Study Focus: John 1:9–13; John 1:14, 18; John 17:1–5
More than anywhere else in the Scriptures, the Gospel of John boldly proclaims, precisely and powerfully, the truth that Jesus is God. As God eternal, Jesus precedes Creation and eternity itself. The beloved disciple dwells on the theme of Jesus’ divinity in such depth in order to illuminate the cosmic truth that the Word became flesh.
As Moses launches the Old Testament by asserting the truth of Creation, so John makes the same proclamation in the New Testament. Thus the theme of Creation—and its Creator, the Word, who is God—unites both the Old Testament and the New Testament together. By anchoring his Gospel in Creation from the beginning, John provides a theological anchor for every other discussion to follow.
For John, the subject of Jesus as Creator was vital because Satan, the great deceiver, hated the truth of Christ’s divinity and of His equality with God. Near the end of the first Christian century, dark heresies subtly entered the church. Gnostic heretics questioned the reality of Jesus’ divinity, spreading doubt about His true incarnation in the flesh. This dangerous phenomenon occurred approximately three decades after the writing of the synoptic Gospels. Consequently, it brought discouragement among the believers and lowered their spiritual morale.
The first 18 verses of John’s Gospel constitute a prologue to the rest of his Gospel. They provide an unshakable, concise, and compact theological statement about Christ’s divinity. Christ the Word is God and has ever been. He is the Creator and the Life and Light-Giver; yet He became a human being, born of God, and demonstrated His love, grace, and glory before His creation.
Part II: Commentary
The divine Logos (Word) in John 1:1 is used to signify God’s expressive will and creative power. Through both Creation and revelation, God has clearly expressed His character and His acts as seen throughout the Scriptures. And now, God reveals Himself through the incarnation of His Son. No doubt should remain in our minds regarding God’s love for us because He manifested Himself in Jesus.
Remember how the Lord answered when Philip asked Him to reveal the Father? Jesus said,“ ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father?” ’ ” (John 14:9, NKJV).
“By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels. He was the Word of God,—God’s thought made audible.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 19. This expression of God’s character existed, John tells us, from the very beginning. What does John mean by the words “In the beginning”? The Greek text lacks the definite article “the” as supplied by the King James Version and other English language translations, which render the meaning of the word “beginning” as more specific. The absence of the definite article in the Greek implies no definite time, as such, that can be pinned down or calculated, but rather an indefinable time that reaches beyond any beginning. In other words, the Word, Jesus, was forever there, pre-existent, before there was any creation.
The Word Was Made Flesh (John 1:14, 18)
Logos can be understood as truth, ideal existence, perfect thought, and expression. In Greek thinking, logos was an ethereal notion, hovering over humanity without inhabiting humanity. Christ, the Word, was not any vague philosophical concept but a real and tangible reality that could be seen and touched. He was indeed unique, one of a kind, the divine Son of God.
When Christ became flesh in our likeness (not sameness), His humanity veiled His divinity; yet, He remained fully God. Indeed, He became similar to us in order to sympathize with us; but He remained different from what we are in order to save us. What an amazing act of divine condescension for God to humble Himself and become man! We cannot fully comprehend this mystery of divine love, but we must heartily appreciate and embrace it. In many world religions, man futilely attempts to experience ascent to the so-called “gods”; but in Christianity, God actually descends to our level to meet us where we are.
In John 1:14, the precise, and only, adjective describing Jesus is the Greek word monogenous, translated as “only begotten,” which literally means unique. This uniqueness is so momentously important and so indispensable that our salvation depends on it. For without it, we would forever be condemned to death in our sins instead of redeemed by the righteousness and life of the only begotten Son of God.
The word “begotten” (John 1:14, 18) has been misapplied throughout the history of Christianity in ways that the Bible never intended—namely, that at some indefinite and distant time, before anything was created, the Son was begotten, or created, by the eternal Father. But this notion is fallacious. Christ was truly the originator and the Creator of all things, not a created being. John asserts without any hesitancy that Christ was God, and with God, from eternity: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3, NKJV).
Yes, the mystery of the Incarnation is hard to fathom because the infinite God endeavored to reach our finite minds to save us. And to save us, God went to the extreme extent of sacrificing His only Son. This act was truly radical. Christ voluntarily humbled Himself, became human, and died for sinful humanity. He willingly altered His eternal nature to retain our humanity forever. Instead of remaining fully divine, now He is both fully divine and fully human. What a tangible demonstration of self-sacrificing love for the entire universe to behold!
The incarnate Son of God “dwelt” among us (John 1:14). “Dwelt” is the translation of the Greek word skenoo, which literally means He “tented” with us. This notion hearkens back to Exodus 25:8, in which God says to Moses: “ ‘And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them’ ” (NKJV). The idea that God desires to be with us continuously is one of the major themes of the entire Bible. God does not want to be a temporary resident but a permanent one. That is why the heaven-given name of God incarnate is “Immanuel,” God with us.
What is so fascinating about this reality is the honor that God affords us in dwelling among us. One tangible sign that someone desires to be with us is that this person loves us. You see, agape love always seeks togetherness, and that is why it makes so much sense when Jesus promised His disciples: “ ‘And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also’ ” (John 14:3, NKJV). This beautiful reality should fill us with holy joy and confidence to experience His presence here, so that we may dwell with Him in perfection forever in heaven.
Hearing, or Not Hearing, the Word (John 1:9–13)
Our subheading here also may be reframed as “seeing, or not seeing, the Word.” It seems foolish to deny the light that illuminates us; likewise, it is irrational to have ears to hear and to stop them from hearing. The voice of truth is loud and clear, but people choose to turn a deaf ear; thus, the glorious light of the gospel is shed all around, but people embrace darkness. In a very real sense, this phenomenon is part of the mystery of iniquity.
Such rebellion reminds us of God’s astonishment at His people for wrong choices that make no sense. “ ‘But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. . . . I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live’ ” (Deut. 30:14, 19, NKJV). Rebellion against God’s light and life, in choosing darkness and death, is but following Lucifer’s tragic example.
Reappearing Themes—Belief/Unbelief
God has given all His creatures the freedom of choice so that they may love Him freely. However, they often abuse and misuse such freedom to their own detriment. Some go so far as to say that either choice, wrong or right, is fine, so long as we choose. After all, they claim that Christ’s death on the cross grants them freedom of choice and immunity to its consequences.
But such thinking is perilous, for it encourages people to be careless about their choices. The reason that Jesus died on the cross was to save us from our sins and to give us life. Freedom of choice was granted to humanity prior to the Cross and hearkens back to the Garden of Eden. So, while the freedom to choose is always available to humanity, we must encourage those in the valley of decision to choose what is right in God’s eyes. Some say that the outcome does not matter so much because all prodigals eventually return to God. However, many do not, even though God is always willing to forgive and restore the wayward ones to Himself as they choose to believe in Him.
Reappearing Themes—Glory (John 17:1–5)
Knowing that His hour had come, Jesus was ready to face the cross. But He also anticipated the joy and glory that awaited Him. The joint mission of salvation that Father and Son agreed on from the foundation of the world was about to be successfully carried out. The devil was soon to be defeated decisively at the cross.
Christ, in His heroic work to save those who believe in Him, descended to the lowest pit, only to be raised up in glory. Paul attests to this fact when he says that Christ “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:8, 9, NKJV). Do you see how Paul contrasts the joy and the shame in Christ’s salvific act? Thus, we may say that Christ’s anticipation of salvation for the world was a glorious experience, in spite of the shame He endured on the cross. Jesus “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2, NKJV).
Part III: Life Application
Think about and answer the following questions:
Regarding the Word: How did the words of Christ (the Word) represent Him when He was here in this world?
Are you ever assailed by doubts about the character of God the Father? Why, or why not? Reflect carefully on Jesus’ words to Philip, reminding him that seeing Him is the same as seeing the Father. How can these words assuage your doubts?
How do the meanings of “unique” and “begotten” relate to the one-of-a-kind salvation offered to us in Christ?
Christ will retain His human nature for eternity. He indeed altered His eternal nature forever by becoming totally human and totally divine. How does this reality impact your life now and your hope for the future?
If we believed that, instead of saving us from our sins, Jesus died to give us freedom of choice, what would be the effect of this thinking on making crucial decisions in matters of obedience and disobedience? Some think that God is neutral when it comes to our decision-making. If such were the case, how do you reconcile this notion with God’s urging us to make the right decisions?
Regarding shame and glory: How do you reconcile the two concepts in the life and ministry of Christ? Have you ever experienced being shamed for Christ’s sake? How can this experience lead to being honored before God?
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Study Focus: John 1:9–13; John 1:14, 18; John 17:1–5
More than anywhere else in the Scriptures, the Gospel of John boldly proclaims, precisely and powerfully, the truth that Jesus is God. As God eternal, Jesus precedes Creation and eternity itself. The beloved disciple dwells on the theme of Jesus’ divinity in such depth in order to illuminate the cosmic truth that the Word became flesh.
As Moses launches the Old Testament by asserting the truth of Creation, so John makes the same proclamation in the New Testament. Thus the theme of Creation—and its Creator, the Word, who is God—unites both the Old Testament and the New Testament together. By anchoring his Gospel in Creation from the beginning, John provides a theological anchor for every other discussion to follow.
For John, the subject of Jesus as Creator was vital because Satan, the great deceiver, hated the truth of Christ’s divinity and of His equality with God. Near the end of the first Christian century, dark heresies subtly entered the church. Gnostic heretics questioned the reality of Jesus’ divinity, spreading doubt about His true incarnation in the flesh. This dangerous phenomenon occurred approximately three decades after the writing of the synoptic Gospels. Consequently, it brought discouragement among the believers and lowered their spiritual morale.
The first 18 verses of John’s Gospel constitute a prologue to the rest of his Gospel. They provide an unshakable, concise, and compact theological statement about Christ’s divinity. Christ the Word is God and has ever been. He is the Creator and the Life and Light-Giver; yet He became a human being, born of God, and demonstrated His love, grace, and glory before His creation.
Part II: Commentary
The divine Logos (Word) in John 1:1 is used to signify God’s expressive will and creative power. Through both Creation and revelation, God has clearly expressed His character and His acts as seen throughout the Scriptures. And now, God reveals Himself through the incarnation of His Son. No doubt should remain in our minds regarding God’s love for us because He manifested Himself in Jesus.
Remember how the Lord answered when Philip asked Him to reveal the Father? Jesus said,“ ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father?” ’ ” (John 14:9, NKJV).
“By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to men and to angels. He was the Word of God,—God’s thought made audible.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 19. This expression of God’s character existed, John tells us, from the very beginning. What does John mean by the words “In the beginning”? The Greek text lacks the definite article “the” as supplied by the King James Version and other English language translations, which render the meaning of the word “beginning” as more specific. The absence of the definite article in the Greek implies no definite time, as such, that can be pinned down or calculated, but rather an indefinable time that reaches beyond any beginning. In other words, the Word, Jesus, was forever there, pre-existent, before there was any creation.
The Word Was Made Flesh (John 1:14, 18)
Logos can be understood as truth, ideal existence, perfect thought, and expression. In Greek thinking, logos was an ethereal notion, hovering over humanity without inhabiting humanity. Christ, the Word, was not any vague philosophical concept but a real and tangible reality that could be seen and touched. He was indeed unique, one of a kind, the divine Son of God.
When Christ became flesh in our likeness (not sameness), His humanity veiled His divinity; yet, He remained fully God. Indeed, He became similar to us in order to sympathize with us; but He remained different from what we are in order to save us. What an amazing act of divine condescension for God to humble Himself and become man! We cannot fully comprehend this mystery of divine love, but we must heartily appreciate and embrace it. In many world religions, man futilely attempts to experience ascent to the so-called “gods”; but in Christianity, God actually descends to our level to meet us where we are.
In John 1:14, the precise, and only, adjective describing Jesus is the Greek word monogenous, translated as “only begotten,” which literally means unique. This uniqueness is so momentously important and so indispensable that our salvation depends on it. For without it, we would forever be condemned to death in our sins instead of redeemed by the righteousness and life of the only begotten Son of God.
The word “begotten” (John 1:14, 18) has been misapplied throughout the history of Christianity in ways that the Bible never intended—namely, that at some indefinite and distant time, before anything was created, the Son was begotten, or created, by the eternal Father. But this notion is fallacious. Christ was truly the originator and the Creator of all things, not a created being. John asserts without any hesitancy that Christ was God, and with God, from eternity: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3, NKJV).
Yes, the mystery of the Incarnation is hard to fathom because the infinite God endeavored to reach our finite minds to save us. And to save us, God went to the extreme extent of sacrificing His only Son. This act was truly radical. Christ voluntarily humbled Himself, became human, and died for sinful humanity. He willingly altered His eternal nature to retain our humanity forever. Instead of remaining fully divine, now He is both fully divine and fully human. What a tangible demonstration of self-sacrificing love for the entire universe to behold!
The incarnate Son of God “dwelt” among us (John 1:14). “Dwelt” is the translation of the Greek word skenoo, which literally means He “tented” with us. This notion hearkens back to Exodus 25:8, in which God says to Moses: “ ‘And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them’ ” (NKJV). The idea that God desires to be with us continuously is one of the major themes of the entire Bible. God does not want to be a temporary resident but a permanent one. That is why the heaven-given name of God incarnate is “Immanuel,” God with us.
What is so fascinating about this reality is the honor that God affords us in dwelling among us. One tangible sign that someone desires to be with us is that this person loves us. You see, agape love always seeks togetherness, and that is why it makes so much sense when Jesus promised His disciples: “ ‘And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also’ ” (John 14:3, NKJV). This beautiful reality should fill us with holy joy and confidence to experience His presence here, so that we may dwell with Him in perfection forever in heaven.
Hearing, or Not Hearing, the Word (John 1:9–13)
Our subheading here also may be reframed as “seeing, or not seeing, the Word.” It seems foolish to deny the light that illuminates us; likewise, it is irrational to have ears to hear and to stop them from hearing. The voice of truth is loud and clear, but people choose to turn a deaf ear; thus, the glorious light of the gospel is shed all around, but people embrace darkness. In a very real sense, this phenomenon is part of the mystery of iniquity.
Such rebellion reminds us of God’s astonishment at His people for wrong choices that make no sense. “ ‘But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. . . . I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live’ ” (Deut. 30:14, 19, NKJV). Rebellion against God’s light and life, in choosing darkness and death, is but following Lucifer’s tragic example.
Reappearing Themes—Belief/Unbelief
God has given all His creatures the freedom of choice so that they may love Him freely. However, they often abuse and misuse such freedom to their own detriment. Some go so far as to say that either choice, wrong or right, is fine, so long as we choose. After all, they claim that Christ’s death on the cross grants them freedom of choice and immunity to its consequences.
But such thinking is perilous, for it encourages people to be careless about their choices. The reason that Jesus died on the cross was to save us from our sins and to give us life. Freedom of choice was granted to humanity prior to the Cross and hearkens back to the Garden of Eden. So, while the freedom to choose is always available to humanity, we must encourage those in the valley of decision to choose what is right in God’s eyes. Some say that the outcome does not matter so much because all prodigals eventually return to God. However, many do not, even though God is always willing to forgive and restore the wayward ones to Himself as they choose to believe in Him.
Reappearing Themes—Glory (John 17:1–5)
Knowing that His hour had come, Jesus was ready to face the cross. But He also anticipated the joy and glory that awaited Him. The joint mission of salvation that Father and Son agreed on from the foundation of the world was about to be successfully carried out. The devil was soon to be defeated decisively at the cross.
Christ, in His heroic work to save those who believe in Him, descended to the lowest pit, only to be raised up in glory. Paul attests to this fact when he says that Christ “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:8, 9, NKJV). Do you see how Paul contrasts the joy and the shame in Christ’s salvific act? Thus, we may say that Christ’s anticipation of salvation for the world was a glorious experience, in spite of the shame He endured on the cross. Jesus “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2, NKJV).
Part III: Life Application
Think about and answer the following questions:
Regarding the Word: How did the words of Christ (the Word) represent Him when He was here in this world?
Are you ever assailed by doubts about the character of God the Father? Why, or why not? Reflect carefully on Jesus’ words to Philip, reminding him that seeing Him is the same as seeing the Father. How can these words assuage your doubts?
How do the meanings of “unique” and “begotten” relate to the one-of-a-kind salvation offered to us in Christ?
Christ will retain His human nature for eternity. He indeed altered His eternal nature forever by becoming totally human and totally divine. How does this reality impact your life now and your hope for the future?
If we believed that, instead of saving us from our sins, Jesus died to give us freedom of choice, what would be the effect of this thinking on making crucial decisions in matters of obedience and disobedience? Some think that God is neutral when it comes to our decision-making. If such were the case, how do you reconcile this notion with God’s urging us to make the right decisions?
Regarding shame and glory: How do you reconcile the two concepts in the life and ministry of Christ? Have you ever experienced being shamed for Christ’s sake? How can this experience lead to being honored before God?