John 1:1-14 - There's Nothing New About the New Testament
- Chad Werkhoven
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
The One who's always been makes you one who will always be.
Gospels: Week 1 - Jesus' Incarnation and Birth
We begin the New Testament by, of course, tracking through the Gospel Narratives - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We'll spend the rest of the summer in these gospels, and each day we'll be in a different book as we work through Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension chronologically.
John 1:1–14 (NASB95)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Belgic Confession
Article 10: The Deity of Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ,
according to his divine nature,
is the only Son of God—
eternally begotten,
not made nor created,
for then he would be a creature.
He is one in essence with the Father;
coeternal;
the exact image of the person of the Father
and the “reflection of his glory,”
being in all things like him.
He is the Son of God
not only from the time he assumed our nature
but from all eternity...
Summary
This opening passage of John's gospel is known as his prologue. John is the last of the four gospels to be written, and right off the bat it becomes clear that his account will have a different feel than the other three. Mark's gospel came out the first, followed by Mathew and Luke's account, and together these three are known as the synoptic gospels, in that the give a synopsis of Jesus' life. These three gospels include many of the same episodes, but each has a slightly different twist or perspective.
It's not that John's gospel doesn't give an overview of Jesus' ministry like the other three, but it slows the pace down, providing more details about fewer aspects of His life - especially the conversations He had. And we'll be learning all sorts theological insights into who the God-Man is and what He did even as we read the synoptic gospels, but it's here in John's gospel that we'll take the deepest dives into the branch of theology dealing with the second member of the Trinity, aptly referred to as Christology.
John makes for a smooth transition from the Old Testament to the New (the word testament is a synonym for covenant) by opening with the same exact words that Moses began with in Genesis: In the beginning. So in other words, there's really nothing new about the New Testament; it's just that the incarnation (literally: became flesh) makes clear what's always been, but wasn't always clearly seen or understood.
You see, up unto the point where the Light (that's Jesus) began to shine, the world groped about in the darkness we read about in Isaiah a few months ago because of the world's primary problem: It did not know Him, even though the world was made through Him.
Dig Deeper
John's prologue is so theologically rich that we could spend weeks or even months digging deeper into it and still never hit bottom. But today we'll need to content ourselves with just two verses that you really must have memorized as a Christian:
First, memorize the famous opening verse:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Jesus is the Logos (Word) of the universe; that is, He's the rational principle by which everything exists and the essence of reason. But the Logos isn't some mysterious force that's beyond our comprehension, rather His very nature is communicative, which is why our English Bibles translate Logos with Word. So Jesus is the clearest revelation of God, or as Paul puts it in Colossians 1, the Son is the image of the invisible God.
In what will become one of John's primary themes, this opening statement introduces the concept of God's triune nature. God is most certainly one (une), as one of the Old Testament's most foundational statements makes clear (Deut. 6:4), but He's also three (tri). Jesus, the Word, is both with God, and He always was God. God is one in essence and three in person.
Second, memorize verse 12:
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name...
We live in a world convinced that all people are children of God. While it's certainly true that all people are created in God's image and thus must be treated with dignity and respect, the fact is that as one who's received Jesus and believed in His name, you've been uniquely adopted as a true child of God - an heir of the Kingdom of God - which is the primary theme of the entire New Testament (Matthew 25:34, James 2:5, 1 Peter 1:3-4, Galatians 4:7, Titus 3:7).
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who along with the Son and Spirit is one God manifested in three persons;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will live in a way consistent with being a child of God;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
