Sermon Tone Analysis

John 1:1-18

Introduction

In this study, we will examine the Prologue of the Gospel of John.

The Prologue contains the greatest of all subjects, some of the greatest of all sentences ever recorded, and it presents the greatest Person who ever lived on this earth.

Our primary focus will be on just one verse, the fourteenth verse, which contains perhaps the most important single verse in Scripture on the Incarnation of Christ.

*John 1:14* And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

*Dwelt* in this text is a technical word that means “to tent,” or “to pitch a tent,” or “to tabernacle.”

*Saw (behold)* is the word from which we derive our word “theater.”

It would be better translated, “to observe,” like a person attending a theater to enjoy a play or a film.

John and the other apostles had “ringside seats” to the occurrence.

*Glory* probably refers to the Old Testament Shekinah cloud of God’s glorious Presence, and may here refer to the transfiguration of Christ (Matthew 17), where this glory radiated through the human form of Jesus.

*The only begotten* translates one Greek word, “/monogenes/,” the “only gene-type,” or “the only genre,” or the “unique” Son.

Jesus is the only-one-of-a-kind Son of the Father.

What peculiar glory there is in the Person of Christ!

\\ 1A.

The Identity of the Person Introduced Here

The key here is the *Word*, /logos/.

/ /We derive our English word “logic” from this Greek word, and this is a primary meaning of the term here.

So we may take a short cut and declare that Jesus is the logic of God.

To remain away from Jesus is illogical from God’s (the correct) point of view

1B.      /Logos /is the communication/ /of the content of someone’s mind.

Thus, it is not merely reason and thought.

It requires expression and communication of that thought.

Jesus is the mind of God expressed.

Jesus is the Thought of eternity translated into the language of time.

Jesus is for God what the word is for the thought.

Jesus is God become vocal.

Jesus is God become visible

2B.

Jesus Christ is the /Logos/ of God!  (1:17-18)

*He is the complete embodiment of God!*

*Colossians 2:9* For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily

He is the unique Son of God

Ø      Jesus is the “Son of the Father,” not in the sense of /offspring/, but in the sense of/ /association/.

/

Ø      The term “only begotten” (/monogenes/) means “unique” or “the only one of a kind.”

Ø      He has no equal!

He is the perfect revelation of God

Ø      *Explained (declared)*, /exegeomai/, to lead out, exegete

Ø      As far as a human medium could explain the Infinite, and human minds and hearts could receive the explanation, Jesus has /translated /God to us.

\\ 2A.

The Infinity of the Person Presented Here.

(1:1-3)

1B.

The /eternality/ of the Word - “In the beginning was the Word.”

Notice that this verse does not say He was /from/ the beginning, but “/In/ the beginning.”

If he was “in the beginning,” then He Himself was /without/ beginning; this is the negative way of saying He was /eternal/

The verb “was” is in the imperfect tense.

It indicates not a single past act but action that took place continuously.

“In the beginning was the Word continuously, and the Word continuously was with God, and the Word continuously was God.”

2B.

The /personality /of “the Word.”  “And the Word was with God.”

The preposition “*with*” is the Greek word “pros,” which has been defined as the preposition of association; it literally means “face to face with.”

Jesus and the Father had “seen eye to eye throughout eternity.”

Jesus was co-existent, co-eternal, co-essential, and co-equal with the Father!

3B.

The /Deity/ of “the Word.”  “And the Word was God.”

The word “*God*” is in the emphatic position in this sentence, thus emphasizing that the Word (Jesus) was God.

“Now since there is but one God, it follows that Christ is of the same essence with the Father, and yet that, in some respect, He is distinct from the Father.”

(Calvin)

Don’t miss the implication of this verse.

God has /always /been /like Jesus/!

\\ 4B.

The /creativity/ of the Word.

(1:3)

The three occurrences of “*was*” in verse one are in the imperfect tense, describing “The Word” as having had continuous eternal existence.

But the phrase “*came into being* (was made)” is in the aorist tense in verse three.

It actually says, “All things came into being by Him.”

The word translated “*all things*” is also very important.

There are two Greek words that might be translated “all things.”

One means “all things as a whole,” but the word used in verse three means, “All things in their particular parts.”

This universe is meticulously made, and Jesus is the Agent of God’s creation of all the tiniest parts.

\\ 3A.

The Humanity of the Person Introduced Here.

(1:14)

1B.

The Word became /flesh!/

The word “flesh” pictures man’s capacity for pleasure and pain.

The expression, “became flesh,” signifies that the Word left the non-material state of Divine being to assume a body, and to confine Himself, like men, within the limits of time and space.

The word “flesh” also points out the full reality of the human existence into which Jesus entered.

2B.

The /Word/ became/ /flesh!

He was the same Divine Being as before.

He kept His place in the bosom of the Father during His earthly life (John 3:13).

Though in the essence of His Being He underwent no change, yet He voluntarily gave up the Divine mode of existence, that He might assume the human, and might bear it with Him through death and resurrection to invest it ultimately with the Divine glory that He had with the Father before the world was made (John 17:5).”

3B.

The Word /became/ flesh!

*Became*, /egeneto/ This word implies a profound transformation in the subject’s mode of being.

When a /person/ is in question, the word “became,” without implicating His identity, indicates that he has changed his condition; for example, in the expression, “the king became a shepherd,” the king did not “become” in the sense of ceasing to be what he was before

So here, the Word becomes flesh but remains the Word, even God.

The Divine and the human nature became fully united without being fused on confused.

\\ 4B.

The Word /dwelt/ among us!

*Dwelt,* “Tabernacled” or “tented” taken from the OT and Israel

The tabernacle was a material presentation of the great truth of the Incarnation of God in Christ.

That tabernacle was a meeting place between God and man, and so is Jesus.

The tabernacle was made after the pattern of the nature of Jesus (/not He /after /it/).

Jehovah God’s habitation was a tent, and His people dwelt in tents, also; so the Incarnate Word “tented” among us in human flesh, and men, His brethren, live in fleshly tents, also (II Corinthians 5:1).

5B.      /The /Word… full of grace and truth

He alone embodies God’s person

The term “Word” is used of Jesus four times in the prologue of John’s Gospel, and on each occurrence it is preceded by the definite article, “the.”

This Word is not one word among many, or one word of several words, or even the best word out of many possibilities.

This Word is “*/the/ Word*.”

He is God’s last, final, and only Word.