Behold the Lamb

Although the Gospel of John stands fourth in the New Testament arrangement of Gospels, it likely stands first in the devotion of a vast majority of Christians. While it had its challengers, its use by the earliest Christian writers demonstrates the long history of this devotion. It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of an understanding of this Gospel for an understanding of the total message of the New Testament. In its doctrine of God's revelation of himself in Jesus Christ, it stands in the lofty company of the letter to the Hebrews. In its doctrine of the person and work of Jesus Christ, its depth challenges that of Ephesians and Colossians. In its doctrine of salvation by faith identification with Jesus Christ, it yields no ground to Galatians and Romans. Its doctrine of the Holy Spirit is foundational for an understanding of the Spirit's activity in the Acts of the Apostles and in the great sections on the Spirit in Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 12-14. Its distinctive realized eschatology, the "now" of Christ's presence and Kingdom, still leaves open the "not yet" of his coming in consummation of that kingdom. That must be a part of our working material for getting at one of the most discussed subjects in contemporary theology. Without this beautiful Gospel, how impoverished we would be in practically every area of Christian thought. For twentieth-century thought and life, this first-century book stands to challenge us in our theology and ethics. Here is revealed Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Word, as our eternal contemporary who points for us "the way" because he is "The Way." - Preface.