John 20:30-31

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

I have been reading the book of John a lot lately.  I really like it and it's very good.  I guess all of God's word is very good, but perhaps I'm referring to a certain specific affection that has grown in me towards this book.  Maybe that's just the case with the more time we spend in different parts of scripture.

In any case, I flash forward to chapter 20.  Here we read the purpose of this book.  Maybe it would've made sense to begin with the purpose of the book back in chapter 1, but this is John.  John isn't quite as organized as someone like Paul.  As I heard from a preacher speaking on 1 John, it's as if he switches randomly from topic to topic.  So, if he has 5 topics, he'll talk about topic 1, then topic 3, then jump back to 1, then move on to 4, then 2, then back to 3, then back to 1, then to 5, in a seemingly random manner.  I guess that's not necessarily how it feels when reading the book of John, but it did come to mind when thinking about the placement of the purpose of this book.  Then again, having it at the end kinda makes sense as well.

The purpose of this book is twofold.  First, it is written "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God".  So, the purpose is for the reader to believe that Jesus is the Christ.  The things written and how it is laid out and composed is to lead the reader to this belief.

The second purpose has to do with the first purpose.  In believing in Jesus, the reader "may have life in his name".  I guess you could argue that it's really one purpose.  Depends on how you look at it.  In any case, believing that Jesus is the Christ is the purpose, which has to do with having life in his name.  The purpose of the book should be kept in mind when reading through John.  I know I need to remind myself because it's easy for me to forget that.