In the Beginning Was the Word
Notes
Transcript
Text
Text
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
Introduction
Introduction
1700 years ago, over 300 bishops came together for a council called by Emperor Constantine.
Christianity was in an uproar.
And it was all because of a man named Arius from Alexandria, Egypt.
Arius had become a famous around 318 AD.
He was a well-educated man who started to air out his convictions.
Arius argued the following:
If Jesus is begotten, that means He was born. There was a time in which He did not exist.
“There was a time when He was not.”
The Father and Son have not eternally co-existed.
The Son was begotten or created or appointed or established. Before that, He did not exist.
“The Son has a beginning, but God is without beginning.”
The Son is not equal to the Father, not one in essence with the Father.
There is no Trinity, but a Triad and the members of it are not equal.
The bottom line is that Arius did not believe Christ is God the same way that the Father is God.
His teachings tore the church apart as people were divided on whether or not Arius was correct.
The controversy got so bad that Constantine called for a churchwide council in Nicea to put the issue to rest.
And so, the council gathered.
There was a group who said, “Arius is right.”
There was a group who said, “Arius is a heretic.”
And then there was a large group in the middle who didn’t know what to make of it all.
As the council commenced, the arguments were offered for and against.
But in the end, the sound doctrine of the Scriptures won out.
The council affirmed the clear teaching of the Bible—That Jesus Christ is God.
What came out of the council was the Nicene Creed.
Clear and concise teaching about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with the middle portion regarding the Son decisively condemning Arius’ false teaching.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
The Nicene Creed
As we begin our Advent series in John 1, the text we study this morning was a crucial guide to sound doctrine.
It was largely the first words of John’s Gospel that convinced the council that Arius was a false teacher and that the faith handed down once for all to the saints clearly exalts Christ as “begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father.”
This month we will be in the first 18 verses of John as we celebrated the first coming of Christ during Advent.
And this morning, we focus on v. 1-2.
1700 years later they teach us the same thing that put Arius out of bounds.
1700 years later they call on us to cling to the same doctrine as the Council at Nicea.
Context
Context
This month we will be studying John’s prologue as a part of our Advent celebration and study.
This means that we will cover the first 18 verses in John 1.
The Gospel of John is written by the Apostle John.
John was not just one of the 12, but one of Jesus’ inner-circle, made up of Peter, James and John.
John’s Gospel is different from all the rest.
Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the “Synoptic Gospels.”
That word synoptic simply tells us that they are books that generally give us the same synopsis.
They all look at the events of Jesus’ life with a common viewpoint.
90% of Mark can be found in Matthew.
50% of Mark can be found in Luke.
Matthew and Luke have about 230 verses that Mark does not have, but Matthew and Luke have together
You can see all the overlap.
But John’s Gospel is not “synoptic.” It is unique from the other three and it is particularly focused on this reality:
Jesus is God and He should be worshipped.
Understanding that, it makes sense that our brothers sought out the words of John 1700 years ago at Nicea, when the doctrine of Jesus’ divinity was threatened by a false teacher and his followers.
Outline
Outline
This morning, we will just deal with the first couple of verses in John.
As we do so, we will establish a couple of doctrinal truths out of the text and then we will conclude with the implications of those truths.
Doctrinal Truths
Doctrinal Truths
1. The Word is Christ.
1. The Word is Christ.
2. Christ is God
2. Christ is God
Doctrinal Implications
Doctrinal Implications
1. This is defining doctrine.
1. This is defining doctrine.
2. This is distinguishing doctrine.
2. This is distinguishing doctrine.
3. This is demanding doctrine.
3. This is demanding doctrine.
The Word is Christ
The Word is Christ
1. The Word is Christ (v. 1).
1. The Word is Christ (v. 1).
The Beginning
The Beginning
John’s Gospel begins in a familiar way— In the beginning.
This is clearly an allusion to Genesis 1.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Next week we will get into more about the Word and Creation.
But for now, we just take note of John’s objective.
Matthew and Luke seek to tell you about the beginning of Jesus’ life on earth with the story of His birth.
Mark seeks to tell you about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.
But John rewinds the tape all the way back to the time of creation to tell us something about Jesus’ identity.
Logos
Logos
He says, “In the beginning was the Word...”
The Greek word that translates to WORD is “logos.”
John is clearly using the word to refer to Christ.
Clues:
“...the Word was God.” (v. 1)
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father...” (v. 14)
When John wrote “the Word,” John wrote about Christ.
This word, Logos, that was important to many in John’s culture and yet used differently by different groups.
For example, the Stoics said that Logos—the Word—was the rational organizing principle by which all things existed.
This has led some people to say that John’s point here is that Jesus is the rational organizing principle by which all things exist.
But I think that falls short of what John is getting at.
The followers of the philosopher Philo, who basically taught what Plato taught, said that Logos referred to “the ideal.”
Again, this is led some people to say that John means to tell us that Jesus is the Ideal.
But once more, this falls short of John’s aim.
In truth, people have been too quick to try and associate John’s use of Logos with Greek philosophy and too slow to associate it with John’s understanding of the Old Testament.
In first century Judaism, one of the most popular texts was The Septuagint.
This was a Greek translation of the Old Testament that had already been around for a few hundred years when Christ was born.
The word Logos is used by the Greek OT.
You can find it being used 330 times to refer to speech, a message, an utterance or The Word of the Lord.
The WORD is God’s powerful agent in creation:
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
The WORD is God’s revelation to His people:
So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
When Exodus says “Commandments,” it uses the plural version of Logos.
The WORD brings deliverance to God’s people:
He sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from their destruction.
What we can see is that the Word is God’s powerful, expression of Himself in creating, in revealing Himself, and in saving His people.
By taking this Word and applying it to Christ at the beginning of his Gospel, John is saying that this Jesus who he is writing about is these things.
I don’t think he is trying to make a statement about Christ according to Greek philosophy—be it from the Stoics or Plato.
Instead, John is using language from the Greek Old Testament to say that:
In the 2nd Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, God has created.
In the 2nd Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, God has revealed Himself.
In the 2nd Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, God is saving His people.
God does these things through the Word and the Word is Christ.
So this is our first doctrinal truth this morning:
The Word is Christ.
Christ is God
Christ is God
This brings us to our 2nd doctrinal truth today:
2. Christ is God (v. 1-2).
2. Christ is God (v. 1-2).
The Statements of Verses 1-2
The Statements of Verses 1-2
The Word was in the beginning. The Word was with God. The Word was God. (v. 1)
Then in verse 2, there is the reiteration:
“He was in the beginning with God.”
John is plenty clear in what is being said—Christ is God.
Because this Word, this divine self-expression, existed in the beginning, one might suppose that it was either with God, or nothing less than God himself. John insists the Word was both.
DA Carson
Carson is drawing conclusions that you can’t miss in John 1:1-2.
“In the beginning was the Word...”
John doesn’t ascribe a date or a time in which Jesus began to exist.
This is the same thing that Moses did with God in Genesis.
When you read Genesis 1, what is implied is that “In the beginning,” God already existed.
The same thing is implied here in John 1.
“In the beginning was the Word...”—In the beginning, Christ already existed.
The first six words of John’s Gospel are indicating to us that Christ—like God the Father—is eternal in nature.
This is confirmed later in the Gospel, when Jesus prays and says:
And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
“And the Word was with God...”
In the second phrase of v. 1, a differentiation has been made.
Thought Christ is eternal in nature like God the Father—He is distinct from God the Father.
If I say I am with someone, that indicates that I am distinct from that person.
If someone says, “Val was with Victoria,” you understand that Val and Victoria are two different people. No one has to explain that to you.
We can see this in the Gospel of John as well:
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Jesus is sent by the Father, showing He is distinct from the Father.
And yet Jesus also shows us His unity with the Father as well:
I and the Father are one.”
“And the Word was God...”
Here we have John saying it outright.
The Son, who shows us the glory from the Father, is God, just like the Father.
We also see this later in John’s narrative.
In Isaiah 6, the Bible says:
In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Who did Isaiah see that day?
Well according to John, it is Jesus:
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
Christ is the Lord. Christ is God.
Trinitarian Doctrine
Trinitarian Doctrine
How can all of these things be true?
How can Christ be eternal in nature...
...Distinct from God...
...And yet BE GOD?
The only way all of these things can be affirmed as true at the same time is by having a robust doctrine of the Trinity.
God is THREE in ONE. God is ONE in THREE.
He is one WHAT (God).
He is three WHOs (Persons—Father, Son and Spirit)
The Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God.
Yet there are not three gods, there is one God.
The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Spirit is eternal.
Yet there are not three eternal Beings, but one Eternal Being.
Within the Triune Godhead, you have three Persons who are co-equal and co-eternal or co-existing.
They are One because God is One.
And yet they are three because He is one God in three Persons.
Therefore, God the Father and God the Son are One, and yet from all of eternity, they have been distinct from one another.
Arius’ Objection
Arius’ Objection
This is what old Arius objected to so strongly.
He argued that if Jesus is begotten, then that means He is created at some point.
He argued if Jesus is created, then He cannot be “co-existent” with the Father.
And if He is not eternal and “co-existent,” then Jesus the Son is inferior to God the Father.
And if the Son is inferior to the Father, then there is no Trinity.
There is a Triad of Beings, but they are not equal and Triune.
Arius even wrote a little poem about it that became popular 1700 years ago:
The Unbegun made the Son,
a beginning of things originated;
And advanced Him as a Son
to Himself by adoption.
He has nothing proper to God
in proper subsistence.
For He is not equal,
No, nor one in essence with Him.
Wise is God, for He is the teacher of Wisdom.
There is full proof that God is invisible to all beings;
Both to things which are through the Son.
And to the Son He is invisible.
I will say it expressly, how by the Son is seen the Invisible;
By that power by which God sees,
And in His own measure, the Son endures to see the Father, as is lawful.
Thus there is a Triad, not equal in glories.
Arius
The doctrine in this little poem is what had set Christendom on fire by the year 320.
And it is the doctrine that caused Constantine to call for the Council at Nicea.
Dealing with Arius’ Falsehood
Dealing with Arius’ Falsehood
But here is the key thing that Arius missed:
Arius missed the point of a Greek word.
Here is John 3:16 in King James Version.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16, King James Version
The KJV, NKJV and older versions of the New American Standard all use the word “begotten.”
However, other translations like the ESV do not use the English word “begotten.”
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
The Greek word in question in John 3:16 is “monogenes” (mono-yen-ACE).
It means “one and only”—therefore the ESV is not wrong in its translation.
Mono = Only
Genes = Offspring/Race/Kind
You can see that the ESV is actually being quite literal when it says, “only Son.”
But whether you are ESV, KJV, NIV or something else, the most important thing we can understand is the purpose of the word.
Monogenes is a Greek word meant to speak to the nature of the relationship between the Father and Son.
Jesus is God’s one and only Son.
The word is there to speak to the uniqueness of Christ—not Him having a beginning.
It is there to communicate the Father/Son relationship between the First and Second Person of the Trinity.
But it is not there to communicate some sort of creation of the Son by the Father.
God has eternally brought forth His Son.
He did not create Him.
The Son has been eternally brought forth by the Father.
The Son did not have a start date.
Arius, and others like modern-day Jehovah’s Witnesses, have gotten this all wrong.
They have taken the word monogenes and spun up a whole false doctrine like a cone of cotton candy.
And as cotton candy will rot the teeth, this false teaching about Christ will rot the soul.
If Christ is not created, Arius’ house of cards falls quickly.
Once it is established that Christ is God and that He was not created by the Father, Arius’ arguments falls apart like a wet napkin.
If Jesus is eternal, then there never was a time when the Son was not.
He is co-eternal with the Father.
If Jesus is eternal, He is not a creature who is created, but God—co-equal with the Father in the Triune Godhead.
“The Unbegun did not make the Son...”
If Jesus is eternal, then He did not come into existence out of non-existence.
He has simply always existed from eternity past.
Homoousios
Homoousios
The Nicene Council dealt with this by penning a creed.
The Creed did not define new Christian beliefs for the Church, but solidified and articulated what was already revealed by God in His Word.
In that Creed, they said this:
The Son is “begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father.”
The Greek word that translate to “of the same essence as the Father,” is homoousios.
Homoousios: of the same substance (homo OO see os)
Some at the council tried to fight it.
The extreme Arian party said it should read:
heteroousios: “of a different substance”
Some who wanted to find a middle ground wanted:
homoiousios: “of a similar substance” (homo YOU see os)
But ultimately, God saw to it that the truth about His Son won the day.
Christ is of the same substance as the Father—homoousios.
He is God from God.
He is from the beginning and as John tells us plainly—He was God.
And yet amazingly, you and I can identify with Him because He is not just homoousios with the Father.
He is also homoousios with us.
He has the very essence of the Father.
And yet, in the Incarnation—the miraculous birth we are celebrating in this season—He has the very essence of man.
This is why we call Him the God-Man.
Christ is the bridge from Heaven to Earth and Earth to Heaven.
He is the Divine and yet Human “ladder” that is touching both realms.
This may seem like complicated theology...
...But you know it...
...We sing it every Christmas season:
True God of True God, Light from Light eternal Humbly, He entered the virgin’s womb Son of the Father, begotten, not created O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.
O Come All Ye Faithful
Doctrinal Implications
Doctrinal Implications
With this stated, I want to wrap up this morning with three brief doctrinal implications.
The Word is Christ.
Christ is God.
What does this mean for the world?
For you and I?
1. This is defining doctrine.
1. This is defining doctrine.
Believing that Christ is God is a definitive belief of orthodox Christian belief.
This is a baseline doctrine—Those who are Christians must believe that Christ is God.
When it comes to doctrine, there are things we write in blood, in ink and in pencil.
Things we write in ink: These would be the things that define where we go to church
Baptism: Reserved for believers who have repented and followed Christ
View of the Lord’s Supper: A memorial/symbol which is a vessel of God’s grace to us
View of the local church being autonomous
We will disagree with other brothers and sisters about these things.
We may not go to church with them because of it.
But we will call them brothers and sisters.
Things we write in pencil: These would be things that we can agree to disagree on and still go to church together
Issues of Predestination
Which spiritual gifts are for today
View of the end times
We can think one another are misguided on some of these issues but still go to church together and have unity
But then there are the Things we write in blood: These would be things that we say define what it means to be a Christian
The Nicene Creed itself would fall into this category.
The Nicene Creed provides a summary of basic things that you must believe if you say you are a Christian.
Belief in one God—the Father Almighty
Belief that God is the Creator of all things visible and invisible
Belief in the Holy Spirit who eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son
Belief in one holy, universal church
Belief in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins
Belief in the resurrection from the dead and life in the world to come
And certainly belief in the doctrine the creed gives the largest attention to...
Belief in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God.
Belief that Christ is begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God.
Belief that Jesus is begotten, not made— of the same essence as the Father.
Belief that For us and for our salvation:
He came down from heaven.
He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried.
Belief that on The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
Belief that He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
And belief that He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead and that His Kingdom shall never end
When the Emperor Nero crucified Peter upside down and put Paul’s head to the execution block—this is the faith they were willing to die for.
When Antoninus Pius took Polycarp of Smyrna to the arena and burned him alive at the stake in 155 AD—this is the faith he was willing to die for.
When the Emperor Decius took bishops from Rome, Jerusalem and Antioch and executed them in 250 AD—this is the faith they were willing to die for.
And here we are, 17—18—1900 years later, writing the same things in blood as the Nicene Council and the martyrs of the early church.
To understand that Christ is God from the beginning IS to be Christian.
This is what we live for and even die for, if it were to ever be necessary.
2. This is distinguishing doctrine.
2. This is distinguishing doctrine.
If “Christ is God” is a defining doctrine for what it means to be a Christian, then we would also say it must be a distinguishing doctrine that tells us who is not a Christian.
One of my favorite teachers I have ever had is Dr. South from Virginia Commonwealth University.
The Religion department was a circus, bur Dr. South was solid and I took as many classes with him as I could.
One day he told me about a debate that he had with a local rabbi and an imam.
The rabbi represented Judaism and the Imam represented Islam.
Both of these gentlemen were arguing in this debate that Christianity, Judaism and Islam would all lead you to heaven and essentially teach the same things.
Dr. South said, “I am willing to explore the idea that these religions are the same, as long as my opponents would agree that CHRIST IS GOD!”
Of course, neither man was willing to say this, proving that the religions are not the same at all.
Islam says that Jesus is one of God’s greatest prophets, but they reject that He is God.
Judaism varies in what it says about Jesus.
Some Jews say He was a mistaken teacher who was rightly executed.
Some Jews in history called him a sorcerer.
Some Jews say He is a social reformer.
Some ignore Him all together.
But none accept that He is God.
Hindus call Jesus an enlightened sage, but do not believe He is God in the flesh.
Buddhists say Christ is an enlightened being, but do not accept Him as God.
Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Jesus is a lesser god created by God the Father (really it is just Arianism).
Mormons say Jesus of Nazareth is the twice-sired half brother of Satan.
They believe He is God, but reject Him as the 2nd Person of the Trinity and reject the doctrine of Trinity all together.
Therefore, they do not teach He is God in the same way the Bible does.
Those involved in the New-Age Non-sensical Mystical Mess say Jesus was an enlightened avatar.
In every one of these cases, those adhering to these religious beliefs, are wholeheartedly rejecting what the Scriptures say about Jesus in John 1:1-2.
They are distorting the truth about Him.
They are denying the revelation of God about Him.
And in their distortion and denial, they are distinguishing themselves as those who reject the Christ of the Bible and the eternal life He offers.
Make no mistake church—to reject Christ as God is to reject the Gospel itself.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
There is no other way back to God the Father except through Christ.
There is no truth that will lead you to the Father apart from the truth of Christ.
There is no name under heaven that will usher you into heaven except Christ.
There is no eternal life to be found outside of Christ.
If Christ, who is God, is not received by faith for who He is and fully surrendered to, there can be no hope for the soul.
Therefore, we should look with pity and compassion upon the masses in this world who will not receive Christ, the God-Man, because unless they do, they will never know Him as Christ the Savior.
The Jehovah’s Witness that comes to your door is not just in wrong—they are in danger of wrath.
The Muslim on their prayer may is not just bowing to a false God—they are rejecting the true God.
The New Age mystic that learns their creed from TikTok and says The Universe is god doesn’t just sound silly—they sound like the subjects of judgment, unless they repent.
The issue of Christ being the Word who was in the beginning, was with God and was God is not just semantics.
It is a matter of life and death.
The issue of Nicea was not just a matter of definitions and debate for the sake of it.
It was a matter of fighting for eternal truth to be affirmed so that souls would not be deceived unto eternal damnation.
This doctrine of the divinity of Christ is a distinguishing dividing line between the church and the rest of humanity.
You believe it or you don’t.
If you don’t, you are in grave danger of the grave.
3. This is demanding doctrine.
3. This is demanding doctrine.
Here is why the divinity of Christ is not just a defining and distinguishing doctrine.
Here is why it is also demanding...
The doctrine of John 1:1-2 is not just something you can mentally assent to and agree with.
Not if it will have saving effect.
Instead, the doctrine of John 1:1-2 is doctrine that is to be surrendered to.
If Christ is God, then Christ is the Supreme Ruler of All.
And if Christ is the Supreme Ruler of All, then His identity demands a complete and total surrender.
The white flag must be waved.
After all, listen to what the Apostle Paul says about Christ, who did not count His equality with God as a thing to be grasped:
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The name that is above every name that the Father has bestowed upon the Son is the name of Lord.
And in the end, this is how Christ what Christ will be reckoned to be.
The angels in heaven will honor Christ as Lord.
The souls of believers will honor Christ as Lord.
They will confess as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
However, those are not the only ones.
He will also be called Lord by those who oppose Him.
The demons will confess Him as Lord.
Even the souls of unbelievers will confess Him as Lord.
A day will come when Christ’s rejecters and enemies will have no choice.
With nowhere to run and nowhere to hide—exposed before the Sword of Christ’s judgment, they will bow their knees and finally admit that Christ is the preeminent One who is over all.
And as they involuntarily bow their knees and confess with their tongues, their regret will be deep that they waited too late.
And so, as we close, understand what the doctrine of “The Word is Christ and Christ is God” demands of you.
It demands that you would stop your foolish fighting with God.
It demands that you would quit your unholy war.
It demands that you would agree with the truth of what the Bible says about Christ and surrender to Him as God from God and Light from Light.
Agree with Him that your sin is wrong and evil.
Agree with Him that His commands are good and right.
Agree with Him that He is God and should be worshipped as such.
And bow your knee to His position and confess your faith in His power to save through His death on the Cross and Resurrection from the grave.
And as you voluntarily bow and confess—it will not be too late.
This is what defines a Christian.
This is what distinguishes a Christian from the world.
This is the demand on a Christian, understanding who Christ is.
Will you be a Christian?
