Imagine the following scenario: a five-year-old child comes to his father with a poorly wrapped gift on Father’s Day. Excitedly, he hands the gift to his father.

Imagine that the father says, “Son, I do not care about your gift. After all, there is nothing you could give me that would please me. Anything you could give me, I could get for myself, and anything you give to me was either bought with my money or made from materials that I paid for. So, keep your gift. I do not need it or want it. But I love you, anyway.” Ouch!

Many have been taught that the Greek word agape refers to a love that is unique to God, while other terms for love, such as phileo, refer to different kinds of love, more deficient than agape. Some claim, too, that agape refers to unilateral love, a love that only gives but never receives, a love entirely independent of human response.

However, careful study of divine love throughout Scripture shows that these ideas, though common, are mistaken. First, the Greek term agape refers not only to God’s love but also to human love, even sometimes misdirected human love (2 Tim. 4:10). Second, throughout Scripture, many terms other than agape refer to God’s love. For example, Jesus taught, “ ‘The Father Himself loves [phileo] you, because you have loved [phileo] Me’ ” (John 16:27, NASB). Here, the Greek term phileo is used not only of human love but also of God’s love for humans. Thus, phileo does not refer to a deficient kind of love but to God’s love itself.

Though Peter had denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus had predicted (Matt. 26:34), these denials were not the end of the story. After the Resurrection, Jesus asked Peter, “ ‘Do you love Me more than these?’ ” And Peter replied, “ ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ ” And Jesus said, “ ‘Tend My lambs.’ ” Then, Jesus again asked Peter, “ ‘Do you love Me?’ ” And Peter replied, “ ‘Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.’ ” And Jesus said, “ ‘Shepherd My sheep.’ ” Then, yet again, a third time Jesus asked Peter, “ ‘Do you love Me?’ ” And “Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ ” And Peter replied, “ ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.’ ” And Jesus said, “ ‘Tend My sheep’ ” (John 21:15–17, NASB 1995). Just as Peter had denied Jesus three times, Jesus—by way of the crucial question, “ ‘Do you love Me?’ ”—restored Peter three times.

John’s Gospel, like Mark’s, ends with a meeting in Galilee. This final lesson on John deals with that meeting but integrates it with the theme of how we know Jesus and the Word of God—a concept that runs through the fourth Gospel.

Though they were with Jesus more than three years, the disciples were still greatly unprepared for the Crucifixion and Resurrection, even though Jesus had told them again and again what would happen.

Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are the climax of John. The first ten chapters cover roughly three and a half years; chapters 11–20, in contrast, cover about one to two weeks.

The four Gospels present the death of Jesus in different ways. Though their accounts are compatible, each author emphasizes key points that especially resonate with the themes of his Gospel. Matthew emphasizes the fulfillment of Scripture; Mark emphasizes the parallel between the baptism of Jesus and the Cross; and Luke focuses on the Cross as healing and salvation (the story of the thief on the cross).

The Gospel of John is a mosaic of themes. John calls upon signs (miracles) to show that Jesus is the Messiah promised by the prophets. John uses an array of witnesses to proclaim Jesus as the Christ. He also uses the “I AM” statements to point to His divinity.

All three members of the Godhead are mentioned in John 1 (John 1:1–4, 14, 18, 32–34). For centuries humans have tried fully to understand the nature of the Godhead, but because we can’t, many reject the idea. How foolish, though, to reject something just because we can’t fully understand it or because it doesn’t fit within the narrow limits of human reasoning.

The Gospel of John is divided into four main sections: The Prologue (John 1:1–18), the Book of Signs (John 1:19–12:50), the Book of Glory (John 13:1–20:31), and the Epilogue (John 21:1–25). Our study so far has focused mainly on the Prologue and the Book of Signs, laying out who Jesus is via His miracles (signs), dialogues, and teachings. The lessons now shift particularly to the third section of John, the Book of Glory.

The Gospel of John is divided into four main sections: The Prologue (John 1:1–18), the Book of Signs (John 1:19–12:50), the Book of Glory (John 13:1–20:31), and the Epilogue (John 21:1–25). Our study so far has focused mainly on the Prologue and the Book of Signs, laying out who Jesus is via His miracles (signs), dialogues, and teachings. The lessons now shift particularly to the third section of John, the Book of Glory.

We can see again and again in the book of John all the things that Jesus said and did which revealed that, yes, the Messiah (hammashiach), the Christ, had come to Israel. And He had come, in fact, as one of them, a Jew born in Bethlehem, just as the Scriptures had predicted. Yet, as John wrote, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him” (John 1:10, NKJV). He was in the world, the world was made through Him, and yet the world did not know Him? That’s an amazing statement. 

Throughout his Gospel, John has a diversity of people—people with different backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences—all testifying to who Jesus was. “ ‘Behold the Lamb of God!’ ” (John 1:36, NKJV). “ ‘We have found the Messiah’ ” (John 1:41, NKJV). “ ‘We have found Him of whom Moses . . . wrote’ ” (John 1:45, NKJV). “ ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ ” (John 1:49, NKJV). “ ‘Could this be the Christ?’ ” (John 4:29, NKJV). “ ‘We ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world’ ” (John 4:42, NKJV). “ ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’ ” (John 6:68, NKJV). “ ‘I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world’ ” (John 11:27, NKJV). “ ‘Though I was blind, now I see’ ” (John 9:25, NKJV). “ ‘Behold your King!’ ” (John 19:14, NKJV). “ ‘I find no fault in Him’ ” (John 19:6, NKJV). “ ‘My Lord and my God!’ ” (John 20:28, NKJV). Who were some of these people, and why did they testify as they did to the identity of Jesus?