The Signs of Christ in the Gospel of John
Introduction
The Gospel of John is notably
different from the three earlier histories of the life of Christ. Whereas the
former, synoptic accounts bombard the reader with dozens of miracles and
parables from Jesus’ ministry, John’s record is more selective (20:30-31;
21:24-25), more explicitly theological (1:1-18), and more obviously thematic
(cf. 6:35; 8:12, 58; 10:9, 11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:5).[1]
This does not mean the Synoptic Gospels are not selective, theological, and
thematic in their presentations, only that the Fourth Gospel is more visibly
so.
The first half of John’s Gospel
(1:19-12:50), a section sometimes referred to as the Book of Signs, “sets forth
evidence for Jesus’ messiahship in the form of seven selected signs.”[2]
There is no consensus on how many signs are to be counted in the Gospel of
John. The writer of the book explicitly designates at least four events as
signs (2:11; 4:54; 6:14; 12:18), and most scholars would agree on six (5:1-15;
9:1-12, 16).[3] If
the episode on the sea in chapter six has Jesus walking on the water, this could
bring the total number of signs to seven.[4]
Andreas Kostenberger, however, admits the miracle of walking on the sea but
denies it belongs in the category of Johannine signs.[5]
He includes the cleansing of the Temple as a Christological sign to reach a
total of seven.[6] The
miraculous catch of fish after the resurrection is also counted by some as a
sign and will be included in the observations made in this paper.[7]
The Nature and Purpose of Signs in
John
John’s
use of the term sign has a
distinctive connotation. Leon Morris observes, “It is an important word which
points to something beyond itself.”[8]
The fact to which these signs point is the true nature and mission of Jesus. The
miracles the author selects “he weaves into his Gospel as signs, which testify
to Christ’s deity, and establish John’s proposition that Jesus is the Christ.”[9]
But while John uses the term sign in
reference to Jesus’ activities, the Lord prefers to speak of His works, rather than calling them signs (4:34; 5:20, 36; 9:3-4; 10:25, 32,
37-38; 14:10-12; 15:24; 17:4).[10]
The
signs Jesus performs “are simply ‘works of God,’ acts in harmony with His deity
and the purpose for which He came into the world.”[11]
Jesus calls them “the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish,” works
that “testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.” (5:36).[12]
Jesus calls men to “believe the works, that you may know and believe that the
Father is in Me, and I in Him” (10:38). He says men “are to believe not because
the works are miraculous (though this is true), but rather because the Father
is in them, the Father does them.”[13]
The
signs produced by Jesus were visible to those with the willingness to accept
them, but they were not the sort of “dazzling performance that would compel
belief” as some Jews demanded (cf. Mt. 16:1-4; Jn. 2:18; 6:30).[14]
Nevertheless, these signs were not only accepted by John and the early church. Their
actuality was acknowledged by Nicodemus (3:2), the multitudes (7:31), and the
Pharisees (11:47).[15]
Even Jesus’ enemies admitted He really was performing miracles. The only
question was what these things meant. The Jewish leaders “refused to accept
that to which the sign pointed and testified: the deity of Jesus – the fact
that the Messiah was among them.”[16]
The miracles of Jesus possessed “qualities of moral value.”[17]
They “related Him and His work to God” and “were direct evidence to His claims
as Savior, shepherd, and sustainer of man and his needs.”[18]
These works verified His claim to have come from God, as one with God, for the
purpose of revealing God.
Transforming Water into Wine
(2:1-11)
The first sign presented by John
occurred at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. Jesus is attending the event
with His disciples when His mother informs Him they have run out of wine.
Mary’s behavior and boldness in this episode may suggest she was related to the
family or somehow involved in the festivities.[19]
Though Jesus initially appears to rebuff Mary’s wish that He render assistance,
He proves willing to privately satisfy the need. Six stone pots used for
purification are filled with water at Jesus’ direction; then a sample is drawn
and taken to the master of the feast. The liquid that had been water when
poured into the pots miraculously became wine, though only Jesus, His
disciples, and the servants knew what had happened. John appears to affirm this
was not only the first sign performed by Jesus in his Gospel, but likely the
Lord’s first miracle as well (2:11).[20]
In
this episode Jesus “demonstrated that He is the master of matter; when he wills,
it obeys.”[21]
As the story progresses, the emphasis shifts from the quantity of wine produced
to the quality of it.[22]
“The wine which [Jesus] provided was superior” to what preceded it.[23]
The superior quality of Jesus’ work is a thread which runs throughout the
Fourth Gospel.[24]
Healing of a Nobleman’s Son
(4:46-54)
After
Jesus’ visit to Judea and Samaria, the Lord travels to Galilee once again where
He is approached by a nobleman whose son is gravely ill. Jesus does not even
visit the boy in person; He simply sends the father home with the assurance of
his son’s recovery. Healing the nobleman’s son long-distance may be “another
instance of John’s emphasis on ‘hard’ miracles of Jesus.”[25]
This miracle proved Jesus is “master of distance and space,”[26]
but the Gospel writer “refrains from drawing out any specific Christological
symbolism that may be reflected in Jesus’ performance of this particular sign.”[27]
No discourse is clearly associated with it, though Leon Morris suggests a
possible connection with the mention of living water made to the Samaritan
woman earlier in the chapter.[28]
It seems most likely the significance of the miracle speaks for itself as it
intuitively, rather than discursively, establishes the power and compassion of
the Lord.
Healing of a Lame Man (5:1-9)
As chapter five opens Jesus returns
to Jerusalem and heals a lame man at the Pool of Bethesda. There may have been
a tradition attributing saving power to the stirring of the pool’s water by an
angelic visitor, but Jesus’ power is clearly greater. Neither the duration of
the lame man’s infirmity nor the superstition of healing waters was a barrier
to the Lord’s miraculous intervention on his behalf. This miracle proved Jesus
is “master of time.”[29]
The truth of Jesus set the lame man “free from that which tradition had failed
to touch.”[30]
Jesus
performed this miracle on a Sabbath, creating a firestorm of controversy that
would follow Him for some time (cf. 7:19-24). It is the starting point in John’s
Gospel for the ongoing persecution which eventually resulted in His death.[31]
This miracle and the subsequent debate also “provide the occasion for Jesus to
assert his oneness with God the Father.”[32]
The ensuing discussion of Jesus’ deity is one of the most significant in the
New Testament. Thus it is an important episode in developing both the narrative
and the theology of the Fourth Gospel.
Feeding of 5,000 Men (6:1-14)
Chapter six finds Jesus back in
Galilee teaching by the sea. A large crowd of people, mostly men, gather to
hear Him but need food as the day draws to a close (cf. Mt. 14:15; Mk. 6:35-36).
After locating five barley loaves and two small fish in the possession of a
young boy in the crowd, Jesus seats the multitude on the grass and
miraculously, though somewhat obscurely, multiplies the bread and fish until
all the people are filled with food. This miracle “demonstrated His claim to
provide for physical needs, and by analogy, to provide for [man’s] spiritual
needs.”[33]
If Jesus is revealed as the Lord of quality in turning the water to wine, the
feeding sign reveals Him to also be the Lord of quantity.[34]
The
feeding of these 5,000 men in the wilderness was a significant miracle for Jews
awaiting the Messiah. This is indicated both by the response of the people, as
recorded by John, and by its inclusion in all four gospels. The multitude was
so impressed with the Lord’s miraculous provision they were ready to seize Him
violently and make Him king, presumably to start a revolt.[35]
The Messianic implications of one who could feed God’s people in the
wilderness, as Moses did, were not lost on the crowd, though their conception
of the kingdom was more political than spiritual. Their expectations were not consistent
with God’s ultimate purpose and plan; therefore, Jesus did not honor or yield
to their interest in making Him King.
Walking on the Water (6:15-21)
Later during the night after Jesus
fed the multitude in the wilderness, the Lord walks on the sea to meet the
disciples who are traveling in the boat to the other side. The appearance of
Jesus frightens these men, but it once again displays the power and presence of
Jesus as God’s unique Son. John does not devote the same attention to this
miracle as Mark and Matthew (cf. Mt. 14:22-33; Mk. 6:45-52). Some have even
questioned whether John intends the event to be perceived as Jesus actually
walking on water,[36]
or if he does, whether it is intended to be a Messianic sign.[37]
Whether it is intended as a Johannine sign or not, Jesus’ walk on the Sea of
Galilee manifests His true person, power, and glory. Homer Hailey notes:
[Jesus] showed
Himself to be the master of the natural forces of wind and wave and the Lord of
gravity and its power. Also by this manifestation of Himself, He demonstrated
His concern for His own when the winds are contrary and they are alone in the
midst of the storm. He would have them know that He is present in time of need
and that in His hand lies the control of all forces in the natural world.[38]
Healing of a
Blind Man (9:1-12)
In
John chapter nine Jesus is back in Jerusalem and healing on the Sabbath yet again.
The man who is healed had been blind from birth, but the Lord has no difficulty
in giving the man physical sight with important spiritual implications. This
miracle serves as an illustration of Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world,
one of the “I am” statements which serve as an important theme in the Fourth
Gospel. Jesus’ claim to be the light of the world both introduces and
interprets the blind man’s healing (8:12; 9:5, 39).
Healing
the blind was a uniquely Messianic miracle.[39]
No one in Scripture ever performed such a work before Jesus (Jn. 9:32). Andreas
Kostenberger helpfully summarizes the parallels between the two healings in
chapter five and chapter nine:
The sites for
both healings are pools (5:2; 9:7), and both healings take place on a Sabbath
(5:9; 9:14). In both cases the healing is rendered difficult by the attending
circumstances (lameness for thirty-eight years; blindness from birth), and in
both instances Jesus’ chosen method of healing is unconventional (5:8-9;
9:6-7).[40]
This miracle proved Jesus is “the master
of light” and “the master over adversity.”[41]
The healing of this blind man became an important metaphor for conversion in
the early church, perhaps because Jesus did not restore what was formerly
possessed but gave new sight which the man had never known.[42]
The theological significance of the signs in John is most obvious when
explicitly interpreted and expounded by the Lord as in the healing of the lame
man, the feeding of the five thousand, the raising of Lazarus, and in this case
of healing.
Raising Lazarus from the Dead
(11:1-44)
John
chapter eleven may be the most emotionally vulnerable scene in the life of
Jesus apart from His prayers in Gethsemane. The Lord receives word His dear
friend Lazarus is gravely ill, but Jesus’ journey to Bethany is delayed, and by
the time He arrives, Lazarus has been dead four days. Jesus meets first with
Lazarus’s sister Martha, discussing the resurrection hope and making another “I
am” affirmation, identifying Himself with that hope. Then Jesus meets Mary,
Lazarus’s other sister, one who deeply loves Jesus but who appears confused and
disappointed He would let her brother die. When Jesus comes to the tomb and
observes the grief of His friends, He joins them in shedding tears (cf. Ro.
12:15b). Then with sovereign solemnity, He commands the tomb to be opened and
calls Lazarus forth, bringing him back from the dead.
This
miracle proved Jesus is “the master over death and the giver of life.”[43]
The raising of Lazarus, the final sign prior to the passion narrative, “serves
as the antitype (anticipatory pattern) of Jesus’ own resurrection in the
narrative.”[44]
It also demonstrates Jesus “has given His personal guarantee that every body
now lying in the tomb will at some time hear His voice and come forth.”[45]
The import of this sign in revealing Jesus’ identity, illustrating His purpose,
and foreshadowing His own death and resurrection can scarcely be overstated. It
is crucial to John’s picture of the Divine Messiah.
Providing a Miraculous Catch of
Fish (21:1-11)
The final miracle recorded in the
Gospel of John is not regarded as a sign in the typical sense by most
commentators, but it is a miraculous demonstration of the risen Lord’s power,
nonetheless. Some critical scholars question whether the twenty-first chapter
was an original part of John’s Gospel, though a sufficient case in favor of its
inclusion from the beginning can be made.[46]
Leon Morris observes, “This is the longest account we have of any appearance of
the risen Lord in Galilee.”[47]
The inclusion of this miracle seems intended to support the resurrection rather
than belonging to the same category of signs found earlier in the book. The inclusio evident at the beginning and
end of the pericope seems clearly to reinforce the idea the author saw
“evidential value in this episode in support of Jesus’ resurrection.”[48]
The scene is once again by the Sea
of Galilee. Peter and several other disciples have gone out in the boat,
fishing all night but catching nothing. Andreas Kostenberger observes,
“Remarkably, the disciples never catch a fish in any of the Gospels without
Jesus’ help.”[49]
The Lord appears on the shore, initially unrecognized by His followers in the
boat, and calls them to cast the net on the right side. When they do so, the
net caught so many fish – one hundred and fifty-three to be specific, a textual
feature strongly suggesting eyewitness testimony – that it could not even be
drawn into the boat. When the disciples realize it is Jesus, Peter jumps into
the water and swims to shore. There the men again meet their risen Lord, share
a meal, and Peter’s commission as a witness and pastor is renewed (21:15-24).
Conclusion
Whether
John intended there to be four signs, seven signs, or eight signs in his book,
it is evident his inclusion of these events, his interpretation of them by the
associated discourses and claims, and his frequent references to them and their
significance is both intentional and theological. They reveal and reinforce his
larger message about the Son of God (20:30-31; cf. 21:25), and any study of the
Fourth Gospel must take them seriously. They are integral to John’s portrait of
the Messiah and essential to interpreting it correctly.
The signs “reveal the deity” of Jesus and “are
the Father’s testimony to the claims of His Son that He and His message are
from God.”[50] Each
sign points beyond itself. As Leon Morris notes, “The meaning of the individual
signs is to be discerned only in the light of the great work of salvation God
is doing in his Son.”[51] The
signs in John are significant because they point to the One who has ultimate
significance: Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed and Unique Son of God.
[1] D. A. Carson,
The Gospel According to John, (Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991), 21-23.
[2] Andreas
J. Kostenberger, John, (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker, 2004), 9.
[3] John
also acknowledges Jesus did many other signs which are not recorded in his book
(2:23; 3:2; 6:2, 26; 7:31; 11:47; 12:37; 20:30).
[4] Leon Morris, Jesus
is the Christ: Studies in the Theology of John, (Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans, 1989), 20-21.
[5]
Kostenberger, 204-205.
[6] Ibid.,
89.
[7] Elmer Towns,
The Gospel of John: Believe and Live,
(Chattanooga, TN: AMG, 2002), xiii.
[8]
Morris, Jesus is the Christ, 2.
[9] Homer Hailey, That
You May Believe: Studies in the Gospel of John. (Las Vegas, NV: Baker,
1973), 106.
[10]
Morris, Jesus is the Christ, 13.
[11]
Hailey, 105.
[12] cf. Jn.
9:4; 10:32; 14:10; see also Hailey, 106-107.
[13] Morris,
Jesus is the Christ, 15.
[14]
Ibid., 3; see also pp. 10-13.
[15] cf.
Hailey, 107-108.
[16]
Hailey, 109.
[17]
Ibid., 110.
[18] Ibid.
[19] Leon Morris,
The Gospel According to John, (Grand
Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995), 156; see also Carson, 169.
[20]
Morris, The Gospel According to John,
163; see also Towns, 21.
[21]
Hailey, 110.
[22]
Kostenberger, 98.
[23]
Hailey, 110.
[24]
Kostenberger, 98.
[25] Ibid.,
166.
[26]
Hailey, 111.
[27]
Kostenberger, 167.
[28]
Morris, Jesus is the Christ, 25-27.
[29]
Hailey, 111.
[30] Ibid.
[31] cf. Towns,
50.
[32]
Kostenberger, 174.
[33] Hailey,
112.
[34] cf.
Hailey, 110, 112.
[35]
Towns, 60-61.
[36] cf.
Carson, 275; Carson does, however, regard the event as a miracle and defends
the view John so intended it.
[37]
Kostenberger, 205: “The walking on water constitutes a private manifestation of
Jesus’ messianic glory to his inner circle (similar to the transfiguration) and
therefore does not qualify as a Johannine sign; nor is it identified as such by
the Fourth Evangelist (Kostenberger 1995b; Carson 1991:274).”
[38]
Hailey, 112.
[39] cf.
Is. 29:18; 35:5; 42:7; see also Kostenberger, 277.
[40]
Kostenberger, 277.
[41]
Hailey, 112.
[42]
Towns, 90.
[43]
Hailey, 113.
[44]
Kostenberger, 322.
[45]
Hailey, 113.
[46]
Carson, 665-668.
[47]
Morris, The Gospel According to John,
759.
[48]
Carson, 674.
[49]
Kostenberger, 590.
[50] Hailey,
113.
[51]
Morris, Jesus is the Christ, 8.
Bibliography
Carson, D. A. The
Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1991.
Hailey, Homer. That
You May Believe: Studies in the Gospel of John. Las Vegas, NV: Baker
(reprinted by Nevada Publications),
1973.
Kostenberger, Andreas J. John.
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2004.
Morris, Leon. The
Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995.
__________. Jesus is
the Christ: Studies in the Theology of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1989.
