Problem: John portrays Jesus as the vine of which believers are the branches. But elsewhere the Bible calls Him a “root out of dry ground” (Isa. 53:2).

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Problem: Orthodox Christianity confesses Jesus is both fully man and fully God. Yet Jesus said in John 14:28, “My Father is greater than I.” How can the Father be greater if Jesus is equal to God?

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Problem:  Muslim scholars see in this reference of the promised “Helper” (Gk., parakletos) a prediction of Mohammed, because the Quran (Surah 61:6) refers to Mohammed as “Ahmad” (periclytos) which they take to be the correct rendering of “parakletos.”

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Problem: Matthew affirms that heaven was “prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (25:34). But here in John 14:2 Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you,” implying that it was not yet prepared at that time. Continue reading →

Problem: This verse states what seems impossible, namely, when Jesus raised Lazarus “he who had died came out bound hand and foot.”

Solution: It is not impossible. The Jewish corpses were not wound so tight (like an Egyptian mummy) that it precluded all motion. When life came back into Lazarus body he was no doubt jolted into action. He could have slid from his slab, stood upright on the floor, and if necessary, even jumped to the cave opening. Nothing more than this is implied in the term “came forth.” Having done what only He could do (namely, raise Lazarus from the dead), Jesus expected Lazarus and others to do what they could do. So Jesus asked them to unloose Lazarus’ cords.

Problem: God Himself said to Adam, “In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). Paul reaffirmed this, declaring that “through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12). But Jesus seems to contradict this when He affirmed, “whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:26).
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Problem: Jesus answered a group of Jews and said, “Is it not written in your law, `I said, you are gods’?” Does this mean that humans can become God as pantheistic religions and New Age advocates claim?

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Problem: Jesus said here, “I and My Father are one.” But on other occasions He distinguished Himself from the Father, saying “I came forth from the Father and … I leave the world and go to the Father” (John 16:28). Further, He prayed to the Father as one person to another (John 17), and even said, “the Father is greater than I.”

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Problem: John quotes Jesus as claiming that He laid down His “life for the sheep” (cf. 15:13). But Paul claims “Christ died for the ungodly” while they were still “enemies” (Rom. 5:6, 10). How can both be true?

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Problem: John presents Christ here as the “Good Shepherd.” Yet elsewhere He is a sheep (lamb) that dies for our sins (John 1:29, 36). Which is He?

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Problem: John said here, “Now we know that God does not hear sinners.” Yet Jesus said God heard the publican who prayed, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Does He hear sinners when they pray?

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Problem: Passages like Romans 13:4 present a good case for capital punishment, for the passage says, “for it [the government] does not bear a sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil” (nasb). In John 8 a woman is caught in an adulterous situation, which was cause for stoning according to the Mosaic Law. Yet Jesus did not seek her death, but rather forgave her sin. Did Jesus thereby reject capital punishment?

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Problem: This story of the woman taken in adultery is found in the kjv, the asv, the nasb, and the niv. However, the NEB places it at the end of the Gospel under the caption “An incident in the temple.” And since 1971 the rsv places it in special print set off from the rest of the text, as does the nrsv. The standard Greek NT (Nestle-Aland Text, United Bible Societies) places brackets around it, indicating that it is not part of the text of John. Why do many scholars believe this story is not part of the original manuscript of the Gospel of John?

Solution: There are several reasons why many scholars question whether this passage belongs here in John’s Gospel. (1) The passage does not appear in the oldest and most reliable Greek manuscripts. (2) It is not found in the best manuscripts of the earliest translations of the Bible into Old Syriac, Coptic, Gothic, and Old Latin. (3) No Greek writer commented on this passage for the first 11 centuries of Christianity. (4) It is not cited by most of the great early church fathers, including Clement, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Cyril, and others. (5) Its style does not fit that of the rest of the Gospel of John. (6) It interrupts the flow of thought in John. John reads better if one goes right from John 7:52 to 8:12. (7) The story has been found in several different places in Bible manuscripts—after John 7:36; after John 21:24; after John 7:44; and after Luke 21:38. (8) Many manuscripts that include it in John 7:53–8:11 have marked it with an obelus, indicating they believe it is doubtful.

In spite of this, many Bible scholars believe this story is authentic. It certainly contains no doctrinal error and fits with the character of Jesus and His teaching, but there is no certainty that it was in the original text of John.

Problem: Jesus’ unbelieving brothers challenged Him to go up to Jerusalem and show Himself openly if He was the Messiah (7:3–4). Jesus refused, saying, “I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come” (v. 8). However, only a few verses later Jesus “went up to the feast” (v. 10).

Solution: Jesus did not go up to Jerusalem in the way in which His brothers suggested. They suggested He go and be “known openly” (7:4). But the Scripture explicitly declares that “He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret” (7:10).