1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5 (ESV)
John 1:1 reads: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
It is my opinion that this verse is one the most important verses in regards to the study of apologetics. It answers some important questions about Jesus.
1. Is Jesus God? Yes
2. Was Jesus created? No
3. Was Jesus an Angel or other being? No
4. Has there ever been a time that Jesus did not exist? No
Why are these questions important? Let me take them one at a time.
1. Is Jesus God? This question is important because if He is not God then His sacrifice is meaningless. There had to be a perfect sacrifice if Jesus is not God then he is not an adequate sacrifice.
2. Was Jesus created? This question is important because if the answer to this question is yes then it provides legitimacy to every humanistic cult exp. Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness. It also makes human effort necessary as is required in humanistic cults.
3. Was Jesus an Angel or other being? This question is important because some cults view Jesus as a man who became god, or an angel who was adopted by God. The book of Hebrews has Jesus above all angels not as one of them.
4. Has there ever been a time that Jesus did not exist? This question is important because once again it is an apologetic to cults. If there was a time that Jesus did not exist, the door would be open to cults. If Jesus became God then he was not always perfect. If Jesus at some point did not exist at some point He would not and could not be the agent of creation but a product of it.
These five verses say a lot. They say that Jesus was and is God. There has never been a time when He has not been. Nor has there been a time that He has not been God. They show Christ as the agent of creation not as created as the Mormons believe. The show Christ as being with God and being God witch is different then the Jehovah’s Witness who would say that Jesus was “a god” and not God.
Jehovah’s Witness teach that the Arch Angel Michel became Jesus.
Mormons teach that Christ was at berth human and became God
Jesus was the agent of creation. Imagine God’s delight as his perfect world was created. Without the Christ nothing was made, we are dependant on Him not Him on us.
There is a redemptive quality to these verses witch cannot and must not be missed.
V.4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
“In Him was life” this is speaking of Christ’s redemptive purpose. He was restoring His greatest creation Man to his Father. He was taking us out of darkness and into light.
If Apologetics is the defense of the faith then Jesus provides the ultimate apologetic. I do not say this to diminish Christ but to state the point that, He is the only one who was and is capable of defending and restoring His Father’s glory. He came to restore His creation to His father.
4 comments:
Dear Scott,
you state that "The purpose of the book of John is to show Christ as divine. While the other gospels do cover this attribute, John makes it his focus."
Personally, I believe we should leave it up to John to say why he wrote his book; therefore John says
"(John 20:31) But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name."
Thus, John states that the purpose of his book is to show that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Son of the Living GOD! That is the purpose of John 's Gospel!! As supplemented by other gospels e.g. Matt 16.16, Luke 9.20, etc
Then you speak of John 1.1-5 in regards to Jesus and you say that "These five verses say a lot. They say that Jesus was and is God. ..."
I am sorry for stating the obvious but Jesus is not even mentioned in John 1.1-5
As Colin Brown of Fuller Theological Seminary, so succintly stated:
"It is a common but patent misreading of the opening of John’s Gospel to read it
as if it said:
'In the beginning was the Son, and the Son was with God and the Son was God.'"
The Son is simply not mentioned; John 1.1-5 written by a monotheistic Jew (i.e. John believed that solely the Father is the only true GOD; John 17.3, 5.44; 1 Cor 8.6, etc)
and John 1.1-5 simply parallels verses such as ...
(Psa 33:6) By the word of YAHWEH were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
(Psa 33:9) For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.
John is describing how all things came into being.
All things came into being by the word of GOD ... just as clearly stated in the Hebrew Bible (The OT)
No doubt however, that in the fulness of time, GOD's word became flesh which resulted in the conception of Jesus the Messiah, GOD the Father's only begotten Son(John 1.14)
Nevertheless, John 1.1-5 is not speaking about Jesus and/or the Son!
John 1.1-5 is speaking of GOD's word/logos through which all things came into being.
Incidentally, did you know that the majority of English translations before the KJV translated the first few verses of John as follows:
"In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by it; and without it was not any thing made that was made. 4 In it was life, And life was the light of men, 5 And the light shineth in the darkness, and darkness comprehended it not."
Which clearly shows John's mindset as well as the Greek text;
John 1.1-5 isn't talking about Jesus at all; rather it is speaking about GOD's word!
For more info see ...
Concerning 'another deity' and the 'word' - PART 2
In view of your other questions I would simply say ...
Jesus of Nazareth was begotten in the womb of his mother, Mary, by the power of the Living GOD. Gabriel stated for that very reason (dio kai) he shall be called the Son of GOD. [Luke 1.35]
No one pre-exists their own conception. So obviously there was a time that Jesus did not exist i.e. before he was conceived/begotten!!
Matthew speaks of the genesis of Jesus Christ [Matt 1.18]
And we know what genesis means!!
Jesus was and is an authentic human being, now glorified and immortalized.
A human being not an angelic being! So in this regard I do agree with you.
(1 Tim 2:5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
And since Jesus called his Father the only true GOD i.e.
(John 17:3) And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Let me add these other words of Jesus:
(John 20:17) Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
(Rev 3:12) Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
The implications of Jesus' own words should be obvious and clear!
And concerning the sacrifice let me close with the words of Paul ...
(Rom 5:11) And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
(Rom 5:15) But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
(Rom 5:19) For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
(1 Cor 15:21-22) For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Paul contrasts Adam and Jesus of Nazareth.
He is clearly contrasting two men, two human beings.
Paul has no difficulty in the scriptural record that the obedience & sacrifice of GOD's sinless human son, the man Messiah Jesus, was sufficient and adequate for our sins.
Truly, GOD had provided a Lamb for the sins of the whole world.
That Lamb is GOD's human son, Jesus, a man approved of GOD, who died for our sins.
GOD's Lamb is sufficient. GOD accepted the sacrifice of His Son.
If the death/sacrifice of His Son was good enough for GOD, it should be good enough us.
Besides it should go without saying that ...
"the eternal, immortal, ONE GOD, the Father CANNOT DIE, much less be a sacrifice"!!
[1 Tim 6.16]
It's good. However, it is my understanding that Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus was a good prophet and not a god. If I am mistaken, my apologies.
For adam pastor, I'd like to type out the literal translation of the Greek John 1:1-5:
"In [the] beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and God was the word. This one was in [the] beginning with God. All things through him came to be and without him came to be not one thing that which came into being. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light in the darkness shines and the darkness did not grasp it." (Emphasis added.)
Note that the Word is referred to with the noun one and pronoun him. You need not bother referencing erroneous Bible translations. That's why the King James Version was written, you know. To drive my point home, allow me to break down the Greek for you.
The first word in verse 2 is the transliterated demonstrative pronoun houtos, meaning "this." When used substantivally as the subject, it means "this one," one being implied. Continuing to verse 3, "all things through him came to be," John uses the transliterated masculine pronoun autou (lexicon form: autos; used here in the genitive case), meaning in its context "through him." As you might suspect, he uses autos in the rest of the rest of the passage when referring to the Word (Gr., logos)
adam pastor does not make sense from the beginning of his argument. Rather than argue Scott's point, he affirms it by quoting supporting Scripture (John 20:31, Matt. 16:16, and Luke 9:20). Does he not realize that to be "the Christ, the Son of God" (John 20:31), and offer life through His name, Jesus has to be divine? How could the Son of God be anything but divine?
In regards to quoting Colin Brown, let us remember that Colin Brown's name is not credited to any Scripture in the Bible and therefore should not be used in the argument. His comment he "[succinctly] stated" proves nothing. I think this argument about Scripture would be better supported by Scripture anyway.
At the risk of sounding like a jerk, I say that the word it bolded twice in Psalm 33:9 helps the argument not at all as well.
The two previous points, in fact, weaken the argument.
The use of John 1:14 supports Scott's argument and should not have been used as supporting evidence.
Regarding the reference to Matthew 1:18, I would like to know what version adam pastor used because in the ESV, NIV, and KJV, genesis is not used, nor is an equivalent to genesis used. On the contrary, these translations use birth.
John 17:3 is not supporting evidence either for adam pastor's argument. Allow me to bold a different section of the verse:
"And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (ESV)
To better understand Scott's post and some of the verses adam pastor references, an adequate understanding of the Trinity will help. By learning about the Trinity, one will see that verses like Psalm 33:6, John 17:3, and 1 Tim. 2:5 support Scott's argument, not adam pastor's.
If I find the time tomorrow, I will touch on the reference to Paul.
About adam pastor's account of Apostle Paul:
The points in themselves are true (except for the last paragraph) because Jesus is 100% man, but He is also 100% God. These points, however, have little, if any, relevance to adam pastor's argument. Though they are true, they do not support adam pastor's argument that the Word is not Jesus and that Jesus is not God. In fact, they affirm Scott's argument in light of the Son's (Jesus') relationship with the Father and testify to the awesomeness of Jesus Christ. Many verses can be used to support that Jesus is in fact God. One that comes to mind is Philippians 2:5-11. Also see John 5:18; 20:28; and Hebrews 12:2:
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (NIV)
Note that we, mankind, had to have a perfect Sacrifice to atone for our sin (and only God is perfect). Jesus is not only the Perfecter of our faith but also the Author of our faith.
Now about the last paragraph. Please take careful note of 1 Timothy 6:16, as adam pastor has incorrectly represented it. I will begin at 1 Timothy 6:11 so that verse 16 can be read in context and with better clarity.
"11 But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and godliness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time--God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen." (1 Timothy 6:11-16, NIV).
This passage does not suggest that Jesus is not God. God can be a sacrifice, and He is. Again, one must have an understanding of the Trinity. I am not suggesting that one can understand 100% of the Trinity--it is a mystery--but one can understand a measure of it.
If you believe in the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture, then John 18:6 should be of value to you.
"'I am he,' Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, 'I am he,' they drew back and fell to the ground." (NIV) When Jesus said, "I am he," He was using the same words God the Father spoke in Exodus 3:14. "God said to Moses, 'I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.''" (NIV)
Wow, that is powerful.
This is good food for thought--desrving of long, deep contemplation. I did not write either one of these comments to offend or make fun. I wanted to correct errors and help Scott, myself, adam pastor, and anyone who reads the post and its comments in their/my spiritual growth.
Post a Comment