It was important for the Early Church to stress Jesus’ divine authority in his relationship with God. In the Resurrection Discourse Jesus is called the “Son of God”, in the True Vine Discourse Jesus links directly himself with God: “everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you”. This is linked to the theme of Jesus being eternally with God, illustrated in the Prologue “The Word (Jesus) was with God and the Word was God.” Barrett states that in John’s Gospel, there is no access to God independent of Jesus. Jesus is medium through which people can know God and receive the gift of eternal life.
The discourses instruct Christians in many other aspects of the person of Jesus. Jesus’ humanity is stressed in the Resurrection and Life Discourse as “Jesus wept” and also comforted Lazarus’ sisters. In the True Vine Discourse Jesus’ powerful capacity for love is highlighted “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” Jesus’ love will make it possible for the disciples to spread the word of Christianity. Jesus’ relationship with humanity is based on love, he calls the disciples “friends” and instructs them in a new way of life based on love: “This is my command: Love each other”. This discourse is an uninterrupted monologue, demonstrating the importance of this teaching. The Early Church is being taught that love is the means by which they can know God and access eternal life. Schachenburg supports this maintaining that Jesus embodies in himself the divine truth which becomes the way for believers to seek salvation.
The Early Church is therefore also being instructed about the work of Jesus. Jesus is there to bring salvation to people. He is vine whose branches, the disciples, will bear fruit, teaching converts about Jesus and glorifying God. Jesus is instructing the disciples, who will form the basis of the Early Church after Jesus has gone, on how to lead people to salvation, through love.
Jesus is also showing the Early Church that the Kingdom of God has arrived, through him, on Earth. This is important as the Gospel is instructing people about realised eschatology, that the Kingdom of God came in the person of Jesus. Jesus is the “resurrection and the life”. He is saying that though people will suffer a physical death, they will never suffer true death as resurrection is in the present, eternal life can be enjoyed now through Jesus and his love. This again is a link to the Prologue “in him was life, and that life was the light of men”.
However, the discourses are not simply about instructing the Early Church. The scholar Barrett suggests that the discourses reflect the debates that were taking place between Christians and Jews. The discourses are there to help demonstrate the continuity between Jewish Scripture and Christianity. Consequently the discourses contain strong themes of Replacement Theology. For example in the True Vine Discourse, Jesus uses traditional imagery from the Old Testament, Jeremiah 2 describes Israel a “corrupt wild vine”. In the discourse, Jesus is stating that he is the “true vine” as opposed to the false vine in Isaiah 5 which has “yielded bad fruit.” The True Vine discourse is a predicated discourse, as it is metaphorical. Jesus deliberately chooses a concept that the Jews would be familiar with and sets himself above this symbol to illustrate his point. Jesus is replacing the Jewish religion, which stressed solely the importance law and yielded bad fruit, with the unconditional love of Christianity. Jesus’ love, will bear “fruit that will last”.
Jesus is also using language of the divine from the Old Testament. The “I am” formula of the discourses is the language that God uses frequently in the Old Testament: “I am who I am” Exodus. Yahweh, the name used for God by the Jews literally means “he is”. Barrett points out that it is the divine word of self revelation. It again demonstrates the continuity between Judaism and Christianity.
The instruction of the Early Church was a hugely important purpose of the discourses, as they serve to teach people about the person and work of Jesus. However, it is not the only function of the discourses, as equally important in the discourses is the theme of replacement theology and the link between Christianity and Judaism.