John was one of the 12 disciples, and was one of Jesus' inner 3, along with Peter and James. He was "the one whom Jesus loved (John 13:23), and was privy to much of Jesus' teachings, including intimate conversations and the life and work of Christ. John has been attributed to writing the Gospel of John, the three epistles (1,2,3 John) and Revelation. Most scholars place the writing of the Gospel of John somewhere between 70-90 A.D. According to many in the church, John may have died in exile on the isle of Patmos, or possibly in Ephesus after his exile. According to John 20:31 which states "but these are written so that you may xbelieve that Jesus is the Christ, ythe Son of God, and that by believing zyou may have life ain his name." John wanted the readers to understand who Jesus was, and that by believing you would have everlasting life.
The Gospel of John is very different from the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Unlike the short, pithy teachings that show up in the synoptics, John carries on long conversations which allows us to get a much better understanding of some of the issues facing Jesus and His understanding of theology. He uses many sharp contrasts such as light vs. dark; love vs. hatred; above vs. below; life vs. death; and truth vs. falsehood. It is in John's gospel where Jesus uses the "I AM" statements which help us understand clearly who Jesus claimed He was. John also spends much time highlighting our sin and depravity. John is also the only one that uses a prologue in which he sets up the rest of Jesus' ministry.
John's gospel has 5 sections. The first 18 verses are the prologue, and we will be taking 3 Sunday's to work through that heavy section of scripture. John then uses the next 12 chapters to describe in great detail Jesus' public ministry. John covers Jesus' Passion Week with 7 chapters, followed by the resurrection (1 chapter), and finally the epilogue (Chapter 21). This book will take us a couple of years to work through, and I look forward to the journey with you.
We begin in verse 1 that states "In the beginning was bthe Word, and cthe Word was with God, and dthe Word was God." We can see immediately the use of "In the beginning". This would jump out at anyone that was familiar with the scriptures (what we would now call the Old Testament). The first line in the bible from Genesis begins with "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." So John is taking us all the way back to the beginning in order to establish something. What was he trying to get across? If we look at verse 26 of Genesis it states "Then God said, o“Let us make man1 in our image, pafter our likeness. And qlet them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” It's interesting that although we see throughout scripture that God is One, we see God using the plural form "our", "us" when describing himself. This becomes important as we work our way through the rest of today's scripture. 1 John 1:1 also says "That which was bfrom the beginning, cwhich we have heard, dwhich we have seen with our eyes,ewhich we looked upon and fhave touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—" John is making his case for the identity of Christ right off the hop. Again in Revelation 1:8 he states "I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, y“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” referring of course to Christ.
When John moves on to "was the Word", he was clearly referring to Jesus, as we can see from verse 14 (along with those scriptures just mentioned). Revelation 19:13 says "He is clothed in qa robe dipped in1 blood, and the name by which he is called is rThe Word of God." This again is referring to Christ and His crucifixion, and is specifically referred to as the Word of God. So we can already clearly see that Jesus was and is and always will be, but just to make the point even more plain, John leaves no question as he moves forward. The Word was with God, which John here is distinguishing between the Father and the Son. In order to be with someone or something, you must have an identity separate from it in some capacity. This is the case here. Jesus is distinct from the Father, but still One with him. 1 John 1:2 states "the life hwas made manifest, and we have seen it, and itestify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life,awhich was with the Father and hwas made manifest to us—" Jesus was with God in the beginning. John 17:5 states "And now, Father, aglorify me in your own presence with the glory bthat I had with you cbefore the world existed." Jesus identifies that He was with the Father before the world existed. As we have seen from Genesis, God, referring to Himself as "us" began creating.
And the Word was God. This statement makes clear that the triune nature of God is real, and that Jesus is One with the Father before the creation of anything. Jesus is distinct from the Father, but still of the same substance. Philippians 2:5-7 states "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,1 6 pwho, though he was in qthe form of God, did not count equality with God ra thing to be grasped, 7 but semptied himself, by taking the form of atservant,2 ubeing born in the likeness of men." Some would have you believe that this particular scripture backs up the idea that Jesus was NOT God, but in fact in the context Paul was getting across the fact that Jesus didn't have to grasp or work in some capacity to be God, because He already was! John later on in his gospel in 10:30 says "I and the Father are one.” This leads into Jesus use of the "I AM" statements. We can see from Exodus 3:14 when Moses asks God "who shall I tell them (the Israelites) sent me. What was the answer? God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”1 And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, r‘I am has sent me to you.’” God's name is "I AM". So Jesus comes along and says in John 8:58 "Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, aI am.” What happened after that? The scribes and Pharisees picked up stones to kill Him for blasphemy! They understood perfectly well what Jesus called Himself, and they were going to take Him out because of it. There was no doubt about what Christ's identity was to John and he used his gospel to make sure we understand who Christ is.
Jesus had seven declarations which He used to identify or describe Himself, all of them pertaining to His godly attributes. They were:
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The bread of life (6:35, 48, 51)
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Light of the world (8:12, 9:5)
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The door for the sheep (10:7, 9)
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The good shepherd (10:11, 14)
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The resurrection (11:25)
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The way, truth, life (14:6)
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The true vine (15:1, 5)
After Christ's resurrection, Thomas refused to believe that Jesus was alive. When Jesus told him to touch his wounds, Thomas hit his knees and declared "My Lord and my God!" Did Jesus chastise him for this? Absolutely not! Jesus was God incarnate, and He identified Himself as such.
Col. 2:9 states "For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." How can Jesus be the fullness of God, yet a created being as some would have you believe?
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