Today we see many different attacks on the identity of Jesus. Some say that Jesus was not the Son of God, but merely a human who attained the status of a prophet. Others say that Jesus never said that certain behaviors were wrong. They say that He taught that we only have to love one another.
Both of these false teachings like the “historical” Jesus, but they reject Jesus as the Messiah. They like the teachings of Jesus but reject the teachings of the Bible. The problem that these teaching must overcome is one of Biblical accuracy. Those who like the “historical” will quickly question the accuracy of the writings of the Apostles as it applies to the deity of Jesus and Bible’s moral laws.
This presents a bit of a conundrum. If there are
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Genesis begins with “In the beginning God…” and establishes that God has always existed. John begins with “In the beginning was the Word…”, therefore the Word, like God, has always existed.
John does not stop by telling us that the Word has always existed, he tells us that the Word was with God in the beginning and in fact that the Word was God.
Looking back at the Old Testament, we can see that John was correct about the deity of Jesus. Genesis teaches us that God created everything in the known and unknown universe. Interestingly, when God created man, He said “Let Us create man in Our image.” Psalms 119 tells us that God’s word is a light unto our path and a lamp unto our feet.
John tells us that everything that was created was created through the Word and that nothing that was created was created without Him. Through the Word, life was given to everything that was created. John tells us that the Word’s life brought light to everyone. It is the Light that shines in the darkness and the darkness can never extinguish it.
The Word that John speaks of is Jesus. We can establish this by comparing what John tells us about the Word and what the Gospels tell us about
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Jesus’ identity does not stop at just being the only begotten Son of God. He is also the giver of life and Judge. John 5:21-23 tells us that God judges no one because He has given Jesus absolute authority to judge.
We have to remember that Jesus is the Judge and not the Lawgiver. In Matthew 5:17-20, we see that Jesus did not come to abolish the law. He did not even attempt to change the law. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.”
Jesus speaks to the harsh requirement of the law in verse 20 when He says, “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
The Pharisees were the cream of the religious crop. There was no one more righteous or pious than the Pharisees. Look at the standard of the law, unless you are more righteous than the best you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. What hope do we have if the best of the best is not good
Analysis of the Gospel of John 1:1-6 and its comparison with Genesis 1 and 2: 1-3 and Proverbs 8 gives us insight into how a Christian text references Hebrew texts implicitly and explicitly. In chapter one, verse 1-6, of the Gospel of John, we not only witness the explicit references from Genesis and Proverbs, but also see how different ideas present in the two Hebrew texts have been reframed by the Gospel of John. We see a highlight of this reframing in the verse one of the Gospel of John, which states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In this verse, for instance, the notion of “The Word” is, one could argue, similar in its meaning and connotation to the idea of “Wisdom” present in Proverbs. This idea of wisdom could be found in the verses 22 through 30 in the Proverbs and it states, “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at first, before the beginning of the earth…. then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always” (Proverbs 8:22-30). From the verses of the proverbs we can conclude that Wisdom was the first of God’s creations and it was this wisdom that remained with Him throughout all of His creations. Interestingly, this idea is also reinforced in the Gospel of John. The only difference here is that the term in used in the Gospel is the “Word,” as opposed to the term “Wisdom” used in the Proverbs, both, however, aiming at representing virtually similar concepts. Thus, since there was only Word/Wisdom in the beginning it makes sense to say that the “Word was God” and God is Wisdom.
In the beginning was the Word [ Logos ] and the Word [ Logos ] was with God. And the Word [ Logos ] was God." (John 1:1)
The New Testament teaches about who Jesus is and what he did on the earth. John wrote the last of the four gospels which recount Jesus’ life and what is to come. The gospel of John is somewhat different from the other three gospels, in that it is more symbolic and less concrete. For example, John expresses Jesus as the Passover Lamb when Matthew, Mark, and Luke do not. This gospel is showing that Christianity is moving away from the long-practiced Jewish traditions. John’s gospel can be laid out into four parts: the prologue or the incarnate word, signs of the Messiah with teachings about life in him, the farewell teaching and the passion narrative, and the epilogue or the roles of Peter and of the disciple whom Jesus loved. The Gospel of John is arguably the most
The life of Jesus is told in the four gospels of the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They speak of His virgin birth, His ministry and miracles, His death, and His resurrection. Jesus was born into humanity through Mary but was conceived without a human father (Matthew 1:18) making Him fully man and fully God. He was called the Son of God, (1 John 5:20), the second person of the Holy Trinity. Jesus taught about the kingdom of God and how we are to love everyone, even our enemies (Merrick, 2015). Jesus was the only human to live a sinless life so He was able to fulfill His purpose on earth to provide a way for man’s relationship with God to be restored. “In Jesus’ life, one beholds not merely the lengths to which God will go to save humanity, but the nature of the wisdom, love, and the power of God who saves.” (Merrick, 2015) God provided a plan so man could be redeemed and
In the John reading today, the word “Word” was substituted with “Creative Energy.” This reworking comes directly from theologian Matthew Fox’s work on Creation Spirituality. Fox believes that “a theology of the word of God has practically killed the word of God.” A theology of the word of God has practically killed the word of God. What does he mean by this? When the biblical term “word” was translated from the Hebrew word “Dabhar,” much was lost in translation. It was translated without regard to what the word “word” actually means in our culture. For example, when we hear the word “word,” we are so limited in how we conceptualize this because we think of it in very concrete ways: As in, the printed word, the radio word, the computer
Morris, Leon. Jesus is the Christ: Studies in the Theology of John. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989
The gospel of John was recorded after the gospels of Matthew, Luke, and Mark (Jensen p. 175). The advanced nature of John’s gospel verifies that the other three gospels had already been written, and time had elapsed between the other three gospels and John’s gospel (Jensen, p. 178). John’s gospel was written around A.D. 85 with universal application (Jensen, p. 178). Further, John wrote his gospel in Ephesus where he was ministering (Jensen, p. 178).
And again, “Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus. . . since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” Gal. 2:16.
At the very beginning of the gospels the authors make their representation of Jesus known to the reader, but they rely upon different methods. Mark focuses on Jesus’ role as a servant is apparent as he quotes the prophet Isaiah: “Here is my messenger, whom I send on ahead of you!” (Mark 1:2) This is a rather simple statement, and the use of the word “messenger” connotes a sense of being under another’s command; Jesus is seen as an intermediary between God and man. John’s introduction to Jesus is much more majestic and poetic, devoting many verses to explaining his divine relationship with God: “In the beginning there was the divine word and wisdom. The divine word and wisdom was there with God, and it was what God was. It was there with God from the beginning. Everything came to be by means of it” (John 1:1-3).
Who is Jesus? This is a question that has been asked throughout time, and since Jesus himself was around. Many people debate on this question,
What was the Holy Spirit referring to when he influenced the author to write " in the beginning" in John 1:1-2 ? Theologians and Biblical Scholars associate “in the beginning” to the creation account in Gen 1:1-3. However, John 1-3 concentrate its subject matter to the incarnate Christ and his mission to the world, which Jesus would come to live and sacrifice his life for those who would believe. Furthermore, the book of John demonstrates the power, knowledge, and wisdom that accompanies your calling. Raymond Brown stated: ‘If the Gospel begins with “In the beginning,” it is because the coming of Jesus will be presented as a new and definitive creation.” When we look at Gen 1:1-3 and John 1:1-2 it is easy to define similar themes in both. Gen 1:1-3 speaks to a time concerning the beginning of humanity and the world in which humanity lives. A testament to the strengths and failures of His greatest creation and the glory, power, and mercy of a true living God. A moment in eternity that will distinguish God as a creator, Lord, and Savior to his people. An era defining the frailty of humanity and it 's need for something greater than the created. John 1-3 wrote about the father, his Logos and the Logos as the acting force behind creation as well as a savior for the world. He wrote about of the origin of the Logos and his impact on the those who would listen and hear. John was trained from his youth to fulfill his calling to the father as a witness to the coming King. furthermore, John as child was taught about how God created the world and it inhabitants. It is easy to understand John’s knowledge of creation and why he would utilize this knowledge to explain Christ origins. The book of John brings to light the origin of the life of man (John 1:5). The Holy Spirit led the writer to see that both Genesis and John referred to the creative power of the father, his plan for Man, and
Logos is an ancient Greek term that philosophically explains everything in the universe (Merriam-Webster, 2018). John uses this term to explain how Jesus originated in heaven and then arrived to earth (Harris, 2014). At the very beginning of John’s Gospels, he applies the concept of Logos, in that Jesus and God together, while in heaven created the universe (Harris, 2014). This story is vastly different from the Synoptic Gospels, and John utilizes the Logos concept even when Jesus is in human form on earth. This is because Jesus is a divine being, and his words are considered divine (Harris, 2014). This is how John connects Jesus to Genesis 1 and the cosmic Reason. John connects Jesus to Genesis 1 immediately in his writings referring
God means (in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority. The bible writer; John, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1) “; In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of the men “(John 1:1-3). God, who created the universe in all of its magnitude and creative details, is able to be known by us. He tells us about himself, but even goes beyond that. He welcomes us into a relationship, so that we personally get to know “Him”. Not only can we know about” Him”, we can know “Him” intimately; “Let not the wise man boast of wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boost of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for these things I delight, declares the Lord (Jeremiah 9:23-24)”. These scriptures show why I believe God exist. So, every supporting argument made in this presentation is based on the word of God, which is written in the Holy Bible. The gospel writer John;” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John
The Gospel of John is significantly different from the Gospel’s of Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the setting, omissions, sequence of events, and focus on its teachings (Wilcox, 2014). The focus of the setting of Jesus’ ministry was the area around Galilee in the Synoptic Gospels, but John emphasizes Jesus’ travel to and from Jerusalem. Moreover, the writer of John omits the birth account of Jesus, does not refer to Jesus casting out demons, and does not refer to problems between Jesus and His family (Harris, 2014). Additionally, John never depicts Jesus reinterpreting the Jewish law, nor the prophecies of Jerusalem’s eventual downfall.
“Although 1 John had its origins during a period of false teaching, the author’s main purpose is not to confront heresy, but to reassure those who remain that they do indeed know the truth about Jesus, and consequently do have eternal life.” 1 John was written to reassure believers to keep the faith and continue to hold the values that they have, through a time when a schism was taking place within the church. The believers were living in a confusing time and according to Thompson “The turmoil within their congregation undoubtedly caused many to question their own faith and practice, and to wonder whether they were also guilty of or prone to the failings of the departed dissidents.”