John 1:1-34 John the Apostle starts telling us about Jesus

I've got to say that it really feels odd "chewing on" part of a chapter for several days before I journal, but I'm finding that my understanding of what I'm reading is really improving by doing so.

There are two Johns here -- John the apostle is telling about John the Baptist.  John the apostle calls Jesus "God's Word" and my commentary explained, "Much as our words reveal to others our hearts and minds, so Jesus Christ is God's Word to reveal His heart and mind to us."  That sure makes it more understandable.

Here are some things John told us:

He is "the eternal Word" -- "He existed in the beginning, not because He had a beginning as a creature, but because He is eternal.  He is God and He is with God."  That helps us see that He has always known God's heart and mind and never missed anything.

 

He is "the creative Word" -- "God created all things through Jesus Christ, which means that Jesus is not a created being.  He is eternal God."  It also mentioned that the verb "was made" is Greek perfect tense, meaning it's a completed act.  Creation is finished and is not still going on, my commentary said.

He is "the incarnate Word" -- Incarnate meant "coming in flesh and blood.  It's a reality that Jesus had a physical, human body for almost all of the time He walked on earth.  Why would that be important?  "The Son of God came in the flesh and was therefore subject to the sinless infirmities of human nature."  This ties in with something I read last week that said the human body itself is neither holy nor sinful.  It is neutral.  The soul is what is classified as sinful or holy.  Jesus walked as we do in a neutral human body, which is subject to sinless infirmities.  I take that to mean that the physical urges or responses our physical bodies exhibit are neutral.  It is how we respond to those infirmities that causes us to be sinful or holy.  That helps explain how Jesus could be "tempted in every way that we are" and yet He never sinned.

John also said Jesus was "the Light".  My commentary said, "People love either the light or the darkness, and this love controls their actions...  the new creation begins with the entrance of light into the heart of the believer," just as the old creation began when God said, "Let there be light!"

The Jews were so "shackled by religious tradition that they could not understand spiritual truth ... they could not understand Him and would not receive Him."

Jesus wasn't the son of a man.  He was the Son of God.  That meant He is different from us.  He is eternal like His Father.  He has fullness of grace and truth like His Father.  And He reveals God to us.

He is also the Lamb of God.  Jews had been watching for centuries as two lambs were sacrificed every day in the Temple, and they'd brought a lamb for their family every Passover to be sacrificed, and they'd seen untold numbers of lambs brought as personal sacrifices.  They knew the lambs were presented to be killed.  "Those lambs could not take away sin," my commentary said.  More than anything, the people should have learned the futility of trying not to sin and the great cost of sin, and its destructive force.  Now, God had given the lamb that would remove sin forever, for the whole world and not just for the Jews, if they would accept Him.

There are more descriptions of Jesus that John the apostle will be giving in upcoming verses.

Father, thank you for refreshing my view and my understanding of all of this.  Sometimes the words get jumbled, lost, and forgotten.  And that causes them to get in the way of the message.  I need my understanding scrubbed clean and replenished every now and then.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford