John 1:1–9, 14–17

Bible Studies for Life
Professor of Philosophy, Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Samford University

THE WORD FROM GOD
John 1:1–9, 14–17
Christianity depends upon a confession of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ of God, the Messiah or Anointed One, whom God has christened with the name above every name, the name of Jesus, Yeshua, Joshua, a name that means in Hebrew “Salvation is from the Lord.” The Heavenly Father assures us that whoever calls upon that name shall receive the saving power of divine mercy.

Jesus is God (1)
Although Jesus serves as the proper name for the messianic Savior, it is not the only name given Him in Scripture. In this week’s lesson, we learn another name for Jesus. The writer calls Him the “Word” (logos) and informs us that Christ the Word serves as the expression or revelation of the Father, a revelation that, although different from the Father, remains divine even as the Father, too, is divine. In other words, Jesus as the living Word from God and of God exists as the living Word as God. Furthermore John is clear in its opening verse that God has always spoken the Word from the beginning. The Father has never been silent but has always had the Word with Him, connected through an intimate, personal relationship that can only be explained as founded upon a shared divinity — the Word with God and the Word as God.

Jesus is the Creator (2–3)
In the Hebrew language, a primary means for emphasizing a point is to repeat it. The author of John seems to follow this approach in verse 2 by reiterating his previous claim that Jesus as the Word was in the beginning with God. This time, however, he associates the Word’s coexistence with God in the beginning with the divine act of creation. Such an association calls to mind two creation passages in the Hebrew Scriptures. First, according to the creation story in Genesis 1, God brings the world into existence through language; that is, God speaks a divine word and the universe becomes a reality. This narrative fits well the Gospel’s contention that through the Word — Jesus Christ — all things came into being. Second, in Proverbs 8:22–31, Wisdom claims to have been with God at the beginning and to have functioned as the means whereby God created all things. Wisdom in Proverbs, therefore, correlates well with Jesus as the Word in John, since both were God’s companion in the beginning and both were the channel of God’s creative power.

Jesus is the True Light (4–9)
Light and Life are two potent symbols throughout the Gospel, and the author introduces them early in Chapter 1. Symbolizing Jesus as Life offers another connection with the Wisdom passage in Proverbs 8, since in verse 35, Wisdom admits that anyone who finds her finds Life. For John, finding Life in Christ means basking in the Light that shines into a worldly darkness that cannot comprehend it, a darkness that does not have the wisdom needed to understand what Jesus reveals. God so desires to explain the Light that God sends John the Baptist to witness to that Light, to be a lesser light in order to allow individuals to adjust to the coming brilliance of Christ’s spiritual enlightenment.

Jesus is Full of Grace and Truth (14–17)
When the author of John states in verse 14 that Jesus as the Word became flesh and dwelt on earth, he breaks decidedly with the Greek philosophical tradition of “Word” (logos). No Greek theorist would ever affirm that the Infi nite Word could enter finite existence and be embodied in the changing reality of flesh and history. Yet the Gospel clearly teaches that Jesus did just that — came into the world as the very incarnation of the divine Word. His earthly existence was a tabernacle filled with the fullness of God’s glory just as the original tabernacle was filled with the Shekinah presence of Yahweh. This fullness of the glory of God in Christ was a fullness characterized by “grace and truth.” The word “grace” appears four times in the Gospel, and all four times are in verses 14–17. In these verses, the author uses grace in order to distinguish Jesus, who brings “grace upon grace,” from Moses, who brought not grace but the law.