Earlier this year we finished a six-month study of the gospel of John. Along the way I noticed something striking: When you compare the words of Jesus in John’s gospel with the apostle’s own words in his three letters, you find that John, perhaps more than any other New Testament writer, talks the way Jesus talked. Several passages in John’s epistles are clear echoes of things that Jesus said—and the way he said them—in the gospel of John. A few examples:
- Jesus: “These things I have spoken to you so that My…