John

The Gospel of John chapter 1: verses 1-5
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 were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it


Who was John (the author of this gospel)?
John, a very close friend of Jesus is known as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John was the brother of the apostle James; he was also the son of Zebedee, a fisherman of Galilee. John, his brother James and the apostles Peter and Andrew were all partners in a fishing business prior to their calls by Jesus to follow Him. In 70 AD, he moved to Ephesus (modern day Turkey) and became the pastor of the church in Ephesus and had a special relationship with other churches in the area. New Testament books accredited to John are the Gospel of John, along with 1st, 2nd and 3rd John and the book of Revelation (a prophecy given to John directly from Jesus).
This Gospel (the good news) was written by John around A.D. 90


Verse by verse expository commentary of 1 through 5:

• 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.

• Jesus is referred to as “the Word”. When somebody says "I give you my word", they are giving assurance that the claim they have made is absolutely true and can be counted on. In this verse, Jesus is referred to as "the Word" giving us complete assurance that the promise of salvation, found in Jesus, can be counted on.

• Jesus was there from the beginning (eternity past)

• The end of v1 is probably one of the strongest verses in the NT that declares the deity of Christ. ‘and the Word was God.

•  Also notice the relationship (the Word was with God). God is all about relationships. It begins with the relationship within the Trinity, is extended to His creation, and then ultimately within the creation itself (people to people). We as people, would have much stronger relationships if we looked to the source and designer of all relationships rather than looking to ourselves first.

• 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

•  Jesus was involved with creation, he didn’t exist just when he was born into the world as a human on Christmas day.

•  Not only was He involved, He was the Creator. (all things were made THROUGH Him).

• 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

•  Note that life in Jesus was not created; life in Him simply exists (it just was). This is significant because not only does life with respect to creation of man come from Jesus, but also eternal life depends on Him. In chapter 14 verse 6 Jesus says this:

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
 
He is not saying that rejecting Him as the savior and being good, or accepting some other “god” will give you access to the Father (heaven). No, He is saying that eternal life is found only through Him.


Now, we all have a choice regarding this issue. We can accept or reject. It is important to consider what He has to say regarding this since He is the creator. Shouldn’t we be willing to put aside what we think and look to the source?

 Jesus is called many things in this book: the bread of life, the light of the world, the good shepherd, the way the truth and the life, the true vine. In this particular verse, John refers to Him as life and the light of men.

Life and light: What does that actually mean, how are they connected and how does it work?

First, notice that John makes a correlation between light and life. What does that imply?
That darkness is connected to death. Also, we know that darkness is called sin. Therefore, as light brings life, sin brings death. So without light, we are left with darkness (sin) and death. Unless the price of sin is paid for, we will die our earthly death and then be eternally separated from God (a spiritual death, in constant torment).

Romans 6:23 For the wages (to pay for, the price of) of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord

• 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

•  Notice that the light shines in the darkness. We live in a world inherent with sin, spiritually speaking; we live in a dark world.

•  In a physical sense, we need light to see. In a spiritual sense, we need “light” to see our sin so that we can know our need for Christ. And ultimately, as we learned from the previous verse, we need the Light for life.

•  Does it make sense to you that the darkness doesn’t comprehend the light? Why?

•  The darkness doesn’t see the light because it has not been revealed to it. So it cannot know it and therefore it cannot comprehend what it does not know.

• Remember that we only have the darkness until we meet and accept Jesus. Then we live in a dark world but have our citizenship in Heaven.

• Philippians 3:20 But we are citizens of heaven and are eagerly waiting for our Savior to come from there. Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

• 1 cor. 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.


This is why it is important for us to know Jesus, so that we can see the light and have life. It is also why we must introduce others to Christ so they too will have the opportunity to see.

Recall the hymn Amazing Grace: I once was blind but now I see. This is a testimony of coming to faith.