John’s Unique Approach to the Gospel
John 1: 1-5 The gospel of John is special. It is one of four gospels, that is accounts of the earthly walk of our Lord Jesus. Of course, they are all documents that teach us about the person and nature of Christ, but, while Matthew, Mark and Luke are primarily historical, John, while following our Lord’s historical walk to some extent, is primarily about the SPIRITUAL walk of Jesus.
That’s why the other gospels start with the early walk of Jesus: Matthew begins with His earthly genealogy and Luke with Jesus’ aunt and uncle, then, in chapter 2, to the birth and then Mark focuses briefly on His cousin, John the Baptist, before moving to his baptism of Christ.
John, however, looks back to eternity.
Verse 1: The Eternal Word and Absolute Deity
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
If you are not familiar with what the New Testament teaches about Jesus, John is talking about Him being what theology calls “absolute deity.” That Jesus, though born in this world as a human baby, had no beginning, but is from eternity, the Son of the Father, the second Person of the Trinity.
He did not begin when He was born, but essentially stepped into time from His eternal existence. That’s where John begins, and that’s why his gospel is special.
Verse 2: Pre-existence Confirmed
“He was in the beginning with God.”
Verse 2 is brief, but wonderfully meaningful. This is why theologians say Jesus, not “was,” but IS pre-existent. But He did not only exist. John addresses what He did from eternity in the following verses.
Verse 3: The Creator of All Things
“All things were made by Him.”
ALL THINGS? This is a mighty clear statement. In Genesis, we have “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” So who created all things? Was it Jesus or was it God? Here’s the point. Jesus IS God. Christian theology calls the Godhead “the Trinity of God.” That is, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Perhaps this requires a little explanation. Christian theology teaches that “The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Spirit is God, One God in three Persons.” While there are a number of Bible passages that teach this truth, it’s found more succinctly in the Gospel of John. And John’s opening statement about Jesus is the platform from which this truth proceeds.
The second part of verse 3 is “and without Him nothing was made that was made.” That seems pretty absolute. If you see it: mountains, oceans, continents, whales, elephants, mosquitos and bacteria. Well, I guess we can’t see bacteria except through an electron microscope. If it is a part of the creation in which we live, Jesus made it.
So when we read in Genesis 1 that God said: “Let there be light,” it was Jesus who spoke it aloud. That’s why John calls Him the Word.
Verse 4: The Source of Life and Light
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
But Jesus is not only the Person of the Godhead who speaks all things into existence, but He is the very life from which all light comes. What is that about? Just this: Jesus is the only One who is capable of giving life, whether spiritual or physical.
HE breathed life into our first parents, Adam and Eve: Jesus is the Person of the Trinity who “formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Genesis 2: 7 And, according to the apostle Paul, “He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” Acts 17: 25.
Verse 5: Light Overwhelming Darkness
“And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
The first part of this verse is pretty easy: before the work of creation, “darkness was on the face of the deep.” But it was Jesus who shined light into that dark world, and then the hard part: “and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
When we hear the word “comprehend” we think of understanding, but here the meaning is more like “surround,” and in my NKJV Bible, the footnote has “overcome.” That is, the light overwhelmed the darkness, rather than the other way around.
You know that when we walk into a dark room, we usually “turn on” the light, rather than thinking that we must “turn off” the darkness. And in just this way–except it was millions of times brighter than our light bulbs–Jesus, Himself, shined, turning on the light in the darkness of the universe and that light overwhelmed and eliminated the ancient darkness.
Conclusion: The Creator God Introduced
This is how John begins his Gospel, how he begins the story of Jesus, introducing Him, not only as an itinerant teacher, but from the first line, as the Creator God, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, Who spoke all things into existence.