THURSDAY 9th
John 1:1-5
NIV – ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’
ESV – ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’
We come now to the beginning of John’s gospel, and to the opening verses which are contained within John’s prologue which is from verse 1 through to verse 18 in which John introduces us to Jesus.
Matthew commences his gospel by introducing Jesus through his earthly genealogy, going back to Abraham. Mark by introducing Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, Luke takes us to the birth of both John the Baptist and Jesus being foretold by the angel Gabriel to Zechariah (for John) and Mary (for Jesus).
John in his introduction goes right back to the beginning, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ In fact, although the word beginning is used here, the idea is to take us into eternity past, before time began.
Immediately, although he does not use the name Jesus till verse 17, he lets the reader know that Jesus is God, importantly, not a god but God. ‘. . . and the Word was God.’ (v1). Of equal importance is Johns introduction of the Word as already being with God, (‘ . . . and the Word was with God’) he was with God as God at the beginning. Before time began, the eternal God existed, and thus also existed the Word, who we see later in the gospel to be the Son of God, therefore he the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ is the ‘eternal Son of God’. There has not been a specific moment in which Jesus became the Son, he always has been.
John then announces that it was through the Word that all things were made, and without him was not anything made; thus we see the co-operation of the Godhead in the creation of the world. We know from Genesis 1, that it says, ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth’ (v1) V3 tells us that ‘the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the earth’. And now John tells us that the Word was there as well, thus creation is the work of the Godhead, the triune1 God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In his epistles, Paul also ascribes creation through the Lord Jesus Christ in 1 Corinthians 8:6 ‘ . . . yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.’ Also, in Colossians 1:16 ‘For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.’ And the Hebrew writer as well, Hebrews 1:2 ‘ . . . but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.’
John then makes another important statement about the Word in verse 4 ‘In him was life, . . .’ He himself is life, he is the source of created life and he came into the world to give us life, new life, abundant life, eternal life, resurrection life, as we discovered from the earlier devotions. This is the Word, this is the eternal Son, this is Jesus, the Christ, the one who is our Saviour.
Now, we could suggest at this time, that we are stating our belief upon Jesus and his deity on the words of a fellow man, the apostle John, but we will see that what John has declared is also verified by Jesus himself. We discover that as time had unfolded through the record of the Old Testament, as we see one generation pass to another, Jesus already existed. Later in the same gospel, Jesus would make an incredible statement about himself at a time when the Jews were disputing with him, they said to him, ‘are you greater than our father Abraham who died?’ To this Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I am!’ (John 8:53,58) By using the words ‘I am’ to describe himself, Jesus was declaring himself to be equal with God, for he was giving himself the very title or name that God had used in telling Moses who he was way back in Exodus 3:13-14 (‘Then Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them? God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’’)
This Jesus is our God!
1 Triune God / Trinity – The word trinity is not found in Scripture, this does not mean that it is a false concept, it is simply a word that has been used to help us understand the tri-unity of God, that God exists as one God in three persons, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, also known as the Godhead. Some Scriptures where we see the three persons of the Godhead together are: Mark 1:9-11 at the baptism of Jesus, he as the Son is in the water, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove, and the Father speaks from heaven. Also in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 concerning the gifts, variety of gifts but the same Spirit, (the Holy Spirit) varieties of service, but the same Lord, (the Son) varieties of activities, but the same God (the Father) See also: John 14:16-17, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, 2 Corinthians 13:14, 1 Peter 1:2.