Compilation of Comments by
D.Sloane
Introduction
As I studied the first few verses of John's gospel, I became aware of the complexity of meaning hidden beneath the surface of it's word's.
I felt like a miner digging deeper and finding rich gold veins.
I was transported through time to it's incipient stage as I read verse one from a new revelation and perspective.
I saw a fantastically incredible love relationship buried in verse one between Jesus and God the Father.
So it made good sense to see if the golden richness of John's gospel could be brought to the surface.
This is the results of digging through a lot of information and processing it with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Questions such as, "What is John trying to say", "What is John wanting us to know", and, "What do we already know about the information that could enlighten our understanding of a particular passage of scripture", were asked and addressed.
This is not to say that this work is exhaustive in uncovering all that there is to be mined in the Gospel of John.
But it should ignite a desire in any reader to want to go deeper into the wonderful depths of the Word of God.
A few words before we begin.
John is a fisherman who was called into the ministry by Jesus. A plain ordinary man with a strong temperament.
John the "Beloved" writes his gospel after the other apostles had written theirs.
He had the benefit of hind site and could therefore fill in the gap in areas where the others may have been sketchy.
John lived the longest of all the twelve apostles, almost to one hundred years some say.
As a result his writing tends to be more spiritually oriented then the other gospels.
I say this because God had more time to mold and shape John into the man He wanted him to be.
Remember Jesus called John a "Son of Thunder" in Mark 3:17.
John would require some christian growth which takes a lot of time and patience.
His writing gives us a more mystical viewpoint of Jesus Christ.
The opening prologue of this gospel is one of the deepest passages in all of the Scriptures.
It seems to be mysterious and flat planed, until we go beneath the surface where those who know Jesus well will find large nuggets of revelatory enlightenment.
John loved Jesus dearly and knew Him in a very close relationship.
He is the only person in the Bible who leaned upon Jesus breast, reminiscent of a father son relationship which suggest to us a tight bond between John and Jesus.
John 13:23 says, "Now there was leaning on Jesus bosom one of His diciples, whom Jesus loved.
John 19:26; 20:2; 21:20, refer to john as the one whom Jesus loved.
John is an apostle of love.
So we should pay close attention to John when he speaks of Jesus, for he knows whereof he speaks.
He was in on the inner circle of disciples and spent much time with Jesus.
If John opened up a church in this day and age, people would flock from miles around to hear first hand all about Jesus Christ.
Keep this in mind as we study what John wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and his own personal experience.
May you be blessed and better informed as you bathe in the water of God's Word.
...Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it.
That He might santify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word.
Eph. 5:25-26
I John 1:1-3
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us,)
3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.
(KJV)
John was present when Jesus performed miracles and taught.
John was also present at the last supper, he was present at Gethsemane.
He was the only apostle present at the cross.
He saw the empty tomb, was in the upper room.
John was on the beach when Jesus appeared and at Jesus ascension.
I am sure that what John writes, Jesus discussed with him in depth.
For us it is like inside information from someone close to the source when we read John's gospel.
If John were alive today and was indeed a pastor of a church, you can be sure many would seek him out to learn of Jesus.
The primary point that predominates this gospel is that God loves us deeply and has done everything to convey this love to us.
John explains the main reason why he wrote his gospel:
John 20:31
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.
(KJV)
That we might have life through His name.
Will we respond to our redeemer? Will we receive His love? God's Word says:
Jer. 31:3
3 The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
(KJV)
As we study together lets watch for the drawing power of God's love towards us.
The love of God is very therapeutic.
The Fathers love can heal us.
If you need a touch from God, I am firmly convinced that as we study together God will meet you right where you are at in your own skin.
Just let God minister to you in the abundance of His love towards you.
Daddy says,
"Come into my arms, crawl up into my lap and let me make it all better.
I have always loved you with an everlasting love and will continue to draw you to myself.
I would heal you for I am the Lord your God that healeth thee."
As we study, go ahead and lay your head upon the breast of Jesus.
Develop a closeness with Him.
Apostle Peter advises us:
1 Peter 5:7
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
(KJV)
I believe Jesus would say to you at this point in time:
Matt 11:28-30
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
(KJV)
So let's respond to Jesus and learn of Him, while He gives us rest from our hectic world.
Take a moment just now and enter into the presence of God and relax.
And when you have timed your self with His timing and feel yourself slowing down, we can begin our study of God's Word together.
Heb.4:1
1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
(KJV)
Heb. 4:3
3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said...
(KJV)
Heb. 4:9-11
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (Grk. Apistia = a lack of trust in God.)(KJV)
So rest and trust God to take care of everything that concerns you as you study His Word.
The Good News According to
John
John 1:1
(En arche en ho logos) In the beginning was the Word...
These words pervade the matrix of life like glorious golden threads radiating as light outward throughout all eternity.
John starts out in the location of Alpha beginning.
This is a beginning before the creation of all.
This is the central point of everything, the place where all that lives comes from.
There is no way that anyone could completely describe what is at Alpha beginning.
We know that glory is there by reading:
PS 104:2
2 Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain...
(KJV)
John 17:5
5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
(KJV)
Mark 9:2-3
2 And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them.
3 And His reiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
(KJV)
Notice that Mark is using natural examples to describe supernatural white light. It does not do justice to what Mark witnessed. He has not the ability to convey to us what he saw other than by things that are known. As a baby christian I saw a man's shirt glow white with light as he walked forward in responce to an alter call given by Lonnie Frisbee of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa. I have never seen light such as that and can not begin to describe what I actually saw. The God of light is the Father of lights:
James 1:17
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
(KJV)
Rev. 21:23
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
(KJV)
I had a visitation from Jesus in the seventies once. I was worshiping Him while listening to christian music on my head phones at work. Suddenly I felt the Holy Spirit come upon me. Then Jesus appeared standing beside me. I did not see Him with my eyes, I saw Him in my spirit. He was radiating rays of light in all directions from His heart. I put down my paint brush and got into a corner where no one could see me, because tears were streaming down my face. I lifted my hands up and stood there as Jesus bathed me in His light for about ten minutes, then He left. I walked outside the home I was painting and stood there in the front yard in awe. My friend Mike drove up and we had a conversation which eventually started the "Desert Ministry". (A ministry of taking men of God deep into the desert places to seek the Lord without distractions.)
In this day of high technology movies with computer enhancement we have not even come close to depicting what is in the heavenly realms. Special effects are nothing compared to reality. Avatar can't even begin to come close in it's 3D effects.
1 Cor. 2:9-10
9 But it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
10 But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
(KJV)
Even if the Spirit of God reveals the heavenly realm to us, how can we use earthly language to describe heavenly things? The best we could do is equate what we see with something on earth. And we would still not be able to get across what we truly experienced. For example check out the way Ezekiel writes about heavenly things in his book, or the way John writes in the book of Revelations. There is so much at Alpha beginning that we currently can not comprehend in our present earthly bodies. God does not even try to let us know what Alpha beginning looks like. When we look to the beginning of everything in our minds eye, notice that God would have us to see Jesus. That is sufficient information from God's point of view. Our faith should rest in Jesus and not in spiritual experiences. Jesus says of Himself in the book of Revelations:
Rev. 1:8
8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning, and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was (the Word), and which is to come, the Almighty (Supreme Divinity).
(KJV)
Note:Throughout this study, any underlining or bracketed words are added to scripture quotes by me for the sake of emphasis.)
Jesus is in front of all things and behind all things all at once. Our limited minds have not the ability to grasp this fact of the infinite One. But by faith we do know and accept the fact that Jesus is everywhere at once. He is at the start of our lives and in the middle of our lives and at the end of our lives all at once.
Eph. 1:22-23
22 And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him (Jesus) to be the head over all things to the church.
23 Which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
(KJV)
Jesus is the Creator and the sustainer of all.
Paul the apostle says that we live our lives in Him and have existence in Him.
Acts 17:28
28 For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also His offspring.
(KJV)
In the Greek, "In the beginning", could be translated, "Before times eternal", or, "First at the first".
In eternity the Word existed...
I prefer to say: At the border of the first place of time and position there existed the Divine Expression.In agreement the opening scripture of the Bible says:
Gen. 1:1
1 ( In the beginning God) created the heaven and the earth.
Notice that in the beginning God already existed because He has no beginning. He is already there and has always been there.
In the beginning was the Word.
"Was" is a durative imperfect, meaning continued action. He was before any beginning that we could imagine. God would always have us to see Jesus whenever our minds wander to the beginning of things. He is central to all. He is the true point of diminish and return. He is the pivotal point from where everything comes and to where everything is going.
2 Cor. 5:10
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
(KJV)
In the beginning was THE WORD.
ho logos-the Word.
We have a dual meaning here. John's usuage of the Word can mean a person's thoughts or a person's speech.
A. Logos endiathetos- word conceived. Words are conceived and thought in the mind.
B. Logos prophorikos- word uttered. Words are spoken or expressed.
Intelligence and utterance- ho eso and ho ratio. We know someones mind by their speech as they express themselves. We have a word "dialogue" which comes from the Greek word dia-logos which means "flow of meaning or flow of expression". We know that Christ is the Word, for by Him God makes His mind known by acting and speaking through Him. Thus Jesus is God's expression. God the Father dialogues with us through Jesus. Jesus as the Logos reveals God's mind to us. In a dialogue all parties involved have conversation between themselves. They exchange ideas and opinions with a view to reaching agreement.
Heb. 1:2
2 (God) Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds;
He has directed us to hear Him:
Matt 17:5
5 While He yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him,
(KJV)
Heb. 1:1-3
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the Word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.Christ is the Divine expression of God. God expresses Himself through Christ the Word.
John 1:1
1 ...and the Word was with God,...
(KJV)
Now this is where it gets interesting. There has been controversy and some tampering with the text by many translaters at this portion of John 1:1. This portion of scripture does not say pros ton theon, "with God". It plainly says "going" towards God. Pros with the accusative case (theon) after the verb "to be" always means "to go towards." It would seem that the translaters did not know how to deal with this from a doctrinal stand point. If you leave the orginal rendering than you have some issues of doctrinal correctness that arise. For example, how can there be motion, division, advancement within God as the creator of the universe? Instead of saying," and the Word was going towards God", like the orginal text, they chose to say, "and the Word was with God", which is not untrue in a technical sense. In keeping with this distortion of what the true text says, I will have to allow it for the sake of good doctrine, and resultant poor literary translating. Although I personally do not have a problem with, "the Word going towards God". Therefore let our rendering say:
..and the Divine Expression was consistently with the Supreme Divinity...
I read one translation of this verse that said the Word and God were face to face. I like it.
John is basically saying the Father and the Son are having a close relationship in the beginning.
John 1:1
...and the Word was God. (Kai theos een o logos)
or
...and the Divine Expression was the Supreme Divinity.John 5:18
18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because He not only had broken the sabbath, but said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God,
(KJV)
John does not say that the Word was a God. If he had then that would mean Jesus was a created being who worked his way into divinity. And that would mean everybody could become divine. He states that the Word was God.
Our complete text of verse one in plain everyday English says:
"At the border of the first place of time and position there existed the unchanging Divine Expression,
and the Divine Expression was consistently with the Supreme Divinity, and the Divine Expression was the Supreme Divinity."
At the beginning of time before anything was made we find Christ the Word. The Word was from the beginning and the Word was in the beginning. The Word is eternal. The Word in regard to essence and substance was God. God was what the Word was. John wants us to see this greatest of all mysteries that cannot be adequately described. It is truly a Divine mystery beyond the grasp of intellect, we know and accept the information in our spirits by faith. But we can know the beauty of unity that we see in John 1:1 that exist between the Word and God.
John 1:2
The same was in the beginning with God.
(KJV)
Christ the Son enjoyed eternity with God the Father and was Himself from eternity with God. The Word coexisted with the Father from the beginning, coeternal. Some cults teach that the Father created the Son, making Jesus not eternal. John refutes this notion by this verse. Gos paid for our salvation so that we might enter into eternity and be with Him in this same loving relationship. In refrence to this relationship Jesus prayed:
John 17:22-24
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
24 Father, I will that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou hast lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
(KJV)
The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world.
1 John 4:16
16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dweleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
(KJV)
It is an incredible love relationship that God desires to have with us for all eternity. For God is love. Scripture says:
2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
This we can and do understand with our minds. In loving responce we invite Christ the Son of God into our lives and enter into this fantastic love relationship that has always existed and will always exist. This is a foundational fact of why we exist.
It is to have fellowship and relationship with God the creator. And the only way to do that is through the living Word of God, Jesus Christ. He loves us desperately. He went through great agony to make the way for us to enter onto a loving relationship with Him. Jesus Christ died for you. He suffered all things He did for the joy that was set before Him. What was that joy? The joy was that He knew one day we would be able to come to God through Him, and come in the righteousness of Jesus Christ - not the righteousness of man, not the righteousness of the law, but righteousness of the Son of the living God risen from the dead. I can come and appear before the throne of grace, the throne of unmerited favor, and stand there because Jesus Christ has made me whole.
John 1:3
All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.
(KJV)
