About This Book

John is an immense Gospel in depth and spiritual force, even though it reports fewer episodes than the other Gospel accounts. John writes with deliberate selectivity, choosing signs and conversations that reveal Jesus with clarity and urgency. The goal is not merely that readers admire Jesus, but that they come to living faith, and that the church is strengthened in assurance, worship, and witness as it beholds the glory of the Son.

The book begins with a prologue that frames everything that follows, the eternal Word is with God and is God, he becomes flesh, and he makes the Father known (chs.1 to 1). From there, John unfolds a ministry marked by signs and long teaching discourses that interpret those signs, pressing a repeated pattern of evidence leading to belief and belief leading to life (chs.2 to 12). Ch.12 stands as a hinge, the public ministry culminates as Jesus speaks of his coming “hour” and the meaning of his glory. The second half slows down to focus on a few days, Jesus prepares his disciples for ongoing mission by teaching about the Spirit and their calling (chs.13 to 17), then he is presented as the Passover Lamb and the true King who lays down his life and takes it up again (chs.18 to 21). John’s burden is to show that the world’s deepest darkness can only be overcome by the light of God in Christ, and that the gift offered is not merely guidance but eternal life through union with him.

John trains the church to confess that Jesus is God’s eternal Son made flesh, and to live from the life he gives through believing.

Preach John by letting the signs set the questions and the discourses give the answers, and keep returning to the purpose statement in ch.20 as the book’s steady compass.

Structure of the Book

This outline is intentionally high level. It is designed to keep sermon planning tethered to the flow of the book.

1. Foundations, the Word made flesh
   The prologue and early testimonies establish Jesus’s identity, grace, glory, and the call to believe, ch.1
2. The new order arrives
   Jesus replaces old categories with something greater, new wine, new temple, new birth, living water, chs.2 to 4
3. Signs and discourses that demand a verdict
   Miracles accompanied by extended teaching that exposes unbelief and reveals the Father through the Son, chs.5 to 11
4. The hinge, the coming of the hour
   Anointing, triumphal entry, and Jesus’s final public teaching as the cross approaches, ch.12
5. The upper room, the Spirit and the apostles
   Jesus prepares his disciples for his departure and their mission, teaching on love, union, prayer, and the Spirit’s work, chs.13 to 17
6. The Passover Lamb and the King
   Arrest, trials, crucifixion, and burial, presented with royal irony and sacrificial fulfilment, chs.18 to 19
7. New creation and restored mission
   Resurrection appearances that establish faith, give peace, and commission witness, with an epilogue that restores and reorients disciples, chs.20 to 21

Key Themes

• The Word and the Father, Jesus reveals God not as an abstract idea but as the Father known through the Son.
• Signs that reveal glory, miracles are not spectacle but revelation of Jesus’s identity and the character of God’s saving work.
• Evidence, belief, life, John presses a repeated pattern, what is shown demands a verdict, and true belief leads to life.
• Light and darkness, the coming of Christ exposes the world, offering salvation while also unveiling resistance and unbelief.
• New birth and true children of God, the Gospel explains who God’s children are and how they become his, through grace received by faith.
• Replacement and fulfilment, Jesus surpasses the old order, temple, purification, festivals, and expectations find their true meaning in him.
• The “hour” and the glory of the cross, John presents Jesus’s death not as defeat but as the climactic revelation of divine glory and love.
• The Spirit and ongoing mission, Jesus prepares his people for life after his ascension, the Spirit teaches, strengthens, and equips for witness.
• Union with Christ, abiding, feeding, following, and loving are grounded in sharing the life of the Son through faith.

Recommended Commentaries

Recommendations are grouped to help you build a working shelf. A top choice aims to serve as your primary companion for preaching and teaching. A strong recommendation provides a second trusted voice that complements your main volume. A useful supplement helps with structure, background, or a particular angle, without demanding more time than it is worth.

• The Gospel According To Johnby D.A. Carson, Score: 9.6

  A masterful, Christ-exalting commentary on John—rich, reliable, and essential for serious study and faithful preaching.

• Johnby R.C. Sproul, Score: 9.4

  A warm, Christ-exalting, pastorally rich exposition of John that nourishes believers and equips preachers with clarity and depth.

• Expository Thoughts On The Gospel Of Johnby J.C. Ryle, Score: 9.4

  A timeless, Christ-exalting devotional commentary that brings John’s Gospel to life with clarity, warmth, and pastoral power.

Browse all John reviews

Extra help is often most valuable in ch.1 for the prologue’s density, chs.5 to 6 where signs and discourses run long, chs.13 to 17 for the Spirit and mission teaching, and chs.18 to 19 where John’s Passover and kingship threads shape the passion narrative.

Preaching and Teaching Helps

John’s style is distinctive, with fewer episodes, longer scenes, and extended teaching that often moves in spirals rather than straight lines, but it rewards patient exposition.

• Let the prologue set the agenda, keep drawing lines back to ch.1, Word, glory, grace, witness, belief, and new birth echo throughout the Gospel.
• Preach the sign and the sermon together, in several places the miracle opens the door and the discourse gives the meaning, resist separating what John binds together.
• Trace the rising conflict, opposition grows as revelation increases, it helps the church see why the cross is the appointed outcome of light confronting darkness.
• Make room for slower listening, long conversations and discourses can feel repetitive, help hearers follow the movement by highlighting key claims and repeated contrasts.
• Handle “the world” language carefully, show how John exposes unbelief while also holding out a sincere call to salvation, with pastoral sensitivity and gospel clarity.
• Preach chs.13 to 17 as preparation for mission, these chapters are not an isolated devotional section, they form disciples for endurance, holiness, love, and witness in a hostile world.

This Book in the Story of Scripture

John places Jesus at the very beginning of everything, the Word through whom all things were made has entered his own creation. That alone gives the Gospel its scale, this is not merely an account of a prophet’s ministry, but the arrival of God’s own saving presence. John shows how the hopes and institutions of the Old Testament point beyond themselves, temple, feasts, purification, shepherding, manna, and sacrifice all find their true fulfilment in Christ. The decisive moment is the “hour” when Jesus is lifted up, revealing glory through atoning love, and opening the way for a new creation people who live by his life.

This Gospel shapes the church by grounding assurance in the person of Jesus, who he is, what he has done, and what he continues to give. It forms holiness as abiding in Christ, keeping his word, and walking in love, not as a self made improvement project but as the fruit of union with the Son. It strengthens mission by teaching that true evangelism is full of Christ centred teaching, and by showing that the Spirit equips ordinary disciples to bear witness with courage, clarity, and hope.

Because the Word became flesh and was lifted up for sinners, the church believes and lives, follows in obedient love, and bears witness in hope until the Son brings his work to completion.