"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life...that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you may also have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His son Jesus Christ." I John 1:1-3
Disputes over doctrine often form the battleground for denominational religion. Doctrine is important in that it tells us what lies within the Kingdom of God, and what lies outside of its realm. But that makes it more like the fence that surrounds the pasture of the Lord; it is not the pasture itself in which the daily Christian life grows and prospers. Once we are within that pasture, it matters not so much what we believe, as Who it is that we believe in. Life within the pasture is based on relationship to Jesus Christ, and it is devotion, not doctrine, that is the better measure of life within the kingdom. Christ's rebuke of the Ephesian church in Revelation 2:4 is that "you have left your first love." Purity of devotion is never intended to be sacrificed in order to attain purity of doctrine. We are not meant to spend our lives being fence-menders. Our fences of doctrine have been established by the ancient Church since its beginning; it's time to live out the liberty by which Christ has set us free. In every age of the Church there have been those who have possessed an inner delight at having an intimate relationship with their Lord. They have "chosen that good part which will not be taken away from [them]" (John 10:42), that contentment of spirit which comes from sitting at the feet of the Lord. Such a man was John, both an apostle and an evangelist, but better remembered as that "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 20:2).
John was the son of Zebedee and brother of James the Greater (Matthew 4:21-22). Since he is always mentioned after James in any listing of the two brothers, commentators have concluded that John was the younger of the two. Although he is portrayed in the synoptic gospels as a fisherman, we also know from his own gospel that he was a disciple of John the Baptist (John 1:34-40), one of two to which John the Baptist declared "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" as he sent them to follow this new Teacher come from heaven. What we see portrayed of John in the gospels is a man deeply in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, a man whose devotion grows daily as he is accounted worthy of love and trust by the Lord. Consider these Scriptures. John was one of the three (along with Peter and James) who was present at the raising of Jairus' daughter (Luke 8:51), who was on the mount of transfiguration (Matthew 17:1), who was present at the Lord's agony in prayer in the garden (Matthew 26:37). He and Peter were sent into Jerusalem to prepare the Lord's final passover meal with His disciples (Luke 22:8), during which he sat at the Lord's side leaning back on His chest (John 13:23-25). He was present at the Lord's trial before the Sanhedrin (John 18:15-16), and when it appears that all other of the disciples deserted Jesus for fear of their lives, John stood at the base of His cross and received the mother of Jesus into his care (John 19:25-27). It is no wonder, therefore, that he was one of the first disciples to run to the Lord's grave on Resurrection Day after the news of Mary Magdalene reached them, and was the first disciple to believe that Christ was alive once more (John 20:2-10).
Because of Jesus' words to Peter recorded in John 21:20-23 the rumor was started that John would not see death. What we know of his later life is taken from both scripture and church tradition. We know that he remained in Palestine until Herod's persecution (compare Acts 8:1-2 and 12:1-2). Church tradition tells us that some time after that John went to minister to the churches in Asia Minor which had been started through the ministry of Paul. It is probable that he returned in A.D. 51 with the rest of the apostles for the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-6). Paul referred to John as one of the pillars of the Church (Galatians 2:9), and it is doubtful that he would have been absent from such a gathering. At some time in his mission work, he was arraigned before the Romans for his faith, and tradition tells us that he was immersed into a cauldron of boiling oil, from which he was miraculously delivered. He was subsequently banished to Patmos under the reign of the emperor Domitian (A.D. 81 to 96) and it was on that island that he received the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:9). After Domitian's death, John returned from exile and settled at Ephesus (Jerusalem had been besieged and destroyed by the Romans some 25 years earlier). There are several sources which confirm this. Justin Martyr, writing from Ephesus in the early second century, mentions in the Dialogue with Trypho (Chapter LXXXI) that "there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ..." And Irenaeus, writing in the same era in Against Heresies (Book III, Chapter I Section 1) states that "John, the disciple of the Lord...did himself publish a gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia." According to church records, John died in A.D. 100 at Ephesus, bringing to an end the apostolic age. He was succeeded by his most famous disciple, Polycarp, but that is another story.
His gospel differs from the other three in its nature, with the same difference which devotion has when compared to doctrine. In the three synoptic gospels we have an account of all that Jesus did and taught (as Luke tells us in Acts 1:1). But in John we see the revelation of the person of Jesus Christ, at least insofar as his words were able to communicate that person. Consider the pictures which John paints to describe Him "who dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory..." (John 1:14). To John, Jesus was The Word of God (John 1:1), the Lamb of God (John 1:29), the Second Birth (John 3:1-17), the Living Water (John 4:13-14 & John 7:37-39), the Messiah (John 4:23-26), the Fulfillment of Scripture (John 5:39), the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Light of the World (John 8:12), the True Liberty (John 8:32,36), the Door of the Sheepfold (John 10:7), the Good Shepherd (John 10:11), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), the Way, Truth and Life (John 14:6), the Humble Servant (John 13:12-17), the True Vine (John 15:1), the Giver of the Holy Spirit (John 20:22-23), the Son of God (John 20:30-31). These are a few of the images of one who knew Jesus, not knew about Him; it is the perspective born of devotion, not doctrine. One last thing can be mentioned of John to further bear this out. The Church has ascribed to him two symbols of his ministry. The first is the eagle which speaks of the heavenly heights which are portrayed in his gospel. The second is the chalice which Jesus told him he would drink of in Matthew 20:23 after his mother asked preference for him and his brother. This speaks of a deep, heart relationship, a "fellowship" as John puts it in our opening scripture, which is "with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." This is the good part which John sought from His Master which is now his eternally to enjoy. May we never confuse our practice of religion with only the mastery of doctrine. It is the depth of relationship to Jesus Christ that we are to seek so that the words of our Lord in John 17:22-24 might be fulfilled for us as they were for John; "...that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in unity, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
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