What Was John Thinking? Part 1

Throughout this year, I’ve been spending a lot of time soaking in the Scriptures penned by the apostle John. Our church is doing an extended series on his gospel and I’ve been teaching a Sunday School class on the book of Revelation. It sure seems God wants me to grow as a disciple of Jesus by exploring what He expressed through His servant John.

And that’s fine by me!

I’ve enjoyed the studies, and they’re not done yet, at least not for a while. (We’re in chapter 6 in the gospel and my class is covering Revelation 15 this Sunday.) So I trust that the Holy Spirit will keep instructing me as I keep my heart open to what He’s showing me.

Well, what has He been showing me? Let me answer that by saying that when we study a book of the Bible, we can pick up insights here and there about this verse or that passage. These are blessings and we should always be on the lookout to receive them.

But the Lord also helps us to see a broader picture. Based on my time in John’s writings (the gospel, Revelation, and his three letters) and books and articles about them, I’ve noticed three key ideas. When I combine them, they appear to form the central message which John was communicating.

Three Greek words (or word families) express these concepts. I’d like to share these with you over the next few posts, so you can benefit from what I’ve learned. (I’ll be using the NASB for the Bible verses in these articles.)

The terms I’m going to write about occur a lot in John’s works. Repetition isn’t the only indicator that a word is important, but it’s often a good sign.

In this post, we’ll look at the first word, “witness.”

This is an important term in the whole Bible, not just in John’s books and letters. In ancient society, bearing witness, or testifying, was the primary way to discover and confirm the truth of a matter.

In our day and age, the word has legal connotations; we think of witnesses showing up in courtrooms and answering questions posed by lawyers. Things were less complicated in the Ancient Near East than they are today, but the principle applies to that world, too. Controversies were settled by hearing and judging the reports of witnesses.

John takes this thought and integrates it into his compositions. But he does so in a specific way. You see, there are four main words in Greek for witness:  martus, marturion, marturia, and martureo. The first three are nouns and the last one is a verb.

The first noun, martus, refers to a person who testifies. It occurs 35 times in the Greek New Testament, but John limits it to five instances in Revelation. 

The second noun, marturion, refers to the content of one’s testimony. It’s found just 20 times in the Green New Testament, and John uses it only once (in Revelation 15:5). But the translators of the Greek version of the Old Testament (called the Septuagint) liked this word because it shows up 254 times in 237 verses. Most of these are in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) and deal with the tent of meeting. This was where Moses met and conferred with God and was the basis for the tabernacle. But it also occurs a bunch in the Psalms, particularly Psalm 119, where it’s synonymous with God’s Word.

While John doesn’t use these two words very much, he’s big on the latter two. The third noun, marturia, describes the act of testifying. It occurs 37 times in 33 verses in the GNT, but 81% of these are in John’s writings (14 times in the gospel, 7 times in 4 verses in the letters, and 9 times in 8 verses in Revelation). He doesn’t just use this word, he owns it! Well, that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point. The act of witnessing is something John is keen on.

The final word is the verb martureo, which means “testify.” We find this word 76 times in 72 verses in the GNT and of these, John uses it 47 times in 44 verses. That’s 62% of the occurrences, so it’s clearly a favored term for the apostle. Here’s the breakdown: 33 times in 31 verses in John, 10 times in 9 verses in John’s letters, and 4 times in Revelation.

Since this word family has forensic or legal connotations, we have to ask if John uses these terms with that in mind. The occasion of testifying and the action itself take place in contexts of controversies. People are arguing about something; they’re disputing a claim of some sort.

What claim was at issue in John’s gospel? The status of Jesus Christ. Who was He? John begins his account of the life of Christ by proclaiming His divinity and His humanity. Consider these verses from the opening chapter:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … ¹⁴And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth … ¹⁸No one has seen God at any time; God the only Son, who is in the arms of the Father, He has explained Him.” – John 1:1, 14, 18

And the testimony continues from that point on. God raised up John the Baptist to prepare the people for Christ’s arrival by testifying on His behalf (see John 1:6-8). And unlike the other gospel writers, the apostle John mentions neither the forerunner baptizing Jesus nor his arrest and execution by Herod. Instead, John substitutes the testimony of the Baptist for those events (see 1:19-37 and 5:33-35). It’s not that John doesn’t care about history; he does, but he’s not a reporter. He presents historical incidents to emphasize the status of Jesus as the Christ of God. And that was a major issue.

Because of her encounter with Jesus, a Samaritan woman testified to her village: “Come, see a Man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is He?” (John 4:29). Later, crowds in Jerusalem were debating the Lord’s identity:

So some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is this Man not the one whom they are seeking to kill? ²⁶And yet look, He is speaking publicly, and they are saying nothing to Him. The rulers do not really know that this is the Christ, do they? ²⁷However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from” … ³¹But many of the crowd believed in Him; and they were saying, “When the Christ comes, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has done, will He?” – John 7:25-27, 31

And the religious leaders argued with Jesus about the legitimacy of His personal testimony:

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” ¹³So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I am testifying about Myself, My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.” – John 8:12-14

In John’s gospel, Jesus serves not only as the content of the testimony, He is also the Exemplar of being a witness. He’s a Role Model for the disciples who, aided by the Spirit, will continue the ministry of testimony.

“When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, namely, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, He will testify about Me, ²⁷and you are testifying as well, because you have been with Me from the beginning.” – John 15:26-27

Testimony is the heart of John’s message. The gospel of John is a testimony of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Christ bore witness to Himself and He prepared His disciples to continue what He started. When you read the gospel of John (and the letters and Revelation) in this light, you begin to develop a feel for how John organizes his thoughts and presents his material. Exploring the “witness” word family helps us to understand what John offers us. And by the grace of God, we appreciate more and more who Jesus is and what He’s done for us through His death and resurrection.

But remember, “witness” is only the first word. There are two more!