The Gospel of John is unique. Compared to the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), ninety percent of what John wrote can only be found in his Gospel. The Gospel of John was written much later than the other three gospels (most scholars agree John wrote his gospel in AD 80’s). The overall message of John can be found in 20:31, where he writes, “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” John focuses much of his Gospel on Jesus’ deity, or by stating that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God, and that He came in the flesh – fully human and fully God.

To think about and try to grasp the deity of Jesus is profound, and can at times, become mind-blowing. Pastor John MacArthur writes in The MacArthur Bible Commentary, “This reality is surely the most profound ever because it indicates that the Infinite became finite; the Eternal was conformed to time; the Invisible became visible, the supernatural One reduced Himself to the natural.”

In his book How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature – A Response to Bart Ehrman, author Michael Bird writes, “I have my own view as to ‘when’ Jesus became God. It was not by virtue of the evolution of belief, nor as the result of any ecumenical committee; rather, I think I can articulate the answer by way of a quotation from John the Evangelist: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’ (John 1:1). Jesus’ deity did not spring forth from the resolution of any church council, but rests in eternity past. So he never became God; he was always God, and he became human, the man Jesus of Nazareth.” John lays it out for his readers in the very first verse of the first chapter in his Gospel. Jesus is “the Word” and He didn’t just come into existence. He has existed since the beginning. He didn’t evolve into Christ the Son of God, nor did He become the Son of God after ascension. He was there when the universe was formed, fashioned, and spoken into existence. He has always been. The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, regarding Jesus’ deity states, “Throughout the centuries few people have denied the existence of the man Jesus. A fierce battle has always raged, however, concerning the supernatural nature of Jesus. If Jesus was virgin born and sinless, then a supernatural element is already introduced into His nature that sets Him apart from all other people. John’s intricate Greek declares Jesus to be equal in nature with God the Father but distinct in person!”

In Encountering John, Andreas J. Köstenberger writes that the first half of the Gospel of John portrays Jesus as Messiah by selecting seven representative signs, seven “I am” sayings, and several witnesses (possibly seven): John the Baptist, the Samaritan woman, Moses, the Father, Jesus Himself, the Spirit and the disciples, and the Fourth Evangelist. Köstenberger writes, “According to John, all these witnesses support the notion that Jesus is in fact the Messiah and Son of God.” What’s interesting about John is that while the previous gospel show Jesus on trial, John flips the script. Köstenberger further writes regarding John, “It is actually the world that is on trial, and all the above characters are on the witness stand, testifying to Jesus’ messianic identity while convicting the world of its guilt of sin and unbelief.”

Leon Morris, in his book Jesus is the Christ: Studies in Theology of John, points to an interesting fact that reinforces Jesus’ deity. He writes, “John brings out the uniqueness of that relationship by referring to Christ as God’s ‘only’ Son. The adjective monogenes has sometimes been understood in the sense ‘only-begotten,’ but we should bear in mind the fact that it derives from gen-, the stem of ginomai, not gennao; it is ‘only being’ rather than ‘only begotten.’ He further states, “That Jesus Christ is God’s monogenes then means that he is ‘Son of God’ in a unique way. Others may be called ‘sons of God,’ by they are not ‘sons’ in the same sense.” What John is saying by using the unique choice of words he does, as Morris writes, “He is saying that no one else stands in the same relationship to God the Father as does Jesus Christ.”

Witnesses and those who followed Jesus, such as the disciples, claimed He was in fact the Son of God. John the Baptist claimed Jesus was the Son of God. The Samaritan woman ran to her friends and acquaintances and claimed she found the Christ. People can call others a lot of things without the person being called those things ever stepping forward and making those claims about themselves. However, Jesus made those claims about Himself.
Jesus claims His deity all throughout John’s account. In John 5:16-47, we find Jesus making Himself equal with God. In John 10:25-39, we find Jesus identifying Himself with God. In John 14:1-3, Jesus comforts His disciples when He tells them He must leave and go to a place they cannot immediately come to when He says, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” In verse 6 Jesus tells them, “…I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” In his book Study Guide for John 1, David Guzik writes regarding this passage, “Instead of giving into a troubled heart, Jesus told them to firmly put their trust in God and in Jesus Himself. This was a radical call to trust in Jesus just as one would trust in God the Father, and a radical promise that doing so would bring comfort and peace to a troubled heart.”

In John 5:16-29, the Jewish leaders became irate when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. John 5:16-18 say, “And for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. But He answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.’ For this reason, therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary writes regarding this interaction, “Rather than correcting them for mistaking His identity, Jesus went on to make even further claims regarding His deity: He has power to give life to people (v. 21), all judgment is handed over to Him (v. 22), and all should honor the Son with the same honor they bestow upon the Father (v. 23).”

It was discussed earlier how it can sometimes be profound and mind-boggling to think of the deity of Jesus. To grasp the Creator of the universe and existence, the God who causes thunder and places a rainbow in the sky several thousand years later to remind humanity of His promise – coming in the form and likeness of man, is sometimes difficult. It would be simple to read John’s Gospel and deny the deity of Christ if there were only followers, disciples, and Jesus claiming to be God. Then it would be easy to come to the resolution that the Pharisees and Jewish leaders came to: crucify Him! After all, actions speak louder than words. That is not the case, however. Despite Jesus coming to earth as a man, and in appearance no different than those whom He walked amongst, there are many occasions throughout the Gospel of John that provide men and women today with glimpses into Jesus’ deity. Occasions that leave the reader with no other choice than to say, “This was no ordinary man.” Occasions such as the signs Jesus performed, healing the sick, raising His friend Lazarus from the dead, living a life free of sin, being beaten, and crucified without so much as a word or action doubting what He claimed from the beginning, and being resurrected and ascending to His place on God’s throne.

The Gospel of John is indeed unique. It opens a window into the life and work of Christ that the other three gospels do not provide. John focuses much of his Gospel on Jesus’ deity, or by stating that Jesus Christ was and is the Son of God, and that He came in the flesh – fully human and fully God. The only conclusion one can come to is what John’s overall message was in 20:31, when he wrote, “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

Do you believe?

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Bird, Michael F., Evans, Craig A., Gathercole, Simon, Hill, Charles E., and Tilling, Chris. 2014. How God Became Jesus : The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature—A Response to Bart Ehrman. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Accessed August 12, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Brand, Chad, Eric Alan Mitchell, Steve Bonds, E. Ray Clendenen, Trent C. Butler, and Bill Latta. Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2015.
Guzik, David. “Study Guide for John 1 by David Guzik.” Blue Letter Bible. Accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/john/john- 1.cfm?a=998014.
Holy bible: Legacy standard bible. Irvine: Steadfast Bibles, 2022.
Köstenberger, Andreas J. Encountering john: The gospel in historical, literary, and Theological
Perspective. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2013.
MacArthur, John. The macarthur bible commentary: Unleashing god’s truth, one verse at a time.
Nashville, TN: Nelson Reference & Electronic, 2006.
Morris, Leon. Jesus is the christ: Studies in theology of john. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1989.