John 1:1-3
The origin of Jesus Christ
At Christmas time, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Many people celebrate Christmas – not just believers. Christmas is a very big holiday for us. At Christmas and in the weeks, even months, leading up to Christmas, we talk about the birth of Jesus – about how Mary became pregnant – about the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. About how they had to stay in a stable and not an inn, and so on.
We find these details in the Gospel according to Luke, in the first two chapters. We also find these details in the first two chapters of Matthew. However, the Gospel of John says absolutely nothing about the birth of Jesus. Absolutely nothing.
But, even though John says absolutely nothing about the birth of Jesus, it does talk very deeply about the origins of Jesus.
The origin of a normal person – is his or her birth, or more accurately, that person’s conception.
With Jesus – it was not like this. His origin was before His birth! – even before his conception!
While Luke and Mark begin with the birth of Jesus, John begins a long long long time before Jesus’ birth.
Please, turn with me to John 1:1-3.
JN 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
JN 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Our passage of Scripture begins with the words: “In the beginning was the Word.” Now – who was this “Word”? In the 14th verse we read “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” We know who made his dwelling among us – it was Jesus! Therefore, the “Word” – is “Jesus”.
Therefore, when in the first verse, we read, “In the beginning was the Word”, it means that Jesus was there in the beginning.
Now when was this beginning? In Jn 8:58 we read, “"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"
Abraham lived about 2000 years before the birth of Jesus. Imagine, if you will, how surprised the people were when Jesus said that He already was – that He already existed – 2000 years before His own birth!
The origin of Jesus wasn’t just a little time before Abraham, but a long time before Abraham.
The Bible says, in the beginning was Jesus. Now we know that this “beginning” was sometime before Abraham’s time. But how long before, exactly?
It is very interesting, because if we read the first verse of the Bible – Genesis 1:1, we will notice that the first three words of Genesis and the first three words of John are the same. Exactly the same! It is very interesting!
Now John, a Jew, must have know the Old Testament very well, especially Genesis. Therefore, through the inspiration of the HS, he almost certainly chose these few words from Genesis to begin his Gospel for a reason.
We know that chapters 1 & 2 of Genesis speak about how God created the Heavens and the Earth. Therefore, we can now see, that the word “beginning” that we find in the first verse of Genesis, and that we also find in the first verse of John, refers to the time when God made everything.
Also, in John 1:3, we see that through Jesus, all things were made. All things – absolutely everything – was created through Jesus.
Therefore, since all things was created through Jesus, Jesus must have existed before the creation of the world. How could all things have been created through Him, if He had not yet existed? Therefore, Jesus was there, He existed, before all things was created.
Now, what are “all things”? “All things” – it means absolutely everything – the world, the cosmos, the planets, the stars, people, animals, rocks, molecules, atoms – and so on. The 3rd verses says that without Him nothing was made that has been made. Brothers and sisters, understand this: nothing – means nothing! Not one atom existed before the world was created through Christ! Not one thing that has been created, existed before the creation of the world. Therefore, since Jesus Christ existed before the creation of the world – before anything was created, it means this: Jesus Christ was never created!!!
Many people say that there was a time when Christ was created, and that there was a time when Christ did not exist. But this opinion is absolutely wrong. This idea is against what the Bible teaches. We have already seen, that the Gospel of John says that Jesus existed before all things that have been created, were created. Therefore, Christ was never created. Since He was never created, it means this: Jesus Christ has always existed! Always!!
The 1st verse says: “In the beginning was the Word.” In the 3rd verse, where it talks about the creation of all things, it says, “Through Him all things were made, without Him nothing was made that has been made.” Notice the word “made” here. The Greek word for “made” is γινομαι. Γινομαι is a Greek word with a very wide meaning. In English, it can mean, “became”, “happened”, or “came into being”. Notice though, in the 1st verse, where it talks about “the Word”, that the Bible does not use the verb “became”, or “happened”, or “came into being” – but rather uses the simple verb, “was”. The meaning of this is this: The Word – that is, Jesus Christ, never “became”, never “happened” – never “came into being” – but it means that Jesus always “was”. At the beginning of this sermon, I spoke about the origin of Jesus Christ. But now, we can see that Jesus Christ does not have an origin!!! Christ has always existed, and He has no beginning!
So then – who is this Christ? Who is this Christ, who has always existed and who has no beginning? Undoubtedly, only God existed before all things were created. So – who is this “Word” – that is, Christ, who also existed before the creation of all things?
Let’s continue reading the first verse, where the Bible says, “and the Word was with God.” Firstly, notice that this is the first time in the Gospel of John where God is mentioned. Yes, I know that it is only the first verse – but notice that in the phrase, “In the beginning was the Word,” “the Word” is mentioned before God is mentioned. In Genesis 1:1, only God is mentioned before He starts creating the world. Therefore, when a person who knows the Old Testament well, reads the Gospel of John for the first time, he would expect to read the phrase, “In the beginning was God”, rather than the phrase we have in John – “In the beginning was the Word”. Why does John, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, want to emphasise the importance of this “Word”? This “Word” – Jesus Christ – is very important. In the very time when only God was – when only God existed – Christ also was – Christ also existed!
Imagine if you will – the time before God created all things. There was God, and God was. And also – there was Christ – and Christ was! Christ was there, in some form or another, with God! But how was He there with God, exactly? In the 1st verse of John it says, “and the Word was with God.” The Greek original uses the preposition, προς. The word προς, in English, means “to”. If that is the case, then why doesn’t the English Bible say, “and the Word was to God.”? I think that you know why. The expression, “And the Word was to God,” doesn’t really make sense in English. Therefore, the translators of our English Bibles needed to use the English preposition, “with”. Actually, in this context, the Greek preposition, προς, can mean, “with”. But it also has the meaning of “to”. In other words, the phrase, “and the Word was with God,” means this: The Word was with God – but the Greek preposition προς tells us how the Word was with God. It means that the Word stood with God. It means that the Word stood face to face with God. Also, it means that the Word was very close to God. The Word had a very good and close relationship with God. They were very close to each other – extremely close to each other. But even though they were extremely close to each other, somehow or another, they were also different to each other. In some way, the Word is not exactly the same as God – or more precisely, Christ is not exactly the same as the Father, who John has in mind here when uses the word, “God”.
Now, let’s look at the third part of the first verse. The Bible says, “and the Word was God”. The Bible very clearly says that the Word was God. We know that the word “Word” – is an expression for Jesus Christ. Therefore, really and truly, Jesus Christ was God. Also, we know that God does not change, therefore Jesus not only was God, but Jesus is God today and always will be God right through eternity.
Even if our passage of Scripture did not say, “and the Word was God,” we would still know that the Word was God. Why? Because, as we have already seen, the Word was not created and the Word has always existed. The Word has no beginning and He has no origin. There has never been a time when the Word has not existed. So – who has no beginning? Who has no origin? Who has always existed? Certainly – it can only be God. Only God has no beginning and no origin. Only God has always existed. Therefore, since the Word – that is Christ, has no beginning and no origin, it means that Jesus Christ was God, and of course, still is God. Therefore, even if the first verse did not say, “and the Word was God,” we would still know that Christ was God. But, the Gospel of John does say very clearly, and very simply, “and the Word was God.” Brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ is God and has always been God.
I have just said that the Gospel of John, clearly and simply says that “the Word was God.” Clearly and simply. It is only a few words. The grammar of this phrase is very simple – it is not hard to understand. In the original Greek, the Greek grammar is also very simple. Since this phrase is so easy to understand, why is there so much controversy about the divinity of Christ? Why is the subject of the divinity of Christ so controversial? For example, many non-believers say that Jesus was a good man, but they think that Jesus was not God, but just a person. Muslims say that Jesus was a prophet, but not God. Even some people who call themselves Christians say that Jesus was not totally God, but somewhere between God and a person. For example, the Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Jesus was a god – that is, that Jesus was some kind of lesser god, something less than God the Father. Now – I have a question for you: what do you think? Who is Jesus? Was Jesus only a person? Or is He God? And, if you think that Jesus is God – what kind of God is He? Is He God in the same way God the Father is God? Or is Jesus something different? I ask you this question, because many Christians do not have the correct idea about exactly who Jesus Christ is. Many Christians cannot understand how it is possible that Jesus can be God, in the same way the Father is God. Why not? The first verse clearly and simply says that Jesus was God, so why do people find it so hard to understand, and so hard to truly believe, that Jesus is God in the same way that the Father is God?
The reasons for this difficulty are the following: Firstly – how can Jesus be both God and a person? And secondly, how can both the Father and Jesus be God, when there is only one God? We are not the first to have grappled with these questions. The early church also grappled with these questions. The Great Ecumenical Church Councils were held in the 4th and 5th centuries AD, where our forefathers in the faith wrestled with and came up with answers to these problems. They decided, just as it says in the Gospel of John, that Jesus Christ is God and that He has divinity in the say way that God the Father has. Before these councils, many Christians said that Jesus was not truly God in the same fashion that the Father is God. But it is not only those people who lived before those Great Ecumenical Church Councils, who thought this about Jesus. From the time of the decisions of these councils, right up to our present day, the official belief of most churches has been that Jesus Christ is God, in the same way that the Father is God. This belief is held by the Catholic church, the Orthodox churches, and the Protestant churches – or more exactly, these churches believe this doctrine officially. Although someone may belong to one of these churches that believes that Jesus really is God, it does not mean that that person also believes that Jesus truly is God. Many members of these churches do not believe in everything which their church teaches. I know, it is easy to understand, that not every member of the Catholic and Orthodox churches believes in everything which their church teaches. But, what about the members of the evangelical churches? What about the members of this church? What about you? What do you think about Jesus? Just because the official teaching of the church says that Jesus truly is God, it does not mean that you do not need to think about this teaching. Every Christian needs to understand and accept this teaching for him or herself. Why? Because, how we think about the nature of Christ, and how we think about His divinity, determines how we think about many other things. For example, it determines how we think about the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. It determines how we think about salvation, it determines how we will relate to God, how we carry out our lives and so on. Therefore, we need to understand what the Bible says about the nature of Jesus Christ in the Gospel according to John. Therefore, let us return to our text.
Remember that in the first verse of John 1 it says “and the Word was with God,” and how earlier I said that this means that Christ was not exactly the same as the Father, and that in some way, the Father and Christ are different. But, I have only just said that Jesus is truly God, in the same manner that the Father is God. And we also know, that there is only one God. In both the Old and New Testaments, it clearly and repeatedly says that there is only one God. To believe in more than one god is a very serious sin. There is only one God. Jesus is not some type of second God as the JWs say. There is only one God and Jesus is that one God. But, the Father is also that one God. But, we have just seen that the Father and Jesus Christ are not exactly the same. So – we now have three facts. The first fact – there is only one God. The second fact – both the Father and the Son are the one and the same God. The third fact – the Father and the Son and not totally the same. How can these three facts all be true? It is hard to understand – very hard! It is hard to understand – but nevertheless, it is fact, that all three facts are true. The Father and Jesus Christ are the one God, but also they are different to each other. I know this is very hard to understand. This is the reason, as I said before, that many people throughout the course of history, have not believed that Jesus truly is God. But the Bible says that Jesus is God, and that Jesus and the Father are the one God, and that also the Father and Jesus are different persons within this same one God. For us, with our limited human understanding, it is very difficult to understand this completely. But, despite the difficulties, we must believe what God says about Himself in the pages of the Bible.
We call this teaching the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. God is one Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Today I have not spoken about the Holy Spirit, because this passage of Scripture does not speak about the Holy Spirit. Other passages of the Bible speak about Him. From these other passages, we know that the Holy Spirit is also a member of the Holy Trinity. Each member of the Holy Trinity possesses divinity and each member of the Trinity is truly God.
Brothers and sisters, I think that before this sermon, most of you already knew that Jesus is God. But, my desire is that you would understand better and deeper, the meaning of Jesus’ divinity. My desire is that when you read about Jesus in the Bible, that you would understand more exactly, just who Jesus is. Jesus is God. Everything that has been created – has been created through Jesus. Every star, every planet. Every animal, every tree. Every molecule, every atom. Every person. You, me. All things were created through Jesus.
Jesus Christ is God. God knows all. God can do anything. God is the Lord of the universe! Christ is God. Christ knows all. Christ can do anything. Jesus Christ is the king of kings!
Let’s now look at John 1:14.
JN 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Brothers and sisters, can you not see, how stupendous, how incredibly amazing, how extraordinarily wonderful, how mind bogglingly staggering, it is, that the Word, who was God, became flesh – just like us! Like you! Like me! So stupendous! So incredibly amazing! So extraordinarily wonderful! So mind bogglingly staggering! God, who made everything, became a person, and He lived with us, like us! Can you not see how much God loved us to do that – to come and live amongst us, with us, like us. And he not only lived – but He died on a cross – for us! How wonderful!
A few months ago we celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A few years ago, the actor Mel Gibson made a film about the crucifixion of the Christ called “The Passion of the Christ.” The film was controversial, for both believers and non-believers. Some believers felt the film was controversial because not everything in is was exactly according to the Bible. The film was also controversial because it showed the passion and crucifixion of Christ in an incredibly brutal way. But it is true, that the sufferings and crucifixion of Christ were incredibly bloody and brutal. Isaiah 52:14 prophesies about Jesus,
“ISA 52:14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him--
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man
and his form marred beyond human likeness.”
But although Jesus was disfigured more than that of any other person, in the course of history, many people have suffered and died cruel deaths. For example – crucifixion. Jesus was not the only one who was ever crucified. Crucifixion was a common method of punishment during the time of the Roman Empire. Crucifixion was a very slow and painful way to die. Many people have died in a similar manner to the way Jesus died. Throughout the course of history, many people have died by various means, and many of them have died slowly and painfully. Many. How then was the death of Jesus different to the deaths of others? Have not many others also died cruel and painful deaths like Jesus died? Brothers and sisters, the death of Jesus is so significant not because of how Jesus died, but because of who He was. It is certainly true, that how Jesus died was important – but more important yet – in fact, the most important thing is – who died on that cross 2000 years ago. It was Jesus Christ, fully God, a member of the Trinity who died for us.
Brothers and sisters, who is Jesus? (wait for answer). Jesus was God. Jesus is God. Who every heard of God dying for people? But Jesus Christ – the Word – truly God, died for us. What amazing love is this, that He should die for you and me! Brothers and sisters, if you do not understand who Jesus truly is, you will not be able to fully understand the death and resurrection of Jesus and therefore, not be able to fully understand how it is possible that God can forgive you of your sins and save you from death. If Jesus had only been a good man, even if Jesus had been an angel, His death and even His resurrection would not have been able to help us. It is of no use how brutal Jesus’ death was, if Jesus had not been God. It is only because Jesus was truly God that His death helps us.
Today we have had a close look at the first few verses of the Gospel according to John. These verses are very important. These verses form the foundation for the Gospel of John. The main theme of the Gospel of John is Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John speaks about the life, the ministry, the death and the resurrection of Jesus. The foundation of all of this, is who this Jesus is. Jesus had no beginning. Jesus had no origin. Jesus is God. Throughout the Gospel, John speaks about the divinity of Jesus Christ. Already, at the beginning of the Gospel, he speaks about this. From the very first verse, the Gospel of John clearly speaks about the divinity of Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, in order to understand the Gospel of John, in order to understand Jesus Christ, we need to understand the first verse, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
Amen
