BIG IDEA:
THE INCARNATION OF THE ETERNAL GOD IN THE PERSON OF THE WORD REVEALS THE ESSENCE OF GOD AND OFFERS SPIRITUAL LIFE THROUGH FAITH AND THE DYNAMIC OF GOD’S SOVEREIGN INITIATIVE
INTRODUCTION:
God became Flesh! Why??
How can finite man with all of his limitations ever come to know the eternal God in all of His glory? How can the creation have any type of knowledge of and relationship with its Creator? How is spiritual life formed in man? What is different about God’s supreme revelation in His Son as opposed to His revelation in the OT law?
What is the role of faith in becoming a child of God?
I. (:1-3) THE WORD CO-EXISTED AS GOD FROM ALL ETERNITY AND CO-PARTICIPATED IN THE CREATION OF ALL THINGS
A. Significance of the Name = “The Word”
Ryrie: “Revelation is the keynote idea in the logos concept.”
Stedman: The first thing John wants us to understand is that Jesus was God. First, he was the Word of God: In the beginning was the Word.” The “Word” here is the Greek word, logos, which means the same as our word, W-O-R-D. What is a word, anyway? A word is an audible or a visual expression of a thought. Thoughts are incommunicable until they are put into words. . . . When Jesus was among us as a man he expressed what was going on in the mind of God. He told us the thoughts of God. He was God’s utterance on earth, unveiling to us what Paul calls “that secret and hidden wisdom of God,” {cf, 1 Cor 2:7}
B. (:1-2) Co-Existed as God from all Eternity
1. Existence from before Time
“In the beginning was the Word”
Heb. 1:1-2; Rev. 1:8, 17
2. Existence in Conjunction with God
“and the Word was with God”
pros = face to face with God; intimate fellowship
3. Identity of the Word as God
“and the Word was God”
Classic text for proving the deity of Christ; a major problem for cults; they try to twist this around
Stedman: Finally, John makes the blunt statement, “And that Word was God.” No doubt about it! Jehovah’s Witnesses and Unitarians deny this great truth that Jesus was God. But there is no other translation of this statement possible without violating the laws of Greek grammar and the theological statements of other Scriptures. If we say, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses want us to say, “Jesus was a God,” then we are introducing the whole realm of polytheism, multiple gods. But if there is only one God and Jesus was a God, then he was the God. That is what John affirms right at the beginning of his gospel.
4. Summary / Repetition
“He was in the beginning with God.”
C. (:3) Co-Participated in the Creation of All Things – Source of All Life
1. Stated Positively
“All things came into being through Him,”
2. Stated Negatively
“and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being”
Col. 1:16; cf. the importance of creation as God’s general revelation to all mankind
Morris: “The relation of the first two Persons of the Trinity in the work of creation is of interest. There is a careful differentiation of the parts played by the Father and the Son in 1 Cor. 8:6. Creation was not the solitary act of either. Both were at work (and for that matter, still are; cf. 5:17, 19). The Father created, but He did it ‘through’ the Word.’
II. (:4-9) THE LIGHT CAME INTO THE WORLD TO BEAR TESTIMONY TO MEN ABOUT TRUE SPIRITUAL LIFE
A. (:4) Relationship Between Life and Light
“In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”
Ryrie: “These are two words especially associated with John (8:12; 9:5; 11:25; 14:6). ‘Light’ in John implies revelation that discloses the ‘life’ that is in Christ and brings into judgment those who refuse it (3:19). ‘Life’ denotes salvation and deliverance, based on Christ’s atonement.”
Stedman: Light here is a symbol of knowledge, of understanding, of truth
Hendriksen: “the term [life] refers to the fullness of God’s essence, his glorious attributes: holiness, truth (knowledge, wisdom, veracity), love, omnipotence, sovereignty.”
B. (:5) Relationship Between Light and Darkness
1. Active Function of the Light
“The light shines in the darkness”
2. Unresponsiveness of the Darkness — 3 Possibilities:
a. “the darkness did not comprehend it”
-
Emphasizes lack of understanding of the light … which is true
b. “the darkness did not overcome it”
-
Emphasizes lack of victory over the light … which is true
Piper: (Some translations say “have not understood it.” But the one other place John uses this Greek word, not counting 8:3,4, is in John 12:35 which says, “Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you.”) This is what I would call the “invincibility of light” .It is not overcome. So you could label verse 5: “Light is triumphant over darkness.” …
The darkness is the world of evil and unbelief and death and judgment…
When you believe in Jesus not only do you leave the darkness and enter the light; you actually join the family of the light — you become children of the light. Paul said, “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).
c. Most likely: “the darkness did not appropriate it”
-
Emphasizes lack of responsiveness to the light which seems to be the emphasis in this context.
Stedman: This word means that the darkness cannot get hold of the light, cannot appropriate it, cannot possess it, cannot apprehend it.
C. (:6-8) Witness of John the Baptist to the Light
1. (:6) Sent by God
“There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.”
Piper: It didn’t have to be this way. God could have caused the light of Christ to spread in some other way. He could have done it with angels. He could have written the gospel in the sky with big puffy white letters made out of clouds. He could have caused the wind to talk. But instead God chose to call and send human beings to bear witness to the light.
2. (:7) Came on a Mission
“He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.”
3. (:8) Not to be Confused with the Light
“He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.”
D. (:9) Witness of the True Light to the True Life
“There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.”
But not all men respond to that light and that opportunity afforded to them.
This phrase could refer to the effectual calling of just the elect (so that “every man” would have a limited frame of reference). But more likely it refers to the general light shed by the preaching of the gospel which centers in the person of Christ … irregardless of how people respond to that light.
III. (:10-13) SPIRITUAL BIRTH DEPENDS ON RECEPTION BY FAITH FACILITATED BY THE DYNAMIC OF GOD’S SOVEREIGN INITIATIVE
A. (:10-11) Spiritual Blindness Obscures the Clear Testimony of Christ
1. The Creation Failed to Acknowledge its Creator
“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”
2. The Jews Failed to Receive Their Promised Messiah
“He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”
B. (:12) Faith Opens the Door for All to Inclusion in the Family of God
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.”
Piper: The “name” simply emphasizes the full stature and dignity and authority of the person.
C. (:13) Spiritual Birth Depends on the Dynamic of God’s Sovereign Initiative
1. Not on Ethnic or Family Heritage
“who were born, not of blood”
2. Not on the Accomplishments or Merit or even the Will of Man
“nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man”
3. Only on the Sovereign God
“but of God”
We can only choose Him because He has first chosen us in His sovereign grace. The new birth depends ultimately on God. Then we respond in repentance and faith and continue to grow in our faith and our relationship with Him.
IV. (:14-18) THE WORD BECAME FLESH TO FULLY REVEAL GOD
(IN BOTH GRACE AND TRUTH – SUBJECTIVELY AS WELL AS OBJECTIVELY)
A. (:14a) The Reality of the Incarnation
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”
tabernacled, pitched His tent among us
B. (:14b) The Revelation of the Incarnation
“and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”
C. (:15-17) The Supremacy of the Revelation
1. Supreme over the Revelation of John the Baptist
“John testified about Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’”
2. Supreme in its Fullness
“For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace”
Stedman: God has a daily supply of grace for us. Grace is the generosity of love reaching out toward us, giving itself to us. To those who come to Christ, God’s promise is that every day we can take a new supply of his love. We can know that we are loved. We know we are cherished, protected, and blessed. We are strengthened, kept, and supported by his love; grace upon grace, day after day, like the manna to the Israelites in the wilderness. So God gives us a daily supply of love. Because we have been loved, when we reach out in love to someone else, when we give as fully and freely as we have received, then we fulfill the Law, for love is the fulfilling of the Law.
3. Supreme over the Revelation of the OT Law
“For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”
Piper: Does that mean that the law of Moses is contrary to grace and truth — that the law is not gracious and not truthful? I don’t think so. What verse 17 says is that before the REALITY — the embodiment — of grace and truth came through Jesus, a WITNESS to that reality came through the law of Moses. …
The law was a witness to grace and truth. Jesus was the fulfillment not the contradiction of the law of Moses.
D. (:18) The Uniqueness of the Revelation
“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained Him.”
– level of accuracy
– level of detail
– personal involvement
Christ solves the fundamental problem: If God is invisible and can’t be seen, how can we know Him?