Attempts to understand the purpose of the Gospel according to John almost always and inevitably focus on John 20:30–31. This so-called true ending is an explicit purpose statement. The goal of this presentation, however, is not to recount how the scholars have spoken of purpose and John in former times up to the present, but to offer a proposal that perhaps John 20:30–31 is not the stated purpose of John’s account of the Gospel but rather the stated purpose of the selection of the specific signs and their saving or strengthening power, depending of how one resolves the text-critical issue involving ἵνα πιστεύσητε or ἵνα πιστεύητε.
If John 20:30–31 is not the stated purpose of the account as a whole, then what is? John 1:18 is offered for consideration. A brief analysis of John 20:30–31 to demonstrate its limited scope is provided first. This is followed by some relevant observations and analysis of the introduction (1:1–5) to John’s prologue (1:1–18), especially 1:1–2a. Next is an examination of the two declarations in John 1:18, translated here for now (in a way to retain ambiguity) as “(1) No one has seen God at any time. (2) The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, that one has explained.” Finally, some conclusions are drawn on what this means for the rest of the Gospel according to John and how it might affect the way it is read and understood, especially the understanding of θεός.