John - Chapter 1, Part 1
THE WORD IS MADE FLESH
JOHN 1:1-18
A number of teachers have supposed that these first 18 verses of John's gospel were taken from a hymn of the early church days with a few verses added to explain the coming of John the Baptist. Surely these first verses are among the most poetic and eloquent passages in all of scripture.
Here in the first few verses we will find revealed a treasure chest of information. Notice in these 18 verses we learn:
The Word's activity in creation (1-5)
John's witness concerning the light (6-8)
The incarnation of the Word and our privilege in becoming God's children (9-14)
John's witness concerning the priority of the Word (15)
The final revelation brought by Jesus Christ (16-18)
John's gospel presenting the deity of our Savior is apparent from the opening words of his first chapter. The Holy Spirit has placed the key to the gospel to hang over the front door of the gospel.
These verses present the Lord Jesus in His divine relationships and unveil for us His glories. In the first 13 verses we see:
The relation of Christ in time. “In the beginning...” therefore eternal.
The relation of Christ to the Godhead. “...with God...”.
The relation of Christ to the universe. “... all things were made by Him...” He is the creator.
The relation of Christ to men. Their “light”.
The relation of John the Baptist to Christ. Witness of His deity.
The reception Christ received here.
“...the world knew him not...” “... his own received him not...”
John opens by immediately presenting Christ not as the Son of David, nor as the Son of Man, but as the Son of God. John takes us back to the beginning and shows that the Lord Jesus had no beginning. John travels back to creation and shows that the Savior himself was the creator.
He tell us that the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Not only was the Savior the one by whom God expressed His will but John teaches that the Word (Jesus) is equal to The Father & The Spirit. He was in the beginning therefore without beginning and so was eternal. (Jesus himself teaches this fact in Revelation 1:8:
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end”.
Jesus also teaches this same fact in His great prayer in John 17:
“And now, O father, glorify thou me, with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was”.
His deity is established.
It is here also that we learn of His separate personality as John writes that “... the Word was with God...” John's scripture does not say AND GOD WAS WITH GOD. While there are three persons, they all share the one essence, and there is only one God. So John is teaching us that while God is the Father, and later will teach us that God is the Holy Spirit, here he teaches that God IS the Word. THIS IS IMPORTANT:
It is only in Christ that God is revealed fully to man. Nature, while beautiful, remains under the curse given in the garden. It is therefore imperfect. John teaches us here that it is God in flesh that reveals himself to us. This is why that believers who wish to develop a fuller and deeper relation with God must prayerfully study the Word
In 1:3 John shows that all creation is in the hand of the Word, more proof of His deity. Only God can create and John teaches that all things were made by him, not some things, not a few things, ALL things.
In 1:4 John shows that if Christ created all things then He is by definition the fountain of life. He is the life giver. Here begins the lesson of all life. Physical life is given by Him, and spiritual eternal life is found in Him. This life is the light of men. Here is the relation that Christ holds toward mankind. His light gives us life and separates that forever life from the darkness of the world.
In 1:5 “And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not”.
In verse 1, He is the Word. In verse 3 He is the maker. In verse 4 He is the life. Now we are taught that He is the light. We should recall the teaching verse John gives us in 1 John 1:5 that teaches us “... God is light...”. We have further conclusive proof that He is divine and is indeed God and man.
In 1:6 John introduces the first witness, John the Baptist. He is introduced to us as a “man” to contrast that the one to whom he brings witness is more than a man. The name of this witness, John, is translated to mean “gift of God”. Notice that the Baptist is not just a witness or just happened to be at the right place at the right time. This verse concludes that he was sent from God. Why was he sent?
1:7 gives us our answer, “… to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe”. The Light shone but the darkness did not receive it. So God sent John to bear witness to the Light. God did not allow His beloved Son to come here unrecognized or without notice. As soon as He was born angels announced His arrival. Now John appears to tell Israel to receive Him.
1:8 carefully advises us that the Baptist was NOT that light, but came to bear witness to it. We must remember that John had no light of his own. No prophet had his own light, no believer carries his own light. All reflect the light of the Lord. Paul allows us a great lesson on this very issue in Ephesians 5:8”
“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light”.
1:9 demonstrates that we are not discussing just any light, but rather the True Light. A great lesson again arrives in a few words:
Christ is the True Light, and stands as the undeceiving Light. Satan himself may appear as an angel of light but he appears in this fashion only to deceive.
Christ is the Real Light. This is in contrast to the shaded light and shadow which was shown throughout the Old Covenant and its rituals that only pointed to Christ.
Christ is the Possessed Light, needing none other to shine forth (as the moon must have the sun to light it). Jesus holds His own Light. Hebrews 1 tells us He is the brightness of the glory of God.
1:10 “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world knew him not”. Now John formally announces the incarnation, shadowing verse 14 to come.
He came to serve, not to be served. The creator of all humbled himself to take on human life in order to arrange our salvation by His once and perfectly sufficient sacrifice. Sufficient for all, but effective only for some. Why some only?
1:11 provides our answer. “... his own received him not”. He came to knock on the door of the house of Abraham and not through ignorance, but rather through unbelief, they drove Him from their door, gave Him no welcome, and conspired to banish Him from the earth. Their own prophets, given so graciously by God for generations, had told the truth of Him but were ignored and mistreated by His own. Was the purpose of His coming defeated?
1:12 is our answer. Proverbs 19:21 teaches and forecasts the reply: “... the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand...”. To those who believed, then and since, He gives power to become the sons of God. Here is the human side of salvation, what is required of sinners. Salvation comes to the sinner through “receiving” Christ, that is, by believing on His name. Who are those that receive Him?
1:13 is clear that it is not all who receive Him as we have already been taught that His own generally did not. Is the number of those who do receive and believe left up to chance? Far from it. These are those “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”.
Just as verse 12 gives us the human side of salvation, now verse 13 gives the divine side of the same process. The divine side is the new birth and it is clear that this birth is not hereditary (not of blood), and not of the will of the flesh (natural man), not by the persuasion of friends, nor of the wonderful words of the preacher. It is a work of God, through the Holy Spirit applying the living word to the heart. Here is the great mystery at work that we call regeneration. Acts 13:48 is another teacher on this subject as we see that “... as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Note that the conviction precedes belief.
1:14 “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us...”
Our divine Savior took upon himself human nature. He became a real man, though sinless, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners (Heb 7:26). This union of two natures is one of the mysteries of our faith. Once more Paul reflects well on this matter in 1 Timothy 3:16: “... great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh”.
Why was this union so important?
It was necessary for Him to arrange Jesus as our mediator. Three things happened in this matter. First, now it was possible for Him to die. Second, He could now be touched with our infirmities. Third, He gave us the example of how we are to live as men, when he became a man, and showed himself to engage in natural flesh things, eating, sleeping, working, not yielding to temptation which faces all men.
The incarnation does not mean that Christ dwelt IN a man, but rather that He BECAME a man.
He dwelt among us. Some translations have written this verse as He tabernacled among us. While I prefer dwelt, the tabernacle may have stronger precedent. Christ was the one to whom the wilderness tabernacle pointed. There are many shadows here:
The tabernacle was temporary (as was the dwelling of Christ in man).
The tabernacle was humble, just a tent (Jesus was forever humble).
The tabernacle was God's dwelling place ( as was Jesus).
The tabernacle was where God met with man (as was Jesus).
The Tabernacle was the center of Israel's camp (He is our gathering place)
The tabernacle was the place the law was preserved (Jesus fulfilled the law).
The tabernacle was the sacrifice place ( Jesus was our forever sacrifice).
“... we beheld his glory...” gives us a simple definition of His supreme excellence in perfection.
“... full of grace and truth...” gives us a simple definition of what God is. With no words added we can understand God's person.
1:15 begins the true witness of John the Baptist. Historically we know that the Baptist was six months older than Jesus but here we see that John bears witness that Jesus was in His eternal existence before John, added evidence for His deity.
1:16 “And of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace”.
The same lesson is taught again by Paul in Col 1:19 & 2:9 “... For it pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell”. His fullness is without end, cannot be exhausted, and provides us peace, joy, and God's own revealed will as from a great storehouse, full to overflowing, all that we as believers will need now and in the life eternal.
Grace is heaped upon us in abundance. As Jesus told Paul, “My grace is sufficient”.
1:17 is strongly important to us as a foundation strength message upholding the New Covenant. “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”.
Grace and truth were not given. They CAME by Jesus Christ. The law given to Moses was not his own, but grace and truth were not given to Christ for these were a part of His own begotten perfections.
The law revealed God's justice but it did not make well known His mercy. It testified to His righteousness but it did not exhibit His grace. The law was the knowledge of sin, not the knowledge of God. The law could not save. Salvation came by Jesus Christ.
1:18 The declaration and the final revelation of God has been made evident by Jesus. No man has seen God. Now John summarizes his beginning given in the first 17 verses. Christ, who was with God forever, who is God, who came to be ours and suffer for us has declared (told – revealed – unveiled – displayed) the Father and the one who has done this is the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father. Here we see the eloquent intimacy described by John. Jesus is close and intimate with the Father. Notice that when Jesus came to be in flesh He did not give up his intimate relation with the Father. John teaches that He IS in the bosom of the Father, not that he WAS in the bosom of the Father.
Now we are given the favor and privilege that even Moses nor David nor Abraham never received. We come to know the Father through the Son. John teaches us later in 10:30 the words of Jesus that confirm this matter for us, “I and the Father are one”.
NEXT WE BEGIN THE BOOK OF SIGNS
