THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
John: Believing On The Christ, The Son Of God, For Eternal Life
Part VIII: Believing On Christ Due To The Consistency Of His Discipleship
(John 1:35-39)
I. Introduction
A. Since one must trust in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God to have eternal life according to John 20:31, it is imperative that we be sure of His credibility in regards to the consistency of His discipling of His followers. After all, if Jesus significantly altered His discipleship ministry as to its nature during His ministry, His motives could be called into question, along with His mission and even His character.
B. Well, the Apostle John relates how he and Andrew at the start of Jesus' earthly ministry began to follow Him, and how His initial discipling work He consistently practiced throughout His ministry to His great integrity:
II. Believing On Christ Due To The Consistency Of His Discipleship, John 1:35-39.
A. The day after John the Baptizer had first publicly presented Jesus at His baptism as the "Lamb of God" and "Son of God," he was standing with two of his disciples, Andrew and what most commentators hold to be the Apostle John, when Jesus started to walk in view of the three men, John 1:35; Bib. Know. Com., N. T., p. 275.
B. Looking at Jesus as He walked, John the Baptizer again announced, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" (John 1:36)
C. The Apostle John and Andrew, hearing this claim again by John the Baptizer, left him and began physically to walk after Jesus, signaling their decision to begin to believe in and to follow Jesus Christ, John 1:37, 39.
D. The verb "follow" in John 1:37, akoloutheo, has both a literal meaning of walking after someone as well as the figurative meaning of "following as a disciple," and both meanings apply here, Arndt & Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the N. T., 1967, p. 30-31. This was the start of Andrew and the Apostle John's personal discipleship under Jesus, and it was used by Christ even after His resurrection when He told Peter after his threefold denial to "akoloutheo" Him, to follow Him, John 21:19; U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 412!
E. Jesus saw the men following Him, and He asked them, "What do you seek?" (John 1:38a), and this question carries both a surface meaning and the deeper meaning, "What are you seeking in life?" (Ibid., B. K. C., N. T.)
F. Andrew and the Apostle John replied, "Rabbi (that is, Master), where are you staying?" (John 1:38b) Since "staying" is from the Greek term meno (Ibid.), it has great discipleship implications in John's later writings:
1. This word is used of accepting Jesus as Savior in John 6:54, 56, of persevering in faith in John 8:31 and 1 John 2:19, 24 or even believing, loving obedience as a disciple, John 15:9-10, Ibid.
2. Thus, from the start of their relationship with Christ, Andrew and the Apostle John sought to meno with Christ, to believe, love and obey Him as their Master and Lord, a practice always upheld by Jesus Christ.
G. Jesus replied, "Come and you will see," John 1:39a. This directive also holds theological meaning: elsewhere Jesus told men to follow Him for blessing, cf. Matthew 4:19. Just as He first called Andrew and the Apostle John to follow Him to enjoy fellowship with Him where He abode, Jesus ever afterwards spoke of men coming to Him by faith in order to enjoy His blessings, cf. Mathew 11:28-30; John 7:37-39; John 8:12.
H. Consequently, the two disciples came and saw where Jesus dwelt, and "abode" (meno again) with Him that day, John 1:39b. This statement carries a theological overtone in view of Jesus' words in John 14:23 where He promised that if a person loved Him, he would heed Jesus' commands, and He, Jesus and His Father in heaven would love that party and come unto him to make their "abode" (mone, Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 529) with him in his daily life's experiences. Andrew and the Apostle John heeded Jesus' "Come" call, so they both saw where Jesus stayed, and enjoyed His fellowship, staying with Him for the rest of that day and evening.
I. The John 1:39 reference to the time being the tenth hour refers most likely to the Roman time of 10 a.m. rather than the Jewish time of 4 p.m., Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T. If so, Andrew and the Apostle John enjoyed many more hours that day of private attention from the Lord in His abode all due to their obedience of heeding Jesus in His initial discipleship call for them to "Come and see"!
Lesson: From the very start of His earthly ministry with His first two disciples, Christ's themes of calling men to follow Him, to abide in fellowship with Him to be blessed by and loved of God for doing so were CONSISTENTLY practiced all through Jesus' earthly ministry, even to His interaction with His disciples after His resurrection by the Sea of Galilee. He is thus the true Messiah Whose discipling program never changed or was even modified!
Application: May we trust in Jesus as Messiah and Lord due to the consistency of His discipleship work, and may we heed His SAME call TODAY to "Come," "Abide" and heed Him to enjoy His personal attentive oversight!