STUDY THEME: CHRISTANITY IS CHRIST. SSO2-24-07.
“THE WORD FROM GOD.” JOHN 1: 1-9, 14-17.
JOHN 1:1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-9, 14, 15-17.
Today we begin a four lesson study of the Gospel according to John, the son of Zebedee and the brother of James, the first pastor of the church in Jerusalem.
Dr. Robertson of Louisville, Ky. has described the Gospel of John, as the profoundest Book in the world. I doubt that any of us would disagree with that designation. The first 18 verses of John 1 is a summation, or summary up of the Book. In these 18 verses we have an explanation of everything that follows from the 19th vs. of Ch. 1, to the 29th vs. of Ch. 20. All that follows is intended to prove the accuracy of the things declared in the first 18 verses.
The whole truth, as John saw it, concerning “Jesus Christ the son of God,” is found in the first 18 verses of the Gospel of John.
Some would argue that these verses should have come at the close of the Book as a summary but I am glad they come at the first that we might know what to look for as we proceed through the Book.
As we begin this study we might ask, “Why are there four Gospels and why do they seem to differ one from another? The answer to that inquiry was given by Origin when he said, “There are not four Gospels, but a four-fold Gospel. This means that to an understanding of the person and mission of our Lord, each evangelist, inspired of the Holy Spirit, has given one phase of revelation. This being so we cannot compare them in the sense of discriminating.
Each of the four Gospels begins the account of Jesus at a different point. Mark begins with the ministry of John the Baptist. Matthew 1: 1-17 begins with a genealogy that traces the lineage of Jesus back to Abraham. Luke’s genealogy traces Jesus’ ancestry back to Adam. Both Matthew and Luke tell events surrounding Jesus’ birth. John goes back before all of these to the beginning as described in Gen. 1:1
In Matthew’s Gospel we have no difficulty in seeing that the one outstanding object of the Holy Spirit was to present our Lord Jesus as the promised King and Messiah.
Mark, on the other hand, seems to be written from a different standpoint. He presents Jesus as the great Servant-Prophet, while in this world, doing the will of God. That accounts for the fact that in the Gospel of Mark there is no genealogy given.
When we turn to Luke we see our Lord Jesus presented as the Perfect Man—the only Perfect Man who ever walked this earth.
Now when we turn to the Gospel of John, we see the heavens open, and the Eternal Son of God descending from above, taking His place in the womb of a Virgin---God and Man in one blessed glorious Person—the Eternal Son manifest in the flesh. John says, “Behold your God.” His Gospel was written to establish the truth of the Divinity and Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. John’s Gospel, then, is emphatically that of the Deity of our Lord. It presents Him as the Eternal Word, who is grace become flesh for our redemption.
PLEASE READ JOHN 1: 1.
Here we are carried back immediately into the past eternity. “In the beginning” here antedates the same expression in Gen. 1: 1. There it is the beginning of creation, but here long before creation began we see the Son in the bosom of the Father. When every thing that ever had beginning began to be, the Word was.
Notice several things that are brought before us by these words:
Our Lord’s Eternity of Being. “In the beginning was the Word.”
His Distinct Personality: “The Word was with God.”
His True Deity: “The Word was God.”
The Word never had a beginning. The Son is as truly eternal as the Father. But it is not merely that He was eternally in the Godhead; scripture is equally insistent regarding His distinct Personality. This is implied in the expression, “The Word was with God.” We are told of Wisdom, in Prov. 8: 27, “When He prepared the heavens I was there.” The Eternal Wisdom, and the eternal Word are one and the same. Throughout all the ages of the past Christ was a distinct Personality in the Godhead. He was not only with God the Father but was in a relationship of equals. There was communion between the Father and the Son.
The key term in this verse and the prologue is the Greek word logos. This term was familiar to Greeks, Jews, and Christians. The average man would not know its precise significance to the philosophers…but he would know that it meant something very important.
The Word is as much God as God the father is God. So too is the case with the Holy Spirit. Christians believe in one God who exists eternally and equally in three Persons---God the Father, God the Son (the Word), and God the Holy Spirit.
The Eternal Word was all God, but He was not all of God. This infers the doctrines of incarnation and the Trinity. This is remarkable because the Jews believed in only one God. But we must not narrowly restrict the meaning of “one.”
God is not one like the number one. He is too big to be confined to one time and place or one mode of action. The early Christians were all Jews who believed in one God, but they became Trinitarians partly because that was how God revealed Himself and partly because that was how they experienced Him.
PLEASE READ JOHN 1: 2-3.
This sentence might seem to be almost repetition: “The same was in the beginning with God.” But it tells us of His unchanging relationship with God the Father. This does not imply the inferiority of the Son. Full deity was His: “The Word was God.” Just as truly as the Father was God, and the Holy Spirit was God, so the Word was God. He was the same from all eternity; that is He was the Eternal Son. He did not become the Son when He was born into the world, but the Father sent the Son to be the Savior.” He did not become the Son after he was sent, He was the Son from the beginning.
Creation is attributed to each Person of the Godhead. Here particularly it is stated, “All things were made by Him. In Ps. 136:5 we read, “The Lord by wisdom hath made the heavens.”
The Father created, but He did it “through the Word.” Jesus always was the “Living Word, but he brought things into being in His creative works.
Some lasting lessons in this passage are:
The Word, Jesus Christ, is the Agent of creation of all that exists. All that exists exists because He created it.
As Creator, Jesus Christ has authority over creation and people. We are to submit to His authority.
Whereas creation occurred at a point in time, the Word, Jesus Christ, always existed in eternity past.
PLEASE READ JOHN 1: 4-5.
Vs. 4 introduces two of the main themes in John’s Gospel---life and light. Both recur over and over. These two words are found together in Ps. 36:9: “For with thee is the fountain of life: “In thy light shall we see light.”
Christ is the light of the world who came to bring life to the world. The word life is found 37 times in John. Often this word is found with the word “eternal.” It refers to new life in Christ as a result of the new birth. People are looking for life, and Jesus is the ‘Life-Giver.”
Apart from Him there is no life. 1 John 5: 12 says, “He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life.”
That life was seen in all its perfection in Him as Man on earth. “The life was the light of men.”
Creation is attributed to each Person of the Godhead. Here particularly it is stated, “All things were made by Him.” In Ps. 136:5 we read, “The Lord by wisdom hath made the heavens.”
The word light occurs six times in these verses. Light has a double focus. First, it is revelation. God reveals Himself and in that light we see ourselves. John dealt with light in 1 John 1. God is light and He reveals our sins. But light like life, also refers to salvation from sin.
We live in a world darkened by human sin, but the light of God is stronger. There is a sense in which the darkness does not comprehend the light. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood. The most likely meaning in vs. 5 is “overcome.” “That light shines in darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.”
This is true in nature. A tiny light pierces through the darkness. Spiritually, the same is true. Jesus is the Light of the world. The dark world of sin sought to extinguish that light, but God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus overcame the words that the darkness could do and He won the victory.
PLEASE READ JOHN 1: 6-9.
In vs. 6 John the Gospel writer introduced the ministry of another man named John. We know that this man was John the Baptist, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth and forerunner of the Messiah.
John the Baptist was sent from God. He did not choose his mission in life. God chose it for him and sent him to accomplish that mission. The verb indicates an action that began in the past and continues in the present. John the Baptist mission was part of God’s plan to break the hold of spiritual darkness over the creation.
What was the specific mission of John the Baptist? John 1:7 indicates that John the Baptist came as a witness to testify about the light. The noun witness and the verb testify come from the same Greek root from which our English word martyr is derived.
John the Baptist’s mission was to point to Jesus the Word so that all might believe through him. The tense used for might believe again indicates an action that has a definite starting point. John the Baptist came as a witness. His testimony would become the starting point for many hearers’ response of faith in Jesus Christ.
In vs. 8 the Gospel writer made a distinction between John the Baptist and Jesus the Light. John the Baptist was a great man. Jesus Himself said in Matt. 11:11 that no man was greater than John.
John the Baptist had followers during his lifetime, and some of his teachings persisted years after John’s death. However, John the Baptist was not the light that gives life to believers. John came to testify concerning the True Light---Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the True Light. The word true means “real, genuine, authentic.” There is only one True Light. All other lights are not genuine. Through His coming into the world, Jesus gives light to everyone.
This does not mean everyone receives the light. The light of God is available to everyone in Jesus. However, as the Gospel writer explained in vs. 10-11, some people never recognized God’s light while others---who because of their spiritual heritage should have been the first to receive the light---willfully rejected Jesus. Still, the light overcomes the darkness for all who receive Christ and by receiving Him are restored as God’s children.
Physical life comes from Christ the Creator, and spiritual life comes from Christ the redeemer.
Jesus’ teachings give light because Jesus is the Light.
The forces of darkness cannot overcome the Light. Jesus overcame spiritual darkness.
5. PLEASE READ JOHN 1: 14-17.
The Apostle John began in vs. 1-3 with the eternal Word who was in intimate relationship with the Father and Himself God and Creator. The Word was also life and light, and He was coming into the world so that people would believe in Him. But how was this Eternal Word going to come into the world? Everything in vs. 1-13 is preparation for the incredible statement in vs. 14: The Word became flesh!
The Greek word translated became refers to entrance into a state. The Word became what He had not been---a human being---but without ceasing to be God. This is the mystery of incarnation.
The Eternal Word, Himself God, became flesh---a human being---Jesus of Nazareth. The eternal Word entered into a state. He had not been flesh and became a human being without losing or even diminishing His deity.
The word flesh was key to John’s argument against the Gnostics who claimed either that Jesus was not really God or He was not really human. John was very clear, however, that Jesus was and is 100 percent God and 100 percent man.
Jesus was neither a humanized God nor a deified man. He was and is the God-Man. He was and is as much deity as God the Father.
John also stated that the Word took up residence among us. The Greek word for took up residence is the verb form of “tabernacle” and reminds us of God’s dwelling place in the O.T. in Exodus 25: 8. After the tabernacle was finished, “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.