The Gospel of John is the last of the four biblical gospels in the New Testament, each offering a biography of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. It is traditionally attributed to John, one of Jesus’s 12 disciples and a major leader in the early church, though some scholars dispute that attribution. The Gospel of John, most likely written in the latter decades of the first century CE, is part of the Johannine corpus of New Testament literature, which also includes the book of Revelation and the epistles of 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John. While the other three gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are relatively similar to one another, John is unique in its stylistic features and the arrangement of its content, highlighting to a greater extent Jesus’s claims about his own identity and offering long extracts of his teaching that are unrecorded elsewhere. The Gospel of John is one of the most famous and influential portrayals of the life of Jesus, and it has inspired countless works of Christian art and literature through the ages.

This study guide uses the English Standard Version (ESV) of the text, but all citations are given with the traditional biblical reference apparatus (giving book, chapter, and verse), so readers will be able to use this guide alongside any preferred version of the gospel. Following standard Christian conventions as well as the usage of the ESV, this study guide employs masculine pronouns for God and capitalizes references to members of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Readers should be aware, however, that in Christian theology the use of masculine pronouns is not intended to imply that God is male in a comparable way to human gender.

Plot Summary

The Gospel of John opens with a prologue that explores Jesus’s divine identity and his pre-existence as the Word of God (in Greek, the Logos), a designation that portrays his role as the living principle through which all creation was brought into being. The prologue also introduces John the Baptist as a witness to Jesus’s identity, and the subsequent stories portray John the Baptist undertaking his ministry of calling the Israelites to repentance while pointing to Jesus as the Son of God. The first two of Jesus’s disciples are followers of John the Baptist who, on hearing his words, become convinced that he is the long-awaited Messiah. These two then recruit others, and soon the nucleus of Jesus’s community of disciples is gathered. Jesus’s public ministry begins with a miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding feast, followed by his presence at the Passover in Jerusalem, where he drives the money changers out of the temple courts. These public revelations of Jesus’s power and authority attract interest, including among the influential sect of the Pharisees, and one notable Pharisee, Nicodemus, seeks Jesus out to hear more about his teachings. It is in this context that Jesus proclaims that God has sent his Son into the world to offer the gift of eternal life (in the famous words of John 3:16), and that the way to salvation is to be “born again” by the work of the Spirit.

The following chapters offer a broad view of the many miracles and teachings that comprised the active public ministry of Jesus in Galilee, Samaria, and Judea (three of the main provinces of Roman Palestine). On one of his journeys, Jesus has a conversation with a woman at a well in Samaria, in which he claims to have the water of eternal life, and the Samaritan woman becomes convinced that he is the Messiah. This is followed by reports of several miraculous healings and of Jesus’s teaching on his spiritual authority. The climax of this sequence of events comes in the public display of his supernatural power when he miraculously multiplies bread and fish to feed a hungry crowd and later walks on water in the Sea of Galilee to meet his disciples in their boat.

This is followed by an extended sequence of Jesus’s activities and teachings in the city of Jerusalem, where he has come to participate in the religious pilgrimage festivals. Here, Jesus again expounds on his identity and spiritual authority, claiming to be “the light of the world” (8:12). He asserts his divine pre-existence by implying that he chronologically preceded Abraham, who lived some two millennia before, and by invoking the personal name of God from the Old Testament (“I Am”). Jesus also continues his ministry of miraculous healings, which attracts the attention of the religious authorities, many of whom have become antagonistic to Jesus and his teachings.

Despite the rising tension with local and religious authorities, Jesus continues to proclaim his identity in terms that disturb the pious sensibilities of his audience, claiming to be the “good shepherd” with a unique and special relationship to the Father—indeed, claiming to be completely united with the Father. Tension continues to build toward a climax when Jesus performs his most spectacular miracle yet, bringing his friend Lazarus back to life after being dead for four days. As word about this event spreads and attracts even more attention to Jesus’s teachings, the priestly class in Jerusalem makes plans to have Jesus killed. Jesus does not hide from the threat of confrontation, but rather rides into Jerusalem on a donkey while crowds wave palm branches and hail him with the traditional acclamations for a king of Israel.

It is now the feast of Passover, and knowing what awaits him, Jesus gathers with his disciples one last time. Chapters 13-17 record Jesus’s teachings and prayers for his followers on the night before his crucifixion. In an act of humility and service, he washes their feet, and then instructs them to expect the coming gift of the Holy Spirit and to keep a new commandment, that of loving one other as Jesus has loved them. Events move swiftly at this point, and Jesus is arrested at night while in a garden, having been betrayed by one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot. He is then dragged to face questioning before the court of the high priest and the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. Ultimately, Pilate hands Jesus over to the mob to be executed on a cross, after which he is buried. Chapter 20 recounts Jesus’s resurrection from the dead, adding to the other gospels’ stories an account of his appearances to Mary Magdalene and to Thomas. Many of the disciples go back north to Galilee, where Jesus meets them on the shore, and there he reminds the disciple Peter of his love, commissioning him to tend the flock of his followers after Jesus’s return to the Father.