The Claims of Christ in the Gospel of John
Jay Wegter, Editor, Compiler
The Gospel of John is unique; a rich tapestry of theology adjoined to the life of Christ and His salvific discourses along with His seven attesting miracles. The Gospel of John is the greatest gospel, so-to-speak, since it is saturated with Christ’s claims about Himself. Together they form a perfect portrait of our Lord’s deity.
Here are a few suggestions on how to use this catalog of Christ’s claims: 1) keep this list of His claims close by as you set out to master the structure and content of John’s Gospel. 2) deepen your knowledge of the Savior as you seek to make His own claims the very contours and content of your faith in Him. 3) Consider highlighting the list of His claims which address sin, judgment, and salvation in order to sharpen your efforts in evangelism. 4) note how often Christ’s claims utilize language such as, give testimony to, or, bear witness of so that in your evangelism you might explain to the unbeliever what God requires him to believe, and what it is he is rejecting.
This same language of God giving testimony appears in First John. “If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 Jn 5:9-12).
Claim 1: Christ is Creator of all things; of the cosmos and its creatures (Jn 1:3, 10)(see Col 1:16).
Claim 2: He enlightens every man, as He is the true Light of men (Jn 1:4, 9)(see also Job 38:36).
Claim 3: In Him, salvation is referred to as becoming a son, or child of God, Christ is the source of that salvific sonship by the new birth and adoption (Jn 1:12-13).
Claim 4: He is the source of what the sinner needs so desperately; grace and truth (Jn 1:17).
Claim 5: He has eternally dwelt in the bosom of God (from eternity the Son has been with the Father, and has been held in His love). He is co-equal with the Father. He has come to earth in human form, and is the One who explains, makes known, or exegetes God (Jn 1:18).
Claim 6: He is the Lamb of God who is able to take away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29).
Claim 7: Unless one is born again he will not inherit the kingdom of God. This is a very definitive, absolute statement by Christ about the destiny of every man, woman, and child. If born again, then a child of God; if not, then there is no entrance into God’s Kingdom (Jn 3:3-8).
Claim 8: By His death He will draw all sorts of men to himself, men from every tribe, tongue, and nation (Jn 3:14-15).
Claim 9: Eternal life is only through Him, apart from Him men will perish eternally (Jn 3:15-16).
Claim 10: To remain in unbelief is to be under God’s wrath, and judged already (Jn 3:18, 36). Unbelief is a function of loving darkness, which is a cover for sin (Jn 3:19-21). Christ is able to see into the hearts of all people. Unbelief is not an error in judgment, but as Christ has stated, is an active love of darkness in an attempt to cover, or conceal one’s sin.
Claim 11: The Son of God is above all. His witness is true. By contrast, others speak from an earthly perspective. He speaks from omnipotence and omniscience and infallibility. Therefore, to receive His witness is to receive the truth of God (Jn 3:31-33).
Claim 12: Christ claims to speak with self-attesting authority. His Word is absolute, authoritative, and infallible. And thus, His truth claims are actually inseparable from His identity as the eternal second Person of the godhead. Apart from which, He could not make the claim that God the Father has given all things into His hands as the Son (Jn 3:35).
Claim 13: He the Messiah, He is the One anointed by the Father to redeem sinners. ‘Anointed to redeem’ or ‘promised Deliverer/Savior’ is the meaning of the word messiah (Jn 4:26).
Claim 14: He is the one and only Savior of the world, there is no other (Jn 4:42).
Claim 15: His claim to be the Son of God affirms that He is equal with God (Jn 5:18). His critics recognized that His claim to be the Son of God meant He was claiming equality with God.
Claim 16: He gives life to whomever He wishes (Jn 5:21), and all judgment has been given to the Son by the Father, in order that the Son may be honored even as the Father is honored. Those who put their trust in Christ are promised to pass from judgment to life (Jn 5:24).
Claim 17: He claims to be able to raise all of the dead (Jn 5:25), and He claims that all will stand before Him, for He is their appointed Judge (Jn 5:27-29).
Claim 18: The miraculous works that He does bear witness concerning Him that He is the Son of God who is sent by the Father (Jn 5:36).
Claim 19: The O.T. Scriptures bear witness concerning Him, that He is the Christ (Jn 5:39).
Claim 20: Unbelievers are self-condemned because they are unwilling to come to Christ in order to have life (Jn 5:40). Jesus Christ exposes the motives and conscience of every man.
Claim 21: If anyone truly believes the words of Moses they would believe the words of Christ, for Moses wrote of the Messiah, the Son of God (Jn 5:46) (see Deut 18:18).
Claim 22: Jesus indicates that the one great work on earth that God has for us to do is to believe upon Christ, the Son of God. This is a powerful statement to Christ’s deity and sonship (Jn 6:28-29). He claims to be bread sent from heaven who alone is able to give eternal life, and sustain our souls (Jn 6:33-35).
Claim 23: Jesus states that God the Father has given His Son a set number of individuals in the world who will be brought to God by the Holy Spirit (Jn 6:37-39). It is the will of the Father that eternal life will be given to all those who trust in the Son of God (Jn 6:40).
Claim 24: Jesus Himself will give them eternal life (Jn 6:47-51).
Claim 25: Jesus claims He will resurrect all who believe in Him on “that great day” (Jn 6:54).
Claim 26: The Son is going to ascend again to heaven from which He came (Jn 6:62-64).
Claim 27: The reason the world opposes Him is because He testifies that their deeds are evil (Jn 3:19, 7:7). In His omniscience He knows the heart motives and intents of all men.
Claim 28: His teaching is of the One who sent Him, it is not His own. Jesus says that any man willing to do the will of God will know for sure that Christ’s teaching is of God (Jn 7:17). This is the epistemological test of how we know, what we know for certain. Truth is ethical in nature.
Claim 29: Christ will return to His Father, who sent Him (Jn 7:34).
Claim 30: Believers will enjoy the ministry of the Holy Spirit whom Christ will send as an overflowing spring, welling up inside of them (Jn 7:37-38).
Claim 31: Christ is the Light of the World (Jn 8:12; 9:5). He is the source of all truth, and all certainty about truth. Apart from Him, all men walk in darkness, and do not know where they are going (Jn 12:35).
Claim 32: Apart from repentance from sin, and trust in Christ, unbelievers will die in their sins. In His omniscience (Jn 8:21-24), Jesus claims to know and pronounce the destiny of every man.
Claim 33: The content of the Son’s message is from the Father. Christ indicates that individuals will recognize Him as the one true Messiah as the result of His crucifixion (Jn 8:25-28).
Claim 34: The Son always does what pleases the Father; this is a claim to sinless perfection, or impeccability (Jn 8:29) (see also, Jn 14:30, the ruler of this world has nothing on Him).
Claim 35: Those who abide in His Word (continue obeying) are His true disciples (Jn 8:31-32). They will, as a result of continuance in His Word, know the truth and experience freedom.
Claim 36: Christ claims that He has the power to set men free from their bondage and slavery to sin (Jn 8:34-36).
Claim 37: The Son only does what His Father has determined for Him to do (Jn 8:42).
Claim 38: The unbeliever is spiritually of the devil; his spiritual Father is Satan (Jn 8:44). Thus, he is unable to hear the word of Christ in faith, understanding, and obedience. He who is of God hears Christ’s words and believes; it is the work of the Spirit to produce regeneration (Jn 8:47).
Claim 39: The Son claims that Abraham rejoiced to see His day. Abraham lived two millennia before Christ was born! By this assertion, Christ is making a claim to deity and to pre-existence (Jn 8:56-58).
Claim 40: The Father glorifies the Son; the Son does not glorify himself. Christ’s ministry is not based on personal ambition (will to power), or self-assertion—the entire ministry of the Son is based on the Father’s plan to glorify the Godhead through the work of the Son (Jn 8:54).
Claim 41: Christ came into the world for judgment, in order that those who claim to see might become blind (i.e. accountable for their pride, unbelief, and love of darkness) (Jn 9:39).
Claim 42: All who came before Him—claiming on their own initiative to be spiritual teachers, are thieves and robbers, and the true sheep did not hear then. Christ’s elect (His sheep) will not be deceived by the message of the false prophets and false teachers (Jn 10:8).
Claim 43: Jesus is the Good Shepherd of the sheep. He is promises to give them abundant life (Jn 10:9-11).
Claim 44: He lays down His life for His sheep, and He has the authority to do so, and to take it up again (a command received from His Father). His perfect obedience in His sacrifice on Calvary’s cross draws out His Father’s love to Him. Christ has other sheep to gather to Himself into one flock. These sheep are in the ‘broader fold’ of the Gentile nations (Jn 10:10, 16-18).
Claim 45: His sheep hear His voice. They recognize His voice as divine, and consequently, they receive eternal life. Those to whom He gives eternal life cannot be lost; they will never perish. His sheep know Him, and He knows them. Unbelievers are not His sheep (Jn 10:27-29).
Claim 46: Jesus was set apart, and sent into the world by the Father (Jn 10:36). His intimacy with the Father is not merely one of loyalty or submission, but He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (an allusion to the Trinity and to equality of divine essence) (Jn 10:38).
Claim 47: He is the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Christ will live even though He dies. Death is not the ultimate end of life; the believer will be resurrected to new life in a resurrection body suitable for an eternal existence in the new heavens and earth (Jn 11:25-27).
Claim 48: Christ states the salvation axiom describing discipleship: He who loves His life loses it, He who hates His life shall keep it to life eternal. This is a portrait of the kind of commitment which Christ requires of His own (Jn 12:25).
Claim 49: As a result of His obedience upon the cross, He will draw all sorts of men to Himself. His obedience in making atonement will bring the elect to salvation (Jn 12:32-33).
Claim 50: Isaiah saw His glory and spoke of Him (Jn 12:41) (see Isaiah 6:1-13).
Claim 51: Christ is such a perfect representation of the Father that to behold Him is to behold the One who sent Him (Jn 12:45)(see also Hebrews 1:1-3).
Claim 52: Jesus is the Light of the world who came not to judge it, but to save it. He will return again to judge the world and to receive the elect (Jn 12:46) (see also Hebrews 9:27-28).
Claim 53: The world will be judged by the words that Christ has spoken—words which were given to Him by the Father. Scripture is absolutely authoritative and self-attesting, there is nothing which can assume a position above Scripture to judge it, or validate it (Jn 12:48).
Claim 54: Jesus said that fulfilling the Father's commandment is the whole reason He was sent —and the commandment is eternal life: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Is 45:22). “What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told Me.” The ministry of Christ, His discourses, and His miracles, are intended to produce salvation through faith to those given to Him by the Father (Jn 12:49- 50).
Claim 55: Jesus says that there are many dwelling places in His Father's house. He claims that the Almighty God of the universe is His own Father, and that He is going to prepare eternal dwelling places for all those who have believed in Him (Jn 14:1-3).
Claim 56: He claims to be the only way to God, the absolute source of truth and life, and no one comes to possess a saving relationship with Almighty God except through Him (Jn 14:6).
Claim 57: He claims to the astonishment of His disciples that to have seen and known Him is to have known and seen the Father. What a claim this is! This is how fully He represents the Father's abiding in Him. This is the reason He's able to do the Father's works (Jn 14:7).
Claim 58: He claims that if you ask the Father in Christ’s Name (the name of the Son), that prayer request will be honored, and you will receive what you've asked (Jn 14:13-14).
Claim 59: Christ promises to send the Holy Spirit to all those who have believed. Those who keep the commandments of Christ, the Son of God, give evidence by their obedience that they love Him. Those who love Christ will be loved by the Father and will experience the favor and presence of the Lord (they will receive disclosures from the Lord) (Jn 14:1-20).
Claim 60: Christ gives His peace to His followers, not as the world gives, but He gives to His own supernatural peace that is not dependent upon circumstances (Jn 14:27).
Claim 61: If you love Him, you will keep His Word, that is, obey the commandments He has issued. In so doing, Christ claims that the Godhead will make their abode with you (Jn 14:23).
Claim 62: Apart from Him we can do nothing. Thus, bearing fruit for God, and advancing His eternal Kingdom is stipulated upon our dependency upon the Lord—manifested by abiding in Christ as one’s daily life source (Jn 15:4-5).
Claim 63: Christ assures the believer that the Helper (the Holy Spirit) will bear witness of Christ, and this bearing witness will fully accompany our witness as we preach the gospel (Jn 15:26).
Claim 64: Abiding in His word (continually obeying and believing His words) is an important condition of answered prayer (Jn 15:7).
Claim 65: Jesus claimed to be going to Him who sent Him - that is His heavenly Father - this is yet another claim to equality with the Father (Jn 16:5).
Claim 66: All things that belong to the Father also belong to the Son—this is the claim of divine Sonship (Jn 16:15).
Claim 67: We are encouraged to bring our prayer requests to the Father in the name of the Son. So much power and authority and favor does the Son have that if we bring our prayer requests to the Father in the name of the Son He will gladly bless us with the answers (Jn 16:24-28).
Claim 68: He says that believers have His peace; a supernatural peace, one that differs from the world’s peace. You will have tribulation in the world, but in Me you have peace—you have peace for this great reason, because Christ has overcome the world (Jn 16:33).
Claim 69: He has been given authority over all mankind (Jn 17:2a).
Claim 70: God the Father has given to Him a portion of mankind that He (Christ Jesus) might give to them eternal life (Jn 17:2b).
Claim 71: He had eternal glory with the Almighty God of the universe, before the world was created—in heaven, He will show His eternal glory to His glorified Church (Jn 17:5, 24).
Claim 72: True believers understand and believe, that He came forth from Almighty God, from the eternal Father (Jn 17:6-8).
Claim 73: He has the power of intercession, He prays for those given to Him by the Father, and His prayer will be answered. He doesn't pray for the world. This is the prayer of our Great High Priest. In this prayer of intercession, His salvific work is applied to those who have been given to Him by the Father (Jn 17:9).
Claim 74: All things that are mine are Thine, the Father’s. We see again this Father-Son relationship. He is the heir of all things. Everything that is the Father’s also belongs to Him. He is glorified in that relationship as the ultimate Heir of the cosmos (Jn 17:10).
Claim 75: He prays that all those given to Him may be one, even as the Holy Trinity is one. He is claiming that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one single community. He was sent into the world not only to complete the work the Father gave Him, but also to send His followers into the world as His witnesses (Jn 17:11).
Claim 76: He gives His glory to believers that they might have a supernatural bond. This glory produces a oneness, a supernatural community, a unity that the world cannot manufacture itself (Jn 17:22-23).
Claim 77: He indicates that the world has not known God the Father, but He has. He says that those given to Him by the Father who have believed have come to know that He himself was sent by the Father (Jn 17:25).
Claim 78: He claims to have made the knowledge of God clear to His followers. He made the Father’s name known—that Name consisting of the identity, reputation, honor, and glory, of who God truly is—He's made that known to His disciples. He also has made known the love that the Father has for Him the Son, and He prays that that love may also be in them. God the Father, being the only true source of perfect agape, loves the Son, who then allows us to believe, and receive that love (Jn 17:26).
Claim 79: Only He is able to drink the cup by experiencing the agony of His crucifixion—the cup is the cup of God’s wrath, His awful passion and settled anger against sin. The Father gave Him that cup to drink, and in His obedience unto death, He claims that He will drink it (Jn 18:11).
Claim 80: He came into the world to be King and to bear witness to the truth. He tells Pilate He was born for that very purpose of bearing witness to the truth (Jn 18:37).
Claim 81: He clearly declared Himself to be the Son of God. Therefore, the Jews were pressing for His execution, because in their unbelief, they interpreted His claim to be the Son of God as blasphemy (see also Jn 5:18). He made himself out to be the Son of God, and by Jewish law He ought to die, if He is indeed not the eternal Son of God (Jn 19:7).
Claim 82: There were numerous prophecies about His death which had to be fulfilled (Jn 19:36-37), for the Scriptures cannot be broken (Jn 10:35)(see also, Acts 13:26-31).
Claim 83: He claims that He will ascend back to the Father from whence He originated. He will return to the Father who sent Him, and now He sends believers out in His Name (Jn 20:17, 21).
Claim 84: The words and deeds of Christ are written down in this, the fourth gospel—and these words and deeds are recorded that those who believe might be saved (Jn 20:31).
Claim 85: Finally, He refers to all true believers in the world as His sheep. That’s an amazing claim! All believers in the world are His sheep, ultimately forming one flock—believers from every tribe, tongue, and nation, from pole to pole (Jn 21:15).