Subscription Lists

This week we begin a new series, which is always an exciting time; I have been thinking about what I would like to study and share with you and am excited to announce that we will be starting a study of the gospel of John! This will not be a verse-by-verse commentary, but rather will be a study through John with a strong theme. I had the idea a couple of weeks ago to read through a gospel, highlighting to myself aspects of Jesus' character based on the contents, but have decided to do this through the medium of liveasif.org, and share the experience with you; I hope that it is an enlightening time where we, together, get to learn more about Jesus and grow in our relationship with him.

John 1:1-3 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Through him all things were made, and without him was not any thing made that was made.'

Now, some may be questioning, 'he just said we are about to look at the life of Jesus - what's all this about 'the Word'? Is Sam going all new-age on us?' The answer is no, of course I'm not going new-age (weirdos, why would you think that?) - John's description here is only understood if we first see who the Word is. Let's look at John 1:14. 'And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.' We then see in verse 17 that 'grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.' So 'the Word' is Jesus Christ - that's important to understand, because if not then the rest of this chapter will not make much sense! We could do a full study here of why Jesus is the Word, and in fact we might in the coming weeks but let's return to these first verses:

'In the beginning...'

These words in the original Greek are the exact same words as the first words of the Bible in Genesis 1:1. John chose these words because they put Jesus before time and matter. Before John wants us to learn anything more about Jesus, we must understand this principle: Jesus is outside of time! He was, before anything else was! This concept of Jesus being before time goes nicely with a number of verses such as Jude 1:25, which says 'to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever' (emphasis mine). The Genesis verse reads 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth'; the focus is on God being outside of matter and time, and Him as Creator - I think John wanted to hint at the same thing.

'...with God'

The next phrase puts Jesus with God - he's in a relationship with the Father. This is a wonderful verse for the doctrine of the Trinity, and is too complex to attempt to describe in one short paragraph, but is there nonetheless, and I think it is important to recognise that the Father and the Son are different Persons within the Trinity - a friend of mine consistently prays to 'Father Jesus'; he is a good Christian and I do not judge him for it, but he is wrong! Jesus is not the Father, he is with Him.

'...was God'

Now this phrase is so simple, yet so weighty. Often, the most weighty doctrines are described in the simplest language: 'the Word was God'. Now we know that Jesus Christ is the Word - here is one of those undeniable claims in the Bible that declare that Jesus is God! This is something that is too important to be overlooked, and must be in the centre of our thinking as Christians; recently I have been challenged twice to acknowledge that the god the Jews and Muslims worship is the same as my God - but those gods are not called Jesus Christ, so are not my God! Do not allow yourself to be deceived; Jesus is God, the only God. While a different Person to the Father in the Trinity, Jesus' deity must not be questioned, as it is so clearly stated here, and elsewhere.

'...made...'

Now here's the point after that introduction. John's first couple of sentences are leading into 'all things were made'. Jesus, the Word, is the method by which God (the Father) created; 'then God said' - but it is more than that! 'Without him was not any thing made that was made' - this sentence is John clarifying beyond any doubt that Jesus Christ is the Uncreated One, God, and Creator! Here's the deal: we could look for literally hours at the references throughout Jesus' life and the Bible that talk about creation, the Word of God and Jesus' role but we're not going to - I want to leave us recognising that Jesus is God, and Jesus is Creator. If we realised that a bit more, perhaps we would not look at Jesus as being this meek and mild baby in the manger, and more as the all-powerful Creator God that He really is.

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

The Fulfilling Marriage