What Sets Christianity Apart - John 1:1-5

What Sets Christianity Apart

John 1:1-5

©Copyright August 30, 2020 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche

This morning we begin an ambitious study that will occupy us for many months. The idea of one study lasting for months is something many consider foolish. They contend people would rather have a quick and easy sermon series. It's kind of like the difference between reading USA Today and the Wall Street Journal.

I like to think we are choosing to bask in the presence of Jesus for an extended period of time. This is not a chore; it is a privilege. No matter how many times you have read the Gospel of John, there is nothing like taking time to unpack the riches that are contained in this book.

As you know, there are four different biographies of Jesus in the Bible. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels (meaning they "see together"). They record many of the same accounts with shades of differences because of the different audiences they are targeting. for example, Matthew is trying to show Jesus is the Messiah and is writing primarily to Jews, therefore he uses numerous quotes from the Old Testament. Luke is writing to Gentiles and you find him often explaining Jewish customs. He seems to focus on the humanity of Jesus. Mark is kind of the barebones Gospel. He gives the facts but very little of the teachings of Jesus. His focus is the servant nature of Jesus.

John is different. He does not tell us about the birth of Jesus, his baptism, the temptation in the wilderness or even about the Last Supper. John does not include any parables of Jesus. However, he does include details on the early ministry of Jesus. He tells us about the changing of the water into wine, the visit of Nicodemus, the woman of Samaria, the raising of Lazarus, the extended teaching on the Holy Spirit. John tells us of Jesus' prayer in the Garden. All the "I Am's" (I am the vine; I am the bread of life; I am the door; I am the way, truth, and life; I am the Good Shepherd; I am the Resurrection and the Life; I am the Light of the World") are all found only in John. In fact, a majority of the Gospel of John focuses on the last week of the life of Jesus. John's focus is to show us that Jesus was God who became man.

The difference between John and the other gospels has led some people to say the Gospel of John is not really written by John the disciple. Some of the reason for this is there were no early manuscripts for the Gospel of John (scholars look at old manuscripts that have been found and can determine roughly when documents were written by the dating of these manuscripts and where they are found). But that is no longer the case. Dr. Boice explains,

One ancient scrap of papyrus, which was originally found in Egypt as part of the wrapping of a mummy and is now part of the papyrus collection at the John Rylands Library in Manchester, England, alone destroys these theories. This piece of papyrus contains just a few verses of John 18 (vv. 31–34, 37, 38). But it dates from the first quarter of the second century—in other words, less than one hundred years after Christ—and thus shows that John’s Gospel had been written early enough to have had a copy pass to Egypt to be used there and then to be discarded by the year a.d. 125. This is conclusive evidence for a fairly early dating of the Gospel.[1]

So how do you explain the differences in these gospels. First, let's be clear: there are differences in the gospels but not contradictions! The Synoptic Gospels were written in the late 50's and early 60's AD, twenty or so years after Jesus died. John was written 10-30 years later. Most likely, John knew of the other biographies and wrote to add to the skeleton the other Gospel writers had already provided.

For example, if you were going to write a historical biography of someone who has had several biographies written about them, then you would want to approach the biography from a different perspective, or it would be pointless to write it. John "fleshed out" the history of Jesus. For example, if Rick wrote a book about the strange and touching moments of ministry, he would choose different moments than I have written about.

At the end of the Gospel of John, the author says, there many more things that could have been written about what Jesus said and did . . . so many things, according to John, that a whole library could not hold them all.

Who is This Jesus?

In some respects, the entire gospel is summarized in the first five verses.

In the beginning the Word already existed.

The Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

2 He existed in the beginning with God.

3 God created everything through him,

and nothing was created except through him.

4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,

and his life brought light to everyone.

5 The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it.

John does not waste any time with his argument. From the first words of his gospel he affirms Jesus was God become man. He does it however in a way that would not immediately alienate his audience. John doesn't talk about Jesus or the Christ, he uses the term "Word."

"Word" in the Greek is "Logos". The "Word" is God's communication to man. Usually it is verbal or written (as in the Word of God). John uses "Logos" to describe Jesus as the fullest and clearest communication of God to mankind. He is the speaker, the interpreter, and the expression of God the Father's will.

To be clear on this, jump down to verse 14 and you'll see that John tells us who "Word" refers to.

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. (John 1:14)

Since we know "Word" means "Jesus,"we can read the first verses with greater clarity,

In the beginning Christ already existed.

The Son was with God,

and the Son of God was God.

2 He existed in the beginning with God.

3 God created everything through him,

and nothing was created except through him.

4 the Son gave life to everything that was created,

and his life brought light to everyone.

5 The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it

The first thing John tells us about the Son of God is He is eternal. He has been there from the beginning. There was never a time when the Son of God did not exist! Though He is called the Son; He has never not existed. He is co-eternal with the Father (and with the Holy Spirit).

The Son of God did not begin His existence in Bethlehem . . . only the indwelt human being, Jesus, began in Bethlehem. In other words, the Son of God took on human form in Bethlehem for the purpose of giving his life as a ransom for us.

Second, John affirmed Jesus is God. So there is no confusion as to what John is affirming he writes, "the Word was with God" and "the Word was (or is) God." He was there in the beginning. He was not created but instead was the agent of creation.

This affirmation is the litmus test for true and false belief: What do people say about Jesus? Is He merely a man or a good teacher? Or is He God who became man?

Questions Raised

Immediately when we say something like this, questions are raised. Does not the Bible say clearly that there is only One God? In fact, the teaching that Jesus is God is what Muslims find most offensive about Christianity, they see it as a heresy that offends the one true God. In fairness, orthodox Jews would say the same thing (and did). They believe we are saying there are two Gods (or later three, with the Holy Spirit). However, remember something: John, Paul and all the other writers of Scripture were JEWS. They also were sensitive to this. The Doctrine of the Trinity says there is One God who is manifest in three persons.

Many people have tried to explain the doctrine of the Trinity with explanations that take away the power of what is said here. There are those who say God appears as Father, Son or Holy Spirit, depending on what was needed at the time (kind of like Clark Kent and Superman). So, there are not really three distinct persons in the Godhead, there is only One who manifests Himself in different ways. The church has condemned this as false teaching from the earliest days of the church but the teaching keeps coming back.

This false viewpoint raises some real questions: If Jesus is God, who was Jesus praying to? When Jesus died, who was running the world?

Others have dismissed the notion that Jesus really was God. Some have gotten creative (but also heretical) and said God the Father entered a human body at the baptism of Jesus and left it before the crucifixion.

The Biblical doctrine of the Trinity is defined as "There is one God who exists in Three Persons." Many have ridiculed this as non-sensical. It wouldn't make sense if we said there was one God who is also three Gods. But that is not what is being said. One God, three persons.

You might say, "But that doesn't make any sense either." However, we talk like this more than you realize.

· We talk about a husband and wife as two who become one

· We talk about a group of people who stand "as one" in the face of some opponent

· We say a group of people are "of the same mind" (and that doesn't mean they are sharing the same brain).

· And even on our money we read the motto of the United States "e pluribus unum" which means "out of the many, one".

These phrases talk about people coming together as a unified whole. This is a shadow of what we are saying about the Trinity. The unity of the Father, Son, and Spirit is far superior to any earthly model! There is absolute, total, and complete harmony between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are more fully "One" than anything we can conceive.

However, the fact that we cannot grasp such a unity does not mean it does not exist. It would be the height of arrogance to say any God that is beyond my understanding cannot be God. In essence, that is making YOU God! Do we not long for a God who is far bigger than our minds can conceive? Trying to describe the God who is over all that is, is a futile task. Words cannot describe the uniqueness and perfection of God. He is in a different category. We are left to understand God by how He describes Himself to us.

We are told one more thing about Jesus: He is a light no one can extinguish.

The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness can never extinguish it.

Other versions say, "the darkness cannot comprehend it" or "the darkness cannot overcome it." People have worked hard to extinguish the light of Jesus, but they cannot do it. He is eternal and He is God. Even in our day when there are people trying to silence or marginalize the church, the Light continues to shine. It is hard to comprehend this light, because it is so far superior and different from us.

Why is This Important?

I have given you a lot of theology this morning (or rather, John has). It is fair to say, "why do we need to think about these things? Does it really matter?" It does for many reasons.

It helps us to distinguish truth from deception. There is a great deal of false teaching all around us. We will not recognize false teaching and deception unless we take the time and energy to know what is true.

Theology is a little like politics (I'm sorry to say). You can affirm anything, even if it is not true. If you say something loud enough, often enough, and creatively enough, you can get people to vote for you. It doesn't have to be true and you don't even have to really say anything. Just sound convincing.

It is the same in the spiritual realm. There are lots of people teaching about the supernatural world. It is not a matter of which teaching do you "like," the question is: "which one is true." You have to think deeply before you can make such a determination. The personality of the speaker must never overshadow what they are teaching! We must think clearly and deeply.

Second, looking at these truths shows us how important it is to get to know Jesus . . . God in human form. If Jesus really is the eternal God manifest in a human body, we should want to spare no effort in getting to know Him.

Think about the Old Testament days as God manifesting Himself in black in white on a small fuzzy screen. Jesus comes on the scene and now we see God in Giant Screen HD clarity! We should listen carefully to what our Lord teaches. We should stay close to Him and work hard to know Him as best we can. To know Jesus is to know God. When the Son of God says, "Come to me you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest" we should come running at a full sprint!

Third, these truths should dispel our fears. We are afraid because things seem out of control. At times our lives are out of control and as we look around we see a world that is hopelessly lost. The fact that Jesus was God the Son in human form means our God is not distant and detached. He sees us. He knows us. He can help us. The same God who cast out demons, healed broken bodies, and loved broken people is the same One who lives in us through the Holy Spirit!

Darkness cannot extinguish the light! The world will try, but as Paul triumphantly wrote, "Who can separate us from the love of Christ?" The answer is a loud and resounding "No One!" The better we know and walk with Jesus the more our fears will subside.

Finally, this teaching about the nature of Christ testifies to God's desire to redeem us. I love the Christmas illustration about a family that was going to church on Christmas Eve. Dad refused to go because he thought the whole thing was nonsense. He said, "It does not make any sense that God would become a man."

He was watching some re-runs on television when he noticed a blizzard was starting to whip up in the bitter bitter cold. His family did not go far so he was not worried about them. A little while later he heard a few thuds on his window and it happened several times. It sounded like someone was throwing snowballs at his window. He waited and the next time there was a thud he was prepared. He opened the curtains and discovered it was not snowballs, it was a few birds! They saw the light and hoped it would be a place of warmth.

The man's heart ached for the birds. He decided he would open up the barn for them so they could get out of the storm. So he bundled up and went out to the barn and opened the door for the birds. However, they did not see him.

He came toward the birds waving his arms but they flew away. When they returned, he tried to shoo them into the barn for their safety and warmth. They were frightened (and probably a little annoyed) by Him. The man was frustrated and said to himself, "If only I could become a bird for just a little while, I could lead them to safety."

Just then the church bells rang. The man suddenly realized this is why Jesus came to earth . . . to lead us to safety, forgiveness, and new life. It was the only way to connect with us and to pay the penalty for the sin amassed by us. He surrendered his life to the Lord on that very spot. His eyes were opened, and he understood the wonder and majesty of the message of the gospel.

That is the same thing that will happen to us if we grasp the reality of who Jesus is. He is not merely a good man in history who taught great things . . . He was God entering the world to effectively communicate with His wayward children in the desire to lead them to forgiveness, safety, and a new life! This is the biggest news ever!

This is the Jesus we will study in the Gospel of John. May we come to love Him more and follow Him more wholeheartedly.

[1] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 15.