This question hardly necessitates an answer. So many believers treasure the Gospel of John for its beautiful simplicity and approachability. Verses from John’s writings have been inscribed into us: “For God so loved the world…” (3:16), “I have come that they may have life…” (10:10), “I am the resurrection and the life…” (11:25). These verses are so familiar and beloved to us, but there is a profundity behind the simple language of John that we might miss if we do not see the central thought of the Gospel of John.

LIFE AND BUILDING

The first chapter of the Gospel of John conveys to us the theme of the entire book. This central thought of the book of John is described in a footnote for verse 1:4 in the Recovery Version of the New Testament. It states that “the introduction to this Gospel is composed of this entire chapter; it begins with life (v. 4) and ends with building (vv. 42, 51), that is, with the house of God. Hence, it is an introduction to life and building.”

Life and building may be common words in our vocabulary, but we need a spirit of wisdom and revelation (Eph. 1:17) to see the spiritual significance of these words as presented in the Bible. In Life-study of John, Brother Witness Lee presents to us uplifted definitions of these terms from the heavenly perspective of the entire Bible as well as from Christian experience:

“What is life?…The genuine experience of Christ as life is in the realization that Christ is God Himself dispensed into our being. This is life.”

“What is building?…Building is the enlargement of God to express God in a corporate way…If the Triune God has truly been wrought into us, the issue will be an enlargement and an expansion of God.”

The Gospel of John reveals that the Triune God is dispensing Himself as life into His believers and that the believers, as the result of this dispensing, become the building of God, His expansion, enlargement, and corporate expression—1:4; 10:10b; 11:25; 14:2-3, 6.

The central thought of the Gospel of John exactly matches that of the entire Scripture. “The Bible is very consistent. If you read it with insight and with the heavenly vision, you will discover that it begins with life and building. We also see life and building in Genesis 2. Immediately after the creation of man, life was introduced in the form of the tree of life. After the Lord God created man, He placed him in a garden in front of the tree of life (Gen 2:7-9). Following this mention of the tree of life, we see the flowing river and three precious materials: gold, bdellium, which is pearl, and onyx, a precious stone. According to the further revelation of the Scriptures, especially Revelation 21, these precious materials are for God’s building. In Genesis 2:22 we find specific mention of the building. ‘And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, builded He a woman, and brought her unto the man.’ (Heb). God took a rib out of Adam’s side and use it to build him a wife. Thus, the man was created, but the woman was builded. In Genesis 2 we see life, the materials that proceed out of the flow of life, and the building of a wife. Therefore, in Genesis 2 we have life and building.

“In the last two chapters of Revelation, which are the last two chapters of the Bible, we see the building of the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem the river of life flows and the tree of life grows in the waters of the river (Rev. 22:1-2). Thus, it is clear that the Bible ends as it begins, with life and building.

“Between Genesis and Revelation, the two ends of the Bible, there is a wide gap, a broad span. What bridges this gap? The bridge is the Gospel of John. The book of John opens with the words, ‘In the beginning.’ However, if you read this gospel carefully, you will discover that the history recorded in it has no end. Hence, it starts from the beginning in eternity past and it continues indefinitely into the future. Thus, it bridges the span between Genesis and Revelation.” (Life-study of John, Message 1)