What the book is
John is the fourth of the Gospels, and the one that most often stops to explain what the story means. It opens not with a birth but with the beginning of all things, “In the beginning was the Word”, and it follows Jesus through three Passover festivals, mostly in Jerusalem and Judea. Much of what it tells is in no other Gospel: the wedding at Cana, the night conversation with Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman at the well, the raising of Lazarus, Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, and the long farewell he speaks to them on the night before he dies.
Near the end, the book says what it is for:
These, though, are written down so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing have life in his name.
Who wrote it, and when
The Gospel does not name its author. It points instead to “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, who leans close to Jesus at the last meal, stands at the cross and runs to the empty tomb, and it says that his testimony stands behind the book (21:24). From the second century, the church identified this disciple as John the son of Zebedee, one of the Twelve, writing late in life at Ephesus. Many readers and scholars still hold that view. Others think the beloved disciple was a follower of Jesus from Jerusalem who was not one of the Twelve, or that the book was given its final form by his own disciples: the closing words, “we know his testimony is true”, speak of a group who vouch for him. Most date the Gospel to the last decades of the first century, around AD 90, though some place it earlier.
None of these questions changes how a sentence is translated. Open Word Bible calls him what the book calls him, “the disciple whom Jesus loved”, and never puts a name in the text that the Greek does not have.
How the book is laid out
- The prologue (1:1–18): the Word who was with God and was God becomes flesh and lives among us.
- The signs (1:19–12:50): Jesus turns water into wine, heals an official’s son and a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years, feeds five thousand, gives sight to a man born blind and calls Lazarus out of the tomb. Each sign is followed by talk about what it shows, and opposition to Jesus grows.
- The farewell (13–17): at his last meal Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, promises the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, and prays for those who believe in him.
- The hour of glory (18–20): the arrest, the trials before the high priest and Pilate, the crucifixion and burial, and the risen Jesus with Mary Magdalene, the disciples and Thomas.
- The epilogue (21): breakfast by the lake, and Peter asked three times, “Do you love me?”
What to look for
John never uses the noun “faith”; he uses the verb, and uses it constantly: to believe is the response the whole book asks for. Life, light and truth run through it, and so does the world: the world God made, the world God loved, and the world that turned against him. Jesus’s miracles are always signs, deeds that point beyond themselves. His death is his “hour”, the moment when he is glorified. And again and again he speaks of himself with the words “I am”: the bread of life, the light of the world, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life.
How Open Word Bible translates John
The draft keeps John’s key words the same wherever they mean the same thing, so that a reader can follow the threads the author wove. “Sign” is never “miracle”, and “believe” stays “believe” even in the Readable level.
”The Jews.” John uses the phrase seventy times and more, in several senses: the Jewish people, the people of Judea, and, very often, the religious authorities in Jerusalem who oppose Jesus. Every occurrence has a meaning decision saying which sense it has. The Literal level always keeps “the Jews”, so readers can see the word John wrote; Balanced and Readable say “the Jewish leaders” where the authorities are meant, with a footnote. Jesus, his mother and his disciples are Jews, and no rendering may suggest otherwise.
Where a speech ends. The Greek has no quotation marks. In chapter 3 it is unclear whether Jesus is still speaking in the famous words of 3:16, or whether the Gospel writer has begun his own reflection. The draft keeps the speech running to 3:21 and marks the choice as uncertain, with a footnote. See Translating John 3:16.
”I am.” Where Jesus says “I am” with nothing after it, a meaning decision explains that the words echo the name God gives himself, and how sure that echo is in each place. In 8:58 every level keeps “before Abraham was, I am.”
The disputed passage. The story of the woman caught in adultery (7:53–8:11) is not in the oldest manuscripts, and later ones place it in different spots. It is translated, set off in square brackets, with a note explaining why. See When the manuscripts disagree.
Two words for love. In 21:15–17 Jesus and Peter use two different Greek verbs for love. John uses both of the Father’s love for the Son, so the change is most likely a matter of style; the draft translates both as “love” and gives the other view in a footnote.
For the Gospel’s first verses, see The Word was God, “One and only” or “only begotten”? and Grace upon grace.