will go to this extreme today, in the day of Jesus  they at least saw how ridiculous such an interpretation was and they either accepted His words as spiritual (even though not understood) like Peter did, or they left Jesus.

This verse, like most of the verses in this chapter, uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to these Jews and tried to teach them spiritual things.  He tried to talk to them as 'God in human flesh', but most of them heard Him as 'just a man'.

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John 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. 

This verse starts with After these things, which means after the things that were reported in John 6.  All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the Chapter outline in the Book Study on the gospel of John for the context of the chapter and for links to related passages in other gospels.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  At a minimum, see the note for John 6:29 for somewhat of an overview.  As Cain killed Able over religion, the Jews wanted to kill Jesus  over religion.  The truly saved want to see the lost saved.  The religious lost want to kill the saved, as we see in this verse.  When the lost aren't listening to our witness, we should follow the example of Jesus  and leave them alone for a while and let God work on their hearts.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who walked away.

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John 7:6 Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. 

Note that John 7:2-10 tells us about the unbelieving brethren  (half brothers and sisters are named in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3).  Notice that this sentence has a colon in it which makes the two parts equivalent.  We know from John 7:7 that when Jesus  said My time is not yet come, He was talking about His death.  It was not yet time for His death.  However, when He said but your time [of death] is alway ready, He was telling the lost that they could die and go to Hell any instant.  He was warning them to get saved while they had a chance.

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John 7:14 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. 

Notice that the next verse reports that the people asked How knoweth this man letters  (How does this man know the Bible) having never learned?  (since he hasn't been to Bible school?) Paul had the best Bible School education that could be has in any time period and called it dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord  (Philippians 3:4-21) and said that those who walk otherwise (trusting in Bible School education, etc) are the enemies of the cross of Christ.  Where the truly saved measure a persons words by their walk with Christ, the religious measure according to education.  In response to their question, Jesus  said His doctrine was not His own but that of God and that people had to do his [God's] will  to know God's doctrine (John 7:16-19).  As we read in the prophecy of Psalms 22:22, Jesus  praised God and not His religion.  Again, Mathew 4:23; 9:35; 24:14 and Mark 1:14 tell us that Jesus  preached the gospel of the kingdom  as opposed to His own doctrine.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that went to the Temple to teach the people the true worship of God.

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John 7:16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 

Please see the note for John 5:19 which is another place when Jesus  said that His doctrine was not His own.  It gives you references to other similar verses which tell us that Jesus  was not doing His own will but doing what God the Father wanted.  That is how a true 'man of God' acts.  When Jesus  said that His doctrine was his that sent me,  He was claiming to be a prophet.  A prophets main job was to declare the word of God and not express his personal feelings.  In Deuteronomy 18:15-19 God promises prophets in general and for a special prophet, which was Jesus.  Among other things, Jesus  is declaring Himself to be that special prophet in this verse.

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John 7:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. 

When Jesus  said I have done one work, He meant He only did one thing on the sabbath which was the healing that He did in John 5:1-9.  John 5:16 reports And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.  That is when they first decided to kill Him.  He goes on in the next few verses and explains how they are judging wrong because they are using the wrong standard.  They accepted and regularly did circumcision on the sabbath.  (Look at the next two sentences, in tyhe gospel / Book Study on the gospel, where Jesus  explains this truth about circumcision.)  They were looking at the physical and religious and saw a difference between healing and circumcision.  Jesus  was using a spiritual standard whereby both were physical signs of spiritual truths.  According to the spiritual standard, there was no difference.  However, just like in John 6 and other places, the religious people missed the truth because they insisted upon looking at thee spiritual through a physical religious standard.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke to these Jews.

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John 7:28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. 

In John 8:14-18 Jesus  told them that he came from the Father (God) and that the Father bare witness of Him.  Again, in John 5:43, Jesus  told them that He came from the Father and that if they had followed the example of Moses (burning bush) they would have believed that the impossible happening was evidence from God.  Since they didn't, Jesus  told them that Moses would accuse them before the Father.  Further, we have the record from John (John 1:18) that Jesus  testified of the Father.  Finally, in John 8:42-59 Jesus  told them that if they followed the true teaching and example of Abraham they would realize that they could not prove that He ever sinned and would believe Him for His sinless life.  This verse has a colon that makes the two sections equivalent.  In the First Equivalent Section, Jesus  said Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am (where I came from)  but they obviously refused to believe the evidence that they were given (see the context).  In the Second Equivalent Section, He said that He came from the Father, whom they did not know, and that the Father was true.  They obviously didn't know the Father because they rejected the truth and believed a lie.  This verse uses Jesus  for the man who stood and cried.

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John 7:33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. 

Here, Jesus  was talking to all of the Jews in the Temple.  In John 13:33, Jesus  repeated the same thing to His disciples in private.  He said it twice so that they would know that it was established by God but only said it once in public so the lost would have the truth said to them and would be condemned for rejecting the truth.  We see this prophecy fulfilled in Luke 24:51 and Acts 1:9.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who prophesied of His return to Heaven as the risen Lord.

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John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 

In John 4:10-11, Jesus  offered living water  to the woman at the well.  Here in John 7:37-39, Jesus  offered the same living water  to anyone who would come to Him.  We are also told that the living water  is the Holy Ghost that was given to all believers after the resurrection.  While Jesus  could not give the Holy Ghost before His resurrection, He could promise the Holy Ghost just as He did here and in John 4:10.  The doctrine of this verse is also related to John 6:35 where we are told And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.  Please see that note.  Also note that this verse says In the last day, that great day of the feast, which makes it the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles according to Leviticus 23:36.  There are doctrinal truths related to the various Holy feasts noted by John that I have not covered in this study.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who stood and cried.

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John 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) 

Please see the document called Jesus used the power of the Holy Spirit for the significance of this verse.  This verse is a parenthetical verse.  That means that it was added in so that the message was the same even though there were no words within the Greek to match what is said in this sentence.  No two languages have word-for-word matching.  Therefore, when translating between languages it is sometimes necessary to use several words to express the thought which is in a single word or phrase of the original language.  The Jews of the day that Jesus  lived in would have understood that living waters  had a spiritual meaning and apparently understood that living waters  meant God's Holy Spirit.  Without this verse, English speakers would have lost this significance.  The context, sentence structure and word definitions of this sentence are analyzed in the Book Study on the gospel of John and that note should be read for several significant facts.  In this sentence, Jesus  is making a future promise of the Spirit for present day faith in His Word as the Son of God.  That's the same way that God deals with saved people today.  This verse is telling us the doctrine that the Holy Ghost could not be given until after Jesus was glorified  after His resurrection and return to Heaven.  When those events happened, they proved that Jesus  was 'God in human flesh' because only God could overcome death and go to Heaven using His own power.  Those acts were when He was glorified  here on this Earth.  We do not know what happened in Heaven but Hebrews 12:2 indicates that He also received greater reward in Heaven.  Of course, Acts 2 tells us that God's Holy Spirit  was first given on the first Pentecost following the resurrection.  This verse is critical to maintaining the thought process that John was conveying in this chapter.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who stood and cried.

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John 7:50 Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,) 

See the verses and notes for John 3, especially the note for John 3:2.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that Nicodemus regarded as a good man from God  when he went to Him in John 3.  This verse and the next form a single sentence.  By this sentence, Nicodemus has been saved and regards Jesus  as 'God in human flesh', but is not yet ready to risk everything for Him.  After the crucifixion, we see him standing up for Jesus  (John 19:39).  Before criticizing Nicodemus, remember that he came when most of the disciples hid.  Many of those same disciples later died a martyr's death, so be careful about judging them.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that Nicodemus went to.

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John John 8:1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  In this verse the physical man named Jesus  went to be alone with God and pray before He got into this disagreement.  As shown in the prior chapter, this disagreement had been building and Jesus  had to know that it was coming even if He was not 'God in human flesh'.

Here we see that even Jesus  needed to pray in order to prepare for the spiritual battles of the day.  When he then went to the Temple, where religion said that he should meet God the Father (John 4:20), the devil sent some lost religious Jews there to pick a fight.  Please also read the notes for John 8:2-11 and the note for John 8:11, in this Study, for more on the first disagreement which this chapter tells us about.

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John John 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.  But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. 

In this verse, the Pharisees were tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.  But the physical man named Jesus,  who shows His disciples how to live while in the flesh, did not react to their tempting.  Where they openly and publicly attacked Him, he reminded them of their sin in a way that would be private and personal.  This verse is part of the presentation that is explained in several notes within this Study but with the main explanation in the note for John 8:3-4 within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  That note also has links to notes within other Studies which are critical to proper understanding of the doctrine that is within this account.

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John John 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  This verse is part of the presentation that is explained in several notes within this Study but with the main explanation in the note for John 8:3-4 within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  That note also has links to notes within other Studies which are critical to proper understanding of the doctrine that is within this account.  In this verse we see that these sinners snuck away rather than recognizing Jesus  as 'God in human flesh'.  They left the man that they insisted upon treating as 'just a man'.  When Peter was confronted with evidence that he was with 'God in human flesh' he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, of Lord.  (Luke 5:8).

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John John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  This verse is part of the presentation that is explained in several notes within this Study but with the main explanation in the note for John 8:3-4 within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  That note also has links to notes within other Studies which are critical to proper understanding of the doctrine that is within this account.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that asked this woman a question.  He left her the opening to treat Him as 'just a man', like all of her accusers did.  However, she had enough spiritual sense to recognize Him as 'God in human flesh'.

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John John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. 

This verse directly follows and provides the basis for the judgment that Jesus  gave in John 8:11 where He told the woman go, and sin no more.  In order to obey that command, she would have to follow Jesus.

This verse uses Jesus  for 'God in human flesh', and not just a man.  This distinction is based upon the meaning of what Jesus  says here.  Therefore, we need to understand at least the basics of His statement to understand why it comes from God and not from 'just a man'.

In context, the religious Jewish leaders had dragged this woman to Jesus  to be judged for adultery and he saved her instead.  He literally saved her physical life by preventing the stoning and he saved her soul, as explained in the note for John 8:11.  Then He explains the basis of that salvation in this verse.  After this verse the rest of the chapter deals with several parts of an argument between Jesus  and these religious Jews where Jesus  is telling them that they are adulterers and the children of adultery, from a spiritual point of view.  They, of course, claim that they are saved and that God has to take them to Heaven because they are keeping their religious rules.  So, a major part of this argument is what constitutes evidence of true spiritual salvation versus religious adultery.  A true child and a child of adultery have the same mommy church but two different daddies.  The true daddy is only seen in the spirit that the child receives from his daddy and lives before men (1John 4:1).  That is what Jesus  is talking about in this verse.

This sentence is broke in two Equivalent Sections by a colon.  In the First Equivalent Section, Jesus  says I am the light of the world.  In the Second Equivalent Section, Jesus  tells us to look at peoples walk to see if they are following the true light or walking in darkness.  The religious man never wants you to look at his walk and his life.  He wants you to look at his religious activities and ignore the rest of how he lives his life.  Therefore, the religious sinner doesn't like the Bible telling us how to find the truth.

A person who is living needs light to see how to live his life.  A person who does not respond to light is dead or blind or unconscious.  Jesus  removes blindness and if an unconscious person doesn't wake up, they will eventually die.  It is only in modern times that we attach machines to comatose bodies and claim that they are still alive.  One of the basic checks that doctors make to access health is to see how people respond to light.  Response to light is very much attached to proper life and we saw this back in John's introduction of his book.  In John 1:4-5 we read In him was life; and the life was the light of men.  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.  These verses that introduce John's book basically teach the same thing as our current verse.

The lost people in the darkness of spiritual death do not comprehend the light of Jesus  which directs true spiritual life.  In the rest of John 8, we see Jesus  speaking spiritual truths and the religious people having trouble comprehending His words because they are trying to understand them from within the darkness of religion.  You can not understand spiritual things from a fleshly religious point of view (1Corinthians 2:14).  Jesus  is saying that you can tell someone's true spiritual daddy by how they respond to the light of life  which comes from Jesus Christ.  We can know that Jesus  is speaking as 'God in human flesh' in this verse because He says things here, and throughout the rest of the chapter, that must be understood by the light of God's spirit.  He does not talk about the things of man: the things of this world and flesh.  This is exactly why God gives His Holy Spirit to His saved.  There are times that God wants us to follow the example of Jesus  and stop speaking the things of this world and of this flesh and let the God in us speak about spiritual light to a lost world that is living in spiritual darkness.  God gives His life to His people so that His light can shine through that life that He gave them.  Those that claim salvation (eternal life from God) but continue to walk in darkness  are probably the children of true spiritual adultery, according to all of John 8.

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John John 8:14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.

Please read the note in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for this verse, for the contextual considerations, sentence analysis and links to other related notes.  Please also read the general note for the chapter as it explains what the chapter is teaching and that all of the chapter deals with a single doctrine.  The entire chapter is dealing with a fight between Jesus  and the Pharisees  over who had the power and authority to represent God the Father and specify what was true doctrine from God the Father.  There are several accounts reported in this chapter which all show the same doctrine even while they provide different perspectives of this doctrine.  This particular verse is the end of the second account within this chapter.

As explained in those notes, John 8 has an ongoing argument between Jesus  and religious Jewish leaders and this verse is part of the second account of that argument within the chapter.  In this verse, Jesus  is arguing that true salvation is a spiritual life which shows God's light and that those relying upon religious deeds will be judged as children of adultery by God and sent to spend eternity with their true spiritual father, who is the devil.  The religious Jews, of course, don't have God's Spirit and can't understand anything from a spiritual point of view.  Therefore, they judge everything by the world and flesh and according to those standards, they're really good religious people that God should be proud to have represent Him to unlearned and ignorant men  (Acts 4:13).  In John 8:12 (see that note), Jesus  said I am the light of the world.  In response, The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true  (John 8:13).  They called Jesus  a liar for saying that He was the light of the world, which meant that the world could only see truth by Him.

In this verse, Jesus  says that He knows whence I came, and whither I go,  which is Heaven and the spiritual realm.  Therefore, He knows spiritual truths, which are greater and more reliable that physical reasons.  Then he tells them that they do not know these things, when He says: but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.  In the next sentence He adds: Ye judge after the flesh.  Since He is judging based upon the spiritual, and since they are judging after the flesh,  and since the spiritual is greater than the flesh,  His judgment is better.

In the prior sentence the Pharisees  said thy record is not true,  but did not provide the required evidence to back their claim.  Therefore, it has no more validity than insults thrown between children.  However, Jesus  not only gives the source / basis of His answer in this sentence, but in the sentences following this one, which are pare of this same answer, He provides another witness and all of the required proof to show that His answer is valid and true.  Therefore, we have the Pharisees  making unfounded and unjustified accusations while refusing to provide the required proof if their accusations while Jesus  is providing all of the required proof and justifications.  This is in an argument which the Pharisees  started and insisted that it be part of God's legal judgment.  That is why, before the chapter is over, Jesus  will eternally condemn them.

Basically, in this verse, Jesus  is saying that His record is true because a truth from the eternal spiritual realm is greater than anything from this world.  Any time that you have to choose between a spiritual truth from the Bible and human reasoning, always choose the spiritual truth.  Human reasoning is too short-sighted and ignorant to ever be considered something to compare to what comes from Heaven.  In the rest of this sub-section, Jesus  tells them that they were judging Him (by calling Him a liar) but He did not judge them back.  He goes on with the fact that if he did choose to judge them, His judgment would be true because the Mosaic Law requires accepting the witness of two persons and Jesus  had Himself and the Father to witness against these lost religious people.  (Unfortunately for them, they keep pushing until Jesus  has to judge and condemn them.)  As we saw before, this verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that is speaking spiritual truths as 'God in human flesh'.  However, this instance is no more special than a saved person letting the Holy Ghost (God) speak through them.

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John John 8:19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father : if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.

Please read the note in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for this verse, for the contextual considerations, sentence analysis and links to other related notes.  Please also read the general note for the chapter as it explains what the chapter is teaching and that all of the chapter deals with a single doctrine.  The entire chapter is dealing with a fight between Jesus  and the Pharisees  over who had the power and authority to represent God the Father and specify what was true doctrine from God the Father.  There are several accounts reported in this chapter which all show the same doctrine even while they provide different perspectives of this doctrine.  This particular verse is the end of the second account within this chapter.

As explained in those notes, John 8 has an ongoing argument between Jesus  and religious Jewish leaders and this verse is part of the second account of that argument within the chapter.  In this verse, Jesus  is telling the Pharisees  that it is their own personal (ye)  fault that they neither know me, nor my Father.  As explained in several notes for this chapter, Jesus  had given lots of evidence that He came from God the Father but these religious leaders deliberately ignored the evidence because they didn't like the message.

In John 16:1-6 Jesus  warns His disciples about this attitude by the religious leaders and how it will result in their own persecution and deaths.  There, he adds the good news of their receiving the Comforter.  In John 14:1-11 Jesus  is again telling His disciples that He is going to the Father and Thomas says that he doesn't know where Jesus  is going.  Jesus  basically tells Thomas to wake up.  The lost religious people didn't know that the Father of Jesus  was God the Father, but Thomas had no excuse because he had accepted Jesus  as the 'Son of God in human flesh'. 

In this verse (John 8:19), Jesus  told them Ye neither know me nor my Father  and this was true because they refused to accept Him as 'God in human flesh' and the true messenger from God.  The first step in getting to know someone is accepting them for who and what they are.  Jesus  goes on to say nor [do you know] my Father  because they actually believed that their religious rules had more authority than the Word of the Creator of the Universe.  These statements are separated, by a colon, from the Second Equivalent Section of the second sentence in.  In the Second Equivalent Section, Jesus  said if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.  There might be a difference between a man and a wife but there is no (practical) difference between God the Father and God the Son.  These people who think they can reject God the Son in human form (Jesus) and go to God the Father to get into Heaven are in for a rude awakening.  Again, this verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that tried to deliver spiritual truths from God to lost religious sinners.

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John John 8:20 These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.

Please read the note in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for this verse, for the contextual considerations, sentence analysis and links to other related notes.  Please also read the general note for the chapter as it explains what the chapter is teaching and that all of the chapter deals with a single doctrine.  The entire chapter is dealing with a fight between Jesus  and the Pharisees  over who had the power and authority to represent God the Father and specify what was true doctrine from God the Father.  There are several accounts reported in this chapter which all show the same doctrine even while they provide different perspectives of this doctrine.  This particular verse is the end of the second account within this chapter.

This verse tells us that it probably happened at the same time as Luke 21:1 when Jesus  saw the widow toss in two mites and then warned His disciples of judgment to come on lost people, especially the religious Jews, for rejecting Jesus.  As this and many other verses in the gospels tell us, no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.  Sinful men wanted to kill him several times, but the God proved more powerful by preventing them from acting until the time that God had chose.

This verse also ties God having more power to what people really put their faith in.  Jesus  was trusting God with His very life.  The lost religious people were trusting their money and the 'good works' that giving a little of their abundance was supposed to be.  Although I can't give you lots of verses to back this up, I can speak from personal experience.  It is only after you are willing to walk away from all money and live as poor as Jesus  did (Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58) that you start to realize and experience the wonderful protection of God that is there even when people want to kill you for your testimony.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that gave us an example of how to live by faith in this world.  It also uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke.

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John John 8:21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. 

Please read the note in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for this verse, for the contextual considerations, sentence analysis and links to other related notes.  Please also read the general note for the chapter as it explains what the chapter is teaching and that all of the chapter deals with a single doctrine.  The entire chapter is dealing with a fight between Jesus  and the Pharisees  over who had the power and authority to represent God the Father and specify what was true doctrine from God the Father.  There are several accounts reported in this chapter which all show the same doctrine even while they provide different perspectives of this doctrine.  This particular verse is the end of the second account within this chapter.  We see the same thing said in John 8:24.

This verse is divided in two Equivalent Sections by a colon and the full analysis of the sentence structure and context is presentence in the note for this verse within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  However, we need to also consider it here in order to understand the usage of the name of Jesus.  In the First Equivalent Section, Jesus  told them I go my way  (to Heaven) and ye shall seek me  (seek to get into Heaven) and shall die in your sins  (but you will go to Hell for refusing to believe me).  Thus, He was warning these Jews that they would spend eternity separated from Him and God the Father.  Then, in the Second Equivalent Section, Jesus  pronounced judgment upon these Jews.  No one can go to Heaven if they reject a personal relationship with the Son of God or if they reject that God the Son came in Human flesh (1John 2:22, 4:2-3).  This verse uses Jesus  for 'God in human flesh' Who pronounced eternal judgment upon these Jews who not only kept, personally and repeatedly, rejecting Him for Who He was, but who also helped the devil by trying to turn others away from Jesus  and God's truth.

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John John 8:25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning 

Please read the note in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for this verse, for the contextual considerations, sentence analysis and links to other related notes.  Please also read the general note for the chapter as it explains what the chapter is teaching and that all of the chapter deals with a single doctrine.  The entire chapter is dealing with a fight between Jesus  and the Pharisees  over who had the power and authority to represent God the Father and specify what was true doctrine from God the Father.  Back in John 4:26 we read of Jesus  plainly telling people that he was the Christ, if they were willing to listen.  These religious Jews refused to listen.  They are now starting to figure out that they might have missed something important, especially since Jesus  told them two verses before this Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.  From above  and not of this world  pretty clearly mean 'from Heaven', especially when contrasted with Ye are from beneath  and ye are of this world.  Then when you throw in John 8:24 and the Jewish culture and knowledge of scripture, you have a very clear message to these Jews that Jesus  was claiming to be Christ.  They didn't ask Who art thou?  because they didn't understand but because they found it too incredible to believe that Jesus  would be so blatant in His claim to be Christ  after all of the threats that the Jewish leaders had made against anyone that said Jesus  was Christ.  Please see the note for Matthew 26:63 for references of the many places that Jesus  let people know that he was the promised Messias  or Christ.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that gave us an example of how to live without fear in this world.  It also uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke.

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John John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. 

Please read the note in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for this verse, for the contextual considerations, sentence analysis and links to other related notes.  Please also read the general note for the chapter as it explains what the chapter is teaching and that all of the chapter deals with a single doctrine.  The entire chapter is dealing with a fight between Jesus  and the Pharisees  over who had the power and authority to represent God the Father and specify what was true doctrine from God the Father.

When Jesus  says When ye have lifted up, he is talking about His crucifixion (John 3:14; 12:32, 34).  When Jesus  calls Himself the Son of man, he is emphasizing that he will die and go to Hell as a human.  Man sinned and Jesus  had to die as a man to pay for Man's sin and for God to remain righteous.  God could not be righteous if Jesus  died as God to pay for Man's sins.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man that spoke the truth even when He was telling people that they would murder Him for telling them that truth.

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John John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.

This verse starts with the word Then,  which means that it followed (and is a result of) what came prior.  This chapter started with Jewish religious leaders accusing a woman of adultery and Jesus  proving that they were the true adulterers.  They argued that Jesus  had no right to judge them because they were the religious leaders and Jesus  had no authority over them.  Jesus  told them that He came from the Father and had spiritual authority.  John 8:30 (just prior to this verse) tells us As he spake these words, many believed on him.  So, Jesus  now turns from dealing with unbelieving religious Jews to those that believed on him  and instructed them on how to grow spiritually.

God doesn't give spiritual life (salvation) for that life to die or remain comatose.  Life grows and this sentence (this verse and next) tell us the basic plan for spiritual growth.  Notice that Jesus  first says If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed,  which implies that those who do not continue in [His] word  are not His disciples.  One of the things found in this study is that the Bible makes a very definite distinction between those that are just saved through Jesus  and those that are true 'Christians' because they follow Christ.  In John 8:32 Jesus  says And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  The And  means in addition  which says this additional promise is only to those who continue in [His] word.  Those who do not continue in [His] word  are not made free and will believe religious lies.  We find similar teaching in John 14:15 and John 14:23.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke as 'God in human flesh' and told them the basic requirements for being disciples (Christians).

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John 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.

In John 8:31 we saw Jesus  change who He was addressing and what He told them and how.  He is addressing those who believed on him  but they still had trouble confusing the spiritual and the religious.  Jesus  had said in John 8:32 that He would make them free and they responded in John 8:33 with We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?  Notice that they are talking about bondage to men and the answer from Jesus  (in this verse) shows spiritual bondage to sin.  We see the same thing taught in Proverbs 5:22 and Romans 6:16 and 2Peter 2:19.  Jesus  goes on in the next few verses to add to the teaching of this verse.  Please see those notes.

This verse starts with the word And  which means it is in addition to the prior verse.  Please see the note on John 8:31 which starts this section of comments by Jesus.  He continues to address those who believed on him  through John 8:36.  Within this section (in John 8:33) those who believed on him  claimed to be Abraham's seed, which was a common belief and claim by all Jews.  However, as explained in the note for John 8:33 within the Book Study on the gospel of John, the Biblical meaning of seed  and of child  are not the same and the Jews used the two words interchangeably.  Jesus  deals with that difference later in this chapter.

At this time Jesus  does not. immediately, deal with the doctrinal error which they just made but, first, sticks with the most important error when considering true Biblical salvation and returns to this error later.  In this sentence Jesus  tells them that they are the servant of sin  and that true Biblical salvation includes being made free from sin.  However, as we see from the remainder of this chapter, these Jews not only failed to understand His message but they rejected Him so that they could cling to some of their doctrinal errors.

In John 8:37 Jesus  is answering this claim and directing His answer not to those who spoke it but to the other Jews who were there but had rejected Him.  He is separating them from those who believed and telling them that they did not have a right to this claim because they did not do the works of Abraham (5:39-41).  So, our current verse is part of a few comments that go from John 8:31 through John 8:36 and are not spoken to all of the Jews but only to those who believed on him.

These comments start with God's plan for spiritual growth and the promise of freedom to those who make the effort to grow spiritually (not to the saved who refuse to grow) in John 8:31-32.  In response, these Jews said that Jesus  was offering them something that they already had (We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man).  They follow that claim with a question of how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?  Jesus  answers with John 8:34, which is expanded by Paul in Romans 6.

The drunk is positive he can quit drinking any time he wants until he is forced to actually try tol do it.  All sin is addictive and all sinners are sure that they can quit any time until God puts them in circumstances that force them to go without their sin for an extended time.  As they go through withdrawal symptoms, they can fall back into bondage or do as Jesus  said in John 8:31 and continue in my word.  The basic plan of Reformers Unanimous is to introduce people to Jesus, who is the truth  and then get them over the addiction of their sin by teaching them how to continue in my[God's] word.  Jesus  goes on in the next verse and gives us a measurement scale of our relationship with God.  Please see the notes for the next two verses as they continue the directions from Jesus  on how to be His disciple.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke as 'God in human flesh' and told them the basic requirements for being disciples (Christians).

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John 8:39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.  Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  In John 8:31 through John 8:36 Jesus  spoke a few comments to only those who believed on him  and excluded those who refused to accept Him as 'God in human flesh'.  Then in John 8:37 He starts talking to the non-believers and, as noted above, excludes them from the claim of being Abrahams children.  We also saw John the Baptist do this in Matthew 3:9.

Notice the reason that Jesus  gives (in this verse) for excluding them.  The principal of this verse is also used in Romans 8:9 which says But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.  Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.  The first sentence says that people are saved (in the Spirit) if 'so be that the Spirit of God [Holy Spirit] dwell in you.  Notice that the second sentence of Romans 8:9 speaks of the Spirit of Christ.  Christ  and the Spirit of God [Holy Spirit]  are different persons in the Trinity.  If you read Romans 8 to get the context, you find out that it is talking about our the 'walk', which is how we live.  Compare Romans 8:9 to this verse and understand the principal.  People may be saved, but if they don't live so that the Spirit of Christ  is seen in their works  then they are none of his [Christs].  These verses and many more make a clear distinction between those who are just saved (in Jesus) and those that are true 'Christians' because Christ  has spiritually matured them and changed their 'walk'.

Like all religious lost people, the Jews of John 8 are claiming salvation based upon some religious criteria that they met (born a Jew, baptized, said a prayer of salvation, etc).  Back in John 8:37 Jesus  recognized their claim of being the physical descendants of Abraham (I know that ye are Abraham's seed) but went on to call them children of Satan (ye do that which ye have seen with your father) because of their actions.  When our actions don't match our mouth, we prove ourselves to be liars and 'sons of Satan'.  Jesus  is telling them (and us) to 'put up or shut up'.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke as 'God in human flesh' and warned of future judgment.

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John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.

Looking at the English words leading up to John 8:41 would not lead most English thinking people to the conclusion that these Jews obviously arrived at.  That is why it is important to consider all of the context which surrounds what we are trying to understand in the Bible.  In John 8:41 the Jews said We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.  Since they claimed God as their Father, they obviously (finally) understood that Jesus  was speaking spiritually because God is a Spirit  (John 4:24).  They also understood that Jesus  was calling them spiritual bastards because their reaction was We be not born of fornication  and those born of fornication  are bastards.

Their answer was in response to Jesus  saying Ye do the deeds of your father.  Of course, if your spiritual Mama is the church (or the religious part of Israel at that time) but your spiritual father isn't God, then your spiritual father is the devil, as Jesus  plainly said in John 8:44.  Of course, the Jews understood all of this because of their reaction to Jesus  saying Ye do the deeds of your father.  As noted above, you prove who your real spiritual father is by the life you live and when you claim one thing and do another, you prove that you are a liar and that your spiritual father is the devil.

Again, in this verse we see Jesus  saying 'put up or shut up'.  In John 16:27 and John 17:8 and John 17:25, we see Jews that recognized that Jesus  came from the Father and were willing to die while they followed Him.  Lots of people say that they love Jesus, but don't obey.  In John 14:15, John 14:21; John 15:10; 1John 5:2-3 and 2John 1:6, we read If ye love me, keep my commandments  (in one form or another).  John 8 started with the Jews picking a fight with Jesus  by accusing a woman of adultery.  Now, they finally understand that Jesus  has turned their own accusation back upon themselves and called them spiritual bastards because they did not have a life that showed the Spirit of God.

As noted more than once, people who claim to be Christian and live in disobedience to the commandments of Jesus  prove themselves to be liars and spiritual bastards just like these Jews.  In this verse, Jesus  said If God were your Father, ye would love me [keep my commandments].  I don't know any plainer standard of measurement.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke as 'God in human flesh' and told us of the standard of measurement that will be used in future judgment.

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John 8:49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.

Please also, see the note under Matthew 4:1 for Jesus  dealing with devils.

Ourt chapter started with an account of the Jews interrupting Jesus  as He taught so that they could start a fight over doctrine and authority.  In John 8:41, they finally understood that Jesus  has turned their own accusation back upon themselves and called them spiritual bastards because they did not have a life that showed the Spirit of God.  In addition, He said they were children of the devil.  He, effectively, told them to 'put up or shut up' and proved that they were of the devil because the works of their life proved their religious claims to be a lie.  He also said that they could not hear God's Words (the truth) because they were children of lies and sought a lie.  He then asked them Which of you convinceth me of sin?

Jesus  had been proving every point He had made and they only made accusations without providing proof.  Since they had no proof to back their claims, and since they could not answer the accusations from Jesus,  the Jews resorted to character assassination and said thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil.  Of course, the Jews were prejudiced against the Samaritans and since they were obviously losing the argument based upon reason, they resorted to emotion and prejudice.

That leads to this verse where Jesus  contrasts those who have a devil with those that provide true honor.  When we recognize what has been done for us and by whom, we honor them.  When we honor our parents, we recognize how they provided for us when we were weak and helpless and we recognize that they taught us the skills that we use to get riches, etc.  When we recognize God's grace and mercy in saving us and the vast gulf between our life and the life of God, we honor God.  Jesus  honored God by giving God the Father credit for all of the miracles and for the doctrine that He preached.

These Jews refused to give Jesus  credit for the works that He did.  The miracles were obviously from God and they refused to give God the Father credit but gave the devil credit because they wanted to deny that Jesus  had a life to back His claim that God worked through Him.  By refusing to give Him credit for the life He lived they dishonored Him as He said in this verse.  This claim by the Jews is one more example of their unsubstantiated lies which proved that they were following the spirit of the devil.  From here through the end of the chapter, Jesus  and the Jews are arguing about true honor.  The argument ends with Jesus  plainly telling them that He is God (Before Abraham was, I am) and with them trying to kill Him.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke as 'God in human flesh'.

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John 8:54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  This sentence is near the end of the chapter, which concludes this section in the gospel of John.

The religious Jewish leaders started a fight with Jesus  by dragging a woman to Him and accusing her of adultery with the hope that they would catch Jesus  saying something that they could accuse Him of.  First He shut the mouths of the accusers, then He dealt with her, then He came back and proved to the accusers that they were the actual adulterers and the children of adultery between the devil and the Jewish religion.  From there they accused Jesus  of having a devil and He pointed out that their lives showed demonic influences while His showed guidance by the Spirit of God.  Then they claimed they were the children of Abraham and of God and Jesus  called them liars because they didn't do the works of Abraham or of God.  Then they tried saying that Jesus  had no honor (other than what He gave Himself) and therefore, no one should listen to Him.  Jesus  answers that latest false accusation in this sentence where He claims that God the Father honors Him.  We see that prophecy by Jesus  fulfilled in Acts 3:13 where we are told by Peter that The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.  This verse and those where God said this is my beloved Son  and other verses tell us that God the Father honored Jesus  several times.

In this sentence we learn that all who claim to know God and keep their mouth shut while religious liars misrepresent the God of the Bible are in fact dishonoring God.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke as 'God in human flesh' and told His disciples how to deal with religious liars.

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John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  Starting in John 8:56 Jesus  gives these Jews His final argument on this subject.  There He said Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.  They had already been through the argument about being sons of Abraham  where they said that got them into Heaven and Jesus  proved that they were not true sons of Abraham  because they didn't do the works of Abraham.  He did not bring Abraham back up to return to that argument but to lead into this verse where He plainly told them that he was/is God by saying Before Abraham was, I am.  (Also see Colossians 1:17.) This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke as 'God in human flesh' and told everyone who He was/is.

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John 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. 

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  The Jews tried to kill Him for telling them plainly that he was/is God (John 8:58).  The same happened in John 10:31 and Luke 4:28-19 and when they crucified Him and other times.  Since this was not the time or way for Him to die.  This verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who hid himself.

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John 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.  This verse says that the man named Jesus  physically passed the blind man and saw the blind man.

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John 9:3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.

In John 8 we saw an argument between Jesus  and the religious Jews about judgment and adultery that is because Jesus  uses a Spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  (Please read the note on John 8:11, in this Study, to understand the context of this John 8.)  Now John 9 starts out with Jesus  doing a miracle for His disciples to see that He does things so that the works of God should be made manifest in him.  In John 3:21 Jesus  said But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.  These two are tied together by the statement that the works of God  / his deeds  should be made manifest.  So, again, we see God saying 'put up or shut up'.  That is: people who truly serve God will manifest the works of God  while religious deceivers will do things to make themselves look good.

Jesus  had argued with the religious Jews and said that their deeds showed that they were of the devil and His deeds show that he is of God.  The next time we see Him alone with His disciples he is backing His mouth, again, with a miracle that shows that the works of God [was] manifest  through Jesus.  Jesus  said I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life  in John 8:12.  That light  shines into this world, through our life, when we let God work through our life, just like Jesus  did in this chapter.

In this verse we see Jesus  explaining and showing His disciples how to let God's work be made manifest  through our lives and, thereby, show the world that we do not walk in darkness, [and] have the light of life  in us.

Please see the note for Matthew 12:8-LJC about how Jesus  dealt with the sabbath in the gospels.  Please also see the note for Colossians 2:16-17 about the word Sabbath.

This verse says that the man named Jesus  physically talked to His disciples about the blind man that they had all seen.

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John 9:11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. 

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.

This verse literally says A man that is called Jesus.

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John 9:14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. 

Please see the note for this sentence in the Book Study on tyhe gospel of John for the doctrine related to the Sabbath  in this account.  This verse says that the physical man named Jesus  made the clay on the Sabbath.

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John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.

In this verse, we see the dilemma of Jews everywhere.  They are looking for the Christ.  They know that the Christ  is the Son of God.  They know that the Christ  will become a physical man.  Yet, their religion says that if anyone is what they are looking for, they have to kill that person.  The only way that they can kill that person and have Him be still alive to rule as King of the Jews  is if he comes back from the dead.  Jesus  did exactly that, but their religion insists that they still reject the truth.  This verse says that the physical man named Jesus  talked to this formerly blind man and asked him Dost thou believe on the Son of God? In John 1:7, John the Baptist tells us that we need to believe on Him to be saved.  In John 1:12 we are told that those who do believe receive power to become the sons of God.  John 3:18 clearly says there is a direct inverse relationship between condemnation and belief with nothing else having an effect.  So when Jesus  asked this man Dost thou believe on the Son of God?  He was asking this man to publicly declare a faith that had already gotten him kicked out of the synagogue and could result in death.  How many professions would we get under those circumstances?  While this verse uses Jesus  for the physical man who spoke, it uses Son of God  for Saviour  and for Christ  and for 'God in human flesh' that was prophesied in the Old Testament.

Please also see the note for this verse under Son.

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John 9:37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.

This verse says that the physical man named Jesus  talked to this other man and declared Himself to be the Son of God  and the promised Christ.  Jesus  did the same for a woman in John 4:26 and he also plainly declared Himself to be Christ  several other times in the gospels.

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John 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.

This verse says that the physical man named Jesus  talked to His disciples and taught them that the miracles he did in the flesh were to teach spiritual lessons.  In addition, we see Jesus  saying For judgment I am come into this world.  Judgment is reserved to the role of Lord  but God the Father, in His role as Lord, appointed the man named Jesus  to execute this part of the role of Lord.  We can not take part of God's role as Lord, but He can give it to us.  In John 3:17 Jesus  said For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  A lot of people confuse judgment  and condemnation  but judgment  can result in condemnation  or in justification.  While a discussion on judgment is too much for this note, there are several places that the Bible tells us that the same thing which brings condemnation  to one person also brings justification  to another.  Jesus  came for judgment  and not condemnation  because God's plan is that all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.  (1Timothy 2:3-4).  That is, God's plan is for judgment  to result in justification  for all men.  This is the true Biblical teaching of predestination.  We also see this in the words of Jesus  in John 12:47.  He does not want to judge/condemn us.  however, when men reject God's judgment  then they bring condemnation  upon themselves.  Further, John 5:22-27 (and other places) teach us that God the Father has given all judgment to God the Son because God the Son became human and no one can claim that he is unrighteous in His judgment because he doesn't understand what it is to be human.  We condemn germs and don't worry if people say we are unrighteous to do so because we don't understand things from the germ's perspective.  However, God will not allow even that much of a claim to be put against His righteousness and he became a lowly human so that, as a human, God the Son could judge men.

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John 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.

Here we see Jesus  judging and condemning these Pharisees.  This is in response to their comments in a discussion that started in 9:39.  Please see that note for context.  Here and in John 3:17 and in John 15:22-24 and other places we see Jesus  justifying the believer while condemning the unbeliever at the same time.  This verse says that the physical man named Jesus  talked to the Pharisees.

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John 10:6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. 

In John 10, Jesus  distinguishes salvation through Him from salvation through religion and calls those that come through religion a thief and a robber  (John 10:1).  Please see all of the verses and notes for John 10 together, especially the note for John 10:24 and John 10:32.  In this verse we see the man named Jesus  talk to these religious Jews who refused to accept that He was Christ  and 'God in human flesh' even when He plainly told them that he was and gave them proof.  In this vewrse, we see Jesus  start the explination of the symbolism involoved in His parable at the start of the chaptew<./p>

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John 10:7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 

In John 10, Jesus  distinguishes salvation through Him from salvation through religion and calls those that come through religion a thief and a robber  (John 10:1).  Please see all of the verses and notes for John 10 together, especially the note for John 10:24 and 10:32.  In this verse we see the man named Jesus  talk to these religious Jews who refused to accept that He was Christ  and 'God in human flesh' even when He plainly told them that he was and gave them proof.  In this sentence we see that the physical man named Jesus  started to explain the spiritual truths of the parable given at the start of this chapter.

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John 10:23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. 

In John 10, Jesus  distinguishes salvation through Him from salvation through religion and calls those that come through religion a thief and a robber  (John 10:1).  Please see all of the verses and notes for John 10 together, especially the note for John 10:24 and John 10:32.  In this verse we see the man named Jesus  walked to where the lost Jews were at so that He could answer their questions.  He did this knowing that they would try to kill Him for those same answers that they demanded.  This sentence uses the name of Jesus  to identify 'a literal physical man', just like every reference to the name of Jesus  does.

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John 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. 

In John 10, Jesus  distinguishes salvation through Him from salvation through religion and calls those that come through religion a thief and a robber  (John 10:1).  Please see all of the verses and notes for John 10 together, especially the note for 1John 0:24 and John 10:32.  In this verse we see the man named Jesus  talk to these religious Jews who refused to accept that He was Christ  and 'God in human flesh' even when He plainly told them that he was and gave them proof.

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John 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? 

Note: in John 10:33 the Jews plainly say that Jesus, as a man, claimed to be 'God in human flesh'.

In John 9 we saw that we have to choose between a personal belief in Jesus Christ  or in our religion and the one that we truly follow is shown not by what we say but by what we do.  Then in John 10, Jesus  distinguishes salvation through Him from false salvation through religion and tells us what he does for His followers that false religious leaders can't provide.  He also calls those that claim to represent God and lead through religion a thief and a robber  (John 10:1).  Please see all of the verses and notes for John 10 together, especially the note for John 10:24 and John 10:32.  In this verse we see the man named Jesus  challenge the refusal by the Jews to accept His answer.  He then gave them proof to back His answer.  Part of His proof was the witness of John the Baptist.  Further, they understood His answer and His proof because in this verse they tried to kill Him.  They gave their reason for trying to kill Him in the very next verse which says The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

Returning to the witness of John, There are several verses in each of the four gospels that tell about John the Baptist.  The Doctrinal Study, called John the Baptist, has links to all of the other references in the Bible for John the Baptist.  Jesus  said that John the Baptist was a witness that he is the Son of God.  In John 5:31-47, Jesus  said that John the Baptist, the Father and the scriptures were His witnesses.  In John 8:13-18 Jesus  said that He Himself and the Father were witnesses that he said the truth.  In John 10:24-30, Jesus  said that the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.  In John 15:21-27 Jesus  said that the Comforter  that was to come and the disciples of Jesus  would be His witnesses.  There is an entire doctrine that has been forgotten by many Bible believers which says that there must be at least two witnesses for something to be established by God (meets the requirement to be doctrine in the church).  This Biblical requirement has been forgotten because Satan wants good godly men to preach things that God has not established as doctrine for the whole church.  Genesis 41:32 tells us And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.  This verse, the Mosaic Law quoted by Jesus  in the verses mentioned above, the actions by Jesus  in the verses quoted above, and many other places in the Bible show us that for something to be declared to be established by God (meets the requirement to be doctrine in the church), it must have at least two witnesses.  I say that it doesn't matter how godly a man is proclaimed to be, if he claims to be above Jesus  and not have to meet the same minimum requirements that Jesus  met, he is not of the God of the Bible.  This verse, and many others, tells us that the man called Jesus  met the requirements for two or more witnesses for the doctrine that he taught.  This is in the gospel of John which was written to teach that the man called Jesus  was actually 'God in human flesh'.  Therefore, the Son of God, while in the flesh as the man called Jesus, provided at least two witnesses any time that he was requested to provide witnesses for His doctrine.  One of the witnesses that He cited was John the Baptist.  This verse actually uses Jesus  as 'God in human flesh', although the listeners insisted that Jesus  was only a man.

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John 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? 

Jesus is referring to Psalms 82:6.  Note that Jesus  calls Psalms part of your law.  In John 10, Jesus  distinguishes salvation through Him from salvation through religion and calls those that come through religion a thief and a robber  (John 10:1).  Please see all of the verses and notes for John 10 together, especially the note for John 10:24 and John 10:32.  In this verse we see the man named Jesus  talk to these religious Jews who refused to accept that He was Christ  and 'God in human flesh' even when He plainly told them that he was and gave them proof.

This verse is part of the section where Jesus  offers proof that He is Christ.  Part of that proof is the witness of John the Baptist.  There are several verses in each of the four gospels that tell about John the Baptist.  The Doctrinal Study, called John the Baptist, has links to all of the other references in the Bible for John the Baptist.  This verse is explained in the note for John 10:32.  This verse actually uses Jesus  as 'God in human flesh', although the listeners insisted that Jesus  was only a man.

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Christ Only

John 1:20, 25, 41; 3:28; 4:25, 29, 42; 6:69; 7:26, 27, 31, 41, 42; 9:22; 10:24; 12:34.

Click here for all of the Verses that use Christ  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Christ.  Christ  is used in the gospel of John several ways.

  1. John the Baptist is not Christ.
  2. Christ  is the Messias
  3. Christ  fulfills Old Testament prophecy
  4. Christ  is the Saviour of the world
  5. Christ  is the Son of the living God

John 1:20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 

There are several verses in each of the four gospels that tell about John the Baptist.  The main note, with the address of all other verses, is under Luke 1:5.  Please use this link provided to see the full Study on John the Baptist, including links to notes which deal with every place in the Bible where he is named.  This verse tells us part of what is also said in Luke 3:15-17; John 1:7-10 and John 3:22-36.  John made it clear that he was not the Christ  Who was prophesied in the Old Testament.  John was not God the Son come in flesh and told people as much.  He also did not have the authority to change peoples religion like God said Jesus  would do (Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35 and 2Peter 1:17).  In this verse, Christ  is only used for the one who fulfilled Old Testament prophecy because the Jews didn't understand about the role of Christ  in the lives of Christians where He makes our religion an ongoing personal relationship with God.  Please see the general note for Christ,  above, for the various things which John's gospel tell us about this role.

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John 1:25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? 

There are several verses in each of the four gospels that tell about John the Baptist.  The main note, with the address of all other verses, is under Luke 1:5.  Please use this link provided to see the full Study on John the Baptist, including links to notes which deal with every place in the Bible where he is named.  This verse is a question asked by people sent from the Pharisees (Matthew 1:24).

As shown in the note for John 1:20, this verse uses Christ  for the one who fulfilled Old Testament prophecy.  See the verses and notes that are listed in A prophet like Moses in the Verses section.  Also see the Prophecies of Christ  Section.  As John said here, he was not Christ  and his baptism was not the same as the baptism of Christ.  Please see below for all of the verses that I found related to baptism.

There are lots of false doctrines about baptism and I will not try to dispute them here.  The Biblical definition of the word baptize  is: 'identified with'.  Please see the verses below for divisions, by application, of he verses which use some form of the word baptize. 

  1. John the Baptist
  2. The baptism of John the Baptist = 'identification with repentance' (Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3; Acts 13:24)
  3. The baptism of the disciples of Jesus  before His death = 'identification with repentance'
  4. The baptism of Jesus Christ  = 'identification with Jesus Christ  (dead to sin, alive to God's life) through the Holy Ghost' (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 10:47; 11:16)
  5. The baptism of Moses = 'identification with the Mosaic Law'
  6. The baptism of fire = 'identification with persecution and death'
  7. The baptism in Paul's (preachers) name = 'identification with false doctrine'
  8. The baptism unto the dead = 'identification with those who have died and need to be replaced in the ranks of living witnesses'

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John 1:41 He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 

This verse tells us, doctrinally, that the Christ  of the New Testament is the Messias  of the Old Testament and that all Jews, even ignorant fishermen, understood this fact.  In John 1:35-36 we were told that Andrew stood with John the Baptist as John testified that Jesus  was the Lamb of God,  Who is also the Son of God.  Andrew understood this and also understood that the Son of God  come in flesh would be the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

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John 3:28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.

In 3:22 through 3:36 we have the account of how Jesus,  and His ministry, affected John the Baptist, and his ministry.  The best description of this encounter is when John the Baptist declared He must increase, but I must decrease.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

John made it clear that he was not the Christ  prophesied in the Old Testament but was sent to prepare the way for God's true Christ.  John told them that he was not the Christ  in John 1:19-27.  In John 1:23 he told them that he was I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord  which is a fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3.  In addition, Mark 1:2 also says the same thing.  Please see the notes for John 1:20 and Mark 1:1 for more on this doctrine.  Please also see the note for Luke 1:5 which gives references to all of the verses and notes that deal with John the Baptist.

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John 4:25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 

In this verse we have a doctrinal declaration that Christ  is another name for Messias  which only occurs 4 times in scripture (Daniel 9:25-26 and John 1:41; John 4:25).  However, the Jews had found many more prophecies related to Messias,  which don't use that term.  Therefore, we know that this was a far more significant statement than what a simple Bible search for that word would reveal.  In fact, we need to consider the entire presentation to understand all that is in this verse and that is dealt with in the Book Study on the Gospel of John.  What is important, and within our verse, is that the Samaritans, like all religious people, confused physical things (water in well) with spiritual things (such as the living water  found in this account) .  As Christ,  The Son of God explains how Christ  maintains an ongoing flow of the Spirit through the believers life and out to others.

In addition, to this type of doctrinal error, religious people also think that their physical religious differences are important (John 4:9, John 19-20) while Jesus  taught that our physical religious worship isn't important but our worship in Spirit is (John 4:21-24).  This type of teaching is part of the personal ministry of Christ  in the lives of believers and Jesus  was showing this woman (and us) that He is Christ  by the things which He taught in this section of the gospel.

When the woman wanted the gift of God, He showed her that her sin had to be gotten out of the way first (John 4:15-17).  True Christians confront people about their sin so that God can forgive it.  When confronted with her sin, The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.  (John 4:19) and she had to be wondering if He was the Prophet like Moses  promised in Deuteronomy 18:15-16.  Now, with her statement in this verse, we get a stronger indication that this was what she was thinking.  Both the Jews and the Samaritans were looking for that prophet  because He would be Christ.  This is the point in the presentation that the woman realized that she was hearing from God and wanted to know how to be right with God (John 4:19-20).

After her question we read the answer from Jesus,  which was: I that speak unto thee am he.  After that the author does not tell us anything more of the conversation, but later in the chapter we see her acting like a saved person and witnessing to her neighbors.  Therefore, we can conclude that she believed the answer that Jesus  gave her and was truly Biblically saved at this point.

After her salvation we read about the disciples returning and wondered what Jesus  was doing.  He taught them that they needed to be reaping souls for Heaven just like He was doing.  After that we read of the changed life that Christ  truly brings because this woman brought her neighbors to Christ  and didn't make herself important by telling them that they were dependant upon her relaying messages from God.  The salvation that she spread was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ  (John 4:42).

In this presentation, we see many of the personal blessings that true Christians receive through the role of Christ.  In this particular verse, we see that Christ  is a role, that Christ  is Messias  (fulfills Old Testament prophecy), and that Christ  brings spiritual maturity into the saved persons life.  As this woman said about Christ,  he will tell us all things.  Within the context of this verse we see this truth revealed many ways.

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John 4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 

See the note under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  In this verse we see that Christ  was looked for because of promised blessings that would only come through Christ  and we see that the person who fulfilled the role of Christ  would also do certain prophecies from the Old Testament.

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John 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. 

See the note under John 4:25 for details on the presentation that this verse is part of.  In this verse we see that Christ  was looked for because of promised blessings that would only come through Christ, which includes salvation.  We also see that the person who fulfilled the role of Christ  would also do certain prophecies from the Old Testament, including telling them things that they said they have heard him ourselves.  In John 17 we read about Jesus  praying for all saved before His crucifixion and he identifies the saved (in John 17:8) as those who believe, receive and know positively so that they act on their belief.  (For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me).  Again, in 1John 4:14-15 we read of this testimony.  Please also see the note under Saviour.

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John 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the note for John 6:1 under Jesus  for context and links to related verses and notes.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.

Please also see Matthew 16:13-20 and Mark 8:27-30 and Luke 9:18-27 and John 11:27 and all related notes.  This particular verse is not necessarily (probably not) the same time as what is reported in the other gospels.  However, it is the same declaration by Peter.  It is definitely not the same as John 11:27, which reports the same declaration of faith by Martha.

This verse follows Jesus  telling His disciples some things that were hard sayings.  These hard sayings  had to be understood spiritually because they are repugnant to the world, the flesh and the religious mind.  As in John 11:27 and the other gospels, when confronted by a truth from the Word that is hard to understand and that is in direct conflict with what is taught by religion, God expects us to stand by His truth even when we don't understand it.  In every case where the believer put their faith in their personal relationship to Christ, that faith was rewarded by new revelation from Christ.  In every instance where someone chose an understood religious answer over faith in Christ, they lost their position and ability to serve Christ.

In this particular case, Peter is declaring for all of the disciples that stayed loyal.  He is declaring their faith that Jesus  was God's fulfillment of the prophesied Messiah / Messias.  In John 4:25 the Samaritan woman said I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.  She was not a Jew and, obviously, did not keep the Mosaic Law, and yet this knowledge was common enough that even she knew it.  Therefore, this declaration by Peter was a declaration that they believed that Jesus  told them all things  that were true and from God.  Therefore, those sayings were to be accepted and believed even while not understood.  In addition, by including the declaration we believe and are sure that thou art... the Son of the living God,  Peter is admitting that Jesus  has a higher position and greater authority than and other man.  Please also see the note under Son of God.

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John 7:26 But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? 

John 7 tells us about the last days before the crucifixion of Jesus.  He had returned to His home in Galilee because the Jews wanted to kill Him and it was not yet time for Him to die.  His brethren didn't believe that Jesus  was the Christ  (John 7:2-5) and challenged Him to prove Himself by going to Jerusalem and challenging the Jewish leaders.  The answer from Jesus  is in John 7:6-10.  When Jesus  did show up at the feast and boldly taught in the Temple, the people expected the Jewish leaders to arrest Him.  When they didn't the people wondered if the claims that Jesus  was the prophesied Christ  could be true.  That is what this verse tells us.  As to the rulers, John 7:48 indicates that they didn't know.  However, that was willful ignorance because Jesus  had clearly said that he was the Christ  more than once before this, including to representatives of the rulers.  I have often been asked 'Why hasn't any famous preacher preached this before?' when I tell people about things that the Bible says but that they didn't know about.  Unfortunately, just like these people, many people dismiss what is clearly said by the word of God until some ruler  says it.  They will claim that the God of the Bible is their Lord, but their actions say that their true Lord  is some human preacher.

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John 7:27 Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. 

This verse is a continuation of the prior verse and gives us an argument from one group of people.  Like many religious people, they were positive hat they knew everything about an unfulfilled prophecy, even while they were 100% wrong.  God always hides the true interpretation of prophecy until it is fulfilled because prophecy isn't to let us know the future but to show that an all powerful God can say what he is going to do before it is done.  He shows His power by always fulfilling prophecy, in detail, and in spite of the devil and all forces of evil opposing Him.  Here, these Jews thought they knew that Jesus  was from Nazareth but didn't realize that He had been born in Bethlehem.  In Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 and Luke 4:22 they said Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?  So, while they were positive that they knew where Jesus  was from, even though they were wrong, they did not know where Christ  because, in truth, no man living then knew where Christ  was from, even though the prophecy telling where Christ  comes from can be found in: Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 53:8; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 30:21 and Micah 5:2.  In addition, others, who were alive Jews at that time, knew the truth as recorded in: John 7:41-42 and Matthew 2:5-6.

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John 7:31 And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? 

This verse an others tell us that many of the people believed on him  because of the signs that He gave them.  This verse is a continuation of the prior verse and tells us that while many people followed the religious leaders, some people believed that Jesus  had proved He was the Christ  by fulfilling prophecy.  Unfortunately, the people who actually believed this truth were a minority.  Likewise, those that actually believe in the truth of the Bible are always in a minority.  {Please also see the Study called Significant Gospel Events and do a search for the word Christ  for links to places in all of the Bible where we are told about Christ.}

This verse uses Christ  to identify the special person prophesied in the Old Testament.

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John 7:41 Others said, This is the Christ.  But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?

Here, Jesus  has been identified as Christ  but others denied the truth because religious beliefs said that Christ  could not come from Galilee.  As we see over and over again, men choose religious beliefs over the truth of God's Word and end up suffering for their foolishness.  This religious belief is nothing more than religious prejudice, which we see today.  The wars of Muslim against Muslim are the same.  The Crusades and the many purges by various large 'Christian' religions were the same.  'Good Godly' churches and people insisting that someone 'must be lost' because that person doesn't meet their religious standard (like having hair that is not cut to their standard or wearing/not wearing certain clothing) is the same.  These people, and all with the same spirit, lose out on the personal relationship and spiritual growth that is available through Christ  when they choose to hold religious prejudices.  The Samaritans, whom the Jews insisted were Hell-bound heathens, believed Jesus  was the Christ  in John 4:42.  This verse uses Christ  to identify the special person prophesied in the Old Testament.  Please also see the note above for links to every place where the Bible uses the phrase the Christ

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John 7:42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? 

Matthew 2:4 also tells us that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem.  This verse is a fulfillment of the prophecy in Micah 5:2.  Since Jesus  was raised in Nazareth, and considered to be a Nazarene.  Matthew 2:23 says that this is a fulfillment of prophecy, but commentators haven't positively said where the prophecy is.  It surelyis in the Bible but not easily found.  Regardless of that, these Jews believed that Jesus  could not be the Christ  because they were sure that He was born, as well as raised, in Nazareth.  We each need to take the things that we are positive  about and verify them against the Bible and actual facts.  If we would do that, there would be far less heresy taught.

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John 9:22 These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 

All of John 9 is the account of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be of God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse and for related notes

All through history we see religious leaders condemning anyone who has a personal relationship with God and who doesn't trust keeping religious rules for their salvation.  Religious leaders make religious rules for people to follow and declare that anyone that doesn't follow them exactly, or who even disagrees with their rules, is not of God and must be of the devil.  In contrast to blindly obeying those rules, we are told to look at fruit (long term godly results) and to not judge religious acts.

In this case, the Jewish leaders called the man, then his parents then the man again in order to get them to agree with them.  The parents refused to get involved.  The man refused to denounce Jesus  and even proved to the Jewish leaders that they were out of line with the God of the Bible and what their own leaders had taught in the past.  As a result, they threw the man out of the Temple.  There comes a time in many peoples relationship with Christ  where they have to choose between the religion of their youth and their personal relationship with Christ.

After this man chose Christ, and suffered for it, Jesus  met him personally and told this man that He (Jesus) was Christ  (God in the flesh).  See John 9:35-37.  This is one of the few times recorded in the gospels where Jesus  plainly tells someone that He is Christ  and God.  This is also one of the few times that Jesus  accepted worship as Lord  (God) before His resurrection.  The main emphasis of this chapter, and of this verse, is that our relationship the Christ  is personal and must be more important than anything else including our religion.  In John 7:12-13 we read that the some Jews believed on Jesus  but would not speak up.  They also kept their mouth shut at the crucifixion.  They probably joined the church at Pentecost or later, but even as saved people God drove them out of their home town (Jerusalem) and country and those that refused to go faces starvation and worse (see Acts).  Jesus  warned the disciples in John 16:1-4, but, unfortunately, most saved don't believe the warnings and somehow believe the lie that nothing bad happens to saved people.

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John 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. 

In John 10, Jesus  distinguishes salvation through Him from salvation through religion and calls those that come through religion a thief and a robber  (John 10:1).  In the first part of this chapter, Jesus  said I am  five times (door, good Shepherd, etc).  I am, is a reference to God when he spoke to Moses.  As a result of the statements by Jesus, the Jews argued about whether He was Christ  (God come in flesh) or not.  In this verse they said If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.  His answer, starting in 10:25 was I told you, and ye believed not  followed by His telling them of all the witnesses provided to them which proved that he was the Christ.  However, as Jesus  said in John 10:26, But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.  This is a reference back to the parable at the start of John 10.  Jesus  then goes on and makes it very plain to them that he is Christ, and 'God in human flesh' and they want to kill Him for doing as they requested (in this verse) and telling them plainly.  Please see the note on John 10:32 about the witnesses that Jesus  gave and the doctrine not followed by many people today.  In this chapter Jesus  says the most that I have found anywhere about the difference between the religious person and the person that has a personal relationship with Christ.  The beginning of this chapter explains the difference between a true Christian and a liar that claims to be a Christian but is only religious.

  1. John 10:1-2 tells us that a true Christian enters Heaven by Christ  (10:2, 9) and those who enter otherwise are liars and thieves.
  2. 10:3 says that the true Christian heard the voice of Christ.
  3. 10:3 says that the true Christian is known personally by Christ  (he calleth his own sheep by name)
  4. 10:3 says that the true Christian follows Christ  (he leadeth them)
  5. 10:4 says that the true Christian know the voice of Christ
  6. 10:5 says that the true Christian will not follows another but will flee
  7. 10:9 says that the true Christian is saved  (not question or loose it) and shall go in  (to church to worship and rest) and out  (to witness and bring in the lost) find pasture  (get needs met by God).
  8. 10:10 says that they might have life  (saved through ministry of Jesus)and that they might have it more abundantly  (spiritual growth through ministry of Christ)
  9. 10:11-14 says that the relationship is personal between Christ and the true Christian
  10. 10:16 says that there is no difference between the Jewish Christian and the gentile Christian (Romans 1)

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Jesus Christ

John 1:17; 17:3; 20:31.

The title of Jesus Christ  only occurs 5 times in the gospels.  They are: Matthew 1:1, Matthew 1:18; Mark 1:1; John 1:17 and John 17:3.  The two times that Matthew uses it is in the beginning of his gospel for the first two points in his proof that the man named Jesus  fulfilled prophecies about Christ  and proved that he was/is God's Christ.  Mark opens his gospel with The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ  and goes on from there.  John uses the title differently.  The first time, in his general outline for the gospel, John tells us things that require the ministry of Jesus  and of Christ.  The second time is when John is telling us a prayer from Jesus  to the Father when Jesus  openly declares Himself to be Jesus Christ.  The third use of Jesus  and Christ  in a single verse by John does not use Jesus Christ  but tells us that he wrote the gospel that we might believe that Jesus   is the Christ  and, thereby, receive salvation.

Click here for all of the Verses that use Jesus Christ  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Jesus Christ.

John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 

This verse is part of the basic message of John the Baptist as recorded by John in the start of his gospel.  John the Baptist was sent from God to prepare the people to receive Jesus.  Therefore, John gives us part of the message from the Baptist to prepare our hearts for the message of Jesus Christ.

The Study on John the Baptist provides references to every place that the Bible tells us about him, his ministry and his message.  That Study also presents these references by book of the Bible and to their sequence within the life of John the Baptist. Please see that Study for more detail.

This verse is part of John's message that does not have an equivalent in the presentation by the other gospel writers.  Where they concentrated on what John the Baptist said and other things related to John the Baptist, this John tells us more about how John the Baptist's message related to Jesus Christ.  Notice that this verse starts with For.  That means that it is the reason for the prior sentences.  In John 1:15-16, John tells us that God preferred Jesus  to John because Jesus  existed before John (and before all men) and Jesus  brought fulness  (sanctification) and grace  (John 1:16).  (Please see the note in the Book Study on John's gospel for the explanation of this.)  The Jews thought that the Law and their religion gave them salvation.  The message from John the Baptist and from Jesus  was that the Law and religion can only condemn.  True salvation requires grace and truth, neither of which can come from the Law or religion.

The main theme of Johns basic message is repent, which was also the first thing that Jesus  preached (Matthew 4:17).  Unfortunately, most religions, even conservative Bible believing ones, preach a religious definition for repent  and not the true Biblical definition.  This is explained in the separate study on repent  and (somewhat) in the note under Luke 1:17.  Unless someone stops trusting the Law and their religion and starts trusting the grace and truth that comes from Jesus Christ, they will go to Hell.  Further, as seen throughout this entire study, that grace  and truth  must come from the ministry of Jesus  and of Christ  and it is received personally.  We are not saved while accepting part of God's salvation and refusing part of God's salvation.  I have to go to the Lord  and ask Him to apply the payment of the blood of Jesus  to the debt of my personal sin.  However, unless I also receive a personal relationship with Christ  (John 1:12), the Lord  is not going to accept my request.  This is all explained in more detail elsewhere in this study.

This verse is the first time that Jesus  or Christ  appear in the gospel of John.  As the other gospel writers did at the start of their gospel messages, John tells us that his main objective is to show us that salvation requires repenting of trusting in the Law and religion and receiving the grace  and truth  that only comes from a personal relationship to Jesus Christ.

Returning to this verse (John 1:17), we read that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.  We are told that grace is 'unmerited favor' and while that is the main application, the truth is that grace  is given to make the giver look good.  Our keeping the law does not make God look good.  However, our obeying truth,  after God's grace  enables us, does make God look good.

The first man in the Bible to receive grace from God was Noah.  God had determined to destroy all of mankind from the Earth, But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD  (Genesis 6:8).  This lets us know that grace is given on a personal level.  Moses is the next person that we are told who received grace from God (Exodus 33:12).  While many men found grace in the eyes of other men, few found grace from God.  We are told that the LORD spake unto Moses face to face  (Exodus 33:11).  So, we know that the grace of salvation not only is personal but gives us direct access to talk to God.  People in the Old Testament didn't have this privilege.  This is the grace  that is given to New Testament saints through Jesus Christ.  Again, in Ezra 9:8 we read that grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape.  The same is said in Jeremiah 31:2.  Zechariah 12:10 tells us that the spirit of grace and of supplications  will come from Jesus Christ.  John is referring to Zechariah in this verse and Zechariah links that grace from God to the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.  Grace is given to very few and is a rare treasure and not something to be taken lightly.  The part of grace that provides personal salvation (Noah) is the main ministry of Jesus.  The part of grace that allows talking to God face to face  is the main ministry of Christ.  The few other verses in the Old Testament that talk about grace from God make it very clear that such grace is extremely rare and precious.

Going on to truth, we Know that Jesus  is the truth  (John 14:6).  Men and religions claim to provide lots of truths  that are often in conflict with each other.  However, the  means 'there is only one and here it is'.  Jesus Christ  is the only truth that stays consistent no matter what circumstances change or what things of this world or of man changes.  That is why he is The Truth.  When John 8:32 tells us And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free, that freedom is personal and ongoing through a personal ongoing relationship with the person who is The Truth.  Again, Jesus  told Pilate, and all of the world, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.  Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice  in John 18:37.  Those that live their lives refusing to listen to The Truth  from the Bible are fooling themselves when they claim to be saved.  Jesus Christ  brought grace and truth.  These are personal, rare, precious, ongoing and give us the privilege of talking to God face to face.  They are one of the main evidences of true Biblical salvation.

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Christ Jesus

Christ Jesus  is not used in John.  Click here for all of the Verses that use Christ Jesus  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Christ Jesus.

Lord Jesus

John 4:1; 8:11; 11:21, 32, 39; 13:25, 36; 20:2; 21:7, 12, 15, 17, 20, 21.

Every verse in John that have Lord  and Jesus  tell us of a believer that addressed the man named Jesus  and called Him Lord  in recognition that He was/is 'God in human flesh' except for John 4:1.  There, the Pharisees who should have recognized Him as 'God in human flesh' refused and insisted that their Lord  (God) was just a man named Jesus.  Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Jesus  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Jesus.

John 4:1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,

There are several verses in each of the four gospels that tell about John the Baptist.  The Doctrinal Study, called John the Baptist, has links to all of the other references in the Bible for John the Baptist.

John 4:1-3 is a single sentence which is outlined and dealt with in detail, and with contextual considerations, in the Book Study on the gospel of John.  In the prior chapter, the author tells us that Jesus  baptized people in one place of Judea and John the Baptist baptized in another place of Judea (John 3:22-24).  Then, in this sentence, the author tells us that Jesus  went to Galilee.  This sentence tells us that the Lord  sent Jesus  to Galilee and our next sentence tells us why when it says: And he must needs go through Samaria.  As our example, Jesus  shows us to obey our personal Lord  when He gives us personal orders, including moving to another state or country in order to do mission work.  I believe that Lord  in this verse refers to God the Father.  Regardless if trhe order cones from God the Father or from God the Son, we are to obey our personal Lord  without question.

Going on, it says that the man Jesus  baptized because His disciples baptized under His authority.  Just as God held Adam responsible (Romans 5:14) for Eve eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3), so also does God hold all leaders responsible for the actions of their followers (Hebrews 13:7).  This sentence uses Jesus  for the physical man who did not baptize but Who was the literal physical man who will answer for the actions of His followers.  Jesus  The doctrinal meaning of the word Baptize  is: 'identified with'.  Please see the note for John 1:25 for references to where baptize  is used in the Bible.  In this verse, the disciples of Jesus  baptized people to identify them with the repentance that Jesus  preached.

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John John 8:11 She said, No man, Lord.  And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. 

The entire chapter of John 8 is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious Jews about who has the authority to specify true doctrine and Who is the true source of doctrine about spiritual matters.  The scribes and Pharisees  insisted that they were the final authority and that a physical religious perspective was correct.  However, Jesus  insisted that the spiritual point of view was correct and that only God, and the Son of God as the representative of God the Father, could specify correct doctrine.

This verse teaches many things and needs to be understood on several levels.  The basic background is that the Jews dragged this woman before Jesus  and accused her of adultery (without also bringing the man) and demanded that Jesus  tell them how He judged her.  As most know, Jesus  wrote their sins in the dirt and, after all of the accusers left, forgave her as recorded in this verse.  Two of the main themes of this verse and of this account are adultery and judgment.  (Note: this account is only part of this chapter.  Therefore, the themes of this account only support the greater theme of the entire chapter.)  Both (adultery and judgment) need to be looked at from several levels.  It is only when we understanding these two subjects at their various levels that we can fully understand the use of Lord,  in this verse, and of Jesus  within this account.

The simplest level is shown in the fact that the second sentence, of this verse, is divided by a colon.  (Please see the note for this sentence within the Book Study on the gospel of John for the full explanation within the context.).  The colon makes Neither do I condemn thee  equivalent to go, and sin no more.  While 1John 1 teaches us that we can not stop our sinning, the Bible, and this verse, makes it clear that our Lord  expects us to try to stop our sinning and to stop what sin we can.  This verse directly links condemn  to sin no more.  There are lots of religious idiots that claim blatantly false things like 'a saved person can't do terrible sins like abuse a family member'.  Reformers Unanimous is full of people who became addicts and did 'terrible sin' after getting saved.

This whole misunderstanding of 'can't sin' comes from 1John 3:1-10 and is covered in detail in the Book Study for that epistle.  However, even without those details, we can say that any honest saved person will admit that there are different levels of judgment / condemnation, both in this world and, according to the Bible, in eternity  If we stop our sin we can often avoid or lessen the judgment / condemnation.  However, ongoing sin eventually results in judgment / condemnation from God for both the saved and the lost.  Any honest saved person will admit that the God of the Bible is not a liar and they do not get away with mocking Him and they (or their children) do reap the results of their sin.  However, aAny honest saved person that has truly repented and stopped their sinning will admit that God does forgive and that while they may have suffered, it was not as much as they deserved.  The truth is that they only received enough punishment for them to remember and not go back to the sin again.  There is a separate study on the Fear of the Lord.  A lot of foolish preaching claims that God doesn't want us to fear Him, but there are over 90 verses in the Bible that tell the child of God to fear their Lord.  Basically, a true Bible study on the Fear of the Lord shows that God tells us to fear Him so that we will stop our sinning.  All of the rewards in Heaven aren't enough motivation to make some people stop some sins but a true godly fear will overcome those sins.  So the simplest level of understanding this verse is that not condemned  = go and sin no more.

Going on, look at the very next verse that talks about light and darkness.  Jesus  did not say that those that follow Him will not sin.  He said that they won't walk in darkness.  Every truly saved person had a time in their life when they really didn't understand that their actions were a violation of God's Law.  They really were in the darkness of ignorance.  However, when we get saved we also get the light of life  (John 8:12) and can see the consequences of our sin, if we open our eyes.  Jesus  said that he was not judging and condemning but was giving spiritual light so that His followers could see the consequences of their sin and stop sinning.  We also see Jesus  telling another person who He healed (John 5:14) to go, and sin no more.  We also see this in other places in the Bible.  Jesus  does not want to judge us and will do so only if we refuse the light of life  that he gives or refuse to see our sin by that light.  If we truly see our sin by the light of life, we will stop our sinning.

As a result of Jesus  forgiving this woman (John 8:13 therefore), the Jews tried to call Jesus  a liar.  They had asked for His judgment and the only basis for setting aside His judgment, after asking for it, would be to prove that he did not act righteously.  Jesus  responds by telling them that the problem was that they judged by a different standard than He did (John 8:15) and then proved that His judgment was true by providing two witnesses (the Father and Himself) and pointing out that two witnesses was sufficient to make a judgment legally binding (John 8:17).  (See the note for John 5:1 which lists verses that shows that we need at least two places in the Bible to back up our doctrine.  Along with other things, that note points out witnesses that Jesus  provided to back His doctrine.) After providing witnesses, Jesus  told them of eternal judgment when He said ye shall die in your sins  (John 8:21; John 8:24).

This discussion about judgment and authority to judge continues with the Jews claiming authority based upon being the physical and religious descendants of Abraham and Jesus  denying their claim because they had not the spirit of Abraham (John 8:33-40).  They escalated the argument about authority with the Jews claiming the authority of God the Father, through their religion, and Jesus  telling them they were of the devil because they had the spirit of the devil and not the Spirit of God the Father.  While I have skipped over many places in this chapter about judgment and the authority of Law, hopefully I have included enough for the reader to see that the entire chapter includes arguments about judgment and the authority to judge with the Jews claiming authority based upon religious and physical reasons and Jesus  claiming authority based upon the Spiritual.

One of the major sources of religious error is based upon religious men relying upon their religion for things that God says should be based upon the Spirit.  Interpretation of the Bible is a basic.  Religious men argue for what their religion teaches them while the Bible teaches that we need to let the Spirit of God use the word of God to teach the child of God what is the Will of God.

In addition, to all of the judgment that we find throughout this chapter, we find similar teachings other places in the Bible.  In general, we find Jesus  teaching that he does not want to judge, did not come here to judge and only will judge if people refuse to stop their sinning.  See John 3:17 and John 12:47 and Luke 12:14.  This chapter teaches that if we would follow the Spiritual light of salvation and stop our sinning, we would avoid a lot of judgment and get a lot more forgiveness.

In addition, to judgment and authority, this verse in particular deals with adultery and John 8 in general deals with adultery all woven through the discussion of judgment and authority.  (Please see the note for John 8:3-4 in the Book Study on the gospel of John and the related note in the Word Study on Adultery for the details.)  As with judgment and authority, the religious man denies the spiritual and relies upon his religion while the Bible and the God of the Bible insist that adultery is a spiritual sin.  There is a basic precept of the Bible that God does not change (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8).  Religious men insist that there are two definitions for adultery, one for 'marital adultery' and one for 'spiritual adultery' because there are so many verses (like James 4:4) that are obviously not talking about sex but are dealing with adultery.  So, the religious man insists that 'marital adultery' is fornication with/by a married person while 'spiritual adultery' is breaking religious rules.  There is really only one definition for any single word in the Bible because changing definitions would require a never-changing God to be untrue to His basic nature in order to change the definition of words He used.  Changing definitions is 'darkness', a trick of a liar and definitely Satan's way of acting.  It DOES NOT match the character of the God of the Bible.  The Bible teaches that the true definition of adultery is violating a spiritual contract (covenant).  This is covered in detail in the Bible study on Adultery.  Please verify that study or accept my word so that we can go on with this verse and chapter.

These religious Jews accused this woman of adultery.  By any definition accepted by men, that requires two people and the Mosaic Law actually required both people to be punished the same (Numbers 5:11-31).  Right from the start, these Jews were obviously wrong when they picked an argument about judgment and the Law.  Being the religious men that they were, they insisted that adultery was a violation of their religious rules in this physical world ('fornication with a married person') while Jesus  tried to show them that the spiritual is what really matters.  Adultery is really 'a violation of a spiritual contract'.  It is doubtful if this woman was married (had a spiritual contract with a man before God), because the Mosaic Law, in general, called for the most offended person to bring accusations and throw the first stone.  Since her husband wasn't there making accusations, but a bunch of religious bigots were, it is most likely that the married person was the man, not her.  Yes an outside person can interfere in a marriage, but (usually) the primary person to blame is the married person in the wrong, not the outside person.

If we look at John 8:6-9, we see that Jesus  plainly showed each of her accusers that there were greater accusations against each of them.  But notice what Jesus  did.  He didn't accuse all of them of each committing fornication but wrote more than once on the ground.  He, apparently, named more than one sin.  Therefore, we can conclude that, probably, some were convicted of sins other than fornication.  That is, each sin by the Jews was a violation of the spirit of their spiritual contract with God through the Mosaic Law.  Therefore, each of them was guilty of true (spiritual) adultery, even though at least some were, probably, accused of sins other than fornication.

Going on in John 8, we again come to the very next verse where Jesus  says he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  (Also see note on John 8:12).  If someone is walking in darkness, they either are not saved (do not have the light of life) or are being a true Biblical adulterer  (James 4:4).  Since these religious Jews were claiming to be going to Heaven, they had to accept that Jesus  was telling them that they themselves were true Biblical adulterers.  Indeed, it took a while for the message to get through, but in John 8:41 we are told Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication.  Being religious people who insisted that the only form of adultery was fornication, they understood that Jesus  was accusing them and their fathers of adultery  and they took the accusation as fornication,  or they understood that the true Biblical definition of fornication  is 'a violation of a sanctified relationship' which includes idolatry  as spiritual fornication.

Regardless of which of those two choices was true, we see that between John 8:12 and John 8:41, the Jews tried to deny the increasingly clear message that Jesus  was accusing them of true Biblical adultery,  which is 'a violation of a spiritual covenant'.  Of course, part of their difficulty in understanding the message was due to their insisting upon using a wrong definition of adultery.

As mentioned before, The Jews response to Jesus  accusing them of walking in (spiritual) darkness in John 8:12 was to attack Him and call Him a liar.  The response from Jesus,  in John 8:14, was to tell them for I know whence I came, and whither I go  (Heaven / Spiritual realm) but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go  (because they couldn't perceive Spiritual things).  He then clarified it with Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man  (John 8:15).  Basically, they were judging after the flesh  because they were not judging by the Spirit and they were not judging by the Spirit because they were not keeping their spiritual covenant with God.  Jesus  tried to tell them things from a spiritual point of view, which they couldn't understand because they were trying to understand it from a religious point of view.

This leads to John 8:39 where we read Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.  Abraham believed the promise that was given Spiritually and responded by faith (Hebrews 11, etc).  These Jews did not follow the Spirit of Abraham and did not walk by faith and Jesus  made it clear to them that they were not the children of Abraham because they did not have His faith.  So again, in John 8, we see Jesus  tying adultery to not keeping the spirit of the covenant with Abraham.  In John 8:44 Jesus  said Ye are of your father the devil.  The Jews were supposed to be the wife of God  (Isaiah 54:5-7).  When a child comes from a wife and the father is not the wife's husband, that child is the result of what is truly fornication,  but what the religious man insists upon calling adultery.  Again, by saying that their father was the devil, who is a spirit, Jesus  was tying adultery to the spiritual.  So, all through this chapter we see the Jews insisting that they were not guilty of adultery because they kept their religious rules in this world.  At the same time, Jesus  keeps accusing them of adultery because they did not keep the spirit of their covenant with God.

So now we come to the use of Lord  and of Jesus  in this verse (these two sentences).  This verse tells us how Jesus  dealt with this woman that was accused of adultery by the religious crowd and His treatment is in stark contrast to how Jesus  dealt those that He accused of adultery because they violated the spirit of their covenant. 

  1. She called Him Lord  in recognition that He was / is 'God in human flesh'.  She saw, and accepted, the spiritual truth in spite of her sin.  These religious Jews were spiritually blind and refused to accept Jesus  as 'God in human flesh'.
  2. She accepted Jesus  as her judge, which is part of the role of Lord.  These religious Jews refused the judgment of Jesus  time after time in this chapter and even called Him a liar and refused the legal evidence that He pointed out that their Law required them to accept.
  3. She accepted the right of Jesus  to tell her what to do when she called Him Lord  and heard his order to go, and sin no more.  It is highly doubtful that this presentation would be in the Bible if she continued in her sins.  These religious Jews, however, not only refused to obey Jesus  told them they would do but, instead, they lifted up the Son of man  when they had Him crucified.  More immediately, however, the chapter ends with them trying to kill Jesus.
  4. This chapter kept dealing with adultery, which is a spiritual violation of a covenant agreement.  A covenant agreement is enforced by the court of God in His role as Lord.  She accepted the authority of Jesus  and let Him tell her what was in her covenant agreement with her Lord.  These religious Jews refused to be instructed by Jesus  because they refused to accept Him as their Lord.
  5. Finally, because she accepted Jesus  as her Lord  and 'God in human flesh', the Son of God could have compassion on her and deal with her with His human, compassionate, role as Jesus.  However, since these religious Jews insisted that He was only a man named Jesus,  their Lord  judged them and told them ye shall die in your sins  (John 8:21, John 8:24).

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Lord Christ

John 11:27.

Lord Jesus Christ

Lord Jesus Christ  is not used in John.  Click here for all of the Verses that use Lord Jesus Christ  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Lord Jesus Christ.

Son of God

John 1:12, 34, 49; 3:18; 5:25; 6:69; 9:35; 10:36; 11:4, 27; 19:7; 20:31.

Click here for all of the Verses that use Son of God  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Son of God.

John 1:12 actually uses sons of God  (not Son of God), but it was put here because it is the only New Testament verse (outside of 1John) that uses this phrase.  John 1:12 is talking about saved people, not the Son of God, when it says that we can become the sons of God.  John uses Son of God  for the Second person in the Trinity who is God, has as much power as God the Father and is above all except God the Father in authority.  The Son of God  is the person who took on flesh to become the man known as Jesus  and the Son of God  also fulfills the roles of Lord  and Christ.  While Lord, Jesus  and Christ are roles, Son of God  is the person within those roles.  In John's gospel we are told that the Son of God  is:

  1. The Son of God  in flesh is Jesus
  2. The Son of God  is King of Israel
  3. The Son of God  is our Saviour  and is Christ

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

This verse and the next verse form a single sentence which is ooutlined in the note for this verse within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  That note also deals with issues of context and with most doctrinal error that is associated with this verse.  However, the specific doctrinal error related to the word sons  is dealt with in this note.

This verse is part of John's introduction to his gospel and the contextual considerations of the introduction are also dealt with in the Book Study on the gospel of John.  Further, this verse is referenced many places within studies on this site.  Just within this Lord Jesus Christ Study, and also limited to this Gospel, we find this verse referenced in the notes for 1:17; 3:17, 18, 22; 6:70; 9:35; 11:25, 51 and 20:31.  Each of those notes have quite a lot about John 1:12-13 in explanations which clarify the meaning of this sentence in a way that my note here could not match.  Therefore, I urge the reader to read those other notes.

For a simple explanation, our getting saved is only the start of becoming a son of God.  Those people who want to go to Heaven because they did some religious deed (say a prayer, etc) and not become a son of God,  are rejected by God and are not born...of God.  That truth is also dealt with tin the Book Study and nothing more about it is said in this note.

Now, look at our verse and realize that the word received  is past-tense while the phrase to become  is future-tense.  There is a doctrinal difference between the phrase child of God  and the (lower-case) phrase son of God.  The Biblical definition of a son  is: 'a son receives the character of the father'.  A Biblical son  is not necessarily the physical descendent.  We became a child of God,  when we received him  but it is only after that happens that we can 'receive the character of God the Father'.  Think about the truth.  A child can not learn to become like their parent until after they are born and it takes a long time for the parent to teach the child how to act and what to be.  Just as this is true in the physical world, so also is it true in the spiritual world.  Also, just as a child can rebel against the training of the parent in the physical world, so also can a child of God,  rebel in the spiritual world.  This is why our verse uses the past-tense word received  while also using the future-tense phrase of to become.

Now that we have looked at what our verse actually says, we can examine the doctrinal error which claims that someone 'instantly became a son of God when they received Jesus'.  The discussion that we just went through should show that this doctrine goes against what this verse literally says.  Part of the reason for this doctrinal error is because it goes along with the doctrinal error which claims that all saved people are Christians while the Bible clearly teaches that there are saved people who are not true Biblical Christians.  Both of these doctrinal errors are because people want to believe the lie that we instantly receive all of the promises in the Bible as soon as we make a profession.  However, experience, and many literal references within the Bible, dispute that error.  In addition, and regardless of all of the evidence, people want to claim that they are in the best category.  Therefore, they get insulted if someone shows then the proof that they are not what they claim to be.  This is called pride and because of pride people want to believe that they are the best, regardless of evidence and what the Bible literally says.

Moving on, please notice the phrase to them gave he power to become.  When we became a child of God  (received him)  we also received the power to become the sons of God.  However, we need to exercise that power  or we will not receive the results of exercising that power.  We exercise that power  as we walk by faith  and allow Christ  to change us through the ongoing personal relationship with Him.  If we do not exercise that power,  and allow Christ  to change us, then we will still be babes in Christ  and not 'receive the character of God the Father'  That is: we will not become the sons of God.

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John 1:34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

This verse is one of several which tell about the report from John the Baptist.  Please be sure to read the note in the Book Study on the gospel of John, along with all related notes, to get the full context of what is being said here.

This is the first time in John's gospel where we see a capitalized Son,  which is one of the identifiers of Jesus Christ.  In addition, to this note, the general note for Son identify other verses within this gospel which tell us other things about the Son of God.  In this verse we see that John the Baptist made a legal record  that this is the Son of God.  The author (John) earlier presented the personal witness from the Apostles as one legal witness.  He also presented the personal witness from John the Baptist as a second legal witness.  Now he is giving us the record which backs his earlier claim that John the Baptist was a legal witness.  Since God, and Jewish law, required the witness of two or more witnesses,  for something to be accepted in court, the author (John) first identified John the Baptist as a legal witness  and now he is giving the testimony from John the Baptist.  Throughout the remainder of this gospel, the author (John) will present the personal testimony from the Apostles.

John 1:49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 

In John 1:43-51 we read of Philip being called by Jesus  and of his going for his friend Nathanael.  This verse is part of that account.  Please see all of those verses and related notes as the notes contain other facts and links to verses that tell us things like the other name for Nathanael.  In this verse, Nathanael is stating his belief that Jesus  fulfills Psalms 2:6-7.  I believe that this is Nathanael's statement of saving faith.  While some people need lots of explanation, love, time, prayer and other things o lead them to salvation, others are like Nathanael.  They have been searching the scriptures and seeking God and only need to spiritual key to lead them beyond the scriptures to the person of the Son of God.  As Jesus  said in John 5:39 : Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.  Salvation is not in the Bible but in the person that the Bible points us to.  Nathanael just needed to meet the person.  We see this revelation for all of the apostles in Matthew 14:33.  While all of them probably had it revealed to each of them before Matthew 14:33, sometimes each of us needs a refreshing revelation.

This verse, along with Psalms 2:6-7 and other verses, tell us that the King of Israel  is also the Son of God.  Other verses tell us that that Christ  is King of Israel  and the Son of God.  Psalms 2:6-7 is considered to be a Messianic Prophecy.

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John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

In 3:1 through 3:21 we have the account of Jesus  telling Nicodemus that he must be saved.  In addition, the note for 3:13 explains how this sentence is part of several connected sentences and all of the connections of these sentences.  That note also explains how people preach doctrinal error by taking some of these sentences out of context.  Therefore, it is important to consider the full context of what is presented within the Bible.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

We see the phrase only begotten  always used as a qualifier for the word son  and only used in: John 1:14; John 1:18; John 3:16; John 3:18; Hebrews 11:17 and 1John 4:9.  With the exception of Hebrews, every reference is to the Son of God  and the reference in Hebrews speaks about the son  of Abraham when he was a symbolic representation of the Son of God.  Thus, as has already been mentioned, God the Father has many adopted sons  but only one Who was begotten.  In addition, all of these references deal with our salvation one way or another.  Therefore, it should be obvious that God made His only begotten Son  unique and all religious claims that there is some other way to God's salvation are a lie.

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John 5:25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  John 5:1-18 basically gives us the miracle that is an object lesson leading up to the teaching by Jesus  in John 5:19-47 about the relationship between the Father  and the Son.

This hear the voice of the Son of God  is explained in the note for John 5:1.  The colon in this sentence makes hear the voice of the Son of God  equivalent to shall live.  It takes the power of the Son of God  to provide spiritual life.

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John 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the note for John 6:1 under Jesus for context and links to related verses and notes.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63.

Many of the Jews stopped following Jesus  after this and He gave the twelve the chance to leave also.  Peter spoke for them in 6:68-69.  Please see the note for 6:68 since this verse starts with And, which means it is added unto the prior verse.  This verse is a doctrinal statement of faith that Peter also made in Matthew 16:16 and Mark 8:27-30 and Luke 9:20.  Martha confessed the same faith in John 11:27, just before Jesus  raised her brother Lazarus from the dead.  Right after this declaration in John 6:69, John reports Jesus  openly fighting the doctrine of the Jewish leaders and that fight led to their demanding His crucifixion.  In John 17:3 we read the only time in the gospels where Jesus  declares Himself to be Jesus Christ  in His last recorded prayer before he went out to the garden where he knew that he would be betrayed.  Again, John tells us in John 20:31 that he wrote his gospel that we might each make this declaration of faith.

In this statement of faith, which takes two verses (John 6:68-69), Peter declares his belief that the physical man named Jesus  is Lord, Christ, God  and all that is involved in those titles including salvation, and His being the source of spiritual life and all future blessings.  Peter says this after hearing statements that appear to go against all of his religious training and while most of his religion are abandoning Jesus.  While Peter might deny Jesus  later, here he stands by His side.  Please also see the note under Christ.

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John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

All of John 9 is the presentation of Jesus  healing a man born blind.  Since Jesus  did this on the sabbath, the Jewish religious leaders used that as an excuse for saying that Jesus  must not be from God.  Please see the general note for the chapter, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, for the context of this verse.

In this verse we see Jesus  use the title Son of God  to make it absolutely clear that He was not talking about someone who was 'just another human man'.  He was not talking about someone who was a prophet  but wanted the formerly blind man to know that He was talking about 'God in human flesh', which was the prophesied Messiah.  We are to not put our belief and faith in anything less.

Please also see the note on John 9:35 under Jesus.

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John 10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? 

In John 10, Jesus  distinguishes salvation through Him from salvation through religion and calls those that come through religion a thief and a robber  (John 10:1).  Please see all of the verses and notes for John 10 together, especially the note for John 10:24 and 10:32.

This verse is part of the section where Jesus  offers proof that He is Christ.  Part of that proof is the witness of John the Baptist.  There are several verses in each of the four gospels that tell about John the Baptist.  The Doctrinal Study, called John the Baptist, has links to all of the other references in the Bible for John the Baptist.  This verse uses Son of God  because Jesus  proved beyond a doubt, according to the Mosaic Law, that he was the Son of God.  Just a couple of verses earlier (in 10:33) the Jews said thou, being a man, makest thyself God.  So the claim in this verse is something that all there understood that Jesus  was claiming for Himself.  There are people today that deny that Jesus  claimed to be the Son of God.  This verse shows that claim to be the lie that it is.  In addition, John 10:42 says And many believed on him there.  What He was plainly claiming in this chapter (and especially in these last verses) was that He was/is God the Son in human flesh.  Here, He plainly claims that He is different (sanctified  = set apart) from other men (whom the Father hath sanctified) and also plainly says I am the Son of God.  In John 6:27 Jesus  said the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.  There we see that He said He was sealed / sanctified  as a human (Son of man).  He was a special human because He was God the Son in human flesh.  And NO other man had that claim.  What the angel told Mary (in Luke 1:35) before His birth He now openly proclaims to the world.  In this verse Jesus  plainly says that he is the God the Son in human flesh.

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Son of man

John 1:51; 3:13, 14; 5:27; 6:27, 53, 62; 8:28; 12:23, 34; 13:31.

Click here for all of the Verses that use Son of Man  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Son of Man.  Son of man is used to emphasize the humanity of the Son of God.  While Jesus  always represents a physical man, Son of man  does not because when the Son of man  was in the heart of the Earth, His body was in the grave.  His soul and Spirit went to hell for us and His Spirit is the Spirit of God (we have a human spirit).  Therefore, the phrase Son of man  is used to emphasize His human soul, which is defined as our mind, will and emotions.  Son of man is:

  1. The physical man called Jesus  who died for our sins
  2. Lord
  3. Saviour
  4. Provides spiritual nutrition
  5. Was glorified and returned to Heaven
  6. Christ

John 1:51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see Heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. 

This can be a reference to the ascension Acts 1:1-12 or to some other event.  It definitely is telling us that Nathanael will see the angels of God treating the physical Son of man  named Jesus  as 'God in human flesh'.  Please see the note for Mark 8:38 under Son of man  for details and for verses related to the prophecy of His return as ruling Lord.

Please also see the general note, above, for the various applications of this title found within John's gospel.

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John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but he that came down from Heaven, even the Son of man which is in Heaven.

In 3:1 through 3:21 we have the account of Jesus  telling Nicodemus that he must be saved.  Many people preach from parts of this account but it is important to consider the full context of what is presented within the Bible.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.  In particular, the note for this verse, within the Book Study on the gospel from John, explains the context and structure of this verse.

The third phrase of this sentence (even the Son of man which is in Heaven)  tells us something that many might miss.  It uses the present-tense word of: is.  This means that Jesus  was in Heaven  at the same time that he was on Earth talking to Nicodemus.  This is parallel to what we are told in Ephesians 2:6, which says that the saved are currently in Heavenly places  even while they are living on this Earth.  Basically, we have a body, soul and spirit.  The spirit that we are born with is spiritually dead until we are saved and is with the devil, because we are of our father the devil.  Many people might have a hard time understanding this but while our bodies are in the physical plane of existence, our spirit is in the spiritual plane of existence.

In this verse, Jesus  said that the Son of man,  which is the 'Son of God in human flesh' is  (current tense) in Heaven.  This is one of the places where the Bible gives us the doctrine that Jesus  is God and is man.  The fact is that His Spirit  was/is God while our spirit  is not.  In addition, His body was fully human and His soul ('long-term way of thinking, way of making decisions and way of reacting emotionally') learned to be a human man, just like our soul learns the same thing.  As such, He could speak of earthly things,  from personal experience, and He could speak of Heavenly things,  from personal experience.  Since He was doing both and explaining them, He used the title of: Son of man  in order to give us His own personal qualifications while also saying that the people who disagreed with Him were not qualified to speak about the same things.

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John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

In 3:1 through 3:21 we have the account of Jesus  telling Nicodemus that he must be saved.  Many people preach from parts of this account but it is important to consider the full context of what is presented within the Bible.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

Our verse, and the next verse, form a single sentence that is outlined, explained, and presented within the context in the note within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  (Please use the link in the sentence outline above for those details.)  This sentence tells us that the human being named Jesus  had to be lifted up on a cross and die for our sins so that we could believeth in him [and] not perish, but have eternal life.  The colon, is the sentence, makes Jesus  dying on the cross equivalent to providing eternal life.

In this verse, the phrase Son of man  is used for: 'the Son of God in human flesh'.  While there is much doctrine related o what is said in this verse, the specific doctrine stated here is that the Son of God  had to die on a cross ( be lifted up)  to pay for our sins and make it possible for us to avoid Hell and the lake of fire  (Romans 1:3-LJC) and to end up in Heaven.  Since the wages of sin is death  (Romans 6:23) and since God can not die, the Son of God  had to become a literal physical man in order to die and pay for the sins of men (For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many  (Romans 5:15).

Our verse uses the title Son of man  to emphasize the fact that God's Son became a literal physical man in order to meet the legal and righteous requirements for paying for our sins.

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John 5:27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  John 5:1-18 basically gives us the miracle that is an object lesson leading up to the teaching by Jesus  in John 5:19-47 about the relationship between the Father  and the Son.  5:26 and 5:27 form a single sentence that summarizes all that was said in the verses from 5:19 through 5:27.  Please see those verses and notes.

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John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 

This verse is broken into two Equivalent Sections by a colon.  The note for this sentence in the Book Study on the gospel of John gives the sentence structure, the contextual considerations, and the explanation of all of the various parts of the sentence.  In the Second Equivalent Section, we are told that God the Father hath sealed him [the Son of man]  (words rearranged but meaning preserved).  The word sealed  means 'made the official government representative'.  Anyone who has dealt with governments knows their love for seals  on official government documents.  The doctrine presented here also matches what is taught in Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35; Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37 which all tell us that the person who lets Jesus Christ  control their physical life represents Him in this world, just like He represented God the Father.  In addition, how we treat God's representative is viewed and how we treat God by God.

Our First Equivalent Section tells us to labour  and what to labour  for.  Our Bible tells us that the labour  of saved people is things like pray, study the Bible, witness and other similar things which prove that, of our own free will, we give God permission to work in and through our physical life.  When we do our labour  then the Son of man  gives us the spiritual nutrition which causes us to grow spiritually.  Our verse uses the phrase the Son of man  to emphasize His humanity and His personal experience as a literal physical man.  That gives Him understanding of our experiences and needs which can only be learned through personal experience.

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John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 

Please see the note under Jesus  for the main explanation of this verse.  In this verse, Son of man  is speaking about the truth that Jesus  was a literal physical man who suffered and died so that He could change our lives and get us to stop our sinning in this physical world.  No, we do not reach 'sinless perfection' while we are in this world.  However, the more that we live by Jesus,  in this world, the less we will sin.

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John 6:62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 

All of John 6 Is related.  Please see all of the verses and related notes in John 6 to understand the context.  It tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes this particular set of statements in 6:63.  Here, Jesus  is telling them that He will physically ascend.  Please also see John 3:13; Acts 1:9; Ephesians 4:8-10 and other verses related to the Ascension.

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John John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. 

Please see the note under Jesus for this verse.  This verse uses Son of man  to emphasize that He would suffer, die and go to Hell for us as a human being.  His body went to the grave, but His soul and Spirit went to Hell.  Since His Spirit was God, He did not stay there but defeated all of the devils by Himself and took away the keys to Hell and death from Satan.

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Son Only

John 1:18, 45; 3:16, 17, 35, 36; 4:5; 5:19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26; 6:40, 42, 69, 71; 8:35, 36; 9:19; 20; 14:13; 17:1.

John 1:45 and 6:42 use a lower-case son  where people, in error, called Jesus the son of Joseph.  All other verses in John use an upper-case Son  to include all of the attributes of the name Son of God  and all of the attributes of the name Son of man.  Click here for all of the Verses that use Son  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Son.

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. 

John 1 essentially is an outline for the gospel of John.  In John 1 we find subjects mentioned only briefly that John plans upon developing further.  Here, John is declaring that the Son  has a relationship with God the Father that no other man before or since can match.  This is because, as John will prove later, He is full God and full man while no other man is also God.  That is: no other man is the only begotten Son.  The note for this sentence, in the Book Study on the gospel of John, provides details on every phrase of this sentence.

This verse definitely uses Son  to declare a unique relationship between Jesus  and God the Father and declares Jesus  to be the Son of God.

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John 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 

Please see the note for John 1:45 under Jesus.  Philip declared Jesus  to be the son of Joseph  out of ignorance.  Many people state things that are commonly known  but which are in fact wrong.  Saying the wrong thing isn't as bad as refusing to accept correction or refusing to admit error.  'Common knowledge' did say that Jesus  was the son of Joseph.  Other verses tell us later that Philip led people to Jesus  as the Son of God.  So, while Philip was in error here, he corrected his ways.  We can also see that there are things recorded in the word of God that are in error.  That's why we need to compare scripture to scripture.  The word of God always has the correction for those who want to be rewarded by God and are diligent enough to search for the truth (Hebrews 11:6).

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John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In 3:1 through 3:21 we have the account of Jesus  telling Nicodemus that he must be saved.  In addition, the note for 3:13 explains how this sentence is part of several connected sentences and all of the connections of these sentences.  That note also explains how people preach doctrinal error by taking some of these sentences out of context.  Therefore, it is important to consider the full context of what is presented within the Bible.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

Usually, when we see the word Son  by itself in a verse, the meaning is: 'He has the character of God the Father'.  However, in this verse we see the phrase begotten Son  and the word begotten  means: : 'physically procreated'.  Therefore, the meaning of Son,  in this verse, is actually closer to the meaning of Son of man  than it is to the normal meaning when we find the word Son  in a verse without a qualifier.

In addition, the word only,  in the phrase only begotten Son,  means there is no other physical person whom God the Father has begotten  even though He has many adopted sons.

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John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

In 3:1 through 3:21 we have the account of Jesus  telling Nicodemus that he must be saved.  In addition, the note for 3:13 explains how this sentence is part of several connected sentences and all of the connections of these sentences.  That note also explains how people preach doctrinal error by taking some of these sentences out of context.  Therefore, it is important to consider the full context of what is presented within the Bible.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

Our verse uses the word Son  for: 'He has the character of God the Father'.  He shows us God the Father's character and enables us to become like God the Father (John 1:12).  While several places use the phrases Son of God  or Son of man  or Son of David,  our sentence uses the word Son  by itself to include all of the other qualified titles.  Please see the general note for this title in order to get a summary of each role that is part of Son.

As the Son,  Who shows us 'the character of God the Father', we see God the Father's love in His desire to not... condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  While many people attribute this verse to God the Son, as is proper, we also recognize that it is also showing us the character of God the Father.

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John 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

In 3:22 through 3:36 we have the account of how Jesus,  and His ministry, affected John the Baptist, and his ministry.  The best description of this encounter is when John the Baptist declared He must increase, but I must decrease.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

This verse is part of the basic message from John the Baptist.  Please see the note for Matthew 3:3 for the outline and details related to Johns message.

Matthew 11:27; 28:18 and Luke 10:22 and John 1:18; John 3:35 all say that the Father hath given all things into[the Sons] hand  in one way or another.  In 1Corinthians 15:20-28 Paul gives us more details about this while he is discussing another subject.  Ephesians 1:15-23 is a single sentence which contains the same information.  Hebrews 2:5-9 also tells us the same thing and explains that while we don't see it yet, it is still not finished.  Basically, God the Father has declared that everything will be subject to the Son and the Son will be subject to the Father.  Satan, death and other things are still fighting the inevitable.  So, while we may not see the end yet, it is settled and going to happen in spite of all of the opposition.  This verse and the others say that The Father hath given  because it was declared in the past.  In the Bible, once the Father declares something to be, it is considered completed even though it may appear to not be started yet.

This verse uses Son  for all of His roles.  As Son of man  He will judge and rule this physical Earth.  As Son of God  He rules angels, devils and everything else.  Son of man and Son of God  are two of the sub-divisions of Son.

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John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

In 3:22 through 3:36 we have the account of how Jesus,  and His ministry, affected John the Baptist, and his ministry.  The best description of this encounter is when John the Baptist declared He must increase, but I must decrease.  Please consider all of the account together to get the full context which God gives to us.

This is the final sentence in this message from John the Baptist and summarizes the message.  There is a very detailed note on this verse within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  Our sentence makes it very clear that there are only two possible results in life that those possibilities depend on whether or not we believeth on the Son.

This verse uses Son  to include all aspects of the word Son.  We must believeth on the Son of God  as our Lord  and God whom we worship and obey and we must believeth on the Son of man  as our guide in how to live in this flesh using the power of the Holy Ghost.  In addition, the word believeth   means: 'keep on keeping on believing'.  Thus, this is a lifestyle belief  and not just a one-time religious act.

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John 4:5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

This verse uses the word son  for the physical descendants of Joseph.  Joseph  and Jacob  were both dead when Joshua  divided up the promised land given to the Jews.  Since this is identifying the physical descendants of Jacob,  It uses the phrase the parcel of ground that Jacob gave  instead of using the name of Israel.

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John 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  Please also see the note for Jesus 5:19 that is related to this verse.

In this verse we see Son  used for the Son of God  because it is capitalized.  It also uses Son,  without any further qualifier, because Jesus  is the Son of God  with all of the power and authority of God but he is also fully human as the Son of man  Who shows us how to live in this flesh using the power of the Holy Spirit.  We also see that the Son  is displaying the character of God the Father by rejecting their claim of authority because of man-given credentials and their insisting that ceremonies, and keeping religious rules, are better than having a personal relationship with God.  In our verse Jesus  is claiming greater power and authority based upon His relationship with God the Father as God's Son.  He is also claiming greater power and authority from God the Father because He displays God's true character to the world.

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John 5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  John 5:1-18 basically gives us the miracle that is an object lesson leading up to the teaching by Jesus  in John 5:19-47 about the relationship between the Father  and the Son.  This verse starts with For,  which gives us the reason that the Son  does what the Father  shows Him.  That is, the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him  how to do miracles so that ye may marvel  and be convinced that Jesus  (the Son) is the representative of the Father.  In this verse we see Son  used for the Son of God  because it is capitalized.  It also uses Son,  without any further qualifier, because Jesus  is the Son of God  with all of the power and authority of God but he is also fully human as the Son of man  Who shows us how to live in this flesh using the power of the Holy Spirit.

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John 5:21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.

John 5:1-18 basically gives us the miracle that is an object lesson leading up to the teaching by Jesus  in John 5:19-47 about the relationship between the Father  and the Son.  In addition, John 5:20 through 5:22 give us three reasons, one after another, for the claim by Jesus  that He is the representative of God the Father to men.

In our verse we see the word quickeneth,  which means 'make spiritually alive', which is often applied to salvation.  God the Father, the Holy Ghost and God the Son in each of His roles as Lord and Jesus  and Christ  are involved in our salvation, but each has a different role in our salvation.  This truth is spread throughout this study and is too much to bring together in this note.  This verse says that both the Father  and the Son quickeneth  (saves) men.  As the Son of man, Jesus  went into the heart of the earth (Hell)  (Matthew 12:39-41; Luke 11:29-32) and rose again (Mark 8:31; Mark 9:31; Luke 24:7).  As the Son of God, He provides the power necessary for Christ  to enable us to stop our sinning once we are saved.  The true Biblical meaning of quickeneth  is 'keep on keeping on quickening', which means it is not just a one-time event but gives us ongoing spiritual life from God.

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John 5:22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  John 5:1-18 basically gives us the miracle that is an object lesson leading up to the teaching by Jesus  in John 5:19-47 about the relationship between the Father  and the Son.

 This is the third reason for Jesus  saying that He does what the Father commands and not what He personally wants to do.  His judgment is righteous because he does not judge according to personal reasons but according to the Laws created by the Father.  Notice that this verse ends in a colon.  The first half of the next verse is the equivalent and tells us That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.  It gives us the reason that the Father has given all judgment to the Son.  This verse uses Son  for the Son of God  who has all of the power and authority of God and for the Son of man  who understands all of men's weaknesses.

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John 5:23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.  He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  John 5:1-18 basically gives us the miracle that is an object lesson leading up to the teaching by Jesus  in John 5:19-47 about the relationship between the Father  and the Son.  The first half of this verse is the same sentence as the prior verse and is explained there.  The second sentence makes it clear that to refuse to honor the Son  is to dishonor and challenge the power and authority of the Father.  We are to honor the Son  as the Son of man  who died for us (see note for 5:21) and as the Son of God  who is equal to God the Father in power and authority.

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John 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; 

All of John 5 is related.  Please see the chapter summary for John 5 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  John 5:1-18 basically gives us the miracle that is an object lesson leading up to the teaching by Jesus  in John 5:19-47 about the relationship between the Father  and the Son.  5:26 and 5:27 form a single sentence that summarizes all that was said in the verses from 5:19 through 5:27.  Please see those verses and notes.

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John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. 

All of John 6 is related and all notes for the chapter should be considered together.  Please see the chapter summary for John 6 to get the outline and context of this chapter.  John 6 tells us of Jesus  explaining spiritual things and the Jews have trouble with His words because they insist upon interpreting them in a physical religious sense.  Jesus  concludes His discussion with 6:63.

As this discussion between Jesus  and the Jews goes back and forth, we reach John 6:36 where Jesus  says ye also have seen me, and believe not.  This verse is tied to 6:35 and the context is explained in the notes within the Book Study on the gospel of John.  In addition, starting in 6:37, Jesus  explains the plan of God, which they refuse to believe even though they have seen the miracles that Jesus  had done (ye also have seen me).  In 6:37, Jesus  says that the Father  provides salvation that is to all.  The Jews had religious exclusion and refused to accept salvation of a non-Jew.  Therefore, they rejected this open to all  salvation.  Jesus  goes on in 6:38 and says For  (Here is the reason that salvation is open to all), I came down from Heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

Most religion is men doing their own will and using God and the Bible to justify their actions.  Jesus  is indirectly criticizing their religion because even as the Son of God, He couldn't do what he wanted to do.  He obeyed orders and did it with the right attitude.  In the next verse, Jesus  adds to that statement with an And.  He says in addition to doing the Fathers  will, He has to do it perfectly and not mess up and not loose anyone that the Father  chooses.  Then he adds (And) another statement in this verse (6:40) where He tells these Jews that every one  who meets God the Father's  qualifications can have everlasting life  and resurrection.

These Jews refused to believe Jesus  because He said that the Fathers  qualifications were not their religious qualifications and, basically, that their religious qualifications were wrong.  Salvation was not dependant upon becoming a Jew and keeping Jewish religious traditions but was based upon these qualifications from the Father.  This argument about keeping Jewish religious traditions can be seen all through the book of Acts and many of the epistles and ended up causing Peter to be openly rebuked before the entire church and actually led to Paul's death.  Here we see the first of Jesus  followers that leave Him because he requires them to give up religious traditions and accept that God has the right to change our religion.

The qualifications that Jesus  said came from the Father  are two.  First, they must see the Son.  Second, they must believe on him. 

  1. When we search the New Testament for see the Son  we find:
    1. see the Son of man coming in his kingdom  (Matthew 16:28).  We must see the physical God in flesh  as our Lord  who rules and that we are willing to obey without question.
    2. see the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory  (Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27).  We must see the physical God in human flesh  as our as the returning Christ  who fulfilled all of the prophecies to become Christ  and who will exercise all of the rights of Christ  including exercising the power of God for us on a personal level so that we can spiritually grow and mature.
    3. ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power  (Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62; Acts 7:56).  Each and every one of us personally (ye  must see the physical God in flesh  as our as the judge that we will face and give an answer for he deeds done in the flesh and accept His judgment about how well we fulfilled His personal plan for our personal life.  This judgment is personal.
    4. see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it  (Luke 17:22).  We must see Him as the one who brings sanity, peace, protection and purpose into our lives.
    5. it may be they will reverence him when they see him  (Luke 20:13).  We are to see and reverence Him as the representative from the Father and our representative back to thee Father.
    6. ye shall see Heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man  (John 1:51).  We must see the physical God in human flesh  as the one who has all of the power of Heaven serving Him and, therefore, is the one that makes the power of Heaven available to us.
    7. see the Son of man ascend up where he was before  (John 6:62).  We must see the physical God in flesh  as the one who came from Heaven and returned there.
  2. When we search the New Testament for believe on him  we find many verses related to salvation including John 3:16-18 and 1John 5:13.  However, in this case Jesus  is mainly referring back to 6:29, which is part of the same discussion.  Please see that note.

This verse uses Son  for all of the meanings of Son  including Son of God  and Son of man.  Please also see other verses that use this title and see their related notes.

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John 6:42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from Heaven? 

Please see note for John 6:42 under Jesus.

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John 6:71 He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve. 

Please see the note for 2Peter 1:1 about the name of Simon.  While the Bible applies this name to at least 8 men, our sentence makes it clear that this sentence is talking about a Simon  who is not Simon Peter.  We are not told anything more about this particular Simon.  However, when we look at others with this name we see someone who is, generally speaking, concerned with things of this world to the exclusion of spiritual matters.  That may be one reason why Jesus  renamed Simon Peter.  Regardless, the father of Judas Iscariot probably fit this pattern given the type of son  that he raised.

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John John 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  Please also see the notes starting in John 8:31 because John 8:31-36 are a single set of comments that go together and this note continues those notes without repeating their comments.  Within the group of those who believed on him,  there are those who live like servants and those who live like the Son.

Jesus  is the Son  who has freedom that servants don't have and He is offering to elevate them from servants to the relationship enjoyed by the Son.  He said the Son abideth ever (in the [God's] house).  This is contrasted with the servant abideth not in the house for ever.  He is not talking about the servant being put out (losing salvation) but about the servant failing to abide.  At the end of the day, a son sleeps in a room of the house.  Some servants, who are treated like sons  sleep in the house also but most (field) servants go somewhere else to sleep.  They do not abide  in the house.  In many ways, these servants are regarded and treated like slaves.  In the next verse, Jesus  says that if He makes you free, ye[each and every one of you personally] shall be free indeed.  He does this by elevating your position from servant  to son.  We get this elevation by continuing in His word until we becoming His disciples (John 8:31).  Then as we draw closer and learn to spend more time (abide) in God's house (way of life = in Christ and under Christ in us), He elevates us to house servant, upper house servant and then son.  This verse uses Son  for the Son of man  who was the Son of God  in flesh and teaches us how to live as God indwelling human beings.

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John John 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Please read the note for the Chapter Summary, in the Book Study on this gospel, to understand the context of this chapter.  That note gives a detailed overview of the chapter and how the entire chapter is a disagreement between Jesus  and the religious leaders of the Jews about judgment and the basis of doctrine.  The main source of this disagreement was the fact that Jesus  used a spiritual point of view and they use a physical religious point of view.  Please also see the notes starting in John 8:31 because John 8:31-36 are a single set of comments that go together and this note continues those notes without repeating their comments.  Within the group of those who believed on him,  there are those who live like servants and those who live like the Son.

This verse is the conclusion of this sub-section within this chapter.  The note for John 8:34, in this Study, explains how all sin is addictive and how Reformers Unanimous uses this verse as the basis for a lot of what they teach about getting free from the addiction of sin.  As already explained in many other notes for this chapter, when Jesus  says make you free  He is talking about being make you free from the control of sin.  Matthew 1:21 says: And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins..  Thus, we see that the true interpretation of this verse is a fulfillment of one of the primary purposes for the Son of God  becoming human.

Please note that this verse uses Son  and not any of His other titles such as Lord,  Jesus,  Christ,  or Saviour.  As the Son of God  He shows us the character of God the Father.  As the Son of man  He knows our weaknesses and limits.  As both, He shows us how to become like God and display the character of God within this sinful world.  As we become more like God, sin  loses its control over us.  Therefore, as the Son  gets us to change and become more like God, He also makes the spiritual changes which free us from the control of sin.

This verse uses Son  for the Son of man  who was also the Son of God  in flesh and teaches us how to live and show the world that God indwells us.

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John 9:19  And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind?

The Pharisees asked this question of the physical parents for a man whom Jesus  had given sight.  The Pharisees wanted to deny the miracle and were searching for anyone whom would support their lie.  This verse uses son  for the physical descendent of these parents.

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John 9:20-21  His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself.

The Pharisees asked a question of the physical parents for a man whom Jesus  had given sight.  The Pharisees wanted to deny the miracle and were searching for anyone whom would support their lie.  This verse uses son  for the physical descendent of these parents.

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King

John 1:49; 6:15; 12:13, 15; 18:33, 37, 39; 19:3, 12, 14, 15, 19, 21.

Click here for all of the Verses that use King  and here for the Summary on the name / role of King.  King has several meanings in the gospel of John.

  1. King of Israel  =
    1. Son of God
    2. Christ  / Prophesized King
    3. King of the Jews
  2. Lower=case King  = human ruler

John 1:49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. 

Please see the note for John 1:49 under Son of God.  This verse, along with Psalms 2:6-7 and other verses, tell us that the King of Israel  is also the Son of God.  Other verses tell us that that Christ  is King of Israel  and the Son of God.  Psalms 2:6-7 is considered to be a 'Messianic Prophecy'.

This is the first time that we see the word King  used in this gospel.  Please also see the general note for King,  above as it tells us the things told to us in this gospel about this word.  In the Bible, a Son  'receives the character of his father'.  In the Bible, a King  'requires his kingdom to accept his character'.  With the Steps in this sentence we see that, first, the Son of God  received the character of God the Father and then, as the King of Israel,  He passes that character to God's children.

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John 6:15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. 

Please see the note for John 6:15 under Jesus.

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Saviour

John 4:42.

This is the only verse that uses Saviour  in John.  Click here for all of the Verses that use Saviour  and here for the Summary on the name / role of Saviour.  Please also see the note under Christ.

John 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. 

Please see the note for this verse under Christ.  Part of the role of Christ  is also to be Saviour of the world, as the Jews knew and understood from the word of God even while they tried to exclude all non-Jews.  As this study has consistently shown, Christ  deals with saved people after their initial profession to bring them to spiritual maturity.  As Saviour of the world, He offers a salvation which MUST include changes in our current life in this world.  To reject those changes is to reject His salvation.

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