Podcast Summary: Grace in Focus

Episode Title: Is John’s Gospel the Only Evangelistic Book in the Bible?
Date: February 23, 2026
Hosts: Bob Wilkin & Ken Yates (Grace Evangelical Society)

Overview

This episode delves into a distinctive question: Is the Gospel of John the only book in the Bible written with an explicit evangelistic motive? Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates explore the intended audience and purpose of various New Testament books, emphasizing John’s unique, direct message to unbelievers regarding how they can obtain eternal life. The discussion raises important distinctions between evangelistic and discipleship content in the Scriptures and underlines Free Grace Theology’s focus on John’s Gospel for assurance and clarity in evangelism.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Unique Audience and Purpose of John’s Gospel

• Contextualizing New Testament Writings

  • Most NT books addressed to churches or individuals for teaching, exhortation, or encouragement, rather than evangelism.
    • Examples:
      • Galatians to the churches in Galatia, Romans to many house churches in Rome, Philemon to an individual. (01:33)
  • Some are “general epistles” aimed at multiple congregations (e.g., Hebrews, 1 & 2 Peter, 1 John).
  • Revelation is apocalyptic and focused on the end times, not explicit evangelism. (02:57)

• John’s Gospel: Evangelistic Intent

  • John 20:30-31 is cited as a clear purpose statement:

    “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.” (03:56)

  • The audience is identified as those who do not yet believe, and by extension, do not yet have eternal life.
    • “Isn't it pretty clear, therefore, the people he's writing to do not yet believe, and they do not yet have life in his name?” – Ken Yates, 04:18
  • Internal evidence suggests he may have written primarily to Jews of the Diaspora, explaining Hebrew words for non-Hebrew speakers. (05:27)

2. Common Objections to the Evangelistic Nature of John

• Objection: John 20:31 says “life,” not “everlasting life.”

  • Ken argues the context and usage throughout John’s Gospel demonstrate “life” consistently means “everlasting life.”
    • “There's lots of places in John's gospel where he uses life without mentioning everlasting. And it's obvious he means it.” – Ken Yates, 07:06
  • John’s references: John 5:20, John 14:6, John 11:25 – all show “life” as “everlasting life.” (07:06)

• Objection: John for Discipleship, not just Evangelism

  • Some posit John’s Gospel serves both, but the purpose statement (“that you may believe”) targets unbelievers.
    • “God wants them to have life and life more abundantly, but you got to believe to get the life. And that's what the verse is talking about.” – Ken Yates, 08:34

3. Are Other Books Evangelistic? Comparing to John

• Examples:
  • Esther: No mention of God; not a clear evangelistic book.
    • “How many times does the name of God appear in Esther?”
      “None.” – Ken & Bob, 08:56
    • “You're not going to come to faith reading Esther.” – Ken Yates, 09:01
  • Song of Solomon, Philemon, 2 & 3 John: Not framed to bring readers to faith. (09:46)
• Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke (Synoptics):
  • No explicit purpose statements or clear evangelistic invitations as found in John.
    • “Read the Gospel of Mark. There's no clear: Here's a gospel representation of believing in Jesus for eternal life.” – Bob Wilkin, 10:14
  • Ephesians 2:8-9— often used in evangelism—does not mention Jesus directly and is written to the already-saved. (10:27)

4. John’s Gospel as the Primary Tool for Evangelism

• Logical and Textual Reasons

  • John is structurally and thematically distinct; about 92% of its material is unique.
    • “John's completely different. I forgot what it was like. 92% of the material in John is unique...” – Bob Wilkin, 11:33
  • Whereas other books are designed to teach believers to please God, John’s Gospel aims at leading people to initial saving faith.
    • “Every book except the Gospel of John is designed to get people to please God.” – Ken Yates, 11:19
    • “The ultimate way we please God, the initial way we please God is by believing in His Son.” – Ken Yates, 12:02

• Faith Alone in Christ for Eternal Life

  • “The reason why most people flee the Gospel of John is because they don't believe that simply by faith in Jesus, a person has everlasting life.” – Ken Yates, 12:32
  • Other requirements (commitment, repentance, discipleship, perseverance) are added by many, leading them to emphasize other scriptures for evangelism, but John’s Gospel remains the most direct. (12:39)

5. Practical Application and Free Grace Theology

• John’s Gospel as Evangelistic Curriculum

  • The hosts reiterate the value of using John’s Gospel as the foundation in evangelism—“using a hammer as a hammer,” rather than misapplying other books.
    • “We're using a hammer as a hammer. We're not using a saw to try to drive in a nail.” – Ken Yates, 12:53

• Clarification

  • While people may come to faith from reading other books/verses, the message leading to faith must align with John’s Gospel.
  • Assurance and clarity in evangelism depend on sticking with John for its explicit, intended purpose.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On John’s unique evangelistic purpose:

  “There's one book that's specifically written to unbelievers, and that book is John's Gospel.”
  – Ken Yates, 03:33

• On objections to 'everlasting life':

  “There's lots of places in John's gospel where he uses life without mentioning everlasting. And it's obvious he means it.”
  – Ken Yates, 07:06

• On Esther and other books not being evangelistic:

  “You're not going to come to faith reading Esther.”
  – Ken Yates, 09:01

• On John's Gospel compared to the Synoptics:

  “John’s completely different. 92% of the material in John is unique to the Gospel of John.”
  – Bob Wilkin, 11:33

• On the sufficiency of faith in Christ:

  “The reason why most people flee the Gospel of John is because they don't believe that simply by faith in Jesus, a person has everlasting life.”
  – Ken Yates, 12:32

Key Timestamps

• Main topic introduction: 00:49–01:33
• Distinct audience of John’s Gospel: 03:19–04:32
• Purpose statement (John 20:30-31): 03:56
• Audience and context analysis: 04:32–05:50
• Objections to John's purpose statement: 07:06–08:34
• Other books and their purposes: 08:56–10:27
• Synoptic Gospels comparison: 10:14–11:33
• Free Grace Theology and practical use: 12:39–13:01

Conclusion

Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates make a compelling case that John’s Gospel stands alone in the New Testament as a book with an explicit evangelistic purpose: leading unbelievers to faith in Christ for everlasting life. While other NT writings are rich in doctrine and grow believers in faith and practice, only John directly addresses the “how” of being saved. The episode advocates using John as the foundation for evangelism—clear, direct, and written with that particular aim in mind.