The Word, the Works, and the Witness

Thru the Bible in a Year

As we open the Gospel of John, we are stepping into holy ground—the deepest waters of divine revelation. John’s Gospel is not simply a record of Jesus’ miracles or teachings; it is an invitation to behold the eternal Son of God, the Word made flesh. While Matthew shows Jesus as King, Mark as Servant, and Luke as the Son of Man, John presents Him as the eternal Word—God Himself stepping into time and space to redeem what He created.

John’s purpose is clear: “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). Every chapter is written with that heartbeat. And in these first three chapters—John 1 through 3—we see the foundation of faith laid through three powerful themes: the Word, the Works, and the Witness.

John 1 – The Word: God Revealed

John begins not with Bethlehem but with eternity. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This is more than poetry—it is theology that transforms. Before creation, before time, before all things, the Word already was. John identifies Jesus not merely as a messenger of God but as God Himself—the Creator through whom all things came into being.

These opening verses describe Christ’s relationship to God (He is coequal and coeternal), His relationship to creation (He is the source of all life), and His relationship to humanity (He is the true Light who gives life to every person). Theologian A. W. Tozer once said, “Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the best of several ways; He is the only way.” John’s introduction leaves no ambiguity—Christ is God revealed, the bridge between heaven and earth.

Then enters John the Baptist, the forerunner who came to “bear witness of that Light.” His ministry was not about self-promotion but divine preparation. He made it clear that he was not the Christ but merely a voice crying in the wilderness. His humility still echoes today: the servant must never compete with the Savior.

The narrative moves quickly as the first disciples begin to follow Jesus. They ask, “Rabbi, where are You staying?”—a question not about geography but about fellowship. Jesus responds, “Come and see.” That invitation still stands. Every seeker must eventually move from curiosity to commitment, from questioning to following. And once they came and saw, they were convinced. Andrew told Peter; Philip told Nathanael. The Gospel spreads best not through programs but through personal testimony—one heart sharing with another what it has found in Christ.

John 2 – The Works: God’s Power Displayed

The second chapter of John’s Gospel reveals that Jesus’ deity is not only declared but shown. His first miracle at a wedding in Cana may seem small compared to healing the blind or raising the dead, but it carries great significance. In turning water into wine, Jesus shows that He has come to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

The problem was simple—they ran out of wine. But every human problem becomes divine opportunity when surrendered to Christ. The precept came through His mother’s faith-filled words: “Whatever He says to you, do it.” The power came when He turned water into wine, and the praise followed when the master of the feast declared that this new wine was far better than what came before. The result was gladness for the wedding guests, glory for Christ, and growth in the disciples’ faith.

The second major event in this chapter—the cleansing of the Temple—shows the other side of Christ’s ministry: righteous zeal. When Jesus drove out the merchants and money changers, He demonstrated that worship must remain holy. “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” (John 2:16). It was not anger but authority that motivated Him. The Temple had become a place of profit rather than prayer, and Jesus restored its sanctity.

This cleansing foreshadowed a greater purification yet to come—not of buildings, but of hearts. Today, the Spirit dwells not in temples made with hands but in believers themselves. When Jesus cleanses us, He does so with the same passion, driving out what does not belong so that true worship can flourish within.

John 3 – The Witness: God’s Salvation Explained

The third chapter of John introduces us to one of the most well-known and beloved passages in all of Scripture. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and respected teacher, comes to Jesus by night. Perhaps he came in secrecy, afraid of what others might think, or perhaps in sincerity, searching for truth. Either way, Jesus meets him with a statement that still reverberates through time: “You must be born again.”

Nicodemus is puzzled. How can a man be born when he is old? Jesus patiently explains that the new birth is spiritual, not physical—a work of the Spirit that renews the heart. He illustrates it with a story Nicodemus would have known well: the bronze serpent lifted up in the wilderness (Numbers 21:8–9). Just as the Israelites looked upon the serpent and were healed, so must all people look to the Son of Man lifted up on the cross.

Then comes the most recognized verse in the Bible—John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” The gospel condensed into one sentence. It tells us of the motive (God’s love), the gift (His Son), the invitation (whoever believes), and the reward (eternal life). It is not just information—it is transformation.

The chapter continues with the humility of John the Baptist, who declares, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Those seven words capture the essence of discipleship. Growth in grace means less of self and more of Christ. The measure of maturity is not how much we do for God, but how much of us God controls.

Finally, John the Apostle adds his own witness: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” Faith is not a feeling but a transfer of trust—resting fully in what Christ has done. The Word who became flesh, the One who worked miracles, now invites us into new life through belief in His name.

Walking Through John with Open Eyes

John’s Gospel invites us not just to read but to behold. Each chapter builds upon the last—the Word revealing who Jesus is, the Works revealing what He can do, and the Witness revealing why He came. Together they draw us into worship.

In John 1, we meet the eternal Word—God among us. In John 2, we see His works that manifest His glory. And in John 3, we hear the witness that leads to eternal life. This pattern—revelation, demonstration, proclamation—mirrors the Christian life itself. We encounter Christ, experience His power, and share His truth.

As we continue through the Bible this year, remember that the goal is not simply to gain knowledge but to know Christ more intimately. Every chapter is a window into His heart.

A Blessing  

May the Word enlighten your mind, the Works of Christ strengthen your faith, and the Witness of the Spirit deepen your love for God. As you walk through Scripture, may you discover afresh that Jesus is not merely the subject of the Bible but its living center. Thank you for committing to this journey through God’s Word—His promise still holds true: it will not return void.

For a deeper look at the Gospel of John, visit Bible.org for commentaries, background studies, and verse-by-verse insights.

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT SHARE SUBSCRIBE

#bornAgain #gospelOfJohn #JesusMiracles #John13 #WordOfGod

For the Love and Glory of God

https://youtu.be/yiQs9sfGicY

Psalm 148:1-2 1 Hallelujah! Praise Abba God from the heavens; praise God in the heights. Praise Abba God, all you angels; praise God, all his host. [May these words praise God!]

Introduction

In 1984, Tina Turner asked, “What’s love got to do with it?” And looking around our local and national environment, I think that’s probably the question we should be asking. But just hollering into that caustic and vitriolic sinkhole, “Just love one another!”, is adding more fuel to the fire because we often don’t know what we mean when we say it. The reason for that? Most people, on either side of the divide, truly think they are acting in loving ways. So, hollering, “We just need to love one another!” is met with blank stares in response because, well “I AM!”

We truly believe that love will solve our problems, sooth our tensions, eliminate our divisions; and I agree with this. But the thing is, we must get real about what it means to love…We must start at the beginning and notice how God loves the cosmos and how God in Jesus Christ loved the neighbor. We must embrace that to love doesn’t always make one comfortable and cozy—either the beloved or the lover. We must be willing to take our love beyond good feeling and allow Love (capital “L”) be the force that guides our actions in the world causing us to prioritize the well-being of the neighbor o according to what they need and not what I think they need. So, I’m glad John is here to walk us (back) through what it means to love…

John 13:31-35

Our passage falls near the end of Jesus teaching his disciples about love in the upper room before his crucifixion. Essentially, we are—for all intents and purposes—back at Maundy Thursday. The chapter opens with Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. At the conclusion of this event, Jesus gives a teaching on what it means to be a disciple of Christ: to serve each other and not to be served. Then Jesus tells of his betrayal. Here Judas is just flat called out and dismissed from the table to do what he is going to do. Then we come to our passage for today where Jesus explains what is happening and then gives his disciples a new commandment (to love). Chapter 13 closes with Jesus promising Peter that he will not be able to go where Jesus is going, but that Peter will deny Jesus three times. In this chapter, love has a lot of work to do.

John writes, Therefore when [Judas] went out, Jesus said, “Now the son of humanity was glorified, and God was glorified in him. If God was glorified in him, then God will glorify him in God, and God will glorify him immediately” (vv. 31-32). Jesus isn’t speaking abstractly here; he’s speaking very literally. His death comes as Judas goes out; the present moment is binding together what was with what will be.[1] The “now” there is doing a lot of work and emphasis should be placed on it. In this moment, among the disciples, there is a collision of time: what was is becoming what will be right then (now!). Jesus has glorified God in his active love in the world and this glorifying of God will become Jesus’s future glorification in the resurrection from the death that is coming now (because Judas left and all that is coming by his betrayal is as good as done). In other words, the Cross and the Resurrection are going to be the full culmination of what was colliding with what will be and creates an entirely new now for the disciples of Christ.[2] It is this new now that the disciples are ushered into by faith (and which is only accessible through faith).[3]

Jesus then addresses the disciples personally, Dear little children, I am still with you a little bit [longer]. You will search for me, and just as I said to the Children of Israel, “Where I, I go my way you, you are not able to come,” and to you I say [this] just now. After a pronouncement of God being glorified (both past and future) in and through himself, Jesus informs the disciples that the way he is going is his way alone and they are not able to come. Jesus’ presence with them is coming to an end; the disciples will no longer be able to walk (literally) with him and they will learn that it is necessary for them to be abandoned by Jesus (in his death and also in his future ascension). What he did with them will have to be enough…for now; the disciples will be stripped of their teacher, left to their own devising.[4] Or so they think…

Then Jesus speaks into their burgeoning doubt and threatening despair and promises that even as he leaves, he is with them. How so? Through a new commandment that has to do with the disciples loving each other as Christ loved them. Jesus exhorts, A new command I give to you: you love one another. Just as I loved you, you, you also love one another. In this way, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among you. As Jesus’s time with the disciples wanes, he gives them a commandment that will transcend any epoch and era and any country and continent. In a swift motion, Jesus redirects their attention away from themselves and toward something in the future; to this command they can cling because it is not clinging to a stone tablet but a real person by faith; in it resides the entirety of Jesus with them, and if Jesus then God, too.[5] In loving one another like Christ loved them, they are never abandoned and are always with Christ and also with God. This is not a cold command to love as if it was of one’s own power; this is a command that is founded on and in and by the love of Christ for them, which is the love of God for them. [6] If the disciples love in the way of and like Christ loved them, then their discipleship status will be noticed by all people because in this love Christ will be proclaimed.[7]

The new command doesn’t replace Jesus, this would then make Jesus and faith in Jesus superfluous. Rather, the new command becomes the “essential nature” [8] of the burgeoning new community that follows this new way of Christ in a world that will find this all very strange.[9] (And, according to John, this love does start first among the new community. [10]) This new command of love is not feeling loving emotions toward someone; that is not how Jesus loved the disciples. Jesus loved the disciples (and others!) through acts and deeds of service that brought love, life, and liberation to them in both material and spiritual ways.[11] Thus, the disciples’ activity in accordance with this new command reinforces that the disciples are never far from Christ because this liberative love is the very love of Christ. And it is distinct and new because it is not the love of the kingdom of humanity but of the reign of God bringing life where there is death, Easter where Good Friday refuses to leave.[12]And if the disciples are never far from Christ in this liberative love, then it will be easy for all people to know they are HIS disciples.

In this way God’s mission of the divine revolution of love, life, and liberation continues in the world as Jesus goes his way and the disciples remain behind. The mission doesn’t end with Jesus; it is just the beginning of the advent and incarnation of the reign of God overhauling the kingdom of humanity, bit by bit, moment by moment, in this era and that era. [13] And, as this new community of disciples loving each other as Christ loved them goes into and through the history of the world, God is glorified in them because Christ is the glory of God and where this community is and loves as Jesus loved them, Christ is there and brings God glory.[14]

Conclusion

So, “What’s love got to do with it?” Well, according to John, everything. This command was not just for the disciples there with Jesus at the table but is timeless and knows not a static captivity to the past. The new commandment transcends time and space, it goes and is wherever there are those who gather in the name of Christ and love as Christ loved. This new command is for us today: it guides us, teaches us, corrects us, forms and reforms us, and it is still the way all people will know we are the disciples of Christ. They will know us by our love because our love will be liberative and life giving, it will be more than “thoughts and prayers,” more than some sort of comfortable message, even more than abstract Christian colloquialism that never hit the rock bottom we hit. This love will not bring death, indifference, and captivity; it will not hold up legalism, traditionalism, and dogmatism over the well-being of anyone (those here and out there) [15]. It will cause us to relinquish our excess to meet the needs of others and to abandon our self-imposed isolation to find deep community with others. It will be the source of our unrestrainable hope that will radiate out from here infecting others as it streams through the world to its farthest recesses. It will bind us to God, thus bind us to that and to those whom God loves: creation and our neighbor. Dorothee Sölle writes in her book, To Work and To Love, “The God who created the universe, including our planet, and who delivered us from slavery is the same God who raises the dead to new life, so that we who were dead and without hope might become resisters and lovers of life. ‘Lover of the living’ is an old name for God (Wis. of Sol. 11:26). So shall it be our name for evermore.”[16]

[1] Rudolf Bultmann, The Gospel of John: A Commentary, trans. GR Beasley-Murray, Gen Ed, RWN Hoare and JK Riches (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1971), 523. Originally published as, Das Evangelium des Johannes (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1964, 1966). “It is that νῦν, in which past and future are bound together, stressed particularly at this point by the paradoxical juxtaposition of ἐδοξάσθη (v. 31) and δοξάσει (v. 32).”

[2] Bultmann, John, 523-524. “The subject is that δόξα which is at the same time the Son’s and the Father’s: καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ. What has already happened sub specie aeterni unfolds itself in the temporal future; and because this is so, the word δοξάσει (as if this future were at a distance from the νῦν) can be picked up again in καὶ εὐθὺς δοξάσει αὐτόν, which is a reference to the immediately imminent passion. It draws our attention again to that paradox inherent in the concept of δόξα, viz. that the δόξα becomes apparent precisely in the cross; and it also indicates a rejection of the naive primitive Christian eschatology, for there the revelation of Jesus’ δόξα was expected only at his coming Parousia (mk. 8.38).”

[3] Bultmann, John, 524. “The period of his personal presence has come to an end…His own will miss him; they will not realise the full significance of that νῦν immediately. Their faith has to stand the test.”

[4] Bultmann, John, 524. “…to some extent the believers are in the same position as the men of the κόσμος. Of course the situation does not contain for them, as it does for the latter, that element of the ‘too late’; but both look back in the same way on a ‘no longer’, and the beginnings of despair are there for the disciples too. They have to learn that the Revealer has not come to be at their disposal through their faith. What now lies in the past does not guarantee the future, but is called into question by it. Jesus, in whom they believed, disappears from them, and they are left with no security.”

[5] Bultmann, John, 525. “Then how can their relationship with him be retained in the face of this isolation?…The future is subjected to an imperative! Their anxiety was centred on their own actual existence, but now they are directed towards an existence that has the character of an ‘ought.’ The illusion that they possess him in such a way that he is at their disposal is confronted by another kind of possession: one which consists in fulfilling a command. Their despairing gaze into the past that is no more is redirected to the future, which comes and lay sits obligation upon them. An unreal future, which would only be a persistence in the past, is made into the real future which demands faith. And in so far as the content of the ἐντολή is ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους, the care for oneself is changed into a care for one’s neighbour.”

[6] Bultmann, John, 525. “But since it is precisely this becoming free from the past and from oneself that is subjected to the imperative, the future that is grasped as command coincides with the future that is promised for loyalty of faith; for it was freedom from the past and form oneself that was promised to the believer. Thus the imperative is itself a gift, and this it can be because it receives its significance and its possibility of realization from the past, experienced as the love of the Revealer.”

[7] Bultmann, John, 528. “…all loving becomes the proclamation of Jesus—which means that it can always become an offence too, not just in the individual case, but especially because the association formed by this kind of love cuts across the associations of the world in a special way.”

[8] Bultmann, John, 527. “But Jesus’ command of love is ‘new,’ even when it has been long-known, because it is the law of the eschatological community, for which the attribute ‘new’ denotes not an historical characteristic but its essential nature. The command of love, which is grounded in the love of the Revealer received by the disciples, is ‘new’ in so far as it is a phenomenon of the new world which Jesus has brought into being; and indeed 1 John 2.8 describes this newness as that of the eschatological event.”

[9] Bultmann, John, 527. “V. 35 states that the new world becomes reality in the community: reciprocal love within the community is the criterion of the discipleship of Jesus for those outside. The fact that the command of love is fulfilled there demonstrates the strangeness of the community within the world, and results in the world calling those who love the disciples of Jesus. Not just because there is a community in which love is both an injunction and an actual practice. Much rather because love itself there takes on a form that is strange to the world.”

[10] Bultmann, John, 528. “It is no general love of mankind, or love of one’s neighbour or enemy that is demanded, but love within the circle of disciples. Naturally this does not mean that the all-embracing love of one’s neighbour is to be invalidated; but here it is a question of the very existence of the circle of disciples. How does the departing Revealer remain present for his own? By the vitality of the gift of his love in their love of each other, and by their representation within the world of the new world, which became reality through him.”

[11] Bultmann, John, 526. “Jesus’ love is not a personal emotion, but is the service that liberates; and the response to it is not a mystical or pietistic intimacy with Christ, but the ἀλλήλους ἀγαπᾶν.”

[12] Bultmann, John, 526. “The significance of the past lies in the fact that the encounter with Jesus was experienced as his service which made the believer free; thus the significance of the future can only be that in it this freedom is brought to fruition. And this take s place int eh fulfillment of the command of love. Because this command and its fulfillment are grounded in the Revealer’s love which has actually been experienced, the believer always remains bound to the Revealer’s service and is never centered on himself.  And to put it the other way round, the faith which has accepted that service can only continue to come to fruition in the attitude of service, i.e. of love.”

[13] Bultmann, John, 529. “But the community itself fulfills its commission to the world…only if the ἀγαπᾶν remains the response to the love of Jesus, and so long as it does note exchange it for an ἔργον of the world, or for efficacy within world-history. It is not the effect it has on world history that legitimates the Christian faith, but its strangeness within the world; and the strangeness is the bearing of those whose love for each other is grounded in the divine love.”

[14] Bultmann, John, 526. “Only if they are themselves loving do they who belong to him remain in the experience of his love; in the same way they can, and do love, only on the basis of this experience. Thus the believers’ past and future are bound to each other like the former and the future δόξα of the Revealer himself: the future receives its meaning form the past, and the past becomes significant in the future. But that means that in the future, despite their separation from him, they remain united to him. In their action, his act is present.”

[15] Bultmann, John, 528. v. 35 disciples “…a definition of their essential nature. The association with Jesus, therefore, is not realized by possessing articles of knowledge or dogmas, nor in institutions or experiences of individual piety, but in pupil-hood,’ in obedience to the command of love.”

[16] Sölle, To Work and Love, 165.

#Community #Discipleship #DivineLove #DorotheeSölle #GodSGlory #Jesus #JesusTheChrist #John13 #Liberation #Life #Love #PresenceOfChrist #RudolfBultmann #TheDivineMission #TheGospelOfJohn #TheLoveOfChrist #TheNewCommand #TheRevolutionOfLiberation #TheRevolutionOfLife #TheRevolutionOfLove #ToWorkAndToLove

💖 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." — John 13:34

Let’s embrace this beautiful call to love as Jesus loved us! It’s in our actions and kindness that we reflect His heart. How can you show love to someone today?

🌼✨ #John13 #LoveOneAnother #FaithInAction #ChristConfidence #EmpowerYourFaith #ElevateYourLife #UnleashYourChristConfidence

❤️ "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." — John 13:35

Love is the greatest testament to our faith! Let’s strive to show kindness, compassion, and understanding in all our interactions. How can you spread love today?

💕✨ #John13 #LoveOneAnother #FaithInAction#ChristConfidence #EmpowerYourFaith #ElevateYourLife #UnleashYourChristConfidence