We made some headway into John this past week and I'm happy to report that I feel that we are on schedule to go through the book. I know I'm going quickly through the sections and PowerPoint slides so I will keep in mind that you are taking notes and give time for you to jot down your thoughts as I talk.
I'm glad you are beginning to ask questions and that makes for a more interesting class indeed. I want us to be challenged by what John writes and so wrestle with the person of Jesus. John is making it clear that more than the crowds that flocked to Jesus for what He could give them, He is looking for those that will believe in what He has come to do in our lives and in the life of humanity as a whole. What qualifies one to be a disciple is having encountered Jesus and told others about Him. [Samaritan Woman at the Well]
I hope you are noticing the progression of story that John is writing in these chapters we are in. As we saw in the woman at the well, her progression from being offended, to skeptical, to curious, to ashamed and amazed to changed is something that John wants us to see in contrast to how the event affected His disciples. These storyline contrasts have a lot to say to us about the character of discipleship and change that Jesus is looking for.
Bottom line, Jesus came to change our hearts and to give us new life. That new life changes the way we see ourselves, everyone and everything around us. We will look on the reality in John's gospel that the focus of discipleship is not regarding being "good." It focuses on going from death to life. Belief in Jesus is to receive what He has to give. What He has to give focuses on dealing with evil and freeing us to live the life God has always intended for us to live. This is the eternal existence that God the Father has achieved for us in Jesus. We will see this become more intense as we look toward chapters 5, 6 and 7 this coming Tuesday.
Portico John Lecture Chapter Two - Not What They Expected
Portico John Lecture Chapter Three -The One From Above
Portico John Lecture Chapter Four - Sowing Seed for Eternal Harvest
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
John Chapter One
So we moved through chapter one of John this week and I shared with you some of the important points of the chapter from John's point of view as he presents to us who Jesus is. There is no mistaking that John is conjuring up several biblical images that communicate to us the significance of the person of Jesus and His appearance:
I'm sure that all of us are in this course and part of the Portico community because we have and are "experiencing" Jesus in very profound and real ways. I pray that as we continue through the chapters you will be drawn deeper into who Jesus is and compelled to reach out to Him even more! After all, this is exactly what the Father, Son and Spirit desire for us: complete inclusion into their relationship for each one of us. This leads us to our true human existence!
As promised, I have uploaded audio from last week and you can access the first and second hour of lecture time below if you missed some or all of the class. We now have four students for credit and I will need to push class time to 9:30 pm to cover the material for their sake. For those of you sitting in the class, please know that you are welcome to stay till 9:30 pm but if you need to leave I totally understand and please know that I appreciate you being present for any duration of time that you can to get in on the material I will be sharing. I will continue to record the sessions so that you can have access to them for follow.
Portico John Lecture - Chapter One God Among Us Part I:
Portico John Lecture - Chapter One God Among Us Part II:
- We have a very clearly embedded Genesis motif that expresses in no uncertain terms that Jesus is the Son of God in full relationship with the Father and is God among us. [The use of "Word" to represent Jesus is a rabbinical Aramaic code for Messiah and the use of "Light" is a direct reference to Jesus presence at the beginning of time]
- There is a clearly embedded Exile motif that expresses God's promise in the OT prophetic literature that a Messiah and He Himself [depending on which prophet you read] will appear and restore Israel and the nations back to relationship with Him. We see this in the "Behold the Lamb of God" introduction by John the Baptist and the completion of the Jacob ladder scene that Jesus communicates to Nathanael regarding the angels descending and ascending onto the "Son of Man." [by the way a cryptic title that Jesus uses of himself - his favorite title that He shares with others]
- There is also an Exodus motif - represented in the "tabernacling among us" phrase.
I'm sure that all of us are in this course and part of the Portico community because we have and are "experiencing" Jesus in very profound and real ways. I pray that as we continue through the chapters you will be drawn deeper into who Jesus is and compelled to reach out to Him even more! After all, this is exactly what the Father, Son and Spirit desire for us: complete inclusion into their relationship for each one of us. This leads us to our true human existence!
As promised, I have uploaded audio from last week and you can access the first and second hour of lecture time below if you missed some or all of the class. We now have four students for credit and I will need to push class time to 9:30 pm to cover the material for their sake. For those of you sitting in the class, please know that you are welcome to stay till 9:30 pm but if you need to leave I totally understand and please know that I appreciate you being present for any duration of time that you can to get in on the material I will be sharing. I will continue to record the sessions so that you can have access to them for follow.
Portico John Lecture - Chapter One God Among Us Part I:
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Introductory Material
I hope the material we covered in first class gave you an idea of the types of arguments that support the reliability and credibility of the gospels and specifically of the Gospel of John. There is so much material written on this issue and if you are interested, you may want to check out the following book: The Many Gospels of Jesus: Sorting out the Story of the Life of Jesus
This book gives you a good taste of the many and varied gospels that exist outside the four canonical gospels in our Bible. It will be an eye opening experience to see the content of these other gospels that critics of Christianity deem valuable and on par with the gospels in the Bible. You will understand why those gospels were not included in the biblical canon.
I mentioned in class a website that goes into more depth about the evidence that supports the author of the Gospel as John the Son of Zebedee. You can reach the site by clicking the following link: Evidence for John of Zebedee This will give you a more in depth look at the type of evidence that exists in support of the traditional view that it was John, one of the twelve disciples who wrote the Gospel of John.
I mentioned as well that the textbooks for the course are two volumes by N. T. Wright:
These books are available in paperback or on Kindle. Click on the links above for the information on ordering through amazon.ca. I would recommend reading through these books. They are very accessible and Tom Wright uses an open style that brings relevant everyday examples as points that build a bridge to the meaning of John. Wright offers his own translation of the gospel in these books as well which will give you another alternative reading.
In terms of class, I mentioned that I will run class from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm with a short break in between. I will keep students for credit from 9:00 - 9:30 pm to go over any details related to course work. For those thinking about switching enrollment to taking the course for credit, you will have three weeks to decide whether you would like to make the change. Please keep me posted if you decide to do so. The two weeks where there will be no class will be March Break week - Tuesday March 12, 2013 and the last week of March - Tuesday March 26, 2013. The last class of the course will be Tuesday April 9, 2013. This will give us 11 weeks of classes.
Read through chapters one and two of the Gospel of John to prepare for next class. I encourage you to read them in a couple of different versions so that you can get an appreciation for the possible different ways that the passages can be translated into English. Try to note the similarities of John chapter 1 and 2 with Genesis 1 and 2. There is a deliberate move on John's part to remind us of Genesis in the opening chapters.
This book gives you a good taste of the many and varied gospels that exist outside the four canonical gospels in our Bible. It will be an eye opening experience to see the content of these other gospels that critics of Christianity deem valuable and on par with the gospels in the Bible. You will understand why those gospels were not included in the biblical canon.
I mentioned in class a website that goes into more depth about the evidence that supports the author of the Gospel as John the Son of Zebedee. You can reach the site by clicking the following link: Evidence for John of Zebedee This will give you a more in depth look at the type of evidence that exists in support of the traditional view that it was John, one of the twelve disciples who wrote the Gospel of John.
I mentioned as well that the textbooks for the course are two volumes by N. T. Wright:
These books are available in paperback or on Kindle. Click on the links above for the information on ordering through amazon.ca. I would recommend reading through these books. They are very accessible and Tom Wright uses an open style that brings relevant everyday examples as points that build a bridge to the meaning of John. Wright offers his own translation of the gospel in these books as well which will give you another alternative reading.
In terms of class, I mentioned that I will run class from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm with a short break in between. I will keep students for credit from 9:00 - 9:30 pm to go over any details related to course work. For those thinking about switching enrollment to taking the course for credit, you will have three weeks to decide whether you would like to make the change. Please keep me posted if you decide to do so. The two weeks where there will be no class will be March Break week - Tuesday March 12, 2013 and the last week of March - Tuesday March 26, 2013. The last class of the course will be Tuesday April 9, 2013. This will give us 11 weeks of classes.
Read through chapters one and two of the Gospel of John to prepare for next class. I encourage you to read them in a couple of different versions so that you can get an appreciation for the possible different ways that the passages can be translated into English. Try to note the similarities of John chapter 1 and 2 with Genesis 1 and 2. There is a deliberate move on John's part to remind us of Genesis in the opening chapters.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Welcome to the Gospel of John
Welcome to an in depth study on the Gospel of John at Portico Community Church. This blog will serve to stimulate more conversation regarding what is introduced in class and the thoughts/concepts/story that is communicated through the memoirs of John, the Apostle and Disciple of Jesus. Through this course you will gain an appreciation for the character of this book of the New Testament and the unique way that it communicates the person of Jesus and His significance to humanity and the world. You will gain a greater understanding for what God is up to in our world and His mission to restore His creation.
The gospel introduces a new era with the coming of Jesus that has changed the landscape of human experience. His coming and presence on earth has literally changed the fabric of human relationships. The focus of telling others about Jesus and the way Jesus speaks of the Father in heaven communicates God's desire to give new life and life that can be lived in this new way for ever.
We will see the extent of Jesus' love in communicating to us how much the Father loves us especially through the events of the last days of Jesus' life on earth. I'm looking forward to this journey with you through this very important book of the Bible.
We will be getting started on Tuesday January 15, 2013 at 7:00 pm in Rm 210/211. Class will go from 7:00 - 9:30 pm. For those registered as 3 hour credit students, class will end at 10:00 pm. The course will run for 12 weeks. There will be no class on March break [Tuesday March 12, 2013] and the last class will be on April 9, 2013. There are three ways to get involved in this course:
If you'd like to listen to some scholars talk about John listen to the following: British Scholars talking about the Gospel of John
The gospel introduces a new era with the coming of Jesus that has changed the landscape of human experience. His coming and presence on earth has literally changed the fabric of human relationships. The focus of telling others about Jesus and the way Jesus speaks of the Father in heaven communicates God's desire to give new life and life that can be lived in this new way for ever.
We will see the extent of Jesus' love in communicating to us how much the Father loves us especially through the events of the last days of Jesus' life on earth. I'm looking forward to this journey with you through this very important book of the Bible.
We will be getting started on Tuesday January 15, 2013 at 7:00 pm in Rm 210/211. Class will go from 7:00 - 9:30 pm. For those registered as 3 hour credit students, class will end at 10:00 pm. The course will run for 12 weeks. There will be no class on March break [Tuesday March 12, 2013] and the last class will be on April 9, 2013. There are three ways to get involved in this course:
- Sit in on the classes each week and get involved in discussion and Q and A. There is a cost of $50 for this and you can register with the church office through Charmaine Thorpe.
- Audit the course: For those who want to audit the course so that it appears as a completion on a transcript but do not want to do any of the course work then you can enroll as an audit student. You can register for audit at Master's College and Seminary by contacting donna.haug@mcs.edu or calling 705 749 0725 ext. 241.
- For College Credit: For those who want to register and receive a full 3 hour credit and do the course work you can register at Master's College and Seminary as well by contacting donna.haug@mcs.edu or calling 705 749 0725 ext. 241.
If you'd like to listen to some scholars talk about John listen to the following: British Scholars talking about the Gospel of John
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