John 1:1-18 - Gospel Prologue
Pray
Father, thank you for revealing yourself to us in your Word.
I pray that you would open our minds and our hearts.
We want to see your glory in the face of your Son as we proclaim him from your word this morning.
I pray that you would use your Word to change us into the likeness of your son by the power of your Spirit.
It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Intro
How many of you love reading?
I love reading, but one of the things I tend to do is skip the prologue of the book and go straight to chapter 1.
I figure that the prologue isn’t going to give me anything different from the rest of the book, so I just skip it and jump right in.
But prologues can be very helpful, especially if you aren’t really sure what the book is going to be about.
The little paragraph on the back cover is helpful to see a very broad synopsis of the book…
And the prologue does this, too, but it also gives you how that synopsis is going to unfold in the book.
It does this to prepare readers to understand the book better than just jumping into chapter 1.
We are going to walk through John’s prologue to his gospel account in John 1:1-18.
In this prologue, John is going to answer three questions about his gospel account to prepare us before we read it.
The questions he is going to answer are: who, what, and how...
Who is the story about, what did he do, and how did he do it?
And his prologue is designed to summarize the main point of his entire gospel account.
John would go on to give this main point near the end…
John 20:31 “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.”
The point is to prove to your heart that Jesus is the Christ, and that upon believing in him you would have life in his name.
You see John wants all of us to have eternal life in Christ.
But in order to have eternal life we’ve got to believe in Jesus,
believe that he is the promised Christ,
believe that he is the Son of God.
The summary of all of John’s gospel is found here in his prologue, so that we would believe in Jesus and have life in him.
So, the first question John deals with in his prologue is who.
I. Who is this Story About? (1-5)
John 1:1–5
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.
Verse 1 tells us that this whole story is about the Logos, the Word.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Now, in the time that John was writing there were two main lines of thinking about the Logos.
In Greek thought, the Logos was the impersonal concept of reason and order in the universe.
It was imbued with creative power and was the source of all wisdom.
The other line of thinking was the Jewish thought that the Logos was the expression of the divine power and wisdom of Yahweh.
Here in verse 1, John shows us three things about the Word that shook both lines of thought about the Logos.
He shows us that (1) the Word existed before the beginning, (2) the Word is in communion with God, and (3) the Word has the same divine essence or being as God.
The first statement here in John’s gospel is very similar to the beginning of Genesis, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
There are some false religions that believe that the Word is a created being.
But the Word cannot be a created being because “the beginning” is when everything was created, including time itself, as recorded in Genesis 1.
John says, “In the beginning was the Word.”
Only God existed before the creation, before time, but the Word also existed then, so the Word must be God.
And John goes on to say exactly that, but not before making another striking claim.
He also said, the Word was with God.
We don’t have an adequate English phrase to do justice to the preposition translated as “with”.
In English, “with” simply means commonality in location, time, or purpose.
To illustrate this let’s think of a scenario…
If I say I am going to walk with my wife at the church hike later today, you understand that we are going to be in the same general area (the trail), at the same time (this afternoon), doing the same general activity (walking).
But the Greek preposition has a much more relational aspect.
It has the connotation of two people facing one another in intelligent discourse.
It wasn’t simply that the Word was in the same general area, at the same time, and doing the same general activities as God.
When John says, “the Word was with God,” he has in mind an intelligent and communicative relationship between the Word and God.
Then he says in the clearest language possible that the Word is, in fact, God.
The Greek construction of this phrase “the Word was God,” leaves it one-sided.
The Word is God, but God is not the Word.
This is an important distinction that establishes some boundaries for our understanding of the Trinity.
Each of the three persons of the Trinity are all fully God, but each of those persons are distinct from the other two.
Moving on to the second verse, John gives us a key piece of information that has only been hinted at in the first verse.
Contrary to both Greek and Jewish thought of the day, the Logos was not a WHAT but a WHO.
Verse 2 summarizes the truths of verse 1, clearly articulating the personality of the Word.
John says, “He was in the beginning with God.”
This is a masculine personal pronoun referring to the Word.
The Word is not an impersonal force or just the expression of God’s divine power, the Word is a person.
Then in verse 3, John says that this person called the Word has divine creative power.
He says, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
We don’t get to know exactly how the Word created everything.
And even what we do get to know is pretty unclear because John uses another kind of confusing preposition.
“All things were made through him.”
When we speak of doing something through someone or something we are usually speaking of means.
We can get to work through the use of public transportation.
We can remodel our house through a contractor who we pay to do it for us.
But when John says that all things were created through the Word, he’s referring to the inseparable activity of all three persons of the Trinity to create everything.
The Word was the person through whom all things were created.
And John really does mean all things.
Just in case you thought that there might be some things outside of the creative power of the Word…
John doubles down by stating the negative corresponding truth.
There is nothing in existence that has not been created through the Word.
Nothing except the creator himself because the creator, the triune God, has always existed as we saw in verse 1.
Then in verses 4 and 5 John brings up two metaphors that he is going to spend the rest of his gospel and much of his epistles using and explaining.
He says, “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.”
The life John refers to is not simply physical life, but spiritual life.
Also, the light and darkness are not physical but spiritual.
Spiritual life consisting of truth, understanding, and goodness…
versus spiritual death consisting of deception, ignorance, and evil.
The Word is the source of spiritual life which is the truth, understanding, and goodness that mankind abandoned at the fall back in Genesis 3.
Despite our abandonment of this light, it still shines in this deceptive, willfully ignorant, and evil world we live in because the Word is still sovereign over everyone and everything.
In fact, the Word is the embodiment of this metaphor of light.
The Word is the ultimate truth, understanding, and goodness because he is God.
So, now we know who this story is about.
It’s about the Word who is God, the one who created everything, the one who is the ultimate truth, understanding, and goodness.
Now, the second question John deals with is what.
II. What did he do? (6-13)
John 1:6–13
ESV
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John shifts here from referring to the main character of this gospel story as the Word to referring to him as the light.
One of the things light does is it creates a distinction between what is seen and what remains hidden in the shadows.
Here John tells us what the Word, who is the light, would do: he would divide the world.
The light causes division, the division of the whole world.
John would begin his narrative a bit later in verse 19 with a man named John (the Baptist, not the author), but here in verses 6-8 we get a synopsis of John the Baptist’s calling and purpose.
John the Baptist’s mission from God was to bear witness about the light in order to produce faith in those who heard his witness by pointing them to the light for eternal life.
John bore witness about the truth, understanding, and goodness of the divine Word so that people would believe and have life.
But John’s witness caused division, just like the light which was coming into the world.
A division between those who believe and those who don’t.
Verses 9-13 show just how much this true light would divide the world.
The true light separates believers from unbelievers.
In verse 9, when John says that the true light gives light to everyone, he’s referring to the fact that every one of us has the truth, understanding, and goodness of God proclaimed to us in the created world and in our own conscience.
And John anticipates verse 14 a bit when he says that the true light was coming into the world.
He says in verse 10 that the true light was already in the world in a certain respect… the same world that had been made through him, but he was coming into the world in a new way.
Verse 10 also says that despite the true light already being in the world and being made through him, the world did not know him.
The world was willfully ignorant of its creator despite his spiritual presence and creativity evident for all to see.
Paul wrote about this in Romans 1:18–20
Romans 1:18–20
ESV
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
The true light has been revealed to all mankind in his creation, and he has been revealed especially to his people, Israel, through his written revelation which we know as the Old Testament.
His own people had been given divine revelation about his coming, but they still rejected him because of the hardness of their hearts.
Whether suppressing general revelation or special revelation, the result is the same: unbelief and rejection of the true light.
John doesn’t tell us here what the results of this unbelief will be because he’s focused on the results of belief.
The main focus of the division the true light would bring was in the separation and change of those who believed.
What does the true light do to those who do not suppress the truth?
What does he do to those who see the true light and believe?
Verses 12 and 13 say, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Believers are granted a new identity as born-again children of God.
John uses legal language here to show that believers are legally adopted as God’s children.
But then he uses physical language to show the actual change in believers as they are born again.
And this second birth would be according to God’s will.
It’s not the will of the flesh because the flesh is against God.
And it’s not the will of man because being born is entirely passive.
The flesh doesn’t want to have spiritual life, and mankind can’t choose to be spiritually born again just like a baby can’t choose to be physically born.
And John says that all of this happens to those who believe in the name of the Word who is God…
But John hasn’t given us his name yet…
He’s about to give us that name that we are to believe in.
So, we know who this story is about.
It’s about the Word who is God.
And we know what the Word who is God would do in this story.
The Word, the true light came to divide the world between believers and unbelievers, light and dark, life and death, children of the world and children of God.
Now John deals with a final question, how.
III. How did he do it? (14-18)
John 1:14–18
ESV
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
This is a sort of summary of the rest of the book of John as the Word’s glory is manifested, his identity is proclaimed, his grace is received, and his Father is made known.
This all happened because God became a human being.
As John says here in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
That is the biggest understatement I think I have ever heard.
There’s so much earth-shattering truth packed in this simple statement.
Remember all that stuff we talked about in verses 1-5 how the Word is God?
And how God, the Word, was not a created being but the one who created everything?
Well, now he has entered into his creation.
If that doesn’t make your jaw drop, maybe you didn’t hear it properly.
Almighty, infinite, holy, creator God put on finite humanity like a permanent garment and stepped out of heaven and into the world he created.
The divine person called the Word has taken on a permanently physical form within the world he created in the beginning.
And this is not some myth or fantastical story made up to make people feel better about life.
John says that the Word dwelt among us.
The “us” he is referring to is himself and the other apostles.
And all of them are witnesses of his glory.
They saw his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.
Peter, James, and John (the author of this gospel) all saw that glory on the mount of transfiguration when the Father said in Matthew 17:5, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.”
And John says that the Son is full of grace and truth.
Now, the Greek words for grace and truth are Charis and Alethea, and the Hebrew words that convey the same meaning are Chessed and Emeth.
These two Hebrew words were used a lot to describe the glory of Yahweh in the Old Testament.
Moses asked God to show him his glory in Exodus 33:18, so God placed him in a cleft of the rock and passed before him and proclaimed his glory.
Exodus 34:6-7 is what Yahweh proclaimed about his glory, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in Chessed and Emeth.”
So, for John to say that they had seen the glory of the Son of God full of grace and truth…
He was equating the glory of the Son with the glory of Yahweh of the Old Testament.
It’s the same glory, and John was an eye witness of that glory.
Then John gives a side comment about John the Baptist in verse 15.
He says that John bore witness to the Word by identifying him as the eternal one.
“This is he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”
Apparently, John the Baptist had said that someone was coming after him.
Usually if someone comes after someone else in this context it means that they are a sort of disciple who is continuing the teaching or tradition of the one who came before, the master.
But John the Baptist flips this thought by saying that the one coming after him, ranks before him.
The one coming after him would be the master rather than the disciple.
And he says that this is the case because the one coming after him, has existed before him.
The author, John, comes back to his main thought and continues talking about the fullness of the Word.
Remember he had said that they had seen his glory full of grace and truth?
Now he comments on that fullness of grace and truth in verses 16 and 17.
“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Up to this point the Word has been nameless in John’s prologue.
I’ve tried to be careful not to spoil John’s big reveal.
This whole prologue has been building anticipation about the name of the Word who is God.
Well, John finally gives us the name of the eternal creator called the Word and the true light.
His name is Jesus, the Christ.
Jesus was the name both Joseph and Mary were told to give the baby conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit.
The name Jesus means, “Yahweh saves.”
And Jesus had that name because he is Yahweh who would save his people from their sins.
This salvation is the grace upon grace that we have received, the grace and truth that came through Jesus Christ that could not come through the Law of Moses.
The Law can’t save, it only condemns and points to the savior.
That savior is Jesus Christ, the true light that has come into the world, and the eternal Word who created and sustains everything.
The Law condemns, but in Christ, there is no more condemnation as Romans 8:1-4 says.
Romans 8:1–4
ESV
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The grace we receive in salvation is not some extra thing that Jesus had to acquire so that he could give it to us…
it comes as an overflow of his fullness.
Jesus has so much grace that it gushes forth filling us with that same grace.
His grace is not earned by our obedience or our love for him.
His grace is based on how much he loves us!
Jesus is the greatest gift ever given because when he came, God gave us himself full of grace and truth.
By giving us himself he has made himself visible in the person of Jesus Christ.
That’s one aspect of what verse 18 means.
“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”
No one has ever seen God because God is spirit not physical.
God doesn’t have a physical form that we can look at and say that we’ve seen God.
But now that the eternal Word, the true light, Jesus Christ has put on flesh and entered the world as a human being…
God can now be seen.
But more than just seeing God, we can now know God because Jesus has made him known.
The only God who is at the Father’s side is Jesus Christ who existed in eternity past, became a man and lived a perfect life, suffered and died on our behalf, rose again on the third day, and has ascended to sit at the Father’s side interceding for us until he comes again to make all things new.
He did all of that so that we could be reconciled to the Father through faith in him.
That’s how he’s made the Father known.
How else could we know the Father unless we are reconciled to him through the incarnation and atonement of his Son.
Conclusion
This prologue of John’s gospel has summarized the rest of the book letting us know exactly what will be coming in the pages to follow.
He told us who this true story is about…
The Word who is God who created all things and gives life to everyone.
He told us what the Word, the true light would do in this story…
He would divide all of humanity between believers and unbelievers, light and dark, spiritual life and spiritual death, children of God and children of the world.
And he told us how the Word would do this…
The Word became a human being, proclaimed his identity, revealed his glory, and made his Father known by reconciling us to him through his death and resurrection on our behalf.
This is all wonderful to remember, or maybe you are hearing this for the first time…
But what’s the point?
This information about who Jesus is, what he came to do, and how he accomplished it has to move us.
Remember that this prologue is a snapshot of the entire book.
And John’s stated purpose for writing his gospel account is to cause his readers to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and to have life in his name.
We cannot have life in the name of Jesus without believing that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the eternal Word, the true light that has come into the world.
So, what are we to do with John’s prologue, here?
Believe.
If you have not put your faith in Jesus, then I beg you to not wait another second.
If you have, then I pray that this would strengthen your faith.
Believe that Jesus is who he says he is.
He is eternal almighty infinite God who took on flesh.
Believe that he has done what he said he would do.
He fulfilled the Law and died in your place and rose again, and he is seated at the Father’s right hand interceding for you so that you can be saved from sin and death.
He divided the world by giving light and life to those who believe in him.
If you believe then you are different from the rest of the world because you have the truth, understanding, and goodness of Jesus giving you spiritual life.
And the rest of the world is stuck in deception, ignorance, and evil… they are stuck in spiritual death.
Believe that you are saved from sin and death because he loves you, and he wants to be with you for eternity.
Believe, and turn to him in faith away from sin and the suppression of the truth.
Believe, and join the family of God as his adopted and born-again child.
Pray
Father, you love us so much!
We can see that because you sent your Son to reconcile us, to win us back from sin and death.
You love us so much that you gave your best to make us your children.
To adopt us, and give us new life in Christ.
Father, I pray that you would impress on all of our hearts to believe what you have revealed about yourself and your Son as we read and heard preached today.
Don’t let us forget the amazing gift you have given us.
Don’t let us forget who Jesus is.
He is your Son, the almighty creator God who has always existed.
Don’t let us forget what he came to the earth to do.
He separated us from the world giving us truth and goodness and life, saving us from sin and death.
And don’t let us forget how he did it.
He became a human being, lived a perfect life, died in our place, and rose from the dead three days later so that we could live in your loving presence forever!
I pray that these truths would draw us closer to you and closer to each other.
I pray that you would help us remind each other of the hope of the gospel, the hope of Christ…
especially when life is difficult, but even when it’s not.
We thank you and praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
