This page gives you ready-to-use study questions for John 1, with a leader’s answer or discussion note under each one. It works for a small group, a Sunday class, or personal study. Each question names the verses it draws from, so you can move straight from the question to the text without a separate summary.
John 1 at a Glance
John opens with the Word, who was with God and was God, and through whom all things were made. The chapter then moves to John the Baptist, who is sent to testify to the light and says plainly that he is not the Christ, not Elijah, and not the prophet. He points past himself to one who stands among the people unrecognized, the Lamb of God.
From there the focus shifts to the first disciples. Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathanael each come to Jesus through a witness, through an invitation, or through a surprising word from him. The chapter closes with Jesus promising that heaven will open over the Son of Man.
Observation Questions
Use these questions first, before anyone offers an interpretation. Ask the group to point to the words in the text and to read the verses aloud if they have not already. Keep the discussion to what the text plainly says, and hold off on explaining what it means until the next section.
John 1:1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made.
(WEB)
Read this passage at the start of the session to set the tone. It establishes who the Word is and what he has done, and it gives the group a shared starting point before the discussion turns to the details of the chapter.
John 1:14
The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
(WEB)
This verse is the center of the chapter’s claim about the incarnation. Reading it slowly gives people time to hear the phrase “full of grace and truth” and to reflect on what it means that God came to live among people.
John 1:29
The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
(WEB)
Reading John’s announcement of the Lamb of God helps the group feel the weight of the first public identification of Jesus. It is short enough to repeat, which can help people remember it through the rest of the study.
John 1:40-42
40 One of the two who heard John, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother, Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is, being interpreted, Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is by interpretation, Peter).
(WEB)
This short passage shows the first disciple finding his brother and bringing him to Jesus. Reading it aloud draws attention to the simple, personal way that faith spreads, and it sets up the application questions about inviting others.
John 1:50-51
50 Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!” 51 He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
(WEB)
These verses close the chapter with Jesus’ promise to Nathanael and the image of heaven opened. Ending the reading here sends the group into the closing prayer with the sense that more is still to come.
Memory Verse for John 1
John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name…
(WEB)
This verse is a strong memory choice because it summarizes the chapter’s invitation: those who receive Jesus are given the right to become God’s children. Encourage the group to repeat it together at the end of the session and to say it to themselves during the week.
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we thank you that the Word was with you from the beginning and that he came to live among us full of grace and truth. Help us to recognize him in our own days, especially where we have overlooked him before. Teach us, like John, to point others to Jesus and not to ourselves, and give us the courage to say, “Come and see,” to the people you have placed in our lives. Open our eyes to the greater things you have promised, and let what we have studied together shape how we walk out of this room. We ask this in the name of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Amen.
