A life that points to Christ
John the Apostle
From John the apostle we learn that nearness to Jesus transforms us, that we love because He first loved us, and that a life close to Christ overflows in love for others. His life teaches abiding intimacy with Jesus, and it points to the Word who came to make God known.
“Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved.”John 13:23
“We love him, because he first loved us.”1 John 4:19
“Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?”John 21:20
“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”1 John 1:3
Their story, honestly
John was a fisherman, brother of James, and one of Jesus' closest disciples, part of the inner three. He calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved and is shown leaning on Jesus at the last supper. Once he and his brother were so fiery that Jesus nicknamed them sons of thunder, and they wanted to call down fire on a village that rejected Jesus. Yet John was transformed by his years with Christ. He stood at the cross, was entrusted with Jesus' mother, and later wrote the Gospel and letters that overflow with love, insisting again and again that God is love and that we love because He first loved us. Tradition says he served the church into old age, urging believers to love one another.
What their life teaches us
First, John teaches that intimacy with Jesus changes us; the fiery son of thunder became the apostle of love, not by trying harder but by abiding close to Christ. Second, he teaches the source of our love; we love because he first loved us, so Christian love is always a response to being loved by God, never a striving to earn Him. Third, his long faithful life teaches that time with Jesus bears fruit that lasts; the disciple who leaned on Jesus spent his years urging others to love. John shows that the aim of the Christian life is not merely activity but knowing and loving the Lord.
How their life points to Christ
John's Gospel opens by declaring that the Word was God and became flesh to make the Father known, and John's whole life was spent leaning on and pointing to that Word. He shows us that Jesus is the love of God made visible, and that being loved by Him is what teaches us to love. The son of thunder became the apostle of love because he stayed near the fire of Christ's love. John points us to Jesus as the one who first loved us all the way to the cross, and whose love, received, remakes even the harshest heart.
Questions people ask
How did John change over his life?
He began as a fiery son of thunder who wanted to call down fire on a hostile village, and he became the apostle of love whose writings overflow with tenderness. His transformation shows that years spent close to Jesus reshape our very character, not by effort alone but by abiding in His love.
What does John mean by we love because he first loved us?
That Christian love is always a response to God's prior love for us, never a way to earn it. We do not generate love on our own; we receive God's love in Christ and it overflows to others. It grounds all our loving in the love God has already shown us.