1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
I can picture a white-bearded John the Elder (as he so labeled himself in one of his epistles) standing on a high precipice overlooking the many regions of the Middle East; at the same time scanning in his mind the literary landscape regarding what had, thus far, been written about Jesus, the Risen Messiah. It’s probably somewhere around 90 A.D. and Mark’s Gospel has been steadily circulating the Greek-speaking world for many decades. Matthew’s account, written primarily for a Jewish audience, connected the dots of the Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled in and through Christ. Luke, the beloved and meticulous physician, wrote a very detailed account of all that Jesus did and said. Perhaps to some people, this three-fold witness conveniently reflected the Trinity, and seemed to be complete.
But not to John. He didn’t want to just add to what was already written, to merely recall what He remembered Jesus doing; but rather, He wanted to convincingly communicate who...Jesus...is. Who someone is can and often goes much deeper that their list of accomplishments. Although the Children of Israel saw the acts of God, they didn’t know Him like Moses did. “He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” (Psalm 103:7)
Think of it: John writes as one who has spent a lifetime contemplating his Lord’s words and deeds, the joy and treasure of his heart and memory, for sure. John’s lofty introduction, which some say was first written as (or later made into) an early Christian hymn leaves no doubt as to where the author of this book stood in regards to Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is the Word, the Logos, the living expression of Father God’s mind and Heart, the Creator, the Light, with God and truly God. He is the Son of God and God, the Eternal Son!
Just in the first chapter alone we find twenty-one of John’s descriptive titles of Jesus: The author writes that He is...the Word (v. 1) the Maker of all things (v. 2), the embodiment of life and light (v. 3), the Giver of grace and truth (v. 15), Jesus (the) Christ (v. 17), the One and Only Son (v. 18), etc.
John testifies so that we will believe...believe that Jesus is the Christ, the One sent from the Father to rescue us from sin and death. John, the Beloved functions more than just as a witness, but also as the lawyer in this trial of eternal consequences. Not only does he bear witness to what he has seen, but he’s the one who decides who takes the witness stand, in what order, and for how long. Also, just as lawyers do, he carefully chooses what not to present, as well as what evidence to submit.
There were many other important things that Jesus said and did that John did not touch upon at all. John’s purpose, as mentioned earlier, was not to write an orderly account of all that Jesus did and said (like Doctor Luke), or to primarily connect the Messiah with the Old Testament prophecies (like Matthew). It’s absolutely amazing to consider the things that John fails to mention, such as Jesus’ genealogy and His birth. Jesus performed no exorcisms in the Gospel of John although it embodied a large part of His ministry. Neither can you find the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord’s Prayer or even a list of the twelve apostles. The transfiguration, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the agony of Gethsemane and even the ascension are all omitted. Even the last supper is absent! John, the lawyer, is on a mission: to present evidence that will convince you and I of who Jesus is. Period.
John omits...
The birth of Jesus,
His baptism,
The temptation in the wilderness,
The Sermon on the Mount,
Naming the twelve disciples,
The Lord's Prayer
Parables, (except the parable of the Good Shepherd)
Exorcisms,
The transfiguration,
The Ascension and any details of the second coming.
John also left out...
Jesus weeping over Jerusalem,
His triumphal entry,
The last supper and communion,
His agony in Gethsemane,
The cry of Jesus on the cross, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus' promise to the repentant thief: “Today you'll be with me in paradise,” and
Jesus prayer from the cross, “Forgive them, Father, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Unlike the Synoptic writers (Matthew, Mark and Luke) John didn’t begin at the Baptist’s forerunner ministry. John begins in eternity! Under divine unction, one day John took up a writing instrument in his hand, and wrote...
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. (1:1-2)
Moffatt’s version reads, “Originally was the Word.” Those words echo the opening scene in Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
In the Genesis account of creation we see the Earth without form and void, with darkness covering the face of the deep. Then God speaks and light shines. Stars and suns and planets burst forth from nothing! Soon the earth, the skies, the seas, plants, animals, and humans are given the gift of existence.
John is expressing in the beginning of this Gospel the re-creation of fallen mankind. Within the darkness of a fallen, sin-filled world God has spoken again. But instead of saying, “Let there be Light,” or more precisely in the Hebrew, “Light be!” Father now says, “Light...become...a man,” and God’s Word, God’s Light, God’s Life, God’s Eternal Son comes into our darkened world. Paul later compared Genesis 1:3 with Jesus’ entry into our hearts:
For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
“The Word,” a translation of the Greek word “Logos,” is a title only used in John’s Gospel and nowhere else in the New Testament. To summarize its definition, for the Greeks, Logos is the rational principle behind the universe that makes it an orderly place. For the Jews, God created the world through His Logos, His Word. (“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light”; “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.” Genesis 1:3; Psalm 33:6).
D. A. Carson writes, “The wealth of possible backgrounds to the term logos in John’s prologue suggests that the determining factor is not this or that background but the church’s experience of Jesus Christ... This is not to say the background is irrelevant…[but] it cannot by itself determine exactly what John means by logos. For that information, while thinking through the background uses, we must above all listen to the Evangelist himself.”
John makes it clear Who this Logos is, God and with God. But how can this Being called “The Word” be both with God and God at the same time? It’s because there is a oneness between the Word and God, and yet there also is a distinctness. Huh? John will further explain this intimate relationship as being between the heavenly Father and His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the eternal Son of God who is also God, the Son. God has revealed Himself to us through this and other scriptures in the three distinct Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Regarding Logos Huntzinger writes, “John also uses this term throughout his gospel. In fact, he uses it thirty-five times outside of chapter one, most often in reference to Jesus’ teaching...John intends to connect ‘the Word in the beginning with God’ with the word spoken by Jesus throughout His ministry...the Word present at creation continues to perform the creative will of God throughout Jesus’ own teaching.” Huntzinger then lists a selection of passages that link logos with Jesus.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (1:3)
This verse points to the original creation of the heavens and the Earth, and the Logos being God’s agent in creation. The following verse speaks of the recreation of fallen, darkened mankind by the very same Word of God.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (1:4-5)
The meaning of “the light” goes beyond reason or insight. In John, light is a synonym for revelation and salvation, and darkness refer to that which is evil or false. The light continues to shine through Jesus as He recreates and restores our relationship with God. Some versions translate the Greek word used here “comprehend” as extinguish or overpower. The Amplified Bible states all the various ways this Greek word could be translated:
And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it].
Instead of John trying to express numerous thoughts here, I feel the New International Version translators (and the New King James, KJV and NASB) correctly translate it as, “the darkness has not understood or comprehended the light.” John sees a world darkened by spiritual ignorance, filled with people whose lives need the re-creative touch of God. So, God once again speaks and the Word enters into our world. During Creation God spoke through His Son, and during the process of re-creation God is said to have spoken by (or in) His Son.
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. (Hebrews 1:1-2, NASB)
The Light of Eternal Life, the Eternal Son, the Word of God has come into our fallen, spiritually darkened world and, yet, many people will not comprehend who He is unless there arises enlightened witnesses who will stand up and boldly testify of Him through words and deeds. God needs for His sons and daughters on this Earth to mature and accept the calling of being sent as witnesses to our darkened world.
Not long after the attorney begins his opening statements (briefly but clearly outlining his clear-cut position) he’s ready to call his first witness, John the Baptist.
6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
John announces this first witness, giving the reason for John the Baptist’s testimony: so that all might believe in Jesus.
I believe there’s a big THEREFORE between verses five and six. It might read, “And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Therefore there came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.” Perhaps as John the Baptist is walking to the witness stand the author/attorney concludes his opening statements regarding who this Jesus really is...the true Light, the Giver of new life, grace, and truth and the Revealer of the heart of the Father.
9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his 1name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Jesus comes home to His own creation and His own Jewish people and they do not receive Him. But for those who do receive Him, wonderful things happen. To receive Him is to believe in His name or His deity, in other words, believing who He says He is. You can believe Jesus was a historical figure and it will do you no good. You can even believe He lived and died and was a great moral teacher and religious leader, and still die without Him.
If you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins. (8:34) Positively, Jesus said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.’(6:47)
So the world (as a whole) and His own people (as a whole) have not yet received Him. Why is it so important to receive Jesus through believing in His Name? That is the only way we can become born of God (which is elaborated on in the first of the seven signs). For those who receive Him and believe in Him, the Gospel of John describes at least twenty-five blessings freely given to us. When Christ is believed in (for who He says He is) and received into our hearts by faith...
1. we become children of God. – 1:12
2. we are born of God. – 1:13
3. our sins are taken away. – 1:29
4. we are born again. – 3:3
5. we are born of the spirit. – 3:5
6. we have eternal life. – 3:15
7. we have everlasting life. – 3:16
8. we are saved. – 3:17
9. we are not condemned. – 3:18
10. we have living water springing up into everlasting life. - 4:14
11. we have salvation. – 4:22
12. we have a worshipping relationship with the Father. – 4:23
13. we shall not come into judgment. – 5:24
14. we have passed from death into life. – 5:24
15. we live forever. – 6:58
16. we have rivers of living water flowing from our hearts. - 7:38
17. we have the light of life. - 8:12
18. we know the truth, and are free indeed. - 8:32
19. we, as sons, shall abide in God’s household forever.
20. we shall never see or taste death. – 8:52
21. we have life, and have it more abundantly. -10:10
22. we shall never perish. – 10:28
23. we shall never die. – 11:26
24. we become sons of light. – 12:36
25. we have a place prepared for us in Father’s house. – 14:2
Of all these tremendous blessings, is it any wonder the first one mentioned (the law of first instances) is the greatest of all: we become children of God.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
What does it mean to become a child of God? John writes about two kinds of life: One is from above and one is from below. One is in the flesh and the other is in the spirit. One is earthly sonship and the other is heavenly sonship. Natural birth does not enable a person to become a child of God, not even if one can trace his lineage back to father Abraham. There is only one way to the Heavenly Father, and it requires a spiritual rebirth that comes from receiving Jesus Christ, the Lord.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Becoming flesh does not mean the Word ceased to be God; rather, the Word, who is God, also took on humanity; the most incredible event ever. “The eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, infinitely holy Son of God took on a human nature and lived among humanity as one who was both God and man at the same time, in one person.”
The Greek verb for “made his dwelling among us” means to live in a tabernacle or a tent. As God’s glory rested on the Old Testament tabernacle which Moses built according to the pattern shown him on Mt. Sinai, so now the glory of God rests upon the Messiah. The Eternal Son becomes a human being to communicate to the world God’s glory, not in a show of lightning and thunder like on Mount Sinai with Moses, but in a revelation of God's grace and truth. When John declares that we have seen His glory, it seems at first that he was referring to the Transfiguration, and yet John omitted this mountain-top experience in his Gospel. What manifestation of glory was he therefore referring to? Morris writes, “The glory that had been manifested in one way or another in the wilderness wanderings and later, as at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, was manifested in its fullness in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.” This glory was not seen in flashes of thunder, but in a life of humble service and unfathomable sacrifice.
15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’” 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (1:17)
Moses did not take God’s people into the Promised Land. That was Joshua’s task. And in the same way, although the law was good, it takes the grace and truth that Jesus brings to complete the plans of God. The point is that the law isn’t bad and Jesus is good, but that both the giving of the law and the coming of Jesus to Earth mark decisive events in the history of salvation. NT Wright states,
The law was and is a good thing (we mustn't make the mistake that some early Christians made, of supposing that Jesus and Paul were dismissing the law as a bad thing), but it's whole point was not to enable you to look good in your own estimation, or to show off to those around, but to bring you to the Messiah. p. 69
Moses is another theme that flows through this amazing Gospel, found in nine other verses, including:
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,” (3:14)
“But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” (5:45, 46)
“I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.” (John 6:32)
Moses was the savior in the Old Testament, the deliverer sent from God to bring the Children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Moses declared that one day God would raise up another prophet like him, who according to Luke’s record of Steven’s sermon in the Book of Acts, is Jesus the Messiah.
“Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’” (Acts 3:22-23)
Jesus has come to free us from slavery to sin and to bring us into the promised land of sonship with and all of its milk-and-honey blessings. (John is putting before us early in his Gospel the possibility of living in the fullness of all that is involved in being able to call God “our Father.”)
God gave mankind the law through Moses, but one even greater than Moses has now come. Jesus now brings grace and truth: the unmerited love and mercy of God and the truth about ourselves, this fallen world, and most importantly about a Prodigal Father who’s ready to restore, forgive, heal, hug and love us! The new Moses brings with Him a new Exodus, a new temple, a new birth, new grace and new truth! Truth in John’s Gospel refers to saving truth, and not just accurate information. “Knowing the truth refers to knowing the mysteries of the way God has chosen to deal with humankind and offer salvation.” And the word “true” (such as true bread, true light, true vine) refers to that which is the fulfillment of a shadow.
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. (1:18)
“No one has ever seen God, that is, in a full and complete way, but some people did see partial revelations of God in the Old Testament.” But while these partial revelations were at “different times, and in different ways,” Jesus himself said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9).
Other versions of this last portion of the prologue say:
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (NKJV)
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (NASB)
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. (ESV)
Why do some translators describe Jesus as being in the bosom of the father, while others say He is at the Father’s side? The Greek word here is kólpos:
Kólpos has the senses “bosom,” “fold” (of a garment), and “arch” or “hollow.” In the New Testament the beloved disciple takes the place of honor by reclining on Jesus’ “breast” (John 13:25). In Luke 16:22-23 the point may be that Lazarus has the place of honor on Abraham’s “bosom,” but it is also possible that what is expressed is loving fellowship. Both ideas are present in rabbinic Judaism.
In summary, we can say being in the bosom of the Father is to be at His side in a place of honor, blessing and intimacy.
As Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom, at his side in a place of honor, blessing and intimacy, so is Jesus with the Father. And this is the place prepared for us…a place of honor, blessing and intimacy with God the Father, through Jesus Christ. That is where Jesus is, and that is where He was referring to in John 12, 14, and 17:
Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. (12:26)
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (14:3)
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. (17:24)
As Lazarus enjoyed Abraham’s bosom, and Jesus’ the Father’s, so we are to follow the steps of the Disciple whom Jesus loved as he leaned upon the Lord’s bosom at the Last Supper. We have been given this place of honor, right next to Jesus as He sits upon His throne. What does it mean that it is also a place of blessing? In Christ, we are blessed beyond measure; so much so that we need divine revelation in order to grasp how rich we now are.
Paul prayed along these lines in Ephesians, Chapter one:
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (18-19)
Some of these riches are listed earlier in this same chapter:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins...
In Christ we have been blessed with...
Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms,
Holiness and blamelessness,
Adoption into the family of God,
Glorious grace,
Redemption through His blood and
the forgiveness of our sins.
John’s Gospel is so rich, born out of the heart of a man who had a deep relationship with Jesus Christ for a very long time. John is summing up his prologue (his opening courtroom statements) by essentially saying, “No wonder Jesus can fully and accurately make the Heavenly Father’s heart known to mankind, for He abides yesterday, today, and forever in His bosom.” (More about this in Chapter 20.)
Summarizing the Prologue
Just look at a list of the many themes in this prologue that we have briefly examined:
1. Logos: One who is fully divine and yet becomes fully human.
2. Creator: The Maker of all, with no exceptions!
3. Light: and...
4. Life: Jesus is the source and embodiment of both.
5. Witnesses: testify of Him, beginning with John.
6. Born of God: The blessing given to all who, by faith, receive Christ.
7. Incarnation: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
8. Glory: We have seen His Glory.
9. Son: The glory of the One and Only Son of the Father.
10. Moses: the prophetic giver of the law and leader of the first Exodus is now superseded by another Prophet.
11. Grace: and
12. Truth: He’s the source & embodiment of both.
13. Bosom: Jesus is in the bosom of the Father.
14. Revealer: He’s the revealer of the heart of Father God.
D. A. Carson wrote, “This prologue is a foyer to the rest of the Fourth Gospel, simultaneously drawing the reader in and introducing the major themes. [It] summarizes how the Son of God was sent into the world to become the Jesus of history, so that the glory and grace of God might be uniquely and perfectly disclosed. The rest of the book is nothing other than an expansion of this theme.”
I wholeheartedly agree with J. F. Foster’s comments, “Anyone hoping to write an exhaustive commentary on the Fourth Gospel will die long before they finish. The FG is widely recognized as being the kind of work in which the interpretational possibilities are almost endless. One can focus on Christology, election, sacramentalism, atonement and resurrection, the church, or none of the above.”
Lest I die before I finish this study, I will deliberately narrow my focus upon two of the above fourteen themes: witness and bosom (expounded upon previously in the introduction). Why these two? The Father is in need of mature son and daughters who will boldly stand up and be effective witnesses for Christ to the precious lost souls in our darkened world. Lest I inadvertently heap condemnation upon you for not being that type of witness yet, let me say that Father God first wants us to learn to abide in His bosom (the place where Jesus is), and then He will send us out as His conquering sons and daughters who can effectively make His love and truth known to others.
When I became a Christian in high school, I soon memorized John’s prologue. I remember walking down the long hallway, quoting these verses to myself, and I’ve been pondering them ever since; over thirty years now. One of its most striking characteristics is the verses regarding John the Baptist, namely 6, 7, and 8:
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
It reminds me of a song from the TV show, Sesame Street: One Of These Things Just Doesn’t Belong Here. You’d see a puzzle that teaches kids how to distinguish between things that are similar and things that are different. It’s usually easy to figure out; there would be three pictures of animals and one picture of a football, for instance. These statements of (and about) John the Baptist seem to interrupt the unity of meaning and the rhythm of the whole passage. Not only does the prologue introduce him as a man sent from God on the specific mission to be a witness, but it even allow him to speak in verse 15:
John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”
With the Apostle declaring the most exalted, most awesome description ever written of Jesus the Lord, the Word, the Light, the Life, the One and Only Son, throwing in these verses about the Baptist surely feels like they doesn’t belong on such hallowed ground. Because it seems to be sooo out of place, Raymond Brown (one of the foremost Johannane scholar in the world) concluded that these verses were not part of the original prologue, but were inserted later, perhaps to refute the beliefs of a Baptist sect that alleged that John the Baptist was actually the Messiah! We do read about diehard followers of John the Baptist living in Ephesus in the Book of Acts.
There is another possibility to consider, which I adhere to, and which I have already touched upon: the trial motif and the crucial and ongoing need for effective witnesses is so vital that theses truths belong right in the middle of this lofty, introductory prologue. Yes, Jesus the Light has come, but we are so blinded by the darkness of sin that many of us will not comprehend until and unless there arises bold witnesses to that Light, such as John the Baptist, the foremost example of an effective witness for Christ in all the Gospels. He is one of the most important persons in the New Testament and is mentioned at least eighty-nine times within the four Gospels.
The Baptist’s testimony that Jesus “...has surpassed me because he was before me,” is a statement declaring Christ’s divinity and refers to our Lord’s preexistence, not to His birth date. How do we know this? John the Baptist was clearly born six months before Jesus was, so Jesus existing before John the Baptist was conceived means that Jesus existed before Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb! He’s the eternal Son of God, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting!
No comments:
Post a Comment