That You May Believe: Teaching Commentary on the Gospel of John
About the Book
More people have come to faith through the Gospel of John than through any other book in the Bible. It is deep enough that scholars have lived in it for centuries, and simple enough that a child can meet Jesus in its pages. Unlike almost any other book of Scripture, John tells us plainly why it was written:
"These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:31)
That You May Believe is a teaching commentary built around that single purpose. It does not survey every scholarly debate. It helps you understand what John is actually saying, so that you might believe more deeply and live more fully.
The book divides the Gospel into twenty-three study units, grouped into four movements. After the soaring prologue, John unfolds in two great halves: the Book of Signs (chapters 1-12), where seven miracles reveal who Jesus is, and the Book of Glory (chapters 13-20), which moves into the upper room, the cross, and the empty tomb. A final chapter forms a tender epilogue. Along the way the commentary traces the sevenfold pattern John built into the Gospel-seven signs and seven great "I AM" sayings-and the words he cannot stop repeating: believe, life, light, glory, truth.
Every unit follows the same simple shape: a brief orientation, a clear walk through the passage section by section, a short "Living This Truth" application, and six questions for study and discussion. The units cover the whole Gospel, from the Word made flesh and the first disciples who came and saw, through Nicodemus and the woman at the well, the bread of life, the man born blind, the good shepherd, the raising of Lazarus, the farewell discourses, the cross, the resurrection, and Jesus' question to Peter: "Do you love me?"
This book is a companion to the text, never a substitute for it. Read the passage in John first. Then work the questions on your own, or gather a few others and talk through them together. A serious reader can move through the units over a couple of months. A group might take one unit a week across a season. Either way, do not rush the Gospel that so many have found worth a lifetime.
John wrote so that we would not merely admire Jesus or study him, but believe in him, and in believing, find life in his name. That is the prayer with which this commentary is offered-that as you walk slowly through these pages with your Bible open beside them, the Christ of John's Gospel would become real to you, and that you would believe.
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