Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

scholarship, the Book of Signs is a name commonly given to the first main section of the

Gospel of John The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...

, from 1:19 to the end of Chapter 12. It follows the

Hymn to the Word John 1 is the first chapter in the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Holy Bible. Text The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 51 verses. Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text ...

and precedes the Book of Glory. It is named for seven notable events, often called "signs" or "

miracles A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...

", that it records.

Location in text

There is a widespread scholarly view that the Gospel of John can be broken into four parts: a ''

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Ancient Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier st ...

'', (John 1:–1:18), the ''Book of Signs'' (1:19 to 12:50), the '' Book of Glory'' (or ''Exaltation'') (13:1 to 20:31) and an ''

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the ...

'' (chapter 21). It is this indication by the author of the gospel that the signs are selected, which leads to the examination of them as a sequence of seven.

Seven Signs

The seven signs are: # Changing water into wine at

Cana Cana of Galilee (; ) is the location of the Wedding at Cana, at which the miracle of turning water into wine took place in the Gospel of John. The location is disputed, with the four primary locations being Kafr Kanna, Khirbet Qana and Rei ...

in John 2:1–11 – "the first of the signs" #

Healing the royal official's son With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells ...

Capernaum Capernaum ( ; ; ) was a fishing village established during the time of the Hasmoneans, located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500 in the 1st century AD. Archaeological excavations have revealed tw ...

in John 4:46–54 # Healing the paralytic at Bethesda in John 5:1–15 #

Feeding the 5000 In Christianity, feeding the multitude comprises two separate miracles of Jesus, reported in the Gospels, in which Jesus used modest resources to feed thousands of followers who had gathered to see him heal the sick. The first miracle, the "Fee ...

in John 6:5–14 #

Jesus walking on water Jesus walking on the water, or on the sea, is recorded as one of the miracles of Jesus recounted in the New Testament. There are accounts of this event in three Gospels— Matthew, Mark, and John—but it is not included in the Gospel of Luke. ...

in John 6:16–24 #

Healing the man blind from birth The miracle of healing the man born blind is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels, in which Jesus restored the sight of a man at Siloam. Although not named in the gospel, church tradition has ascribed the name Celidonius to the man who ...

in John 9:1–7 #The

raising of Lazarus Lazarus of Bethany is a figure of the New Testament whose life is restored by Jesus four days after his death, as told in the Gospel of John. The resurrection is considered one of the miracles of Jesus. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lazarus ...

in John 11:1–45 The seven signs are seen by some scholars and theologians as evidence of new creation theology in the Gospel of John, the

resurrection of Jesus The resurrection of Jesus () is Christianity, Christian belief that God in Christianity, God Resurrection, raised Jesus in Christianity, Jesus from the dead on the third day after Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion, starting—or Preexis ...

being the implied eighth sign, indicating a week of creation and then a new creation beginning with the resurrection.

Other lists of seven signs

Some disagree with this list of seven signs. John Marsh and Stephen Smalley, amongst others, have suggested six initial signs (seeing the walking on the water as part of feeding the 5000, rather than a separate sign in itself), and that the seventh sign is the

crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being crucifixion, nailed to a cross.The instrument of Jesus' crucifixion, instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus f ...

and the resurrection appearance to Thomas (20:26–29). Anthony T. Selvaggio replaces walking on water with the

cleansing of the Temple In all four canonical gospels of the Christian New Testament, the cleansing of the Temple narrative tells of Jesus expelling the merchants and the money changers from the Temple in Jerusalem. The scene is a common motif in Christian art. In thi ...

because John 2:18 includes the word "sign".

Eighth sign

Others, such as John HutchinsonJohn Hutchison, ''Our Lord's Signs in St. John's Gospel: Discussions Chiefly Exegetical and Doctrinal on the Eight Miracles in the Fourth Gospel'' (printed Edinburgh, 1892) and E. W. Bullinger, have emphasized a sequence of eight signs, concluding with the

miraculous catch of fish The miraculous catch of fish, or more traditionally the miraculous draught of fish(es), is either of two events commonly (but not universally) considered to be miracles in the canonical gospels. The miracles are reported as taking place years ap ...

in John 21:1–14.Bullinger Companion Bible ''Eight Signs in the Gospel of John''
/ref>

References

{{Gospel of John Gospel of John Cana Capernaum