v. 9) I am the good shepherd" (10:11, 14)

I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25)

I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (14:6)

I am the true vine" (15:1; cf. v. 5)

It was John's responsibility to teach Christians that they can have eternal life.

There was an order of the way that John taught:

In Chapter One, Versus 1-4 John saw the proofs that Jesus was the son of God; then there was the teaching of the proof which he saw. Thirdly there was the personal aspect of his teachings, that Jesus is the Christ. The fourth is the promise of eternal life for Christians. After these points were made, John teaches Christians that by following God they can have eternal life. From this Chapter John teaches that having

Christian life is more than a profession; it is adopting a way of life.

Chapter Two Christians learn that all sin can be forgiven. If they are sincere and diligent and must be characterized by love not hate. Verses 12-17 outlines three test of goodwill with God: keeping the commandments, exemplifying Christ and loving everyone, separating Christians from worldly standards of living. Example, according to John the world lives according to lust, greed, and pride. According to John, the opportunity to living such high standards is only temporary since Christians will have eternal rewards for their good deeds.

Chapter Three discusses the benefits as well as challenges and responsibilities

The challenges are about the world not comprehending the reasons for "godly" conduct. Even when people following John are teaching and not understand why Christ does the things he does not to give up hope. John has described responsibilities for Christians: Walk in the light, confess sins, continue in truth and not to solely love the world. John teaches about love in this chapter as well. Love seeks to save. Love identifies and responds to a spiritual need. John stresses that being a Christian is not based on what they do but also who they have become. God is love no matter what so people should love.

Chapter four focuses on warnings of false teachers. False teachers are all around and only by following God's word would Christians not be led astray. An example would be if a teacher does not believe that Jesus was of the flesh then he is a false teacher. Or if a teacher discusses worldliness he is not a man of God.

In Chapter five love, faith and obedience are all woven together. John teaches by having a loving obedient faith one can overcome the world. Faith is not just facts, not divine truths, it is having unwavering convictions about the nature of Jesus. By keeping their faith they will bear fruit of love. John teaches to have confidence in their faith and an example of that is given by having prayer to be able to keep their confidence. Assurance will come with prayer. John concludes with three statements: We know Christians combat sin; We know believers are contrasted with the world; and We know Christ's mission and identity...

Basically follow God, his word and be good person and all shall be yours. It has become very hard for people to believe this it seems too simple. In my conclusion I will be discussing the validity of John and his word. What makes John's word true and factual? It has been a constant argument among scholars.
The validity of John's word had come into question because it is unlike any other book. It does not follow the same order or reproduce the same stories as in other books of the bible. It is about reflection and stands out as a different tradition. In an analysis of John, one of the arguments is that it is difficult to accept it as being written by one person. John 21 seems to have been added after the completion of John. The writing styles are different; it has a Greek style to it as opposed to the traditional Hebrew style. The most common proofs are the author was a Jew; the Author was an eyewitness of what he wrote, the Author was an Apostle and the Apostle was John (Daniel B. Wallace PhD

The Gospel of John: Introduction,

Argument, Outline). There are however other pieces of evidence: the author uses a historical presence more than any other gospel writer, it is very vivid, the natural reading of the text suggests an eyewitness wrote it, the uniqueness of it is accepted by churches it is argued that it was written by someone in authority and John had this authority.

There are other contradictions for the theory of the author. "Some of the wondrous deeds of Jesus have been worked into highly effective dramatic scenes

John 9); there has been a careful attempt to have these followed by discourses that explain them (John 5; 6); and the sayings of Jesus have been oven into long discourses of a quasi-poetic form resembling the speeches of personified Wisdom in the Old Testament." United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (John)

There are many details about Jesus not found in the other books. One example is Jesus engaged in a baptizing ministry before he changed to one of preaching.

Because of editing the events that John described were not always in order. The accuracy however is a strong argument that the testimony had been made by an eyewitness and this witness was John, Jesus' beloved one. However, modern scholars find that the evidence does not prove this.

In all of the studies, analysis, and arguments of John many will say this book was actually written by John. The reasoning being that the book had to be written by an authority figure, and an apostle, and could only be written by someone who actually witnessed it.

References

The Gospel of John: Introduction, Argument, Outline

Daniel B. Wallace, Ph.D.

A through 4

John

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops through 3

John the Man and His Gospel

Bob Deffinbaugh, Th.M through 12