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Encountering The Word - John 1
The most significant fact in history can be summed up in four words:
Jesus Christ is God!
The great assertion of the Bible is that God in human flesh was born in
Bethlehem. It was God in the person of Jesus Christ who astonished the
people of his day with his miracles and amazed them with his teaching.
It was God who lived a perfect life and then allowed himself to be put
to death on a Roman cross for humanity's sins. It was God who broke the
bonds of death three days after he died and came out of the grave alive.
The deity of Jesus, the fact that he was God in human form, is the
bottom line of the Christian faith.
When the apostle John sat down to write his Gospel, he was not
interested simply in adding one more account of Jesus' life to the three
already in existence. John wrote his book with a very specific purpose
in mind:
John 20:30-31 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of
his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are
written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John's book is not a biography; it's a theological argument. John wants
to convince us that Jesus of Nazareth is God the Son. Then he wants to
show us how that fact will change our lives in some amazing ways. It is
by believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God that we find life-real
life, eternal life, and a whole new kind of life!
Every event John records is designed to show us that Jesus is God.
John pulls from the life of Jesus specific incidents that demonstrate
his majesty and deity. Of particular interest to John are the miracles
of Jesus. In the first twelve chapters of his book he records seven
miracles. These miracles were not performed simply to relieve human
suffering or to meet human needs; they were "signs." They pointed to the
truth of Jesus' claim to be the Son of God.
John was the last Gospel writer probably around year 90. The other
Gospels had been in circulation for some time. John wrote to add his
unique perspective and to fill in some of the details not recorded by
the other writers. And his writings lead us to think that he assumed his
readers are familiar with the other Gospels.
John does not mention, for example, the anguish of Jesus in the Garden
of Gethsemane. The other writers had adequately described that incident.
John does, however, give us the details of Jesus' conversation with his
disciples on the night before his crucifixion.
John never mentions himself by name in the Gospel; he refers to himself
simply as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." We have in this Gospel the
memories of an intimate friend about Jesus. Jesus had transformed John's
life.
It was a great day in our history when a man first walked on the moon.
But the Bible declares that a far greater event took place two thousand
years ago: God walked on the earth. God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to
live among us as a real human being.
John opens his Gospel with a beautiful hymn of exaltation to Christ. It
is one of the most profound passages in the whole Bible. It is written
in simple, direct language, but the truth it contains has never been
fully explained. We come upon an ocean-sized truth but have to be
content to paddle around in shallow water.
Read John 1:1-18.
1. Why do you think John calls Jesus "the Word" (vv. 1, 14)?
2. In verses 1-5 what facts does John declare to be true of the Word?
Which of these facts most helps you understand who Jesus is?
3. John contrasts Jesus' rejection by the majority with his reception by
a few (vv. 9-13). What truths about Jesus should have brought the
majority to receive him (vv. 9-11)?
4. How would you explain to someone both the meaning and the results of
receiving Jesus (vv. 12-13)?
5. According to verses 14-18, what specific aspects of God's character
are revealed to us through Jesus?
6. Read John 1:19-34. In verses 8 and 9 and again in these verses
another John is introduced. He is not the author of the Gospel but John
the Baptizer, Jesus' relative, and the one who announced Jesus' coming
to the people of his day. What steps does John the Baptist take to
guarantee that people will not look at him but at Jesus?
7. How would you summarize John the Baptist's testimony concerning
Jesus?
8. Read John 1:35-51. In these verses we are introduced to five men:
Andrew, Simon, Philip, Nathaniel and one unnamed disciple John). How
does each man respond to the testimony he hears about Jesus?
9. Which of these responses have you encountered as you have shared your
faith in Jesus Christ?
10. John records more than a dozen names or descriptions of Jesus in
this chapter. Which of the names of Jesus has the most significance to
you personally? Explain why.
Five Great Truths from John 1:1
by Wayne Jackson
The first verse of the Gospel of John is absolutely brimming with
meaning, and it refutes a host of popular errors. It reads:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God."
Let us consider several important elements of this passage.
First, consistent with the affirmation of Genesis 1:1, the verse denies
that the Universe is eternal – there was a "beginning."
Scientific evidence has so confirmed this truth that even an agnostic
like Dr. Robert Jastrow is forced to admit that "modern science denies
an eternal existence to the Universe" (Until the Sun Dies, p. 15).
Second, the apostle argues for the eternal existence of the Word
(subsequently identified as the pre-incarnate Christ – vs. 14).
The verb en (thrice rendered "was" in 1:1) is an imperfect tense form
which suggests the "continuous timeless existence" of the Second Person
in the Godhead (J. H. Bernard, Gospel of John, I, p. 2). This stands
squarely opposed to the Watchtower contention that Christ was a created
being.
Third, the pre-incarnate Christ is characterized in this context as "the
Word." The term "Word" implies communication.
Jesus Christ is the revealer of truth to humanity (John 1:18; Heb. 1:1),
and apart from Him there is no access to the Father (John 14:6). This
contradicts the philosophy of deism, which alleges that whereas there
may be a Creator in some remote corner of the Universe, He has not
communicated with mankind.
Fourth, the Word was "with" God.
The preposition pros ("with") literally means facing, and it reveals a
distinction between the two Persons who, in the New Testament, are
identified as Father and Son. This language is at odds with the "Oneness
Pentecostal" doctrine that alleges that the Father and Son are the same
Person, merely manifested in different forms.
Fifth, the Word is identified as "God," which simply means deity.
The eternal Word possesses the nature of a divine being (cf. Phil. 2:6).
This negates the Watchtower dogma that asserts that Christ was nothing
more "than a perfect man" (Let God Be True, p. 87).
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