“Read the book of John.” Many of us have told new believers and inquirers to start there with reading the Bible. Did you know that there are at least fifty different things in the book of John chapter one that a person who has never studied the Old Testament would not know?
Ed Skowron, author of “The Bible Taproot” writes: “A sincere inquirer who knows nothing about God, Christianity, Jewish history, salvation, etc. has started to read John chapter 1 because he or she was told by a well-meaning evangelist that the book of John will teach them what they need to understand about God. The problem is that there are many concepts, people, and places that John talks about that are almost impossible to understand unless the reader has at least a basic understanding of the Old Testament, geography, and world history.”
Among the people, places, and concepts John mentions in chapter one alone: “the Word, God, the light, the darkness, John, a witness, every man coming into the world, the world, his own, children of God, the One and Only, the Father, the law, Moses, Jesus Christ, the Father's side, Jews, Jerusalem, priests, the Christ, Elijah, the Prophet, Isaiah, the voice of one, the desert, the Lord, baptism with water, Bethany, the Jordan, the Lamb of God, sin of the world, Israel, the Spirit, heaven, a dove, the Holy Spirit, the Son of God, disciples, Rabbi, Teacher, Andrew, Simon Peter, Simon, the Messiah, Cephas, Peter, Galilee, Philip, Bethsaida, Nathanael, the prophets, Nazareth, the son of Joseph, a true Israelite, the King of Israel, the angels of God, and the Son of man.”
“The person that was trying to understand the Bible by only reading the book of John might give up before starting chapter 2.” — Ed Skowron
We want to show the glory of God. We want to teach people to believe and obey all that Christ commanded us. How do we establish faith built on solid Biblical foundations? We might start with teaching the identity of our God and Savior. Then all will know who He is, how He has the right to tell us what to do, and why He is worthy of recognition, worship, and praise from all people.