Background knowledge for those who want to start studying the book of John

1. BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE ON THE BOOK OF JOHN.
First of all, you have to understand who John is… This is where background
knowledge of the book you are studying is vital.
Who is John?
John was one of the closest disciples of Jesus. He is believed by many to
have written the book around 90-95 AD. He wrote this book after the other
three gospels. As an old man then, what he wrote was his “memoirs” during
his time with Jesus. Not just “memoirs”, how many people out there dream
things which they call “Revelation from God? It was the Holy Spirit working
the mind of John. As I hinted earlier, He was very close to Jesus: he it was
who lay on the breast of Jesus during the last supper. He liked not only
Christ’s company, but also an intimate niche with Him. Now you understand
why we call him “The disciple whom Jesus loved.” Most of what He has
recounted is what he witnessed at first hand.
Now we ask ourselves, what was the purpose of this book? Why did john
have to write it on top of three other gospels? John himself said. This is what
another author says , ( http://www.easyenglish.info/bible-commentary/john-
ma-lbw.htm ):
The purpose of John’s *Gospel
John wanted his readers to believe ‘that Jesus is the *Messiah, God’s Son’
(John 20:31). That is why he wrote his *Gospel.
Matthew, Mark and Luke recorded many *miracles in their *Gospels. But John
chose to record only 7 *miracles. He called them ‘*signs’. A *sign is
something that gives evidence. The *miracles gave evidence that Jesus is
God’s Son.
John also emphasised that Jesus was human. John recorded that Jesus was
tired (John 4:6). John also recorded that Jesus needed food (John 4:31).
Jesus was very sad when his friend Lazarus died. At that time, Jesus cried
(John 11:35). On another occasion, Jesus became angry with the people who
did business in the *Temple (John 2:15). And John also recorded that Jesus
was *thirsty (John 19:28).

2. Jesus was not half human and half God. He was completely human and
completely God, too.
Many people agree that John emphasised this for a particular reason. In the
early *church, some people were teaching false beliefs about Jesus.
One group taught that Jesus was not really God. They said that he was just a
man. They believed that the *Holy Spirit entered him at his *baptism. But
before he died, the *Holy Spirit left him. Another group taught that Jesus was
not really a man. They said that he did not have a physical body. They
believed that he was a spirit. And they believed that he only seemed to be
human. Both these groups were wrong!
John and the other *disciples had lived with Jesus for about three years. John
knew that Jesus was a real man. Also John had seen the *miracles that
Jesus did. John watched Jesus die on a *cross. And John had also seen
Jesus after he (Jesus) had become alive again. John knew that Jesus
had defeated death. And John had seen Jesus rise up to heaven.
So John knew that Jesus was a real man. But Jesus was and is also God’s
Son. John wrote his *Gospel to prove this.
That’s clear enough, isn’t it?
That is a good background if you are planning to start studying the book of
John. Have it nice, buddy.