Gospel of John 4:28 – Are You Still Holding Onto Your Water Jar

In John 4 there is a woman who had been coming at noon to draw water by herself in the heat of the day. It could be she came at the hottest hour of the day to avoid the shame she faced from her community over her “living situation.” She has been married five times [...]

Gospel of John 2:1-4:54 – The Theme of Old and New

D.A. Carson believes Cana provides the bookends for a section running from 2:1-4:54 (Carson, The Gospel according to John (Pillar New Testament Commentary) , 166 . In that section, he believes the theme of old/new is being highlighted over and over again. As different as we see the Gospel of John from the synoptics this [...]

Gospel of John 1:19-28 Who is John the Baptist?

I just love this picture of John the Baptist. His posture looks intense but his expression looks pretty bored. It reminds me of a passion play we saw last Easter. John the Baptist went down in the Jordan to baptize Jesus, not realizing his wireless was on he said, “@#*% this water is hot!” The [...]

Gospel of John – 1:1-18

This is a re-post from 2 years ago. The original can be found here.
When I think of John 1 (English, Greek), I think of a text that a visiting or interviewing preacher would probably use for a home run sermon. I am not sure why I think this because there is so much to John’s [...]

Gospel of John – Introduction

Author:
What is John 1:1 missing? John doesn’t identify himself in the opening of the Gospel. I guess you could say that he figured it wasn’t about him anyway. We do know that he wanted his reader to know that this Gospel was and is credible. He identifies himself as someone whose testimony is valid as [...]

Living By Faith, Not By Exception

“So this guy is walking up to the baptistry…he has repented and made his confession before the congregation and just as he steps in the water he slips hits his head on the floor. He dies right before he is baptized. Is he saved?”
The point normally being made with this type of question is whether [...]

The NIV Does Not Call Jesus Satan – Isaiah 14:12 & Revelation 22:16

I have heard this accusation for the third time this week and I want the truth to be put out there clearly and concisely so that if people google this subject hopefully they don’t find all the misinformation out there but get the truth. Here is how this argument against the NIV usually goes. The [...]

Where Two or Three Are Gathered (Matthew 18:20)

“For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
- Matthew 18:20
This has to be one of the most misquoted verses in all of the New Testament. This verse is used to talk about Christian gatherings like a worship service or Bible study to say that Christ is in [...]

Misconceptions About Our Contribution to our own Salvation

There are a lot of misconceptions floating around out there about our salvation and what is expected of us in the process. Two misconceptions fall on the extremes of the pendulum of what is required of us to be saved. On one side, you have the misconception that because salvation is a “free gift” that [...]

Jesus’ Resurrection – More Than Meets the Eye

One thing I think we often fail to consider is exactly what was happening when it comes to Jesus’ resurrection. The standard thought is Jesus was raised from the dead and so we will be raised from the dead. But there is a lot more to it than that. The parts we often skip over [...]