John 1:1–19 (New International Version)
Article 2: Understanding historical John
Slightly longer than the passage last week and now we move to the book of John as we continue through a timeline of bible studies based on the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We begin with a background of John and the introduction to his Gospel.
Who is the author:
John, the apostle, brother of James, (Called a ‘son of Thunder’ which is rather cool)
Purpose of the Gospel of John:
To prove conclusively that Jesus is the son of God and that all who believe in him will have eternal life.
Original audience:
New Christians and searching non-Christians
Date written:
Almost any date between AD 55–95 is possible. None of the arguments for a more precise date are entirely convincing. But if we must suggest a date for when John wrote the fourth Gospel, we may very tentatively advance AD 80–85. One of the many reasons for this is to allow some time between the writing of John’s Gospel and the writing of his three letters, which were probably written in the early AD 90’s which combat an incipient form of Gnosticism and respond in part to a Gnostic misunderstanding which this Gospel also addresses
Location of writing
The fourth Gospel does not specify where John wrote it. Four places are commonly proposed: Alexandria, Antioch, Palestine and Ephesus. The traditional view is that John wrote it in Ephesus, and no other location has the support of the early church fathers. If John wrote it while residing in Ephesus, then perhaps he prepared it for readers in this general part of the empire while still hoping for the widest possible circulation. Being a close disciple of Jesus would naturally get his Gospel get a lot of traction.
Setting:
Written after the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and before John’s exile to the island of Patmos
Key Verse:
“The disciples saw miraculous signs in additions to the one’s recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name”
John 20:30,31
Special features:
- Of 8 miracles recorded 6 are unique (among the Gospels)
- 90% of John is unique to his Gospel
- John does not contain a genealogy or any record of Jesus’ birth, childhood, temptation, transfiguration, appointment of the disciples
- nor any account of Jesus’ parables, ascension, or great commission
Introduction
He spoke and galaxies whirled into place, stars burned the heavens and planets began orbiting their suns — words of awesome, unlimited, unleashed power. He spoke again, and the waters and lands were filled with plants and creatures, running, swimming, growing, and multiplying — words of animating, breathing, pulsing life. Again he spoke and man and woman were formed. Thinking, speaking, and loving — words of personal and creative glory. Eternal, infinite, unlimited — was, is, and always will be the Maker and Lord of all that exists.
And then he came in the flesh so a speck in the universe called planet Earth. The mighty Creator became part of the creation., limited by time and space and susceptible to ageing, sickness and death. But love propelled him, and so he came to rescue and save those who were lost. And to give them the gift of eternity. He is the Word; he is Jesus, the Messiah.
It is this truth that the apostle John discloses Jesus’ identity with his very first words, ‘“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God, and the Word already existed. He existed in the beginning with God (1:1,2) and the rest of the book continues on that theme. John, the eyewitness, chose 8 of the miracles (or miraculous signs, as he calls them) to reveal his divine human nature and his life-giving mission.
Turning water into wine, healing an official’s son, healing the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, feeding the 5,000 with just a few loaves and fish, walking on water, restoring sight to a blind man, raising Lazarus from the dead, and after His resurrection, giving the disciples an overwhelming catch of fish/
In every chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus deity is revealed. And Jesus; true identity underscored through the titles he is given — The Word, the only Son, Lamb of God, Son of God, true bread, life, resurrection, vine and the formula “I am”.
When Jesus uses this phase, he affirms his preexistence and eternal deity. Jesus says ‘I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the gate, I am the good shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the way, the truth and the Life and I am the true vine.
The greatest claim and sign is the resurrection. And John provides a stirring eyewitness account of finding an empty tomb. Then he records various post-resurrection appearances of Jesus.
John, the devoted follower of Christ has given us a personal and powerful look at Jesus Christ, the eternal son of God. As you read his story, commit yourself to read what is being said so that you may believe, analyse and understand the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Gnosticism: The required response
Gnosticism is a term used to designate a variety of beliefs, fundamental to which was a dualistic view of reality. The spiritual world was regarded as good, while the material world, including human bodies, was regarded as evil. Gnostic views reflected in various literary sources, including the works of early church fathers who rejected such Gnostic teaching, as well as Coptic writings, the Nag Hammadi library, and the Hermetic and Manichean literature.
According to some of these texts, sparks of divinity from the spiritual world were imprisoned in the bodies of certain spiritual individuals. Seeing their plight, God sent a redeemer to provide knowledge (gnôsis) concerning their true origin and to enable them to escape imprisonment in their bodies. This knowledge would also enable their spirits to pass unharmed through the planetary spheres so as to return to their original state. Reunited with God. Because Gnostics regarded human bodies — part of the material world — as evil, some adopted ascetic practices treating the body harshly, while others indulged in promiscuity, believing what was done in the body did not affect their spiritual lives and their salvation.
It is possible that some of the secessionists were influenced by incipient Gnostic beliefs. Believing the material world is evil, they denied that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh, i.e., they denied his true humanity (1 John 4:1–3, another book John wrote). Some claim that Christ only “seemed” to be human (Docetism), and others claimed that the Christ spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism and departed before his crucifixion because it was impossible for Christ as a spiritual being to experience suffering (Cerinthianism). It is also possible for that sinful behaviour John accuses the secessionists of practising (1 John 3:6,10) may stem from the belief that what does on the body does not affect one’s spirit or one’s salvation
Gnosticism, Docetism, Cerinthianism, a wave of post Jesus ministry “isms” arrive. Something we should be familiar with today is ‘fake news’. When Something great happens, often we can see several stories roll out, especially during the political election season. John, knowing Jesus, walking with Jesus for his three year ministry was keen to address these issues, and why it seems to be that his Gospel follows on much later than the prior three (Matthew, Mark and Luke) and that he shares an argument in defiance for the Gnostic, Docetic and Cerinthus view making it clear who Jesus was, what he did and what follows (like the other three Gospels but even more plain yet subtle in areas as you’ll learn from the first chapter). Which is why John’s content varies but remains in correlation with the other three Gospels.
John expects people to read more than once; new insights then come to light on subsequent readings. John’s thought is so wonderfully integrated that attempts to compartmentalise it by itemising its components are destined in some measure to misrepresent it.
One final illustration I’d like to present before we get stuck into breaking down the first part of John’s Gospel is a quote by Nabeel Qureshi (or see the video 00:00–08:20, I’ve simplified in a below explanation) to highlight some thoughts as John’s Gospel starts with a gigantic block of information to process, this might just help the process.
“Anyone who wants to argue from the Gospel of John that Jesus is not God has a huge uphill battle to climb. Because John’s Gospel starts of with ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God’. That’s big.
Time to break this down. Here, how is the Word with God but also God at the same time? Whatever the answer is, we need to realise what John’s Gospel is saying that somehow the Word was with God and is God and the next verse says he was there in the beginning. Verse 14 then says ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory’.
The idea of the Word being the thing which the universe was created, God’s interaction with the world was something that actually partially came from Jewish stock. A guy named Philo, who was embracing Greek thought as well as being a Jew was trying to think how does the transcendent God interact with this world? And he says it happens through the Logos.
God’s interaction with this world is through the Logos. This idea of the Logos, the thing which the universe is created that’s present in that time, context and what John’s Gospel is saying is that the Word is the thing through which the universe is created and we see that in John chapter 1. So from the beginning of John’s Gospel, Jesus is introduced as God.
John 1:18 says Jesus is the only begotten God. It is very clear that’s all John’s Gospel is trying to say. So when we read John’s Gospel he’s saying
“Hey! read John 1:1–18 this is the lens at which I want you to read my book. Jesus is the creator of the universe from the very beginning with God and then be became flesh, read my book through that lens”.
You will come across a verse later with Jesus stating “the Father (God) is greater than I”. It’s OK to perhaps get confused by this statement, but let’s look at the context first. This chapter actually shows that Jesus is omnipresent and omnipotent. When he says ‘the father is greater than I’ he also says ‘when I leave whatever you pray, pray in my name and I will do it for you’. Hold on..that means Jesus is saying when he is gone he can still hear your prayers, so he’s omnipresent? He also says he can answer your prayers when he’s gone, that makes him omnipotent. So anytime the Father says ‘the Father is greater than I’ we have to read it in the context of that chapter that he’s omnipresent and omnipotent.
Here’s how to understand this example (we have to tap into the definition of the Christian Trinity here to explain this bit). It’s not like water which is liquid, solid and gas as they are all different in their current state. This is an illustration but doesn’t help the definition, saying the Trinity is three in one sounds like a washing detergent and not God. The Trinity is explained like this ‘God is one in Being and three in person’. This is not a contradiction. If I said he was one in being and three in Being, that’s a contradiction. If I say he is 1 in Person and three in Persons that’s also a contradiction. So the next question is what’s the difference between a Being and a Person? The Being is that quality that makes you what you are or makes a thing what it is. Being is ‘whatness’. A person is that which makes you who you are. So for example I am a human Being, that’s what I am. Who I am is not a human Being, who I am is Nabeel Qureshi. What I am is a human Being.
What I am is heart, lungs, muscles, eyes etc. but that’s not who I am. Who I am is a kind, loving, caring compassionate person as my wife would tell you immediately. Who and what are very different. Humans happen to be one Being and one Person, God is different. God is one Being (Yahweh is what we call him) but he is three Persons, Father Son and Spirit. Those three persons are equal because they are all God. They’ve all existed from the beginning like John chapter 1 says because they’re all God.
So how does Jesus say the Father is greater than I? If they’re all God? The answer is quite simple.
Theresa May. I can say Theresa is greater than I, as she leads a party, can invoke laws, publicly declare wars. She is greater than I am. But is she any more human than I am? No, she’s not. Shes greater than me in terms of role, but she’s not greater than me in terms of essence. In the same way the Father is greater than the Son in terms of role, the Father is superior to the Son, the Son is subject to the authority of the Father (1 Corinthians 15). The Father is superior in terms of role, but is he any more God than Jesus is? No because they are both God, there’s only one god and they’re equal in essence, Father, Son, Spirit.
Got it? You may want to reread that several times, maybe try and draw a diagram.
Here’s some further links to help understand what He and I are saying here
Once you’re ready let’s go in, line by line and break down what John’s Gospel is trying to say here as he introduces his book to his readers.
Chapter Breakdown: John 1:1–19
The Word Became Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God —
13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)
16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
1:1
John wrote to believers everywhere, both Jews and non-Jews (gentiles they were called). As one of Jesus’ 12 disciples John writes with credibility and the details of an eyewitness. His book is not a biography like the book of Luke, it’s a thematic presentation of Jesus’ life which was appropriate considering the audience he was speaking to (Gnostic teachings and believers). Many in John’s original audience had a Greek background. Greek culture encouraged worship of many mythological gods, whose supernatural characteristics were as important to Greeks as genealogies were to the Jews. What John is showing here is that Jesus is not only different from but superior to these gods of mythology.
What does John mean by “the Word”? The Word was a term used by theologians and philosophers, both Jews and Greeks, in many different ways. In Hebrew scripture, the Word was an agent of creation (referred to in Psalm 33:6 of the old testament), the source of God’s message to his people through the prophets and God’s law, his standard of holiness. In Greek philosophy, the Word was the principal reason that governed the world, or the thought still in the mind (In this context think of the Word as ‘the meaning of life’ for short), while in Hebrew thought, the Word was another expression of God. John’s description shows clearly that he is speaking of Jesus (1:14 makes this abundantly clear) — A human being he knew and loved, but at the same time the Creator of the universe, the ultimate revelation of God, the living picture of God’s holiness, the one who “holds all creation together” To Jewish readers, to say this man Jesus “was God” was blasphemous. To Greek readers, “the word became human” was unthinkable. To John, this new understanding of the Word was the good News of Jesus Christ.
There is no definite article (the) in the Greek before God, so the Jehovah’s witnesses New World Translation reads “The Word was a god.” But sentences of this form in Greek (two nouns joined by a form of the verb “to be”) normally placed the article only before the subject of the sentence, regardless of word order. So the traditional translation, “the Word was God” is to be preferred.
1:3
When the uncreated (thus eternal) God created, he made something from nothing. Because we are created beings, we have no basis for pride. We only exist because God made you and you have special gifts only because God gave them to you. Mummy brought you a bicycle, Daddy got you an Xbox, God gave you life. With God, you are something valuable and unique, apart from God you are nothing, and if you try to live without him, you will be abandoning the purpose for which you are made.
Who am I? Why am I here? Are two often commonly asked questions in everyone’s life, but there’s one more I’d like you to think about. What am I made for? Is life ever too complex for you to understand? One of my biggest prayers is asking God to help me understand things I don’t, overtime I usually run into the answer, sometimes it takes a long time to hear that answer. But surely enough it comes, God created the universe, he is alive today, his love is bigger than any problem you face, he knows you better than you know yourself, maybe asking him in whatever fashion you feel (whether it’s screaming in your room or a quiet prayer) it is worth a shot.
1:4–5
“The darkness can never extinguish it” John uses quite poetic languages which make you read twice to understand. What he’s saying here is evil will never overcome God in the same way if you shine a light in a dark room, the darkness disappears without a fight, but there are still shadows cast in anyone’s life. Many Christians walk in the light (following Jesus, I imagine him holding a giant torch!) but we still cast shadows, we still have problems, but with Jesus the shadows don’t become who we are, they are what we leave behind us and they don’t hold us back, but they may still haunt us (like our past tries to). I remember becoming a Christian, a lot of people still looked at me through the binoculars of who I used to be and couldn’t accept my new found lifestyle and felt compelled to remind me of my heavy drinking, sexually promiscuous days, so your past will always try and have a go, but over time that great big shadow cast looks smaller than what it was and Jesus will help you to shift the junk from the trunk of your life.
1:8
We, like John the baptist are not the source of God’s light we merely reflect it, like mirrors. Jesus has used us as a voice to a broken world which needs love more than ever, purpose more than ever and real meaning. We don’t claim to be Jesus but lead people to understand him through our lives lived and our words. In what ways have you allowed Christ to help you? If not ask for help and it will be given if asked with an honest heart, he’s open to you whatever stage you’re at, I often say the worst thing that could happen is nothing, the best? Well potentially life changing.
1:10–11
We see here even though Christ created the world it did not recognise him, even people who were sent prior to Jesus’ arrival through history over thousands of years to discuss his coming were killed, and those who at the time taught about the Messiah rejected his arrival because they expected a big bang. Instead he came into the world in a way more personal, and meaningful, face to face so we could see God’s character up close. And half of them had no idea!
1:12–13
All who welcome Jesus in are in the family, ‘reborn spiritually’, adopted into God’s family receiving a new life that may challenge everything you think you know. Through faith and trust you could see your world begin to change in ways you never thought possible changing our attitudes, desires and motives. Being born makes you physically alive and puts you in your parents family. Being born of God makes you spiritually alive and puts you in God’s family.
C.S. Lewis once penned these words;
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right, and stopping the leaks in the roof, and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably, and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to?
The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of– throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
–C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (London: William Collins, 1970), 172.
Have you asked Jesus to make you a new person on the inside? It’s a fresh start for many and a journey of unexpected joy and surprise.
1:14
Que the Greek theologians.. The Word became ‘human’ by doing so Christ became:
- The perfect teacher of life: we see Jesus’ life and helps us to see how God thinks.
- The perfect example: as a model of what we are to become, he shows us how to live that way, giving us complete freedom to choose. Who are you becoming?
- The perfect sacrifice: Jesus came as a sacrifice for all sins, and his death satisfied God’s requirements for the removal of Sin. God wants to make it clear how he comes to you he loves you that much he chose his representation to us, face to face to die for us because he wants us that badly. When I was young I loved a girl so much I said I’d die for her (I wasn’t serious), well God said it to us and he takes it seriously and he meant it.
Ancient Gnostics and modern “New Agers” have often challenged the idea of God taking on human flesh, since “flesh” is seen as inherently corrupt. But Genesis 1 stresses that God created the world and everything in it to be completely good. Only later did sin corrupt everything. Jesus, however was God’s “new creation” and free from sin. God himself became incarnate in order to redeem sinful humanity.
1:17
Law and Grace is the combination of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness. These are both aspects of God’s nature that he uses in dealing with us. You may of heard about Moses whether from reading the bible or Religious education lessons, he spoke about God’s law and justice, while Jesus Christ came to highlight God’s mercy,love, faithfulness and forgiveness. Moses could only be the giver of the Law, while Christ came to fulfil the Law (This is spoken about in Matthew 5:17). The nature and will of God are revealed in Jesus Christ. Rather than coming through cold stone tablets, God’s revelation now comes through a person’s life. As we get to know Christ better, our understanding of God will increase.
1:18
Bold statement, but this is what John is trying to clarify. God communicated through various people in the Old testament, usually prophets who were told to give specific messages. But no one ever ‘saw’ God. Jesus is both God and the father’s unique Son (remember the 1 in Being 3 in person description here). In Christ, God revealed his nature and essence in a way that could be seen and touched. In Christ, God became a man who lived on earth.
Is no one has ever seen God the Father, how could God appear to Old Testament saints? Because God is spirit (John 4:24) and because a spirit “does not have flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39), God is not inherently embodied. But he appeared to people temporarily in bodily form in Old Testament times as a precursor to His full incarnation as Jesus.
If this study has lead to assist you in the Christian walk, or you have any questions regarding the topics discussed (provided it’s not trolling or rage questions) Comment on this article or email me. To me, there’s nothing more important than knowing Jesus and what, in C.S. Lewis’ words “Palace he’ll build in you”.
Understanding some of the terms
1:1 In the beginning
Prior to creation, this echoes the first verse in the bible (Genesis 1:1)
1:1 Was the word
So it already existed
1:1 With God
The Word distinct from God the Father and enjoys a personal relationship with him
1:1 Was God
God’s own peer and god’s own self. Jesus is fully God. These are some of the many elements that contribute to understanding the definition of the trinity.
1:4 Life
The Word’s self-existing life, which he dispensed at creation.
1:4 Light
Either our essential constitution (humans are made in the image of God) of the Word’s reflection in the universe he created.
1:5 Light
Revelation bound up not only with creation but also with salvation
1:5 Darkness
Evil; not only absence of light
1:5 Overcome
Or ‘understood’ translates a Greek verb that could mean either and here probably means both. At creation and in the coming of the word, the light prevailed; the darkness has not #’understood’ the light.
1:9 True light that gives light
The Word genuinely and ultimately discloses god to humans. Jesus announced “I am the light of the world”.
1:9 Coming into the world.
Incarnation an act distinct from creation.
1:9 World
For John, it is usually not the universe in general but the created order, especially humans, in rebellion against its creator
1:10 World
People are morally responsible to the Word because the Word made them.
1:11 His own
The first ‘his own’ refers to Jesus’ own home or domain., especially the Jewish nation and heritage. The second time it’s mentioned refers to Jesus’ own people (Jews probably)
1:12 Receive…believed
Two ways of describing the same thing, which includes personally welcoming, trusting, and submitting to Jesus. John is introducing a theme of growing importance in his Gospel.
1:12 Name
A person’s character or even the person himself.
1:12 Children of God
Both John and Paul distinguish between ‘sonship’ of Jesus. In John’s Gospel, the believer becomes ‘God’s child’ but only Jesus is god’s ‘son’ Paul describes both Jesus and believers as God’s ‘sons’ by adoption. This builds on how the Old Testament frequently calls Israel god’s children.
1:13 Born of God
Different from being born into a human family. New birth is an act from god
1:14 Word became flesh
God became human. Jesus took on flesh without ceasing to be God. The mere formulation scarcely does justice to this most staggering of assertions.
1:14 Made his dwelling.
Pitched his tabernacle; lived in his tent. This recalls Israel’s ‘Tabernacle’ in which God dwelled amongst his people in the wilderness. Now God dwells among his people in a more personal way.
1:14 We have seen his glory:
This verse alludes to a book from the Torah, the book of Exodus 33:18–19 where God’s glory is supremely his goodness. John and others with eyes of faith saw Jesus display his glory on earth.
1:14 Full of grace and truth
Describes Jesus’ ‘glory’ “Love” (Hesed in hebrew) refers to gracious covenant love and faithfulness (emet in Hebrew) When referring to words, means faithful words, truth. The Glory moses saw in Exodus 33–34 is the same glory John saw in the Word made flesh.
1:15 Before
In time and rank; as the Word, Jesus existed before John, was born and Jesus is God
1:16–17 Grace in place of grace already given
Probably not ‘grace in addition to grace’ or ‘one blessing after another. Verse 17 gives the reason which is the law was given through Moses is an earlier display of grace and the grace and truth that ‘came through Jesus Christ’ replaces the Mosaic Law-covenant. Jesus is the climax of God’s revelation in the history of salvation.
1:18 No one has ever seen God
That is, fully.
1:18 Who is himself God
Jesus is God
1:18 Has made him known
Jesus later says “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father”. The rest of John’s Gospel explains how the son expounds God to humans.
Random fact:
Too many Johns:
John the baptist is not the John they speak of in this Gospel, call it a spoiler but he dies long before many of the later events happen. I would imagine his words would be just as passionate.
References
Life Application study bible (New Living Translation)
http://www.newlivingtranslation.com/05discoverthenlt/lasb.asp
NIV Zondervan study bible
