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Who was Jesus?
John 1:1-18
Mari Ikeda
Starting from today, I’d like to start reading the Gospel according to John, because I feel it’s about time to go back to the actual words of Jesus after we have read Romans for nearly 2 years and kept hearing from Paul. Also because I have read other Gospels in the past, but not John, I picked John.
If you have read the Gospel of John, you may well know that it is quite different from the other three Gospels and that it has many passages that sound very philosophical and difficult to understand. However, at the same time, this Gospel tells us the heart of the gospel in very easy and simple words, and also contains many episodes of Jesus that many of us are fond of and are not in the other Gospels.
Today, I’d like to read 1:1-18, which is a preface of this book. Let’s get started, firstly v.1-5.
A. In the beginning was the Word (1-5)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
1. The beginning of a new world (Genesis 1:1-5)
You may wonder if some kind of philosophical lecture or a riddle started here. But I guess this passage actually sounded familiar to people of the time when this Gospel was written. We can understand what sounded familiar to them if we read the very first part of the first book of the whole Bible, Genesis, chapter 1. Let’s read the first 5 verses.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning —the first day.
Both Genesis and John’s Gospel in the original Greek text start with using the identical words, “in the beginning.” Likewise, John’s Gospel follows the story of God’s creation in which everything was made through God’s word, just as Genesis records that there came light by God’s saying, “Let there be light.” The motif of light and darkness is also shared.
In other words, John’s Gospel wanted its readers to remember the creation story in Genesis, by which it tells us that what is going to be told in this Gospel hereafter is about the beginning of a new world. What kind of new world it is specifically is yet to be told. But at least we can assume that it is the world where what is said in v.5 has come true, which says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” It’s the world where the victory of the light over darkness is established.
2. The Word = God = Life = Light
Moreover, we can also learn from these first 5 verses here that the Word is God, that it is life, and that it is light. That the Word is God has a meaning that God’s word reflects exactly who God is because His word never fails. It was also the word of God that brought the light to the world and gave life to all creatures.
However, there remains a puzzle. V.1-2 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” Here it is implied that “the Word” does not just mean what God utters from His mouth, but more than that. The answer for what it is will be gradually revealed in the following verses.
Now let’s skip v.6-8 as we’ll read them next time, and move on to v.9-11.
B. The Word came into the world (9-13)
1. The world did not accept the Word
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
From around here, we can figure out that “the Word” actually refers to Jesus. God, who created this world, came to this world, but people denied Him. This was and is the reality of our world. We don’t accept God as God, and don’t believe the true God even if He is revealed just in front of us. Because we believe something other than God is the god. Among something and someone that we rely on in our everyday life, our status and property, almost none of them can remain forever. What do we aim at by all our life? What do we want or can we leave behind when we close our earthly life? If we feel empty, it may be because we are making something other than God as our god. Jesus came to this world in order to teach us that there is something eternal, and what are the meaning and value for us to live in this world. Let’s read the next part, v.12-13.
2. The beginning of new life
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
I think this is a little misleading, because it doesn’t mean that we cannot be God’s children unless we believe in Him. Whether or not we believe in God, we all are God’s beloved children. However, it is important that we consciously believe that. And it is only Jesus, who can clearly teach us about that.
Children cannot survive without adults. For us to believe in God means that we become aware that we are only God’s children who cannot live without God, and that we need to rely on Him. It is in fact the process of dying in our old self in which we rely on what is not reliable, and of being renewed by God. Although the situations that surround us sometimes get hopeless and our hearts are shaken, we know that our source of hope and strength lies in the fact that God’s love for us never changes. Therefore, every time we make our decision to believe in Jesus and trust God’s love, our new life starts.
Let’s move on to the last part today, v.14-18. I’ll skip v.15 to leave it for next time.
C. The Word became flesh (14-18)
Now, there are other things we can learn from this long list of names. We cannet be certain only by information of names, but according to a scholar, there are at least 9 out of 24 people who were slaves or freedmen and freedwomen. For example, according to his research, Herodion (v.11) was thought to be a name given to a slave in the household of Herod, and Hermes (v.14) was a very typical name among slaves in those days. On the contrary, we can assume that at least 4 people, Prisca and Aquila, Philologus and Julia, who were the hosts of house churches, were free citizens and relatively wealthy, because they could not host a house church unless they had a house big enough for many people to gather. In summary, both slaves and free citizens, both poor and rich, gathered together in churches in those days.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (15) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
1. God’s only son, Jesus Christ
Here, for the first time in the whole passage, it is said clearly that “the Word” is Jesus Christ. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” can be paraphrased as God became a human being and lived among us. It was an unprecedented event that God Himself, the creator of this world, took the form of human flesh and came to this world.
In addition, although it’s not clearly stated here, God did not only become a human, but He died for human beings and rose again from death, which is the culmination of Jesus’ glory. It is said that it was “the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus was God Himself and God’s one and only Son at the same time, who was sent to this world by God to testify God’s love.
2. One who was with God from the beginning of the world, and one who is God (1-2)
Here we find the answer for the riddle of the first two verses we read today. V.1-2 said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” This is to say, Jesus was the one who was with God from the beginning of this world, but is God Himself at the same time.
Now then, why did the author of this Gospel not say so more directly in the first place, but instead use such an abstract word like “the Word”? It was because this very question, who on earth this person Jesus was, is the theme of this Gospel as a whole. The author is asking us, who Jesus was. He answers rather indirectly through this passage today. Jesus is the one who existed even before the world was created. Though He was God, He became a human and come to t V.18 says, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” Even today, two thousand years after this Gospel was written, no one has ever actually seen God. Yet, throughout the long history of human many people believed in Jesus and God. Asa result, their lives have been changed. The world has been changed. Let us also join in Jesus’ work of bringing light to darkness, by knowing more who He is through this Gospel.
（Prayer） Dear our Lord Jesus, we’ve now started reading John’s Gospel. Help us understand better what this Gospels teaches us about you, so that we may know more about you and how great you are. As this world is increasingly getting unstable, help us trust you more and use us in order to spread hope instead of hopelessness. Dear our Lord Jesus, we pray this in your name, Amen.
Summary
The Gospel according to John starts with what seems like a philosophical puzzle pointing to the question of who, exactly, Jesus is. The answer to this question is that Jesus is the only son of God, who created the world, who himself is God, and who existed from the beginning of the world. And though he was God, he became human in order to come into the world and to reveal God to people who had forgotten him. Through Jesus the world is renewed and we are also renewed. Jesus’ work of bringing light into darkness continues today.
For Discussion
1. What does it mean that Jesus is “the Word”?
2. What, specifically, does it mean for Jesus to make God known to us (vs. 18)?