Bible Challenge - In the Beginning was the Word

For this week's Bible Challenge we are starting the book of John -

Nearly everyone knows the first verse of John:  "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."  That should give a clue that this is not like the other Gospels.  And that is true.

John's Gospel was the last one written - it dates to about 100 AD - the others are earlier - between 75 and 90 AD.  John's Gospel also has a completely different purpose.  John is writing to a Greek community that already knew the story of Jesus and were devoting themselves to thinking about what the teachings of Jesus meant.  So John's Gospel is less about a chronological telling of the story of Jesus and more about showing the thread of Jesus' teachings.

The first 12 chapters of the book of John contain all of Jesus' public ministry - basically all of his life and teachings before the week of his death and resurrection.

The most famous part of the Gospel of John is probably John 3:16 - it is the best known distillation of who Jesus is and what his life and teachings mean - probably because it is the best "Christian sound bite"

If you combine it with the next verse it wraps all of Christianity up in one package:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Indeed God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."