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December 17, 2017 |
| The Word | ||
There are many places in both the Old and New Testaments that use "the word" or "your word" to refer to the Bible.
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105)
But be a doer of the word and not only a hearer, and do not deceive yourselves. (James 1:22)
For we also were evangelized as they were, but the word did not benefit those who heard, … (Hebrews 4:2)
We've become used to using "the word" this way. In John's gospel account though he uses "the word" to refer to someone. In this lesson we'll look at why he does this and get a deeper understanding of why the Bible is also called "the word."
We'll also look at the first few verses of Hebrews which also talk about this person. The first two chapters of Hebrews and part of the 3rd are making a similar argument as we will see here, showing where this person fits in relation to other people. In Hebrews this person is compared to angels and to Moses. Here he will be compared to John the Baptist.
John describes the Word using some very large, difficult to understand, concepts. It is a challenge to fully grasp them but in this lesson we will at least get an understanding to start from.
1 In the origin the Word had been existing and that Word had been existing with God and that Word was himself God. 2 This one himself was at the origin with God.
John begins his gospel with the same word that begins the book of Genesis. In this translation the author uses "origin" instead of "beginning" but the meaning is the same. It seems likely this is done to link the two together.
John speaks about this first moment of creation … if the word "moment" can even be used. As we've discussed in previous lessons, it isn't possible to ask what came before creation because time did not exist until creation. Therefore questions like "what was there before creation" and "where did God come from" do not make sense.
John also speaks of a being he calls the Word whom we know as the son of God. He calls him the Word but a better name might have been the Message. This name describes the role of the son of God, to be the message sent by God to man. In a sense then he is also the messenger.
From the time of Abraham the message was delivered through prophets, some of whom wrote it down to be the written Word, the Bible. The book of Hebrews tells us about the delivery of that Word.
From the first, in all parts and in all forms, God spoke with our fathers by the prophets, 2 And in these last days he has spoken with us by his Son, whom he ordained the heir of all things, and by him he made the universe. 3 For he is the brilliance of his glory, the image of his being, and upholds all things by the power of his word; and he in his essential being has accomplished the purification of our sins, and he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1-3)
These 3 verses are packed with information.
Now we understand the two terms John is using, origin and the Word. At that moment of origin, John says, the Word was already in existence. Not only that, the Word was in existence with God and was himself also God. John also repeats himself somewhat for emphasis by saying the Word was with God at that first moment of creation. John, speaking by the Holy Spirit, is leaving no doubt about the role played by the Word.
3 Everything was in his hand, and without him not even one thing existed of the things that existed.
All of creation was created by the son of God. The verses from Hebrews above add more detail saying that God the father created everything through the son, meaning that the father said "do it" and the son did it. In this verse we also see that no created thing existed before God - only God existed.
Next, John will begin to use some concepts that are strange to us. First he will use the phrase "the life" to refer to a perfect eternal life as could only be found in God. He isn't talking about being alive like we think of being alive. Instead he is referring to something more like a standard or role model for life. It doesn't only mean that the Son of God would never do anything less than perfect, though that is true. It means he is the perfect life and couldn't possibly be anything else.
4 In him was the life and the life is the light of men. 5 And the light is shining in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
Until now John has been talking about the Son of God. Now he begins to talk about Jesus who we know was the essence of the Son of God in a human body.
John is saying that Jesus was the container for the very definition of life. This standard is like a light that shines for mankind to see and draws mankind to it. Like a real light this light makes it possible for mankind to see. Without a light we stumble around and are lost. Therefore this life is the pattern so a man can see how he should walk, how he should live his life.
Summarizing, Jesus came to teach and live out that perfect life to show mankind how they should live.
This echoes John's epistles where he talks about walking in the light, by which he means living a righteous life. The meaning is the same here.
This goes together with the verse in the introduction, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path"
John also says that this guiding light for mankind was not extinguished, though Satan did try and did kill Jesus. 2000 years later we still know about that life and in it we see that light.
So far we have seen these names applied to the Son of God: the Word, God, creator, and the life. Jesus has been named the container for the life and the life he lived is the light of men.
6 There was a man sent from God; his name was Yohannan. 7 He came for a witness, to testify about the light, that everyone by him would believe. 8 He was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
John now explains how John the Baptist fits into the picture, for the benefit of the many followers he had. John was there to prepare the people for the arrival of the light (Jesus) so they would accept the light. The people had drifted away from God and John the Baptist was there to turn their hearts back to God. He taught them again about that perfect life and how they should live. When the time came he was there to say the light had arrived. After that his work was done.
Next, John, the author, will use another concept that is strange to us - the idea of perfect eternal truth. We think of individual truths, "what is my name?" or "was I there", as being true or false and also subjective, but he speaks here of the definition of all truth and absolute truth. Anything else is not truth.
Someone once described this truth as the place where God stands and if you want to be in truth you need to go stand beside him. To be more exact, God is truth, the definition of truth, any separation or distance from him is not where truth is.
9 For that one was the light of truth, which enlightens every person that comes into the world.
John has been saying that the life within Jesus is a light for men. Now he says the shininess of that light is truth. Just as photons carry light to us from a light bulb so we can see, truth carries the life to us so we can understand (see). As hard as it has been to understand a perfect life and a perfect truth, we now need to grasp the idea that the perfect truth is how we know about the perfect life. By-the-way, John lived 2000 years ago and had the education you would expect of a fisherman of his time.
The English word used here, enlighten, means making wise but it has an older meaning of shining light on something. John intends both these meanings.
To live a life that is in the light is to live a life that is truth. Any other life is in darkness and is a lie. John makes these same points in his epistle.
Jesus said that he is the way, the truth, and the life. We haven't discussed "the way" but we have discussed that he is the life and the truth, the definition of the perfect life and the perfect truth it shines for mankind. Instead of saying "the way" we've been discussing the standard set for us by the perfect life, calling it "the walk", but the meaning is the same.
Summarizing, Jesus gave us this truth but he gave it to us in many small pieces. The whole truth is inexpressibly large. Each piece shows us another aspect of that truth, through which we see the light (Jesus) and the life (Son of God) within him. Our job is to put all of these pieces together to fully understand that truth.
10 He was in the world, and the world existed by his hand, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But those that received him, to them he gave authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, 13 Those who had not been born of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the desire of a man, but of God.
The creator walked among the created, says John, but the created did not recognize him. He tried to live with his chosen people but they rejected him, at least mostly. Those who did accept his message and believed in everything we was (his name) were given a power or authority the others do not have. At a future time they can exercise that control to become the sons of God.
In verse 13, John eliminates three kinds of birth as leading to becoming the sons of God. He says those with a particular bloodline have no special access and neither do those born from lust nor those born according to a plan of a man. In this he has eliminated every kind of human birth, leaving only the rebirth of God. Remember how Jesus said, "you must be born again."
14 And the Word became 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. 15 Yohannan bore witness of him and cried, saying, "This was he of whom I spoke: 'He that comes after me is preferred in honor before me, for he had priority over me.'"
In verse 10, John said that the Son of God, the creator, had been in the world. Now he describes how that worked. The Son of God was born as a man, as men are born though begotten of God, and lived as a man among men. Having just said in verse 13 that, for men, becoming one of the sons of God does not come by natural birth, John is likely drawing an anti-parallel by talking about the Son of God being born via natural birth, yet not natural birth.
Now John closely mirrors the verse from Hebrews above which said Jesus is the brilliance of God's glory. He adds that Jesus was full of grace and truth.
John's words also line up with Psalm 2 and 2 Samuel 7
You are My Son, today I have begotten You. (Psalm 2:7)
I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me (2 Samuel 7:14)
Going back to the main text again we see JOhn talking about what this means for us
16 And of his fullness we have all received, and grace in place of grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but truth, and grace, existed by Yeshua the Messiah.
These two verses are hard to understand. He says, from all this grace and truth Jesus had, he have all received. There was also grace given to replace an earlier grace. Because the next verse begins by talking about the law of Moses but stays on the topic of grace, it seems certain the earlier grace was the giving of the law. Therefore John's point is that the earlier grace of the law of Moses is replaced by a greater grace. This means that the previous grace is replaced, not the law, as some would like to believe.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him."
John closes this part by making it clear that God the father had not been known before this time. God had been seen by people a few times before, for example at Mount Sinai to the Israelites when the 10 commandments were given and to Elijah. John is saying that the saw God the Son, not God the Father. It was only through the Son that the Father was revealed.
We have learned these things about the Word:
1 Genesis 1:26-27