January 16–22

John 1

We Have Found the Messiah

As you read and ponder John 1, pray for spiritual guidance in your responsibility to teach about John’s testimony. Record the impressions you receive. Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families and the ideas in this outline can help you inspire the people in your class to understand and apply the doctrine in this chapter.

Invite Sharing

To help class members share what they are learning, you might ask them to write questions, comments, or insights from their reading on strips of paper and put them into a container. Draw strips from the container to discuss as a class.

Teach the Doctrine

John 1:1–5

Jesus Christ was “in the beginning with God.”

• What did John teach about the premortal Christ? Why is it important to know about Christ’s premortal roles? It might help to write these questions on the board and ask class members to look for answers in John 1:1–5 (see also Joseph Smith Translation, John 1:1–5 [in the Bible appendix]; Moses 1:32–33; Topical Guide, “Jesus Christ, Antemortal Existence of”). Class members could also share what they learn about Christ’s premortal roles from “The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

• If you would like to use these verses to talk about the Lord’s creations, you could read John 1:3 and show pictures that depict the beauty of the earth. You might show the video “Our Home” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Invite class members to share how the Savior’s creations help them feel His love.

John 1:1–14

Jesus Christ is the Light.

• Consider asking class members to find every instance of the word light in John 1:1–14. Why is light a good word to describe Jesus Christ? Class members could share how the Savior and His gospel provide spiritual light in their lives. As part of this discussion, you might invite class members to read more about the Light of Christ in Doctrine and Covenants 84:45–46; 88:11–13, or you might refer them to “Light of Christ” in the Bible Dictionary. How can we share the Savior’s light with others?

  

  The Savior and His gospel provide spiritual light.

• To help class members visualize what is taught about the Savior in John 1, you could display several pictures (including the one from this week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families) that depict aspects of Jesus Christ’s life and divine mission. Class members could search John 1:1–14, looking for words or phrases that could serve as titles for the pictures.

John 1:35–51

We can gain our own witness of the Savior and then invite others to “come and see.”

• In John 1, the invitation to “come and see” appears twice (see verses 39, 46). We may not have the chance to see the Savior physically the way Andrew and Nathanael did, but we can respond to the same invitation. What might it mean to “come and see” in our day?

• Class members could read John 1:35–51 and share what they learn from these verses about inviting others to learn about Christ (see also “Additional Resources” or the video “Inviting Others to ‘Come and See’” on ChurchofJesusChrist.org). They could also share how they have found simple and natural ways to invite others to “come and see.”

Additional Resources

We can invite others to “come and see.”

Elder Neil L. Andersen taught:

“The Savior taught us how to share the gospel. I like the story of Andrew, who asked, ‘Master, where dwellest thou?’ [John 1:38]. Jesus could have responded with the location of where He lived. But instead He said to Andrew, ‘Come and see’ [John 1:39]. I like to think that the Savior was saying, ‘Come and see not only where I live but how I live. Come and see who I am. Come and feel the Spirit.’ We don’t know everything about that day, but we do know that when Andrew found his brother Simon, he declared, ‘We have found … the Christ’ [John 1:41].

“To those who show an interest in our conversations, we can follow the Savior’s example by inviting them to ‘come and see.’ Some will accept our invitation, and others will not. We all know someone who has been invited several times before accepting an invitation to ‘come and see’” (“It’s a Miracle,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2013, 79).

Improving Our Teaching

Help learners liken the scriptures to themselves. The same invitation Christ gave to His disciples—to come and see—can help those you teach desire to follow the Savior. Encourage learners to apply the principles found in the scriptures to their own lives and to invite others to do the same. (See 1 Nephi 19:23; Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 21.)