John 1
Bonnie’s Notes on Dr. Dave’s Comments – John 1
Why four Gospels? Each has a different perspective from the others, culminating with John. Of the twelve disciples, he lived the longest and therefore had more time to reflect upon and understand the depth and meaning of the Gospel. His is often considered the deepest or most mature of the four books which tell us the spiritual condition of man and the solution to the problem. Sorenson sums up: Jesus is the incarnate Son of God, He is the eternal Word and is God. His coming was through the incarnation (the union of the divine and human nature in the flesh), a revelation of God as man. The other resounding theme is how one might have eternal life through Christ by repentance and faith. Two words are very often used in the book of John: “believe” and “life.”
The first portion is the prologue and tells what the book is about: Jesus is God, Jesus is the Creator, Jesus is life and light to the world, through Jesus and Him only comes sonship and salvation, Jesus is the incarnation of the eternal Word.
The first phrase of verse 1 tells us of the pre-existence of Christ. When the beginning began, He already existed. There’s no concept for “before the beginning.” Hebrews 1:1-3 tells us that God communicates to us by the Word. I have often told people on the street that if God had a way for us to be reconciled to Him, He would tell us. He did. It’s called the Bible and is His message to us so that we might have eternal life with Him. The importance of reading and learning His Word cannot be emphasized enough. Jesus Christ who became one of us is the means of communication. Jesus and God are one. This refutes the Jehovah’s Witness doctrine of Christ (they say ‘and the word was a god’) and the pentecostal unification of God and Jesus as one and the Mormon doctrine of many Gods. The phrase “and the Word was with God and the Word was God,” shows the Father and Son are one and Jesus is not just divine but is Deity. Genesis 1 starts with “In the beginning God” and continues in verse 26 with “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” God is clearly a plurality.
v.3 — Jesus equals the Creator and in verse 4 is the source of all life. The Word is referred to as Him so it is clearly a person of masculine gender. John 1:3 complements Genesis 1. The personality within the Godhead that did the creation work was Jesus Christ the pre-existent Word of God. Simply put, Jesus is the Creator and the source of all life. For example, He made the first banana tree from which have come all banana trees. Colossians 1:16, 17 — “all things were created by Him, and for Him . . . and by Him, all things consist.”
v. 4 — The light of God put in all men is different from animals. They cannot connect with God spiritually like men can. Every man has a witness of God in himself (we usually call it a conscience meaning “with knowledge”).
v. 5 — The darkness is when evil is done. It’s the absence of light. You can’t make dark or a ”darklight” which would be the opposite of a flashlight. Darkness (personified as evil) did not comprehend (understand) the light. Men who love their sin and their own control of their lives, will choose not to think about God or understand His plan of reconciliation.
v. 6 — The remedy for darkness is Jesus Christ. John the Baptist comes on the scene and prepares the way for the Lord. His sole purpose is to direct others to the coming Light that “all men through Him might believe.”
v. 7 — A witness is someone who saw, heard, felt, or experienced something and then testified to it. John came to tell of Jesus Christ. His sole purpose was to introduce Jesus to the world. The Bible says he was sent from God for this reason. We follow his example almost 2000 years later. The only plan God has is word of mouth (personal evangelism!) or written word (Bibles / tracts!). The message of John was to get people to believe. Matt. 3:1 — “Repent ye” is the second side of the coin: believe and repent. Turning to the light is turning away from darkness (sin, evil) which is repentance. John has the message of helping people to believe.
v. 8 — People like to deify and hero-worship others. God does not want people to do this to John. John knew his purpose and that Christ must increase while he would decrease.
v. 9 — Everyone has a conscience and knowledge of God and their need of Him. See Romans 1 and Ps. 19. Paul said men are without excuse. Individuals are not lost because they are ignorant of God, but because they choose to reject God. Every man has been given a degree of truth and light from Jesus Christ but they have not accepted it.
v. 10-12 — The first use of the word “world” here is the physical and the worldwide system of mankind. (1 John talks of the world system). The second sense is the people of the world. The people did not accept Him and more especially “His own” meaning the Jewish people rejected His deity, His message, His promises, etc. Received means the whole package. The phrase “as many as received Him” is warped today when people say, “just receive Him (ask Him into your heart) and you will be saved.” There is no repentance in that and Jesus said without repentance (turning away from and forsaking sin and turning to Jesus) there is no remission of sin or rebirth. The real context here is to receive the whole package. Some individual Jews received Him (believed on Him) but as a whole nation they rejected Him, especially when He made Himself equal with God. They made up accusations against Him so they could excuse themselves from humbly acknowledging who He is. To teach others what salvation is, we must explain the whole package and define the entire meaning. The power to become the Sons of God comes from God alone – we cannot do it. When we repent and believe, God will regenerate. We are adopted children. We repent and believe which is like submitting the adoption application. Then it’s up to God to “sign the document and stamp it” to make it official. Regeneration is forever.
The word believe here is often misused. (Sorenson) It has the sense of “total dependence” on Him. It’s more than a mere acceptance of the historical and theological facts concerning Him. It is willfully turning to Him and totally relying on Him as one’s Saviour. It is complete trust and exclusivity. This is the first of 86 times John uses the word believe. By the time the gospel is finished, the simple truth that salvation is by believing in Jesus Christ (as previously defined) will have been hammered home many, many times.
There is only one begotten Son of God. All others are received by Him. When John writes this, he is looking back almost 90 years. By the time Peter (Acts 15) preaches, there is no difference between Jew and Greek so we can take this phrase in the larger sense. It seems logical that v. 12 means more than just Jews.
v. 13 — This is the spiritual birth. Blood may mean bloodline or inheritance rather than physical birth.
v. 14 — Looking back, the disciples had seen Christ in His resurrection and transfiguration. They had lived with Him and knew Him personally. The word “glory” has the sense of ‘brilliant light’ to the point of being blinding. The word “begotten” makes reference to the fact that Jesus was the only son God ever begot physically. He himself made Jesus in the virgin’s womb. Adam and angels and even us are sometimes referred to as sons of God but not in the same special sense like Jesus. Grace and truth are hard to have at the same time like Jesus could. (Sorenson) He is love and yet He is holy. He is merciful and yet the judge. He is longsuffering and yet unbending. His grace is kindness, mercy, compassion, and help. His truth is derived from His absolute holiness. These never change. He is the complete combination of both.
v. 15 — John was born first but says Jesus was before him –- that He existed in heaven before coming down to earth.
v. 16,17 — The law convicts of sin but cannot save.
v. 18 — God is a spirit (Jn. 4:24) and infinitely holy so no man has seen Him in His fullness and power. Jesus has declared God (Heb. 1). The Son speaks for the Father.
v.19 — The priests and Levites considered themeselves to be God’s representatives so they needed to come and check out John. Malachi 4:5,6 ends the Old Testament saying Elijah will come again (probably one of the Tribulation witnesses who gets martyred.) Matt. 17:9 . . . John was a type of Elijah but didn’t understand it himself. Jesus later says that John was the spirit of Elijah.
v. 21 — Deut. 18:15-19 The word prophet is capitalized. This is a prophecy of Jesus. The religious leaders in John were asking him if he was that prophet. He replies that he is not.
v. 23 — look at Isaiah 40:3. John directly quotes this to the Pharisees. John understands his own mission but probably not everything.
v. 25,26 — Baptism is now instituted as a new practice. He points out that there is no special power in baptism or the water. He knows there is someone in the crowd or at least nearby. In Luke 3:7-8, John would have been baptizing all of this time and teaching the significance of it. He also stated what is required for it and why he would refuse to baptize someone. Baptism is after the fact of salvation and has no saving power of its own. It is a sign that works showing repentance have been seen in the recipient.
v. 29 — The timing here would be just before Passover. It’s significant because Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. (Although the sacrifice He made is available to the whole world, only those who repent and believe will get the benefit of it.) The Jewish sacrificial system was not enough. It was only a picture of what was to come.
v. 31 — John didn’t know Jesus as Messiah until he saw the dove alight. Jesus was his cousin so he may have suspected but didn’t know for sure until the dove incident. Sorenson: Apart from the four Gospel accounts of the Lord’s baptism, the word dove does not appear again in the New Testament, much less in the context of the Holy Spirit. It would seem that the religious symbolism of the Holy Spirit as a dove in contemporary religious symbols is overworked.
v. 35 — The main message of the Bible is salvation and God’s revelation to man in the person of Jesus Christ. This book intends to make that message very clear. John had disciples which (12 at least?) became the Lord’s disciples. When Judas needed to be replaced they needed someone who had been there from the beginning or at the least, had seen the risen Christ — so they thought, not recognizing that God would choose Paul at God’s appointed time.
“Lamb of God” shows the incredible insight that Jesus will be the sacrifice. The disciples don’t get it until after the Crucifixion but John was Spirit-filled. (See also Psalms 14,22, and 53.)
v. 38 — The ( )’s explain the Jewish culture. John is writing to a mixed crowd. Jesus brings the disciples alongside – not trigger- pulling here (ie., no manipulative attempts at quick professions) – and bids them to come and see his dwelling, and then spends time with them explaining what He was about. There is no manipulation in the Lord’s technique. Neither should we browbeat or coerce people. The tenth hour is 10:00 a.m. in the Roman day (which starts at midnight) but God’s day starts at evening, as evidenced by multiple verses in Genesis saying “and the evening and the morning were the first day” etc.
v.40 — The first thing Andrew does is to go and find his brother. This is the sequence for all of us: behold the Lamb, follow Him, and go find another. Start down the road and keep to the straight and narrow path. One of the purposes of the book of John is to show us how to do these things.
John interprets the word “Christ” as meaning “the Anointed One” (promised at the fall). Cephas is Aramaic; Peter is the Greek name. Simon is his given name. Peter is impetuous and hard headed but not solid like a stone. He loses his testimony but Jesus knows what he will be in the future. Dave speculates that maybe our names later (the new one Christ gives us) will connect to our service now and who we are in the Lord.
v. 43 — Galilee: North of Jerusalem up near the Golan heights and Syrian border. “Follow me” implies a change of life. Bethsaida is a fishing village. Philip finds Nathanael (Bartholomew) which shows that believers want to reach out to others. “No guile” means open and honest – no fakery. Jesus as a spirit-filled man was made aware of Nathanael under the fig tree. Nathanael was impressed and will see greater things. He had already been witnessed to by Philip. Let me say here that the idea of Jesus living His life as the spirit-filled man is often disliked by Biblical fundamentalists. Many think of Jesus as only God-in-the-flesh. If he was “all God” just appearing on earth, he could not have been “tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He must experinece humanity as we live it. He could not have taken our sin on Himself and been the perfect substitute. In His humanity we have a Savior who can completely identify with us and we with Him. Clearly there were some of his Godly characteristics He did not employ while walking the earth. He lived as a spirit-filled man which we should be able to do also. For example, Jesus says only the Father knows the day when the end times will come. As a spirit-filled man this may have been a limitation of His knowledge while here on earth. Certainly Christ knows everything now as He is reunited with His Father in heaven.
Elijah and other prophets operated as spirit-filled men. They too did miracles including raising the dead because the Spirit helped them. We can relate to the Lord knowing that He experienced life as we do. We can also delight in the fact that He is God and can help us in this life as such.
Today the ground has been spoiled. Little spiritual plowing has been done so we must do it. Plowing is preparing the ground before the seed can be planted. Some studies have said that people that do get saved have experienced typically 7-10 confrontations with the Gospel. If that is the case, we have a lot or work to do! John the Baptist started his work after 400 years of barrenness. The reaction of the people is not tenderness toward spiritual things. Most perceived his message as hard and unacceptable. He was challenged by the spiritual leaders at the time. We experience the same thing today. Many of the Jewish converts at Pentecost were convinced only after the ministries of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus.
v. 44-49 — Sorenson. Philip, Andrew, Peter, and John the apostle all came from Bethsaida. It was a small fishing village along the Northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. It literally means “house of fish” in Hebrew. Evidently the village’s economy was based on commercial fishing. The name Nathanael means “gift of God.” He came from Cana of Galilee. The phrase “Moses . . .and the prophets” was used by the Jews of Jesus’ day to refer to what we call the Old Testament. Philip is saying that they had found the one that the entire Bible speaks of.
v. 51 — This is reminiscent of Jacob’s ladder (Gen. 28:12). Maybe this was a prophetic view of what may be a coming kingdom event. Dr. Dave says maybe there was some kind of worm hole effect between heaven and earth. These angels ascending and descending from heaven only appear here in Scripture. Could it be a glimpse of the future and Millennial traffic between heaven and earth? We can’t even imagine what God may have in store for us in the future! Ps. 75:6,7 — heaven is in the North. Is. 14:13 – There is a void of stars in the Northern sky compared to other parts of the heaven. What might be there? No one knows yet.
“Son of man” is used in Daniel 7. In verse 13 of that chapter is a vision which emphasizes Messiahship and rule over kingdoms. Ezekiel also was a type called “Son of man.” The phrase is sometimes used for Jesus as the Messiah, as the fulfillment of the type.
Sorenson says it is alluded to in John 1:14 where Jesus dwells among us a man. As the Son of man he would die with and for our sin as our Substitute. As a Son of man, He would rise from the grave in a glorified body. As a Son of man, He will someday sit upon the throne of David as King over all the earth.
What a glorious future we have to look forward to!
