John 1:1-5
“The Deity of Christ”
I. In the Beginning (1)
• John wants to make sure that before we begin to talk about what Jesus taught or the sacrifice He came to make; we must first understand who Jesus really is High Christology
• “In the Beginning” what do you think about when you hear that phrase? Genesis 1:1
• John begins his gospel by starting from the beginning of creation.
• At the beginning of creation there was Jesus, the incarnate word of God or logos.
i. Jews – associate this word with the creative word of God, the prophetic word of God spoken to His prophets.
ii. Greeks – in Stoicism it was the underlying principle that upheld and controlled everything; by understanding the logos a person could gain enlightenment by finding the meaning of life and true happiness.
• Jesus was with God at the creation, but He was also the God the Jews had always known, but Jesus was also what the Greeks sought.
• For us today “Word” means expression, God expressed Himself or made Himself know to us through His Son Jesus Christ.
II. The Unity of the Trinity (2-3)
• Jesus and God have always been and have always had a loving communion with each other.
• Jesus was not just around “at the beginning” John makes sure to make it a point that He was with God at creation, but also that nothing was created apart from Him.
• *Genesis 1:1-2
• Hebrews 1:2-3
• Unity of the Trinity – There is one God yet 3 separate personalities, that why Jesus could say that if you see me and observe what I am doing you have seen God.
John 14:1 (NASB)
Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
III. Eternal Life (4)
• “Life” is the Greek word zoe, which always refers to eternal life.
• In Christ was eternal life, obviously this is the central message to all of Christianity, however it often gets drowned out in our culture, even by some self professed Christians.
• “Light” can also be translated to make manifest.
• Jesus is the one and only who can manifest or make known eternal life to all men for all generations.
Acts 4:12 (NASB)
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
IV. Light of the World (5)
• Again this theme goes back to creation, God was the light that illuminated the world, (Genesis 1:3-4) this was done to separate light from darkness and also so that God miraculous work could be seen.
• How is Christ’s life parallel with that thought?
• Jesus came into a dark world to bring God’s light of revelation into the lives of those who were trapped in the darkness.
• “they could not comprehend it” can also be translated they could not extinguish it or overcome it.
• They very ones Jesus came to save did not understand and they tried to put out the light of the world, but could not overtake Him, because we know how the story ends, Jesus will have the final victory.
• This would have been very comforting words to John’s readers as it is to us still today.
