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John 1:1-3 Jesus Christ, The Word, The Creator, The Life

August 20, 2017 Speaker: Pastor Scott Slaughter Series: The Gospel of John, Life In God

Topic: Jesus Christ, Messiah, Salvation Scripture: John 1:1–3

Jesus Christ was not just a man but the very Lord of glory and therefore able to purchase redemption and pay for sin.

Let me say first, that as we proceed to look into these verses we step out of the realm of time, and back into eternity past. Hence we step out the realm of finite understanding. Yet God, through the apostle John has seen fit to give us a glimpse of the eternal, blissful fellowship of the Triune God. The great nineteenth-century Baptist, biblical expositor Alexander MacLaren expressed the wonder that should fill our minds as we read this portion of Scripture, 

“The Gospels begin with Bethlehem; John begins with ‘the bosom of the Father.’ Luke dates his narrative by Roman emperors and Jewish high priests; John dates him ‘in the beginning.’ To attempt an adequate exposition of these verses in our narrow limits is absurd; we can only note the salient points of this, the most profound page in the New Testament.” 

 It is believed that the apostle was an aged man when he penned this gospel record. Already false teaching had arisen and John was quick to defend the truth. All of this may have had some effect upon the purpose of the book; that is, to show forth more completely the Lord Jesus Christ, His divine person, and His redemptive work. In fact, John did give the main reason for his gospel in chapter 20:30-31:

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.” 

  I believe the other reason, to combat false teaching that is making inroads into the church, will hold true as well. It is evident that he is conscious of the threat that Gnosticism is becoming to the gospel and to the churches. His method of presentation proves useful for both. In chapter 1:1-18 we have what is called John’s Prologue. In this prologue, the message seems to be, “here is Christ.” In the remainder of the book the message seems to be, “here is what He has done.” It has been observed that John’s Prologue outlines what is coming to the extent that one might say that all of the information, stories, parables, teachings, and accounts are all chosen, presented, and arranged in such a way as to prove John’s proclamation contained within the Prologue, i.e., that Jesus Christ is God and that as the Son of God He became a man so that He could give His own life as a sacrifice for those that the Father has given Him to redeem. 

In order to express this John uses a Greek word, “logos.” Biblical scholars usually use the noun, “word” to translate the Greek word “logos” into English. This word “logos” in the Greek language usually meant, “expression, statement, speech, word, declaration, say, or speak.” It may also mean,”word” in the sense that words are the incarnation of thoughts.”Thoughts are unknown, untouchable, removed, transcendent. With words, thoughts take form, become knowable, teach, instruct, declare, proclaim, and reveal. In the Old Testament book of Proverbs (Chapters 8 & 9) “wisdom” is personified much the same way that the logos is here in John 1. John wants us to know that we may know God fully through His Son, the Word, Jesus Christ. According to verse 14 of John chapter 1, the Word became flesh and dwelled among mankind. That, John says, was Jesus Christ!  

More in The Gospel of John, Life In God

January 13, 2019

John 21:15-22 Course Corrections for Disciples

January 6, 2019

John 21:1-14 Renewing Your Call to Jesus

November 25, 2018

John 20:30-31 That You May Believe