from Introducing Jesus: The Fourfold Gospel
by Andreas J. Köstenberger
As Lewis Carroll once wrote in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, “‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said, very gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’”[1] John starts at the beginning—but not, as the other gospels have done before him, at the beginning of Jesus’s human existence (i.e., his birth as a baby in a Bethlehem manger). Instead, he reaches all the way back into eternity and observes that in the very beginning Jesus—the Word—was already there: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, emphasis added). Thus, John peels back the layers of time and shows that Jesus’s birth as a human child didn’t mark the beginning of his existence; it merely constituted the momentous event when the preexistent Word took on human form.
Yet John doesn’t present himself merely as an armchair theologian or an objective, neutral historian. Rather, he identifies himself as a participant in the events he is about to narrate; in fact, he is a primary eyewitness: “and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (v. 14). “We” here refers to the apostle John, the author of this gospel, and the other members of the Twelve who accompanied Jesus throughout his earthly ministry, witnessed his messianic signs, and heard his extended discourses that revealed his true nature and unique relationship with God. As John continues, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace instead of grace. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (vv. 16, 18 ESV, slightly revised).
In between, in verses 6–8 and again in verse 15, the evangelist introduces another John, who will turn out to be a significant character in the story of Jesus—namely, John the Baptist. (To avoid confusion, the evangelist calls himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”) This John, as Jesus’s forerunner, bears witness to Jesus as the first of a series of witnesses to Jesus throughout the gospel. In this way, the evangelist assembles a veritable cloud of witnesses attesting to Jesus’s true messianic identity, which will put the world on trial for its rejection of Jesus. While later the Jewish high priest and the Roman governor put Jesus on trial, the evangelist pointedly observes that it is in fact they who are on trial for rejecting Jesus. What a powerful way of turning the tables on those who put Jesus on the cross!
At the heart of the prologue, in verses 9–14, John highlights the incarnation of the Word and extols the privilege of becoming a child of God through faith in him. Take a closer look at the staircase-like structure of the prologue:
The Word’s activity in creation (vv. 1–5) John’s witness regarding Jesus (vv. 6–8)
The Word’s incarnation and the privilege of becoming God’s children (vv. 9–14)
John’s witness regarding Jesus (v. 15)
The final word in the revelation of God the Father (vv. 16–18)
In the above diagram, you can see that verses 9–14, on the Word’s incarnation and the privilege of becoming God’s children, epitomize the good news John has for his readers. Starting in verse 10, we read: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (vv. 10–12).
In these verses, John strikes an ominous note: the rejection of the Word by the world he has made. There is profound irony—even tragedy—in this: How could the world disavow its Creator? How could people reject the very one who made them? This seems utterly preposterous and inconceivable. Yet this is exactly what has happened, as the remaining narrative will show. At the climax of the escalating conflict between Jesus and the Jewish authorities, Jesus is put on a cross. He is buried, and on the third day, he rises from the dead—the gospel in a nutshell! The eternal Word in the flesh—Jesus, the God-Man—dies a real human death, so that everyone who believes in him can receive eternal life and become a child of God.
Finally, the evangelist relates the coming of Jesus to the role of Moses, asserting that while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth come through Jesus Christ (v. 17). The law, to be sure, furnishes evidence of God’s gracious self-disclosure, for in it he reveals a glimpse of his righteous and holy character and lays down his expectations for how his people should live. And yet, in Jesus, God’s self-revelation has reached new, unprecedented heights. For as we read in the book of Exodus, Moses, while serving as the vehicle of God’s revelation at the giving of the law, couldn’t see God and live. By contrast, Jesus not only has seen God but is continually present with him at his side; thus, he can make him known in an infinitely greater and more definitive way than Moses ever could.
This, then, is how the evangelist wants us to read the rest of his gospel. Jesus is the eternal Word, who had been active in creation and has now become flesh in Jesus. In what follows, the evangelist completely skips over Jesus’s human birth and starts immediately with the testimony of John the Baptist. If you’ve read through the first three gospels already and are about to embark on your reading of the fourth and final gospel, you’re well equipped for the journey. John won’t duplicate much material from the others. There’s inevitable overlap, but John will add significantly to your understanding of who Jesus is and what he said and did. You’ll see that John, like a laser, focuses on Jesus’s claim to deity, which is amply borne out by his messianic signs—but which is also, unfortunately, rejected by the Jewish leaders. You’ll also learn more about different kinds of faith—both temporary and abiding—through a series of representative characters.
[1] Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (New York: Macmillan, 1898), 182.
This post is adapted from Introducing Jesus: The Fourfold Gospel by Andreas J. Köstenberger. This title is set to be released on January 28, 2025. If you are interested in adopting this book for a college or seminary course, please request a faculty examination copy. We will also consider requests for your blog or media outlets.
Can anyone in our high-tech world truly understand someone who lived two thousand years ago? Can we get through twenty centuries of tradition to the real person who started it all? Andreas Köstenberger shows that the Gospels, the four earliest records about Jesus, do just that. These writings, named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, alongside key facts about the ancient world, bring Jesus’s life, his words, and his legacy into focus.
Introducing Jesus gets to the heart of what was–and is–important about Jesus. Köstenberger uses succinct prose, photographs, maps, charts, and more to address these questions:
- What did each gospel writer intend to convey about Jesus?
- What historical backgrounds help us understand Jesus better?
- What aspects of Jesus’s life and teaching do the Gospels emphasize?
- What does Jesus mean to people living today?
Adapted from Köstenberger’s The Jesus of the Gospels (2020) for a younger readership, Introducing Jesus lends itself well to the typical organization of a high school year or college semester. A corresponding website includes resources for instructors.
