Questions from John

[menageriekeeper]

It just so happens that the preacher preached out of John 1 today, the day before my children and I begin reading through the book as part of our homeschooling. And now I have questions that weren't part of the sermon but are part of the text.

I'm certain as we read through the book there will be more questions to come, so I may add to the first three as we go along. For that reason I'm going to number the questions so that it will be clear (hopefully) in the responses which question is being answered or responded to.

Thanks in advance!

Question 1:

Joh 1:20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
Joh 1:21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No

What prophet are the Pharisees referring too?

Question 2:

Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Joh 1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
Joh 1:31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
Joh 1:32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
Joh 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Joh 1:34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

Why does John say not once but twice that he doesn't recognize Jesus when other books tell us their mothers were cousins and the preborn John leaped in recognition of the preborn Christ?

Question 3:

Joh 1:40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

Who was the other disciple? (this one my preacher gave an answer to but didn't explain how he knew who the other one was and I didn't have a chance to ask.)

Have fun!

 

[Winman]

The answer to question #1 is the Prophet Moses spoke of in Deut 18:15.

The answer to #2 is that John and Jesus grew up far apart, Jesus grew up in Nazareth in Galilee, John grew up in Judah (Luke 1:39). John's father was a priest and served in the temple in Jerusalem, so likely lived very close by. Jerusalem and Nazareth are about 60 miles apart, so they likely never met again until Jesus came to be baptized.

The answer to #3 is most likely John himself as he was very humble and rarely spoke of himself by name in his gospel. See John 13:23 and John 21:20-24. This is not known for certain, but what I personally believe.

 

[Tom Butler]

Winman, your answers make a lot of sense, and certainly fit.

 

[Jarthur001]

It just so happens that the preacher preached out of John 1 today, the day before my children and I begin reading through the book as part of our homeschooling. And now I have questions that weren't part of the sermon but are part of the text.

I'm certain as we read through the book there will be more questions to come, so I may add to the first three as we go along. For that reason I'm going to number the questions so that it will be clear (hopefully) in the responses which question is being answered or responded to.

Thanks in advance!

Question 1:

Joh 1:20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
Joh 1:21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No

What prophet are the Pharisees referring too?

Question 2:

Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Joh 1:30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
Joh 1:31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
Joh 1:32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
Joh 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Joh 1:34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

Why does John say not once but twice that he doesn't recognize Jesus when other books tell us their mothers were cousins and the preborn John leaped in recognition of the preborn Christ?

Question 3:

Joh 1:40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

Who was the other disciple? (this one my preacher gave an answer to but didn't explain how he knew who the other one was and I didn't have a chance to ask.)

Have fun!

1
most will agree that this is Moses from Deut 18:15.

2
John did not know Jesus was Messiah, till he witness the sign that God had given him. God (the one that sent John) told John that when he "saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.".... he would know that person was the Messiah. This is what happened, and this is when John knew.

3
John, the writer never uses his own name. He calls himself the beloved. We can know this is John by reading the whole book.

a...the writer is an apostle. 1:14
b...he is one of the 12...13:23, 19:26, 20:2
c...John was one of the sons of Zebedee.... James, and John. James was dead when John wrote this. This on leaves John

ADDED...d...Gal 2 says...."For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, " Again, James was dead, Peter is named in the book, the unnamed must be John

This can be deduced in a general sense from the above facts. He indicates the precise hours when particular events took place (1:39; 4:6,52; 19:14). He records quotations of the disciple Philip (6:7; 14:8), Thomas (11:16;14:5), Judas (14:22), and Andrew (6:8-9). He leaned on the breast of Jesus at supper on the night of the betrayal (13:23-25) and was among the three 'inner circle' of Peter, James, and John. Peter is distinguished from this author by name in 1:41-42;13:6,8 and James had become a martyr very early, long before the Gospel was written (Acts 12:2). He has a particular way of introducing himself (John 13:23; 19;26; 20:2; 21:7,20). These facts cumulatively make it difficult to come to any other conclusion, but that John was the author of the Gospel which bears his name.

Source: The New Unger's Bible Dictionary, Merril F. Unger, Moody, Chicago. 1988. p 701.

Also...Irenaeus says it is John

 

[Allan]

The answer to question #1 is the Prophet Moses spoke of in Deut 18:15.

The answer to #2 is that John and Jesus grew up far apart, Jesus grew up in Nazareth in Galilee, John grew up in Judah (Luke 1:39). John's father was a priest and served in the temple in Jerusalem, so likely lived very close by. Jerusalem and Nazareth are about 60 miles apart, so they likely never met again until Jesus came to be baptized.

The answer to #3 is most likely John himself as he was very humble and rarely spoke of himself by name in his gospel. See John 13:23 and John 21:20-24. This is not known for certain, but what I personally believe.

The only distiction I will make, as a matter of text is #2, though in a general view Win would/could be correct.

However here is the point scripture makes about the subject. Not about personal knowledge of Jesus.. but what John didn't 'know' -for certain - who this Lamb of God that takes away Israel's sin was yet. We note this in verses 33 and 34. John would have known Jesus at the very least, in passing, due to Jesus family going to Jerusalem for sacrifice at least once a year - as was required. Not to mention the fact thsy Mary's cousin would spoken of the event often and with John later in life about what happened with John in the womb, Mary's pregnancy and the circumstances surrounding Jesus birth.

So what was not known to John, and revealed and verified by GOD, was if Jesus really was the coming Messiah. God told him that he would KNOW him by the sign, that of a dove coming to rest (to light) upon him.

It was THEN that John said of a certainty,

 

[Allan]

1
most will agree that this is Moses from Deut 18:15.

2
John did not know Jesus was Messiah, till he witness the sign that God had given him. God (the one that sent John) told John that when he "saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.".... he would know that person was the Messiah. This is what happened, and this is when John knew.

3
John, the writer never uses his own name. He calls himself the beloved. We can know this is John by reading the whole book.

a...the writer is an apostle. 1:14
b...he is one of the 12...13:23, 19:26, 20:2
c...John was the son of Zebedee.






Also...Irenaeus says it is John

Agreed!

 

[menageriekeeper]

#1: That makes me feel dumb. I should have known that.

#2: both answers make sense so I'll offer both.

#3: Ya'll agree with my preacher! Thanks for telling me why.

Ya'll have a good day!

 

[Van]

Hi Menageriekeeper, thanks for honoring us with actual questions concerning scripture.

My view is just that, my view. So test what I say against scripture to see if it checks out. When dealing with those who expound upon the meaning of scripture, trust but verify.

First off because John the Apostle did not refer to himself as John, when we see referrences to John, they refer to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ.

Who came to check out John who was drawing crowds in the desert? A delegation from Jerusalem, probably sent from the Sanhedrin.

Why the usage of a triple phrase, he confessed, he denied not, he confessed? Probably to illustrate John's emphatic denial, his vigorous denial that he was the Christ, the deliver anointed by God.

Why did John deny that he was Elijah? Jesus tells us in Mathew 11:14 that John is Elijah who is to come, referring to Malachi 4:5. The solution to this difficulty may be that in the sense that John fulfilled the prophecy of the forerunner, Luke 1:17, "in the spirit and power of Elijah" he was Elijah, but in another sense John was not, for though he may not have known it, John was greater than Elijah. So not the same person, but fulfilling his role of forerunner "if you care to accept it."

The other prophet was probably Moses as others have said.

As for why John did not know that Jesus was the Messiah before it was revealed to him, I would agree with some of the other posts. John probably knew Jesus as a boy, seeing Jesus perhaps once a year when they came to Jerusalem (Luke 2:41) but might have not seen him for a long time. John had left his parents and gone "into the wildnerness" for years. Clearly John was not given the insight via some sort of core character alteration, but based his identification on what he saw and heard. When John was in prison and sent his own delegation to Jesus to ask if Jesus was really the Messiah, Jesus answered "tell him the lame walk, the blind see, the sick are healed, and the good news is preached to the poor. All of us can trust that Jesus is the Messiah, not only because of His words, but because as the Annointed, He demonstrated who He is through miracles performed by the Power of His Anointing, the Holy Spirit of God.

Final question, was the "other disciple" John the Apostle? I believe so. No other gospel tells us how Peter got his new name (verse 42) and so John the Apostle must have been there as an eyewitness.