The Gospel of John: Week Two Discussion Questions

1. What does it mean that Jesus is "the Light"? What are some practical
implications of this?

2. How is John the Baptist's ministry an example for our witness today?

3. What did the word "logos" mean in Greek philosophy? In Hebrew Theology?

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 4. How does John apply these Greek and Hebrew ideas to Jesus?

5. God, through John, does a masterful job of speaking to the Greco-Roman

and Hebrew cultures in a way that they can understand. How can we
imitate this in our culture?

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3909 Swiss Avenue • Dallas, Texas 75204 • 214.887.5040 • 800.3.dallas (800.332.5527) • fax: 214.887.5504
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 Guide to the Questions

1. What does it mean that Jesus is "the Light"? What are some
practical implications of this?
Jesus is the one who enlightens the men of the world. Only by Him can we learn
of the Father, and thus cry out and be saved. This means that we must go to Him
to discover whether our ideas about God are correct, and we must trust Him to
guide us on our path toward knowing God better.

2. How is John the Baptist's ministry an example for our witness

today?
John the Baptist consistently sought to downplay himself to exalt Christ. He used
the Scriptures, rather than his ideas, to teach about the coming Messiah, and once
he saw Jesus, he proclaimed His name fearlessly.

3. What did the word logos mean in Greek philosophy? In Hebrew

Theology?
For the Greeks, logos was as low as the gods could reach, and as high as man
could reach. Thus, it was the meeting place of the human and the divine. For the
Jews, logos was the personification of God's wisdom, accessible only through His
revelation.

4. How does John apply these Greek and Hebrew ideas to Jesus?
Jesus is the union of the human and the divine, because He is the only person ever
to have both natures fully. He is also the Word of God, the fullness of God's
revelation to man. As God, the path to wisdom begins with the fear and trust of
Christ.

5. God, through John, does a masterful job of speaking to the Greco-

Roman and Hebrew cultures in a way that they can understand. How
can we imitate this in our culture?
John uses words so that his readers, whether Greco-Roman or Hebrew, would
immediately understand his claims about Jesus. This level of clarity required him
to know His audiences well. This must be out desire as well. To communicate the
truth of the Gospel effectively, we must know our audience and adapt our
methods accordingly. But we should not change the message of Christ.

Dallas Theological Seminary

3909 Swiss Avenue • Dallas, Texas 75204 • 214.887.5040 • 800.3.dallas (800.332.5527) • fax: 214.887.5504
www.dts.edu