There was once an evangelist who travelled the United States, preaching the Gospel to audiences across the nation. After he had finished giving his message, he would often take questions from the crowd. On one such day, a man asked him, “There are hundreds of religions in the world. How do we know what you’re telling us is the “right” one?
The evangelist smiled and replied, “Did I hear you say there are hundreds of religions? That’s strange; I’ve heard of only two. Yes, there are many shades of differences between them, but they still come down to only two. One covers all those religions that expect salvation by way of doing; and the other, all those who have been saved by what was done.”
The Gospel of John was written for this very same reason. Scholars believe John penned his book many years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and that he was addressing the culture around him, which included a type of enlightenment called “Gnosticism”. Gnostics believed they had “special knowledge”, and that their secret awareness of “the truth” was the ticket to salvation. If you didn’t have the special knowledge…well…you were out of luck.
And then, John came onto the scene with his Gospel account, and he flipped the entire narrative on its head with one of his own: the Truth is not a principle, but a Name. And that Name – Jesus – came for all who might believe in Him.
In John 20, Jesus appears to the disciple Thomas, often known as “Doubting Thomas” for his skepticism about the validity of Jesus’ resurrection. Thomas is adamant that he won’t believe Jesus is truly risen from the dead unless he himself sees the nail marks in Christ’s hands and the hole in His side. When Jesus reveals these things, Thomas immediately proclaims, “My Lord and my God!” It’s here that John captures the entire point of his book:
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the Disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”
John 20:30-31
To me, this is one of the most beautiful passages in all of Scripture. John didn’t say that Jesus did these things “that Thomas may believe” or “that John may believe” or even “that the Gnostics may believe”. Jesus came for you and me today as much as He came for those who lived 2000 years ago. We’ve been saved, as the evangelist in our story says, by what was already done for us by the One who could redeem ALL of humanity.
All for One. One for all. That, my friend, is the good news of the Gospel!
