Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Word study of "sent" in John

A few years ago I was in a Bible study going through the Gospel of John. One week we were looking at John 20:21, where the resurrected Jesus tells the disciples, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." The leader asked us what that might mean, and told us that for the purposes of this exercise, we should only rely on what we know from John. I asked him if Jesus describes his own mission using the word "sent" in John, and the leader answered in the affirmative, listing off the top of his head several reasons Jesus gives for coming into the world. I resolved then to do my own study one day of Jesus' "sentness" and our own. The following is the fruit of that study. Parenthetical references are verses in John, except those in italics, which are from 1 John.

God sent John the Baptist (1:6) ahead of Jesus (3:28), for the following purposes:
  • To baptize with water (1:33).
  • To speak the words of God in the Spirit (3:34).
Jesus was sent for a greater purpose than John (1:33; 5:33-36):
  • John baptized with water, Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit (1:33) and sent the Holy Spirit (14:26; 15:26; 16:7; 20:22).
  • Both spoke the words of God (7:16-18,28-33; 8:26,42-43; 12:49-50; 14:24), but John spoke of Jesus (1:15).
Jesus was sent for these reasons:
  • Not to judge the world, but to save the world (3:17; 4:14), that we might eternally live (3:16; 12:49-50; 4:9), which means knowing God and Jesus Christ (17:3), because the work of God is to believe in the one he has sent (6:29).
  • To judge those who would not believe in him (5:22-24,30; 8:16).
  • To be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world (1:29; 2:24:10).
  • To be the light of the world, in order to make the blind see (9:4-7) and to rescue the world from darkness (12:44-46).
  • To accomplish the work of God (4:34; 10:36-37).
  • To fulfill the Father's will, that he would lose none that were given him, but that they would be raised on the last day (6:38-40,44).
Jesus sent his disciples as the Father had sent him (17:18; 20:21):
  • Jesus sent his disciples into the world so that the world would believe in him, see his glory, and be united in belief, and that those who believe would be forgiven (17:6-26; 20:21-23).
  • To aid in this, he sent the Holy Spirit to the disciples to teach them everything he knows (16:1-15).
  • Jesus sent his disciples into the field to finish someone else's work and reap the harvest (4:37-38).
  • Whoever receives Jesus or those he sends receives the Father (13:20).

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