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Publish date: January 31, 2022

The Gospel of John is a joy to read for all who will engage the material the great John the Apostle is attempting to show us. John is very multifaceted, yet singular in some ways attempting to show Christ as the Son of God, but also attempting to reveal Him in different characteristics. Culpepper says, “The Gospel of John is so multifaceted that only its four primary elements can be explored here: Jesus as Word, Revealer, Redeemer, and Son. ” Though these four elements are described as primary, there are additional synonyms or descriptive additions (titles) that John uses in correlation with these four primary elements. All elements, titles, synonyms etc. that John uses is the goal of showing the whole world why Christ came, to save mankind from their sin, and to show us the Father.

Culpepper speaks of two distinctive thoughts to be considered, both are relative to the Johannine community, he says these are, “the Holy Spirit and the hope for the future. ” The Holy Spirit has a distinct role in the authorship of John’s writing. We know that He as being a believer had received the Holy Spirit and had been sealed by the Holy Spirit upon salvation in and through the work of Christ (Eph. 4:30). John also received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room with other disciples and the 120. This along with the promise of Christ that “some of the disciples” wouldn’t see death until they saw “the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:28), one of those men being John, makes John a very powerful writer in the New Testament and a force to be reckoned with in readership of the Gospel (as well as his letters, and Revelation). The Holy Spirit was undoubtedly a huge part of their theology and led John personally into the depth by which he can write these things of Christ. For surely, 2 Timothy 3:16 declares, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. ” The Holy Spirit breathes such powerful inspiration upon and in John to write these amazing things of Christ that He does. Koester says, “The Spirit’s first action is to make Jesus known and this is a hallmark of the Spirit’s work later in the Gospel as well. ” One of the very first titles John leads into under the inspiration of the Spirit is “the Word. ” In Greek Logos, means “Word.” The title of Christ as Logos forms the framework, the foundation for what John intends to say of Him to all. John begins his Gospel “with the word, an act of communicating. ” John is alluding to the fact that God desired to communicate with the world, and He chose the Logos, His Son Christ, to do so. “God addresses human beings through the Word that becomes flesh in Jesus of Nazareth (1:1,14). ” As discussed briefly earlier, the Spirit too has such a powerful reasoning behind the emphasis of the Word in John. “The connection between the Spirit and the word in this depiction anticipates the role of the Spirit for subsequent generations in at least two ways: First, the Spirit will continue to bear out the truth of the gospel message for people in later generations. Simply hearing the words does not make the message compelling. Rather, people come to know that the word is true through the action of God’s Spirit. ” Anyone can hear words and they be just that, more words that fill the void of space almost everywhere, yet when one hears the word anointed, inspired, and authored by the Creator God, the Ruach-ho-Kadesh, Who was at the beginning “hovering over the waters of the deep (Gen. 1:2)” there is a revelation that is imparted then only in and through the Divine. “Second, the message of Jesus helps people discern where the Spirit is at work. Spiritual experience is ambiguous. It is difficult to know when something is the work of God’s Spirit and when the experience is produced by other factors. The Fourth Evangelist shows that the Spirit makes Jesus known. When people come to know who Jesus is, this is where the work of God’s Spirit is evident. ”

I’ve been fishing saltwater seriously since 1983, we moved from Georgia to Florida and then we moved here to Louisiana in 1994 where the fishing is second to none. The year we moved to Florida we were fortunate enough to move into a house right on a canal. That canal led out into a huge bayou before going through a narrow pass into the Gulf of Mexico. The water in that canal was around 6-8 deep and led out into the bayou where the water depth was from one to four feet. My son and I spent many hours fishing about every place possible in that bayou. We fished high tide or low tide, it didn’t matter, we fished whenever we could. I’m not one of these fishermen who stays home just because the tide is low, if you’ve got the time, go fishing, it sure beats working.

Building upon the precepts now that the Spirit is very much present, in such a powerfully deep way, and that John constructs this whole Gospel around the framework of the Word, the title that I believe is so powerful for my local congregation is Bread of Life in John 6. Sure, each of the titles given of Christ are powerful in their own right, but His being the Bread of Life has always resonated with me. Possibly because I love to eat (who doesn’t right). Then again it may be because I see the void of the “false food” many feed on leaving them empty and unfulfilled. Jesus is the Bread of Life we have always need and will always need! No other provision will ever satisfy our souls. As Culpepper leads into this concept is first seen in Scriptures in Exodus 16, Numbers 11, and other Old Testament passages. Jesus’ feeding of the multitude is a sign that John gives to correlate to His Jewish readers that just as God fed them in the OT, He is the Bread of Life that sustains eternally. Culpepper makes a great distinction that there is no temptation even in John, yet Jesus asks Philip a question testing him. John is the only Gospel writer to make the distinction of them being barley loaves. Barley was important symbolically as it was cheaper than wheat and used for the poor and as feed for animals. This feeding in John 6 is clear affirmation in the narrative that Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses and the Prophets. This is important to draw a powerful correlation between their heritage and Christ revelation for them from the Father.

Several important considerations Culpepper brings out from this story and the gathering of the bread used to feed the multitudes I want to list below. First it confirms the abundance of bread that was produced, second the number twelve was important in relation to the tribes of Israel, continuing it corresponds to the gathering of manna and the record that there was some left after Elijah fed the one hundred on barley loaves, or it may be symbolic in the gathering of the Church. The abundance of bread is symbolic of Christ who is abundantly provided for all of Israel. He was more than enough bread; He was such abundant in supply that He feeds the whole world. The gathering of the Church that Culpepper brought up was very interesting concept that I had never heard before.

The conclusion of Jesus as Bread of Life is given in verse 58, “This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” This is the conclusion of John 6 and the revelation that the Father has given Christ who is so much more than the heritage of Israel had experienced. The relevancy for our local congregations is that Christ is truly our all in all, He is our sustenance, He is our provision, He is our abundance, He is our surplus, He is the giver of eternal life. The key being, this Bread must be eaten or ingested. One cannot live forever unless they eat of the Bread of Life which is Christ Himself. How does one “eat” of this Bread, by taking on and taking up the life of Christ as their eternal source of life and salvation. This is our great hope!

BIBLIOGRAPHY Culpepper, R. Alan. The Gospel and the Letters of John. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998. Koester, Craig R. The Word of Life: A Theology of John’s Gospel. Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 2008.

Pastor Saxton Odom