The Book of John - 1
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction: We have finally come to our verse by verse study in the book of John.
The book of John begins with what many have termed a prologue.
A prologue is an introduction to a discourse.
In this case, we will discover that John gives us the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Let’s begin by reading together verses 1-14.
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 by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Let’s pray
I. Prologue - The Revelation of the Word 1:1-14
I. Prologue - The Revelation of the Word 1:1-14
A. The Word vs. 1-5, 9-14
A. The Word vs. 1-5, 9-14
“1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
There are three statements here that reveal to us the deity of Jesus Christ.
You can see that this triad of statements separated by commas.
In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God.
The Word was God.
The eternality of the Word . v1
John uses this term ‘Logos’ translated as “the Word” to express profound truth to us concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
In effect, John is declaring using this term “the Word” without apology that Jesus, who is the Christ, is the manifestation of God to us.
“The Word” is the perfect expression of God.
When you begin to contemplate this, our words allow us to express ourselves to one another. And so it is that God has expressed Himself in the fullest in the Word.
It declares as Hebrews chapter 1 does, that Jesus Christ is “...the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power...” (Hebrews 1:3)
AW Pink stated it this way, “Christ is the final spokesman of God. Closely connected with this is the Saviour’s title found in Revelation 1: 8 “8 I am Alpha and Omega....” which intimates the He is God’s alphabet, the One who spells out Deity, the One who utters all God has to say.”
When we consider that Jesus Christ is the Word, He is God’s medium of manifestation, He is God’s means of communication, and He is God’s method of revelation. (AW Pink)
The Lord Jesus Christ has made manifest the invisible God.
The Lord Jesus Christ has communicated to us the life and love of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to us the attributes and perfections of God.
When we go back and examine the other Gospel records, they declare Jesus’ humanity and deity, but neither Matthew, Mark or Luke reach back into eternity the way John does in this profound opening prologue..
John’s purposeful opening here ties us to the rest of Scripture.
And in particular, as you hear that phrase “in the beginning” we are caused to think of Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
I want you to understand that when John uses this phrase in the beginning, He is not denoting a point of time in which the Word began to exist.
But two things are given to us here:
First, we have a point of reference for us to grasp eternity.
This is made clear as we see the word ‘was’ in our English translation.
“In the beginning was the Word...”
The word that is translated as ‘was’ in our text is in the imperfect tense.
This simply means that no idea of origin or beginning finite point is being conveyed, but rather indefinite continual being.
And so, as we grapple this phrase “In the beginning” it is given for our frame of reference.
Secondly, the term, “In the beginning...” is given to declare for us His existence before anything ever was.
The Word eternally exists before any point in times past you and I could conceive of with our finite minds.
Again, AW Pink said it this way, “It is the only negative of way of saying He was eternal...” and might I say, is eternal.
Merril C. Tenney stated in this in his commentary “The expression does not refer to the beginning of some particular process, a definite localized point of time, but rather to the indefinite eternity which preceded all time, the immeasurable past. The LOGOS cannot be said to have come into being at any given moment; He always was”
I pointed out earlier the usage of the Word ‘was’ as seen in this verse is a different word then what we find in verse 6.
Notice verse 6 with me for just a moment.
The Bible says in John 1:6 “6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.”
Look also at John 1:14 “14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
YEE-NO-MA
The word translated as ‘was’ in these two verses (γίνομαι - ginomai) mean “to come into being---or to generate).
And this we would expect to see when speaking about the coming of John the Baptist and also the incarnation of the Word.
EE-MEE
But here in verse 1, the word ειμι is used (translated as was) which just denotes existence.
AT Robertson said it this way, “Three times in this sentence John uses this imperfect of εἰμι [eimi] to be which conveys no idea of origin for God or for the Logos, simply continuous existence.”
A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Jn 1:1.
And so, in this very first clause of this first verse John express the eternality of the Word.
You will find as you compare this to Genesis chapter 1, that the Bible makes no attempt to give an apologetic discourse as to the existence of God. But rather just declares His existence as truth. And so it is with the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no apologetic to declare the Word.
We see, not only the eternality of the Word, but also the coexistence of the Word.
The coexistence of the Word v1
Notice this second phrase, the Bible says, (John 1:1) “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, ...”
This statement by John speaks to the Godhead; the triunity of God.
We understand from many different passages, that Almighty God is a triunity. He is three persons and yet one God.
In Matthew 28:19 for instance we see this expressed, “19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
In Genesis 1:26 this is expressed in the plurality used “...And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:...”
The very word Elohim [God] (אלהים) is in the plural, as in Genesis 1:1.
And so as we see this expression, we are to understand that John is declaring the Word’s coexistence.
I want you to see how marvelous the Bible is, it does not state that the Word was in God, but rather that the Word was with God.
The Word was with the Father.
The term again that John uses declares not only indefinite eternal existence of the Word but places the Word in the closest possible conceivable relationship with God the Father.
Again Mr. Tenney status this concerning the words employed by John in this statement, “The preposition pros translated “with” is the same one that is employed in Mark 6:3, where the inhabitants of Nazareth expressed their astonishment about Jesus by saying, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?” It implies association in the sense of free mingling with the others of a community on terms of equality.”
We might translate it this way very clearly, The Word was toward God.
This very phrase shows us the eternal dwelling of the Word in fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit while reporting to us the distinctions of persons.
So we see here in this prologue The Revelation of the Word in His eternality, His coexistence but then we see thirdly:
The deity of the Word v1
John now flatly declares, (in guess we didn’t get it already) “the Word was God...”
One Bible scholar said this, “A more emphatic and unequivocal affirmation of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is impossible to conceive.”
Another pointed this out concerning this statement, “In the second clause the article is used: “The Logos was with the God.”7 When the article is used, the emphasis of the word is on individuality, God as a person; without the article the emphasis is on quality, God as a kind of being” (Tenney)
There is no beating around the bush here with the Deity of the Word.
This is very characteristic of the Gospel record and you will see over and over again that the Deity of Jesus Christ is declared plainly.
I am reminded on the Lord Jesus in speaking about Lazarus in John 11:11 “11 ... he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.”
The disciples misunderstood what the Lord was saying and so we find the reaction of the disciples knowing that Lazarus was gravely sick, “Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.”
But then in verse 14 we find these word, “14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.”
Here we find the same, almost as if John is speaking as plainly as possible being moved by the Holy Spirit, the Word is God!
My friend, there is no mistaking what is being stated here.
And as we will see in the next following verse, the Holy Spirit is revealing to us using man’s language the truth concerning the Word.
At this time there were welling up differing heresies concerning Christ.
One such heresy which has been termed Gnosticism denied that God became man (incarnate) without ceasing to be God.
Or that Jesus was nothing more than a man who obtained “enlightenment” (gnōsis) ---- some hidden/secret knowledge.
Of course, all of these are contrary to what the Bible teaches and thus have been termed heresies.
Does it really matter what I believe about the Lord Jesus Christ?
And I will tell you, yes it does matter what we believe.
Our faith must have the proper object of faith, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord Himself spoke about this when He questioned the disciples, “Whom say ye that I am?” (Matthew 16:16)
The Lord asked the same question of the Pharisees, “What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?” (Matthew 22:42)
I am reminded of one my wife’s friends recounting to Shannon an encounter with someone at the door, I believe they were Jehovah’s witnesses.
And as she told Shannon this story, she described how she contended for the faith concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the conversation was had, that we believe in Jesus.
And Shannon’s friends reply the Jesus you believe in is not the Jesus of the Bible.
You see, at the root of the problem is whether or not our faith will be in God or not.
Any belief that is outside the realm of what is declared to us in the Bible concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is man’s contrivances.
The Bible tells us not only that “The Word” was with God, but that “The Word” is God.
The Bible tells us that “the Word” was made flesh and dwelt among us. (vs 14) In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He is second person of the triunity of God.
This is what the Bible teaches, to believe anything less than this is to believe in a different Jesus.
And so as we close here this morning, we have these three distinct assertions in this prologue concerning Jesus Christ --- The Word.
The Bible tells us concerning His eternality.
In the beginning was the Word.
The Bible tells us concerning His coexistence. The Word was with God.
And then finally the Bible tells us of His deity. The Word was God.
We will continue this study on the book of John. I pray you will take some time this week to meditate on this profound passage of Scripture.