The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary

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“The extreme importance of the example of footwashing is now made clear by a remarkable series of emphatic statements. Nothing else in the Gospel of John is insisted upon like this. It is all the more forceful by contrast with the lack of such imperatives connected with earlier actions of Jesus, beginning with the first sign of turning water into wine.” (Page 259)

“This is full self-expression. God is free to express completely in Jesus who God is. Such a unique act of self-revelation in history has to be told mainly through the medium best suited to unique events involving people: testimony in story form. So most of the Gospel is in the form of a dramatic narrative.” (Page 29)

“For John the question Who is Jesus? is utterly central, his opening way of answering it is ‘the Word,’ and the meaning of this resonates with all Scripture. As Martin Hengel says, ‘The Prologue is a witness to a theology of the whole Bible’⁴ (see the further quotation from Hengel in the sidebar).” (Page 30)

“The response will be the event that enables that global reach. More precisely, it will be the person at the heart of that event: ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’” (Page 240)

“Daring prayer and daring action are two sides of the same coin. They are both to be in line with who Jesus is, to be done ‘in my name.’” (Page 270)