John’s Gospel: Questions for John 1:19-35

Posted on November 17, 2012 by Jay F Guin

PORTRAITS OF JESUS

Lesson Two (John 1:19-35)

John’s (the Baptist) Portrait of Jesus

The Prophet (The Christ)

The Lamb of God

The Son of God

 Introduction:

John the Baptist is introduced as a witness to Jesus in 1:6-9

What was his witness?

  1. Notice John said he was not the Christ, Elijah, nor the Prophet.
  2. Yet he was identified by Jesus as “Elijah” (Mat. 11:14; 17:10-13; Mal. 4:5-6; Lk 1:11-17; Is. 40:3)
  3. Why would John not admit that he was Elijah? Did he not realize that he was?  Was he concerned that they misunderstood Elijah as the same as the Christ? Was he aware of a “resurrection of Elijah cult” to which he did not want to be identified?
  4. The “Prophet” was from Deut. 18:15 (Notice how this is used with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration Mat. 17:5)  And this is equated to Jesus  in Acts 3:18-23, which is identified with the Christ (Messiah).
  5. John implies in his answers that the Christ, Elijah and Prophet that they are asking about is Jesus, the one who was to come after him, the Messiah.
  6. Why did the question to John about his baptizing connect to his being the Christ?  What does his answer tell us about Christ’s ministry and personality? (consider the significance of the Holy Spirit)  How does this relate to how we should do our ministry and be the people we should be?
  7. Based on John witnessed at the baptism of Jesus and his receiving the Holy Spirit, he testifies that Jesus is the Son of God.
  8. Why did he come to that conclusion?
  9. What has the Gospel of John said to this point about the topic of “sons of God”? (John 1:12-13, 18)
  10. What conclusions might be drawn from linking our “sonship” to Jesus’ “sonship” based on John’s witness of Jesus receiving the Holy Spirit?
  11. What implications of our “sonship” to becoming like Christ (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 12:1-13)?
  12. Then we have John giving the recognition of Jesus being the “Lamb of God”
    1. What significance does John give to this title?
    2. What is the Old Testament significance to Lamb of God?  (consider the Passover Lamb Ex. 12 and the sacrifice of Is. 53)
    3. How does Jesus as the Lamb of God apply to our becoming like Christ (1 Pet. 2:21)?

by David Bearden

About Jay F Guin

My name is Jay Guin, and I’m a retired elder. I wrote The Holy Spirit and Revolutionary Grace about 18 years ago. I’ve spoken at the Pepperdine, Lipscomb, ACU, Harding, and Tulsa lectureships and at ElderLink. My wife’s name is Denise, and I have four sons, Chris, Jonathan, Tyler, and Philip. I have two grandchildren. And I practice law.
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