Seven claims in John
Who Jesus says he is, seven times
In John's Gospel Jesus calls himself bread, light, door, shepherd, resurrection, way, and vine. This path takes each saying in its own scene, then the plain I AM of John 8:58, which made the crowd pick up stones.
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
What you'll come away with
What this path is for
Not a reading streak. These are the things you should be able to do on your own once you have worked through it.
Know all seven
Bread, light, door, shepherd, resurrection, way, vine. You will know where each one appears and what happened just before it.
Read each in its scene
The bread follows a feeding, the light comes with a blind man healed, the resurrection is spoken at a grave. You will see each claim acted out nearby.
Hear the name behind it
Many readers hear God's name from Exodus 3 behind the words. You will see why some of Jesus' hearers reacted the way they did.
Bring your needs to them
Hunger, darkness, being lost, grief. Each saying meets a need, and you will learn to pray with the two together.
How the tutor works
A tutor, not a search box
The same eight habits run through every path. They are what make this study rather than summary.
Questions first
Every lesson asks before it tells. A few quick questions check what you noticed, then Trinity explains the answer.
Greek and Hebrew, one tap away
Tap a word to see the Greek or Hebrew behind it. See what it can mean and where else it shows up.
Follow the thread
Pick one image, promise, or line. Follow it from Genesis through the prophets into the Gospels.
- Map
Galilee
LetterPhilippians
- From
- Paul, in prison
- To
- the church at Philippi
- Why
- thanks, and joy
TimelineWhere it sits
- Abraham
- Moses
- David
- Exile
- Jesus
Context that clicks
Maps, timelines, and who wrote it to whom. Get the background the first readers already knew.
Genesis
Exodus
Psalms
Beatitudes
John
Hebrews
Lord's Prayer
Parables
Acts
Corinthians
Romans
Revelation
Isaiah
I AM Sayings
Proverbs
26 paths and counting
Walk through a whole book, Genesis to Revelation, or take a short theme like the Beatitudes or the Lord's Prayer.
Bring your doubts
Ask the question you'd never ask out loud. Trinity takes it seriously, no judgment.
Feb5Maya's questions
Added 6w agoWants to know why Jesus calls the poor blessed. Reads on the train.
Apr12Next up
Just addedBeatitudes, lesson 3: the gentle. Her Bible says meek, so start there.
Pick up where you left off
Trinity keeps notes on your questions and where you stopped. Next time, it starts right there.
Every side, fairly told
On baptism, the end times, and more, you get the main views and their best arguments. Disputed questions are labelled as disputed.
The path itself
What you'll study, in order
Each unit builds on the one before it. Lessons live inside Trinity; this is the shape of the ground you will cover.
Getting started
How John tells it
God's name in Exodus 3
Signs and sayings
Bread, light, door
The bread of life
The light of the world
The door
Shepherd, resurrection, way
The good shepherd
The resurrection and the life
The way, the truth, the life
Vine, and the plain I AM
The true vine
Remaining in him
Before Abraham, I AM
Seven claims, one person
I've led a small group for six years, and honestly I was mostly repeating Sunday's sermon. Trinity kept asking what the passage actually said before it would tell me anything. Our Thursday nights are better for it.
I was baptized in March and still couldn't find anything in the Bible. I asked what a psalm even is, which felt embarrassing to type. It showed me Psalm 13, a man complaining to God. I didn't know that was allowed.
I mostly use it for word study. When I'm stuck on a Greek term, it walks me through what it can mean without pretending the question is settled. It's told me "scholars disagree here" more than once, which I respect.
Forty years in church and I'd never finished the Bible. I'm in Numbers now. Not thrilling, but I'm still going. Most days I read it before the kettle's boiled.
I'm not sure I believe any of it yet. I came in wanting to argue, and I still do. It argues back properly. It names the best objection before I can, and it doesn't sulk when I won't concede.
I ask it what a fifteen-year-old would really ask about a chapter. It gives me the awkward questions, not the tidy ones. Twice now it's sent me off to study properly, which I suppose is the point.
I read on my phone during my eleven-minute break, and it never tries to make it an hour. Last week it caught that I'd misread who was speaking in Job. It was one of the friends, not God. Changed the whole chapter for me.
I work in two languages, so I'm fussy about words. I asked why one Hebrew word is lovingkindness in one place and steadfast love in another. I got a real answer about hesed, not a devotional paragraph.
I worried it would hand my people easy answers to hard chapters. It mostly doesn't. Someone asked it about hell, and it laid out what Christians have held and said plainly which parts are disputed. I can work with that.
I sit with dying people, so I don't have much patience for cheerfulness. I'd been avoiding the lament psalms. It walked me through Psalm 88, which ends in the dark and stays there, and it didn't rush to fix it.
I'd abandoned three reading plans before this one. I went quiet for a while, came back, and it just carried on. No lecture. I'm in Isaiah now.
Before you start
Questions people ask about this path
John does not number them, but readers have long noticed seven sayings with a picture attached, alongside seven signs. There are also plain I AM sayings with no picture. The path covers both kinds.
Most Christians read John 8:58 that way, and the next verse shows the crowd picking up stones. John's first verse already says the Word was God. The path shows how the sayings build toward that claim and how others have read them.
The seven picture sayings are only in John. The other Gospels have related moments, such as Jesus answering the high priest at his trial in Mark 14:62. The path touches those too.
Start this path today
The first unit is free, and you do not need to know anything going in. Trinity will ask what you noticed before it explains a thing.
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