It is impossible to overstate the impact
that John’s prologue has had on the church.
The sheer beauty of these verses
competes with the greatest music in the world, the story it tells competes with
the grandest dramas, and each verse dazzles with its rich theology.
I will say four things about the whole
prologue, and then we will look at what we learn about Jesus Christ in this
introduction.
We will first consider the style
When you read the prologue it almost
feels like music. There is rhythm, parallelism and a careful connecting of
ideas. A lot of the rhythm comes from the way the writer repeats words
Look at v. 1 and 2
In the
beginning…Word….Word….God…..Word…God ….in the beginning
Or v. 10 ---world, world, world
Or v. 13
The Word became flesh/dwelt among us
For connecting meanings, look at v. 3 to
see how these are used:
‘in him was life,
Then a step to a greater meaning…
The life was the light of all people’,
So he connects life to light.
Cloe to the style, is the structure. Many say that this is a chiasm. This is
when you see the same idea at the start of the poem and at the end, and then
this continues, the ideas in the first half of the poem, again appearing in the
second half, until you reach the middle, and this idea in the middle is alone,
it is not connected to any other verse, and so this is the heart of the poem.
So look at v. 1 – 2, this is talking
about God and Christ in eternity; now look at the end of the poem, to v. 18, we
have the Father and the Son in eternity. Now look at verses 3 – 5, this talks
about how all creation comes through Jesus Christ. He is the agent. Now look at
v. 16 and 17, where grace and truth come through Jesus Christ.
You can look at the other verses
yourself, but most think that the heart of the chiasm, the one thought that
does not connect with any other is the second part of v 12.
…he gave
the right to become children of God
This is the heart of the prologue, indeed
the heart of the whole Gospel.
Then thirdly there is the author’s use
of words. They are powerful. Perhaps most important of all is Logos,
a brilliant word to use.
Logos speaks very much to the Jews and
to all those familiar with the Old Testament. For in Genesis it is when God
speaks that creation happens. In Psalm 33:6 we have God’s word powerful in
creation, in Psalm 107:20 we have God sending forth his word, and healing the
sick. In Proverbs 8 we have God’s close relationship to wisdom. In Isaiah 55:11
we have God’s Word going out with a purpose and power So, for the Jew, God’s
word is full of creative power and wisdom and healing and judgement.
The genius of our author here though is
that Logos also had a lot of meaning for the Greeks, especially those who
subscribed to the very influential philosophy
of the Stoics. Their belief was
that the whole world was ordered both physically and morally, and behind this
was an ordering principle. The word they gave to this principle was Logos and
for the Stoics there was no other god apart from the Logos. So when the Jewish teacher Philo, living in
Egypt in the first half of the first century, wanted to explain what the Jewish
law was to all his Gentile neighbours, he used this word Logos.
Other words to consider are light,
darkness, grace, but our space is limited.
Finally, while the story is true,
it is full of emotion.We have this huge theological drama of God in Christ
coming in the flesh to earth, the incarnation and then there is this great sadness,
v. 10: the world does not know him.
And then much worse, He comes to his own
people, the people of Israel, the people he rescued from Egypt and they did not
receive him. They rejected him. And so the prologue takes us to the heart of
darkness that we will experience in the Gospel. Jesus’ own people send him to
the most painful death in the world – the cross.
This is moving, but then the story turns
on us and asks us where we are. Are we with those who reject Christ, or are we
with those who see v.12 and welcome the invitation of God to become his
children? Are you the reader going to stay in the darkness, or come to the
light? You can’t say you didn’t know, because the witness of John the
Baptist’s, and the witness of this Gospel are true.
So here are some general points – about
the style, the structure, the words, and the story.
Let us now look at the text together.
And we begin with a simple question. Who
is the hero of this prologue? The answer is easy. The Logos, the Word who
became flesh, the only Son – Jesus Christ. From v. 1 to v. 18 this prologue is
all about Jesus Christ.
So we divide the prologue like this:
Jesus Christ and God (1-3); Jesus Christ
and men in darkness (4 – 13); Jesus Christ and the church (15-18)
John 1: 1 – 3 Jesus Christ and God
v. 1 in the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. He was in the beginning with
God. 3. All things were made though him and without him was no anything made
that was made.
We have already discussed the background
to Logos. Now let us see what we learn in these verses about Jesus and God.
a. From the beginning, this means
from eternity. The Logos has always existed. There has never been a time when
the Word has not been. If there is a beginning to time, the Word is outside it.
He is pre-existent.
b. The Logos is always with God,
where the sense of always is ‘towards’ God. So the Word is distinct but yet
intimate with God.
c. The Logos is God. Distinct,
but equally God with the Father and the Son. This is a clear statement of
Jesus’ divinity and an assertion of the mystery of the Trinity.
d. And as God, he is the agent of
creation. He is the unifying principle at the heart of all, for through Him
all has been made. But more than an agent, He is the source of all.
What does this mean for our lives and
our faith?
i. This is the final revelation. This is
God. There is nothing more. We meet God in Jesus Christ.
ii. As the agent of creation – creation
shows Christ’s glory. We see Christ in creation, so it is to be respected.
There is mystery but the writer has made
it clear that he wants us to read the whole Gospel in the light of this verse,
that the deeds and words of Jesus are the deeds and words of God.
No true Christian can believe that Jesus
is just a prophet. In fact anyone who says that Jesus is just a prophet and is
not God is calling both the writer of this Gospel a liar, and is calling Jesus
a liar.
John 1: 4 – 15: Jesus Christ and men in darkness
The Word is involved in creation, but
this is not the main role. That is with man, so this is the emphasis for the
rest of the Gospel.
v. 4 In him was life and the life was
the light of men
The Logos has its own independent source
of life, but for men this life changes to light. It is not just a force, the
writer is saying there is something more, that life becomes light, i.e. all
life has a moral quality, it comes from God who is moral We cannot experience
God unless we align ourselves to this light, indeed we will most certainly die
without this light.
V 5 The light shines in the darkness and
the darkness has not overcome it.
This light can never be extinguished.
Yes, we had good Friday, but at dawn on Sunday, we had the resurrection.
Right at the start of the Gospel we have
this allusion to the battle between light and darkness. It will continue
throughout the Gospel. In John 3 there is talk of those who love darkness and
refuse to come to the light; in both chapters 8 and 9 Jesus says he is the
light of the world and urges people not to walk in darkness. He says the same
in chapter 12; when Judas goes out in chapter 13 the writer says, ‘and it was
night’. And then in both chapters 20 and 21 we have the appearance to Mary and
then to all the disciples, at dawn.
So, the Gospel brings us a challenge.
There is a battle going on between light and darkness and it resolves around
Christ; and there is this encouragement. The light will always have the last
word. There is no dualism here.
v. 6 – 8 John is not the light, but he
bears witness to the light. This is a crucial theme in this Gospel. You will
remember in the last lesson how there is often a trial in the stories John
tells – with John the Baptist, Jesus in the temple, after the healing of the
lame man, during the Feast of Booths, the healing of the blind man, and so into
Jesus’ trial before the High Priest and Pilate. And the most important person
in a trial is the witness. So here we have the first witness, John the Baptist.
In English the word witness is closely connected to martyr. It is a serious
business.
And it is something God initiates. There
was a man sent from God. And that is because God cares for men and women in
darkness. So God sends someone to witness to the light.
When we go out to share our faith take
this verse with you: there was a man or a woman – sent from God.
V 9 The true light that enlightens every
man was coming into the world
This refers to Jesus. There are three
important points to make:
a. he is the true light, i.e. there are
false lights, especially in the religious field.
b. Jesus enlightens every man. He is
universal Nobody is left out. There is no racism here. How? How is Jesus
related to every man, how does His light shine for every man and woman? Through
creation and conscience.
c. The Greek word for true here is ‘alethinos’
which also carries the idea of ultimate. This is the full revelation of
God. This supersedes all others. The stories in the Gospel underline this – so
Jesus gives the true wine and is the true temple in chapter 2; he gives the
true water in chapter 4, he is the true bread in chapter six, the true light in
eight and nine, the true shepherd in chapter 10.
We learn a lot here about Christ; now we
learn something sad about the world and the nature of men
v. 10 and 11.
The world was made through Him; He had
his own people in the world. Both the Gentiles and the Jews reject him. There
is poignant sadness for his own home. That is not just the Jewish heart; that
is the human heart. We reject God.
v. 12…but…there is a but
in this sad story which is that all can believe in His name, all can receive
Him. Believe and receive here means to completely trust. It is to give your
whole life to Jesus and all that His character stands for.
As in the Old Testament story, so now in
the New Testament one, there is a remnant Christians are the ‘but’ people, for
when we believe in the name of Jesus, He then gives us the right, the power, to
become children of God.
Verse 13 emphasizes that this birth is
supernatural. Nobody but God can make it happen. We will find out more about
this supernatural birth in Jesus’ discussion with Nicodemus in chapter 3.
Nobody can make themselves a Christian,
and nobody can make another person a Christian.
v.14 – 18: Jesus Christ and the Church
14. The Word became flesh
This is probably the most important
verse in the Bible when it comes to the doctrine of the incarnation Religion
says that man must try and reach God – through religious rituals good needs,
yoga, , and, and, and. John 1:14 says, God in Christ has come for us.
The theology of some religions is that
God is a distant power, far away. That is not the theology here. Here we have
God who is towards man, despite the darkness, God comes to man in Christ.
And dwelt among us. The Greek
word for lives here is eskēnōsen which means a temporary home like a
tent, like the tabernacle) in the wilderness in the Old Testament. Jesus is
holy; but He is living – for a season - in a dark world. That is Christianity.
The incarnation tells us that God comes
to us, and something else. The incarnation underlines the importance of man and
his physical existence.
In the Greek culture in John’s day,
right through to our day there is this idea that our real life is the spirit
life. The physical life is inferior, even dirty. The incarnation blows up this
teaching, which has caused a lot of harm. The Word became flesh. God is for the
flesh. To be human is not to just be a spirit. To be human is to be physical.
Now we have, ‘and we have seen his
glory’. Just like in the Old Testament the Jews saw the glory of God in the
tabernacle (see Exodus 40), so with this tabernacle, glory is seen, And this glory
in this Gospel never means just the wonder of God’s beauty and holiness as
Peter, James, and John saw on the mount of transfiguration. No, the word glory
in John’s Gospel is always connected to Jesus’ suffering and resurrection.
There is no glory in the fourth Gospel without the cross. And this glory is
tied to the word ‘hour’. So in chapter 2 Jesus tells his mother that his hour
has not come, but turns water into wine, and when a Christian took wine at Holy
Communion, he or she heard, ‘this is the blood of Christ’. Then in chapter
seven and eight the soldiers cannot arrest Jesus because his hour has not yet
come, but when Judas leaves in chapter 13 Jesus says, ‘Now the Son of Man has
been glorified and again in chapter 17 He says, ‘Father the hour has come
glorify your son’ What hour? The hour of his suffering. And that is what the
writer saw. He was near the cross. He saw the glory of Christ’s sacrifice.
What does that mean for us today – that
we will see glory when we approach the cross, especially in the blood and wine,
which this Gospel will talk a lot about.
And because of this suffering, so this
is unique glory– and it is full of grace and truth. The cross speaks to the
truth of how sinful we are, and how God is holy; grace points to the shed
blood. Don’t miss the word ‘full’. There is always enough. We just have to
admit the truth of our situation and we will experience grace. When we think
all is well and we have nothing to confess, that is when there is no grace.
This phrase, grace and truth, also
points back to Exodus 33 – 34 where God showed Moses his glory.Look at this
passage in your own time and you will see again an emphasis on God’s goodness,
grace – and faithfulness, truth.
Verse 15 again underlines the importance
of the church, like John, witnessing to Christ. For John, Jesus came after him.
That is true. John started the work of baptizing people. And some say that
Jesus might even have been one of John’s disciples, so in position he came
after him. So some might think that John is greater than Jesus. But, Jesus must
always be number one in the church, because only He is divine. Only He was
before us all. There is no religious tradition that is superior to Jesus
Christ.
16. What a lovely verse this is. Grace
upon grace. The two words, is the Greek word anti. This can have at
least two meanings, both are beautiful.
One is grace upon grace. Endless grace.
At the end of one day we sleep saying that God’s grace was enough for us; and
then we wake up to another day, that it is grace upon grace, there will be
grace for that day.
Another meaning of anti is ‘instead
of’…so grace, instead of grace. In other words there has been one form of
grace, but now there is another, it has superseded, taken over from the first
form of grace. This is then explained in the next verse, verse 17. That first
grace was the law which came through Moses. Now a greater grace has come
through Jesus Christ. It is this grace we must look to now instead of that
first grace. This positioning of Jesus as taking over from Moses is a strong
theme in this Gospel, especially in chapter six and the feeding of the five
thousand. Jesus is the new Moses, coming down from the mountain to feed the
people in the wilderness not with manna, but with the bread of life, his broken
body on the flesh. So while it is true that God’s grace never runs out, it is
grace upon grace, this is almost certainly what the writer had in mind when he
wrote anti – grace instead of grace. Yes Moses is important, the law is
important, but now Jesus has fulfilled the law and our relationship with God is
no longer about Moses, it is all about the grace and truth that is in Jesus.
18. And so we end where we began, with
God and Christ in heaven. But now the names are changed. They are more
intimate. The Logos is the only Son, who is close not to God, but to the
Father’s heart. This is a beautiful picture of a son resting on his father’s
breast, and both look up at the church and say, come, come closer, you are
welcomed into this family. We cannot see God, but in Christ God is made known.
This points to 6:45 when Jesus says: ‘anyone who has seen me has seen the
Father’. Or we can say that Jesus is the exegesis of God, the story of God. And
the story of God is that he says to sinful men and women like you and me –
welcome.
What wonderful verses. Wonderful for our
minds to understand who Christ is, wonderful for our bodies to know that the
Word became flesh, wonderful for emotions to know we can be children of God,
wonderful for our day to day life that we too can shine with the light of
Christ – and that light will never be overcome.
And what a wonderful introduction. As
with any great work of art in this introduction the writer has looked forward
to all that will happen in the next 21 chapters, and as he saw his glory,
surely this should be our prayer too – that as Jesus steps out of the pages of
this Gospel, He will show us his glory. His glory in his coming to us; his
glory in his teaching; his glory in his miracles, and above all his glory as he
suffers on the cross and say, ‘It is finished.’
Let me end with a famous saying from an
early church father, Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria.
He
(Jesus) became what we are that He might make us what He is
In the next lesson, John the Baptist comes centre stage. Click on the link below.
https://sternfieldthoughts.blogspot.com/2025/01/the-gospel-of-john-john-baptist-119-34.html
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