THE ETERNAL WORD - Message 2

“WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?”

THE ETERNAL WORD

JOHN 1:1-2

“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.”  (John 20:31 ESV)

That verse from the conclusion of John’s gospel is an appropriate starting point for our study this morning, and we could use as a starting point for each one of these studies that we engaged in for the past several weeks. 

James Boice writes in his commentary on the Gospel of John “What do you think of Jesus Christ?  Who is he?  According to Christianity this is the most important question you or anyone else will ever have to face.  It is important because it is inescapable - you will have to answer it sooner or later, in this world or in the world to come - and because the quality of your life here and your eternal destiny depend upon your answer.  Who is Jesus Christ?  If he was only a man, then you can safely forget him.  If he is God, as he claimed to be, and as all Christians believe, then you should yield your life to him.  You should worship and serve him faithfully.”  (James Boice - The gospel of John Vol. 1 pg. 20)

Where do we learn, where can we learn what to think of Jesus Christ?  We learn what to think about Jesus Christ and who Jesus Christ is through the Scriptures.  That’s why it is so damaging when Christians and or churches fail to look to the Scriptures to determine the truth about Jesus Christ or any other subject to which the Scriptures speak. 

Our text for this morning speaks directly to the subject and answers for us the question we have been examining for the past several weeks.  That question is the question that Jesus himself posed to his disciples and to us as well when he asked “But who do you say that I am?” 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2 ESV)

As we begin our study of chapter one, let’s begin with the context, the conditions in which John wrote these words.  By simply reading the Scriptures we know that the early church and the believers in the early church were continually faced with challenges to their beliefs and then as today those challenges were directed at Jesus Christ.  For instance Paul wrote, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;” (Acts 20:29 ESV).  Still today as believers we must be on guard for and prepared for the attacks on Jesus Christ. 

This particular portion of Scripture is one that gives us perhaps the strongest and the fullest explanations of and defense of the Deity of Jesus Christ.

Just to make sure that we are all on the same page, when we speak of the Deity of Jesus Christ that simply is another way of saying that Jesus is God.  That is to say that Jesus has always been God, that is to say that Jesus possesses all the same attributes and characteristics of God.  To speak of the Deity of Christ is to state emphatically and to deny categorically that Jesus Christ is not a created being, he is not the spirit child of Elohim and he is not the product of solely and purely human generation. 

Do we have challenges today to the Deity of Jesus Christ?  Yes, and some of those challenges come from those who would claim to be Christians.  For instance both Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses will tell you that they are Christians, yet each one of those belief systems contains doctrinal material that denies the Deity of Christ. 

The denial of the Deity of Jesus Christ excludes those who deny the Deity of Christ from being true Christians.  That’s not my judgment that is the clear teaching of the Scriptures.  Part of the reason that John wrote 1 John was to warn us about false Christ’s and those who promote false teaching about Christ. 

“Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”  (1John 2:22-23 ESV)

John doesn’t pull any punches, he clearly states that whoever, whether it be an individual or an organized group; anyone who denies the Deity of Jesus Christ is not a true Christian.  The Deity of Jesus Christ is one of the non-negotiable doctrines of Biblical Christianity.  How much of a non-negotiable truth is it?  We only have to remind ourselves of the Father’s instructions to us in how we should deal with those who would preach and teach a false view of Christ. 

“Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”  (2John 1:9-11 ESV)

I know of some who professed faith in Christ who took some members of a “religious” group who deny the Deity of Jesus Christ into their home, not to try and convert them but to simply give them a place to stay and food to eat.  According to the Scriptures that was wrong and showed either a complete ignorance of the Scriptures or displayed an open defiance of obeying the Scriptures.  To us the words of John seem to be rather uncharitable and inhospitable.  But we must remember what is at stake, the glory of God, the reputation of Christ and the eternal souls of men and women.

Sometimes the most devastating attacks on the Christian faith come from those who claim to be inside the Christian faith. That is why we must always be alert to false teaching, in whatever form it may take.  Even religious groups will engage in “public spin” and we must be wise enough, and diligent enough, and discerning enough to look beyond the spin.

One of the first things that strikes me about John’s gospel is that John opens his gospel in a much different fashion than does Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Matthew and Luke both include genealogies for Jesus Christ.  Mark begins his gospel with Jesus Christ in adulthood; Mark commences his account of the life of Christ at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. 

John goes further back into time than any of the other gospel writers.  Matthew and Luke go back to the physical birth of Christ as a baby.  While Mark picks up the life of Christ as a young adult ready to begin his public ministry.  How far back does John go?  John reaches back into the depths of eternity to begin his gospel.  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John begins by making a rather staggering claim as to the identity of Jesus Christ.  John identifies Jesus Christ as the “Word”, we will explore the reasons why later.  But what does John say about the Word?  John says three things about the Word

    1.  The Word was in the beginning - The Eternal Existence of the Word

    2.  The Word was with God - The Eternal Relationship of the Word with the Father

    3.  The Word was God! - The Eternal Deity of the Word

I.  The ETERNAL EXISTENCE OF THE WORD

The opening words of John 1:1 are “In the beginning”. 

One of the first things that immediately comes to my mind when I read John’s opening words is that his words are familiar.  John like any good author has his intended audience in mind and he immediately captures the attention of those he intends to reach with his gospel.  He captures the attention by using a phrase and a word.  The phrase “In the beginning” would have immediately captured the attention of those of his own race - the Jews.  But he also captures his Greek readership when he completes his opening sentence with the words “was the Word”.  In the beginning was the Logos.  The term logos was a widely recognized term to the Greeks.  So John under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit carefully chooses a phrase and a word that piqued the interest of those he was trying to reach. 

The Jews identified the books of the Old Testament not so much by name as they did by the opening words of the book.  Therefore when they heard or they read John’s opening statement they would immediately make the connection between what John was saying and the book of Genesis.  Anyone even remotely familiar with the Bible would also recognize that the book of Genesis opens with those very same words.  Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Remember that the Jews were fiercely monotheistic - meaning they believed and it was a right belief that there is one and only one God.  Remember if you will the great confession of faith as it were of the Jews found in Deut. 6:4  “Hear, O Israel:  The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”  John takes his Jewish readers back to the very beginning of the history of mankind when it was stated that in the beginning God revealed himself as the Creator.  Imagine how shocking it must have been for a first century Jew who has picked up a copy of John’s gospel to read the familiar words “In the beginning” but then to see that John makes the claim that the Word - the Logos was also in the beginning.  I don’t know about you but I would have to keep reading if not because of my outrage over John’s claim that someone, this Word also existed in the Beginning with Jehovah; but also because of my curiosity; I would have to keep reading to see who this Word is that John claims was in the beginning.  

John uses the phrase “in the beginning” to capture the attention and the interest of any Jew who would hear a message from this passage or perhaps would read a copy of his gospel. 

John completes his opening statement “In the beginning was the Word”.  To you and I as English speaking people the word “Word” unfortunately does not capture our attention in the same way that it would capture the Greeks or those who were thoroughly familiar with Greek philosophy.  The Greek word that is translated into English as word is a word most of you are probably at least acquainted with it is the Greek word logos.  Why would John’s usage of the word logos capture the attention of the Greeks? 

In Greek philosophy the logos was the impersonal, abstract principle of reason and order in the universe.  The Greeks in some sense understood the logos to be a creative force in the universe.  Leon Morris helps us to understand the Greek’s understanding of the logos he writes, “It was an all-pervading principle, the rational principle of the universe.  It was a creative energy.  In one sense all things came from it, in another people derived their wisdom from it.”     

When John used the term logos he used a term that immediately would have been familiar and recognizable to a Greek.  Leon Morris says, “He (a Greek) would know that it meant something important. 

To what “beginning” was John referring?  The beginning of time as we understand it?  Was John referring to the beginning of Jesus life on earth?  Or was John referring back to some time in eternity?  John is going much further back than our minds can comprehend.  The term John uses is arche, which point us back to time before time, as we know it, began.  What John is saying is according to one theological dictionary…

“The Logos is before all time, so that no temporal statements can be made about him. Eternal preexistence is plainly implied.” 

The beginning that John is taking us back to is one of those things that if you think about if for very long your head begins to hurt.  We are creatures bound by time and space.  We are limited as to how long we can exist and where we can exist.  But John takes us farther back than most mortals can comprehend.  I even struggle to find words that adequately describe eternity.   James Boice commenting on this verse writes “John says that when you begin to talk about Jesus Christ you can do so properly only when you go back beyond his earthly life - back beyond the beginning of creation - into eternity.  That is where Jesus Christ was.”  (pg. 22)

Contemplating the eternal existence of the Word caused Athanasius to proclaim, “there never was when he was not.”  That perhaps is the best way for us to understand the eternal existence of the Word.  There has never been a time when the Word, when the second member of the Trinity didn’t exist.  The Word has always been and the Word will always be! 

You all are a bright bunch so I know you can handle a few moments of some technical explanation of the grammar of this verse.  These verses as I said earlier are perhaps the most definitive statements concerning the deity of Christ.    It is these same verses that the Mormons use to try and say that Jesus is divine but He is not God, He is not equal with God, he is a divine creation of God. 

John uses a word in the Greek language that we translate as “was”.  “In the beginning was the Word.”  In fact John uses was four times in the first two verses.  Let’s read the first three verses of John 1.

John 1:1 In the beginning was  the Word, and  the Word was with God, and  the Word was God.  2 He was in the beginning with God.  3  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John uses the Greek verb eimi, (amy) which is in the imperfect tense.  What does that mean?  The imperfect tense in the Greek language describes continuous action in the past. It is also in the indicative mood, which underscores the reality of this continuous action.  When John applies this verb to the “Word” to Christ he is indicating that he was in continuous existence even before the beginning.  John’s selection of this particular verb is significant because he could have chosen another verb in Greek that would have completely changed the meaning of what he wrote.  In fact John does use the other Greek verb in verse three.   The phrase “things were made” in verse three is the Greek verb ginomai (which the NASB translates as came into being).  John MacArthur writes, “Had John used ginomai, he would have implied that the Word came into existence at the beginning along with the rest of creation.  But eimi stresses that the Word always existed; there was never a point when he came into being.”  (MacArthur New Testament Commentary on John pg. 16)

The Christian belief of the Deity of Christ comes from a straightforward reading of an interpreting of the Biblical text.  The truth comes to us when we simply let the text speak for itself.  

You may be saying to yourself, this is all well and good, but how do we know that John is teaching us that the Word the Logos was in fact Jesus Christ.  How do we know that?  After all John doesn’t even mention the name of Jesus in these opening verses?  If we continue to read in chapter one we read in verses 14 - 17

“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.’ ”) And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” 
(John 1:14-17 ESV)

John makes it clear that the Word the Logos that became flesh and lived among us, the one who brought us grace and truth is none other than Jesus Christ. 

But why identify Jesus as the Word?  Let’s just think about the significance of the word itself.  Before mankind developed an alphabet and developed their writing skills, how were they able to communicate?  The major form of communication was through the spoken what?  The spoken Word!  Still today much of our communication is through words.  The spoken message still today is the most powerful means of communication.  Words are a primary means of communication. 

The Greeks would have identified with the Word, but the Jews would have as well.  What is a familiar expression that we see numerous times on the Old Testament?  “The Word of the Lord”.  To the Jewish people the Word of the Lord was the expression of the power and the wisdom of God. 

Go back to Genesis 1.  The book opens with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  But how did God create the heavens and the earth?  What is the expression that we read time after time in Genesis 1?  “And God said” We find that exact phrase repeated ten times in Genesis 1. 

As we survey the Bible we find that the usage of the “word” is connected with God’s power displayed in Creation.  God’s Word was a source of revelation to His people.  For instance in Jeremiah 1:4 we read

“Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,” (Jer 1:4 ESV)

God’s word was also a source of deliverance for his people.  We read in Psalm 107:20

“He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.”
(Psa 107:20 ESV)

God’s people knew that He had created through His Word, He had delivered by His Word, and He had spoken to them by His Word.  Now John speaks directly to their experience and their understanding of how God had consistently worked in their lives when he states “In the beginning was the Word.”

Let’s tie this all together.  The writer of Hebrews in chapter 1 verses 1&2 writes:

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 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.”  (Heb 1:1-2 ESV)

Jesus Christ, the Word, the Word that was in the beginning, the Word that was with God, the Word that was God is God the Father’s fullest, and final revelation and communication to us.  If you are waiting for more from God, if you are waiting for God to say more then you are in for a long wait. 

I don’t have time this morning to cover my two other points, but these are such important Scriptures that contain truth that is absolutely fundamental to our Christian faith that I thought it necessary to spend time exploring their meaning. 

At a later date I will come back and cover the two other points that John makes in verses 1 and 2.  But let me give you something to consider this week.  The second point that John makes in our text is the eternal relationship of the Word with the Father.  Why not take a few moments to think about the relationship between God the Father and God the Son and try and think what it must have been like for the Father and the Son to be separated for the first time in eternity and mediate on the reasons for that separation.

Soak yourself in the words of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.”  

Jesus asked the question “Who do you say that I am?”  This week we answer you are the Eternal Word, you are the pre-existing Word and you are the final and the fullest revelation of the Father to us.