John 1:1-2

Cine e Isus Hristos

de ce Ioan a vrut sa ne spuna despre divinitatea lui Isus chiar de la inceput?

Matthew’s Gospel portrays the Lord Jesus primarily as the Jewish Messiah.

Mark’s purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ as God’s servant

Luke deals with Christ’s humanity

John, however, reveals Jesus as the eternal, preexisting Son of God who became man in order to reveal the Father and to bring men access into eternal life through his historical death and literal resurrection.

purpose of the book: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written 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 word: 14 And zthe Word abecame flesh and bdwelt among us, cand we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son4 from the Father, full of dgrace and etruth.

Why does John begin his Gospel with this prologue? Why doesn’t he simply start as Matthew and Luke do, by telling us about the circumstances of the conception of Jesus and His birth to a peasant girl? In a strikingly different approach, John begins his Gospel with Jesus already as an adult. The only material that precedes the launch of Jesus’ ministry is this prologue of eighteen verses.

I believe the inclusion of the prologue has to do with John’s overriding goal, throughout his Gospel, of making a case for the identity of Christ. John says later that he wrote what he did “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (20:31). Simply put, John is not interested in being a detached observer and chronicler of the life of Jesus. He is trying to persuade his readers of the truth of Christ so that they might become His disciples. Therefore, before he enters into an overview of Jesus’ life and ministry, he composes a quick look at Jesus’ ultimate credentials.

sometimes Jesus stated His origins very explicitly. For instance, He said on one occasion, “I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38). Likewise, in a discussion about the Jewish patriarch Abraham, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58). The Jews immediately picked up stones to put him to death because they understood His message—Jesus was equating Himself with God, who had revealed Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex. 3:14)

These were not statements of humility. These were statements by which Jesus openly declared that He had come from heaven. John’s prologue was intended to accomplish much the same goal—before John gave us his record of the earthly visitation of Jesus, he told us where Jesus was from.

John goes on to write that all things were made through Him (v. 3). Jesus is now identified as the incarnation of that member of the Trinity for whom, by whom, and in whom all things were made. In this extraordinary statement, John says: “The One I’m going to tell you about, the One in whom there is life, the One in whom I want you to believe, is the One who created you in the first place. Nothing was made apart from Him.”

As we make our way through John’s Gospel, we will see two words appear again and again. Those words are life and light, and we encounter them here in the prologue. John says in Him was life, and the life was the light of men (v. 4). The Scriptures often use the antonyms of these words to describe the natural fallen condition of this world, speaking of it in terms of death and darkness. Recently, when I read this verse, which I have read countless times before, I was prompted to think back over my lifetime and rehearse the meaningful moments of my personal experience, and clearly the most defining moment in my life was my conversion to Christ. Sometimes people speak mockingly of those who are converted, saying they have “seen the light,” but they’re closer to the truth than they realize. For me, conversion was the point when “the lights went on”; I understood things I had not grasped before. I saw that there was life in Christ, that He gives eternal life. Conversely, of course, outside of Christ there may be biological life, but there is no ultimate life—there is only spiritual death.

rc sproul

Three specific topics

Christ Divinity

Jesus was preexistent. () ,

Jesus Christ was with God.

Christ Divinity

Jesus is fully divine

In Jesus dwells all the wisdom, glory, power, love, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth of the Father. In him, God the Father is known

Aplications:

The answer is that apart from Jesus Christ we do not know what God is like. But if Jesus Christ is God, then we do know, because to know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know God. There is no knowledge of God apart from a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is no knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ apart from a knowledge of the Bible.

One of the saddest stories in the Word of God concerns this theme. It is in John’s Gospel. Toward the end of his ministry, Jesus explained carefully that he was going away from the disciples but that he was going to prepare a place for them and would one day return. The disciples were depressed at the thought of his leaving them. He went on to say that if they had really known him, they would have known the Father. At this point Philip, who was one of the disciples asked him, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us” (). In other words, Philip was saying, “If I could just see God, I would be satisfied.” How sad! The disciples had been with Jesus for almost three years and now were nearing the end of his ministry. Still they had not fully recognized that Jesus is God and that they were coming to know God through him. Jesus then had to answer by saying, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (v. 9).

If you want to know what God is like, study the life of Jesus Christ. Read the Bible! The things recorded there of Jesus Christ are true. What is more, if you read them, you will find that the Holy Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of truth, will interpret and explain them to you.

We learn, firstly, that our Lord Jesus Christ is eternal. St. John tells us that “in the beginning was the Word.” He did not begin to exist when the heavens and the earth were made. Much less did He begin to exist when the Gospel was brought into the world. He had glory with the Father “before the world was.” (John 17:5.) He was existing when matter was first created, and before time began. He was “before all things.” (Col. 1:17.) He was from all eternity.

The second practical application of the truth that Jesus Christ is God is that God was always like Jesus.

“If the Word was with God before time began, if God’s Word is part of the eternal scheme of things, it means that God was always like Jesus. Sometimes we tend to think of God as just and holy and stern and avenging; and we tend to think that something that Jesus did changed God’s anger into love, and altered God’s attitude to men. The New Testament knows nothing of that idea. The whole New Testament tells us, and this passage of John especially tells us, that God has always been like Jesus.

Does Jesus Christ hate sin? Yes! So God has always hated sin also. Does Jesus Christ love the sinner? Yes! Therefore, God loves him also. Barclay says, “What Jesus did was to open a window in time that we might see the eternal and unchanging love of God.”3 In fact, God so hates sin and so loves the sinner that in eternity he planned the way in which he would redeem the race. We read the Old Testament and we find God saying, “There must be an atonement for sin.” We read the accounts of Christ’s life and death, and we find God saying, “There is the atonement for sin.” We come to our time and as the Word of God is preached we find God speaking to our hearts and saying, “That was the atonement for sin. Believe it and be saved.” God has always been like Jesus.

The Father and the Word, though two persons, are joined by an ineffable union. Where God the Father was from all eternity, there also was the Word, even God the Son,—their glory equal, their majesty co-eternal, and yet their Godhead one. This is a great mystery! Happy is he who can receive it as a little child, without attempting to explain it.

the truth that Jesus Christ is God means that his death on the cross was significant

It means that in this way he himself became the one sufficient and acceptable sacrifice for man’s sin. If you or I were to be so foolish as to make a statement that we would die for another man’s sins and then were somehow to lose our lives, in terms of sin our death would mean nothing. We are sinners. If we were to die for sin, or pretend to do it, the only sin we could die for would be our own. But Jesus had no sin. Being God, he is sinless. Hence, when he died, he died for the sins of others, in their place; he removed forever the burden of sin from those who believe on him.

There is a story that illustrates this truth. Do you remember the verses in Ephesians in which Paul prays that the Christians to whom he is writing might “have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” ()? These verses speak of the four dimensions of God’s love—breadth, length, depth, and height—and they say that out of that fullness God is able to satisfy the one who comes to him. During the Napoleonic period in Europe some of the emperor’s soldiers opened a prison that had been used by the Spanish Inquisition. There were many dungeons in the prison, but in one of them the soldiers found something particularly interesting. They found the remains of a prisoner, the flesh and clothing all long since gone and only an ankle bone in a chain to tell his story. On the wall, however, carved into the stone with some sharp piece of metal, there was a crude cross. And around the cross were the Spanish words for the four dimensions of . Above was the word “height.” Below was the word “depth.” On one side there was the word “breadth.” On the other there was the word “length.” Clearly, as this poor, persecuted soul was lying in chains and was dying, he comforted himself with the thought that God who in himself contains the breadth, length, depth, and height of all things was able to satisfy him fully. He is able to satisfy you fully whatever your need or your longing.

Johns hope for his readers: But John’s prologue also gives very good news: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (v. 12). This is the good news of the gospel, the great hope that John wants his readers to know. John longs for them to believe in Jesus as the Christ.

end prayer : It is my earnest prayer that as we look through the pages and the chapters of this Gospel, that God the Holy Spirit will make you see that light so clearly that you will be like those who did receive Jesus, to whom God gave the right to be called His children. My prayer is that through this Word, by which faith comes, you will come to know that light and that life. If you already have His life in you, and you already have seen the beauty of that life and have been rescued from darkness, I pray that you will move from light to light, from life to life, from faith to faith, and from grace to grace as we learn of Him.