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The Gospel of John
Northwest London Christian Church
Series

Background to John’s Gospel – Salvation & Kingdom

John’s Main Themes

Salvation
How does John present the idea of Jesus as Saviour? Firstly, he introduces this role of Jesus by
recording John the Baptist’s exclamations, ““Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world!’” (1.29) and “Look, the Lamb of God!” (1.36). So from the start John wants us to see Jesus as
the one who is sacrificed for us. Jesus is providing what is called a substitutionary atonement. In
other words, he is standing in for us and receiving what is due to us. He goes to the cross when we
ought to be up there.
Secondly, John emphasises Jesus’ mission to provide salvation for all people. Jesus is not relevant
only to the Jews or a select few. The woman at the well brings a whole village to meet Jesus and they
say, “we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.” (4.42). Jesus is offering salvation to
“everyone who believes” (3.16). This is good news for us – and all the people around us!
Life and Kingdom
The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark & Luke) tend to emphasis the Christian life in terms of entrance
into & living within the ‘kingdom of God/heaven’. John, however, mentions little to do with the Kingdom
and instead uses the word “(eternal) life”. It doesn’t mean the same as ‘kingdom’, but the fact that John
emphasises it so much means that it was a very important theme for him. We have passed from death
into this life - “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life
and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (5.24). This breakthrough into new
life is a constant theme. The table below gives you an idea of how this plays out in the New Testament.
Life and Kingdom in John and the Synoptics
New Testament Book Life Kingdom Total
Matthew 7 55 62
Mark 4 20 24
Luke 5 46 51
John 36 5 41
Acts 8 8 16
Paul 37 14 51
Hebrews 2 3 5
James 2 1 3
Peter 4 1 5
1-3 John 13 0 13
Jude 2 0 2
Revelation 23 9 32
Total 143 162 305

A great personal Bible study is to look at all the references to ‘life‘ in John and see what you learn about
what it means to ‘live in Christ’. Why not give that a go?

Malcolm Cox