What is a prologue? If we were to take that apart, it divides neatly into two words
pro- meaning before
logos - meaning word or saying
So, in a very real sense, a prologue is a word that happens beforehand - a fore-word
Composers, Filmmakers, and Authors alike have utilized preludes, prologues, overtures, and even the opening credits to give hints or clues to their audience about what is to come. While occasionally this foreshadowed content gives up too much of the storyline - becoming spoilers to the outcome - a well crafted prologue or introduction will create a sense of anticipation.
Today, as we dive into the book of John we are going to examine his prologue, or introduction to his gospel. These 18 short verses use language to cause us to look forward to what is to come and look back to what has been.
John’s Prologue
I’m not sure that any book of scripture has an introduction that is as beautiful and profound as John’s prologue.
In these 18 verses, John introduces us to Jesus - barely referring to him by name - and yet reveals him in a way that is dripping with insights about his nature, character, uniquenesses, and his work.
In his commentary on the book of John, D.A. Carson has noted 12 things here in the prologue that are revisited elsewhere in the gospel. Let’s look briefly at this list:
The Gospel according to John (I. The Prologue (1:1–18))
PrologueGospel
the pre-existence of the Logos or Son1:1–217:5
in him was life1:45:26
life is light 1:4 8:12
light rejected by darkness 1:5 3:19
yet not quenched by it 1:5 12:35
light coming into the world 1:9 3:19; 12:46
Christ not received by his own 1:11 4:44
being born to God and not of flesh 1:13 3:6; 8:41–42
seeing his glory 1:14 12:41
the ‘one and only’ Son 1:14, 18 3:16
truth in Jesus Christ 1:17 14:6
no-one has seen God, except the one who comes from God’s side 1:18 6:46
I realize that’s a lot to take in in just a few moments, but I hope you can see the profound depth of what John is doing here.
Today, as we look at John’s Prologue, we are going to consider the “Word” - the subject of the prologue and in fact the gospel. We’ll consider a bit of what John is communicating about what we will observe about Jesus - the Word - elsewhere in the book.
Let’s begin by considering...
The nature of the Word
John begins his prologue with...
John 1:1–3 ESV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
As he opens with his words “in the beginning” - immediately our minds take us back to the first place in Scripture where we would have read those words - the book of beginnings, Genesis 1:1. John, I think, does this intentionally. He wants to display a bit of the mystery and wonder of Who this Word is. He wants to communicate that this Word was at the beginning.
Nasser al’Qahtani - a Bible Teacher, evangelist, and a new friend of mine, suggests that because John is pulling us back to creation - he is very subtly hinting at the presence of the Trinity - the three-in-one nature of God.
Think about this, Genesis 1:1 states
Genesis 1:1 ESV
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
So there you have God.
In the very next verse, we get to see another element of the trinity - the Spirit
Genesis 1:2 ESV
The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
So you have the God and His Spirit represented in the Genesis account.
Now, John is inserting the Word - the expression of God at the beginning - One whom we will see is Jesus.
God the father, God the Spirit, and now the Word - God the Son were all present and working at creation.
But how did God create everything? With His Word. He created with a command. Over and over, the creation account communicates that God said things - “let there be...”
But let’s think a bit more about this “Word” that John is describing.
In many ways, it is wrapped in mystery. It’s an expression of God - after all - words are the spoken expression of any speaker.
But John also says that this “Word” is with God in the beginning and yet he is also God.
John 1:1 ESV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He is God and yet is distinct from God.
John doesn’t really try to explain this here. He simply makes these statements and these claims about the nature of the Word to pique our interest in order to get us to keep reading. As the rest of the gospel unfolds, we’ll learn and see more about what John means by the Word being with God and being God.
And yet I think it’s important that we remain content with the mystery of the nature of the Word - the nature of Jesus - the nature of God. If we could fully explain and understand God, then He might not be that great. But the mystery only exemplifies his worthiness to be worshipped. It gives us reason to be in awe of God.
So this Word is God and distinct from God.
John also reveals that the Word is human - verse 14 tells us that the Word became flesh. For some in John’s day and in the century that followed, this was a big point of contention. There were some who said that Jesus couldn’t be human because all flesh is evil. And yet here, John is introducIng Jesus as both fully divine and fully human.
So John gives us some hints about the nature of the Word. But he also reveals a bit of...
The work of the Word
Just as we use words to communicate, to work, we have to recognize that the Word that John is writing about is at work as well. Just as the spoken word of God in creation put all of the universe in order, so to we get to see that the lived Word, the revealed word, Jesus, works in profound ways.
First of all, we’ve already seen that he worked in…
Creation (John 1:1-3)
John is clear to point out that Jesus, the Word, was present and active in creation.
But his participation in creation is more than just spinning things into existence. The Word also brings “life.” John co-mingles the concepts of “life” and “light” (which ultimately get seen elsewhere in the book) in order to help us see another aspect of the creative work of the Word.
John 1:4–5 ESV
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Do you remember back to the Genesis account of creation? What is the first thing that God speaks into existence?
Light.
So again, John is taking us back to creation. The spoken word of God brings light into darkness, but also brings life.
But it also seems like this life is more than simply an existence. This life is the embodiment of light in the darkness. First, in the darkness of the uncreated universe and now in the darkness of a world stained by sin.
There is a second element of work that John foreshadows here in the prologue, that of...
Illumination
This Word, came like light in dark places, to reveal the true character, nature, and heart of God. He came to illumine the differences between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. He came to be a life-given presence in the world.
John 1:9–13 ESV
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Look at the contrasts in all of these things, the tragedy. Jesus, the Word, as the co-creator of the world, stepped into the world and yet was unknown by the world. He came to his own people and was rejected by them. We will see this throughout John’s gospel as Jesus gets into multiple conflicts with the religious leaders - pointing out where they have things wrong, and yet they are so often unwilling to yield to his authority.
But there is hope, because Jesus is the redeeming one - he is the one who brings hope from despair, life from death, light from darkness, new birth. He made a way for all people to be his people.
In this, John introduces the redemption theme that is marked by belief. But notice what he says in verse 12 - those who would believe “in his name.”
What’s in a name? There is power and significance in names. In the OT, we see how appropriate a name is.
Abram - given name meant “high father” - but after God make a covenant with him in Genesis 17 - Abram’s name is changed to Abraham - which means “father of many nations.” Ultimately, all nations have been blessed through him. Everyone who is ethnically Jewish traces their ancestry to him. All of the tribes and nations of the Arab world find their origin story in Abraham - through Ishmael. There is significance in His name.
Jacob - whose name means “supplanter” or “heal-catcher” - Jacob, through much of his life lived up to that. He tricked his brother for the inheritance. He tricked his father for a blessing. He schemed against his father in law for livestock. But after a time, Jacob had an encounter with God, where God gave him the name “Israel” - which means “strives with God.” In many ways, when you look through the Old Testament, you see that name being clearly lived out in the people of Israel - as they wrestle or strive to be in sync with God’s ways.
We could look at multiple names throughout Scripture and realize that many of them are emblematic of some aspect of their life or their personality.
Jesus - the Word - his name means “salvation.” His perfect life and undeserved death became the means of salvation for everyone - if we we would only believe or entrust our lives to him. In his name, He illumined the way to God, he illumined the compassionate character of God.
But there is another way that the Word brought Illumination, that is through his dwelling with us.
John 1:14 ESV
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So the Word, the expression of God, became like us, put skin on, and lived with us. That word “dwelt” has the connotation in the OT of tabernacle. If you remember, the Tabernacle was the temporary sanctuary that the people of Israel carried around the wilderness. It was filled with symbols fragrances that brought people’s minds and senses back to the garden of Eden, when God and humanity were able to walk together - before sin entered the world. Now, this tabernacle became the mediated means by which humans could interact with God. They needed a priest to atone for sin. They needed sacrifices as acts of worship. And yet God’s presence was there with them in the wilderness. (al’Qahtani)
Now that God became flesh, his dwelling or tabernacling could be with humanity. We would get to see him face to face. Humanity would get to interact with him. To see him act with compassion and bring healing and hope. Humanity would get to be touched by him.
Several commentators have suggested that some of this language would have caused Jewish people to think back to Exodus 33-34 - when Moses is on Mount Sinai and asks to see God face to face. Instead, God allows Moses to see some of his glory, which ultimately according to Carson is God’s “supreme goodness.” As God’s glory passes before Moses, Moses hears God utter these words:
Exodus 34:6–7 ESV
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
The “grace and truth” that John references here seems to nod back God’s words here on Mt. Sinai as he references his
- “steadfast love” - or grace and
- his “faithfulness” or truth.
John gives a bit more insight into some of this illumination that we see in Jesus, the Word...
John 1:16 ESV
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
John 1:17–18 ESV
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
So in a Jesus, this Word, we have the revelation of God. We have in his words and actions insight into the heart and nature of God. I hope that as we read and study Scripture, especially the life of Jesus, that we will be awestruck by the beauty of God revealed through Jesus - the way he cared for the outcast, loved the nameless and unimportant - giving them value and dignity, healed the broken, corrected the self-righteous, lived sacrificially and so much more. Oh that we would honor him by living in those ways too.
Not only do we get to glimpse the nature and work of the word, but finally we see…
The witness to the Word
Throughout this little prologue, John introduces some parenthetical statements about another John - who came as a witness.
For so many of the other gospel writers, they begin the life of Jesus with His birth and then precede the ministry of Jesus with the ministry of John the Baptist.
Here, in John’s gospel, because goes way back to the beginning - or really even, before the beginning, he introduces John the baptist as a witness to the Word or in this case to the light.
John 1:6–8 ESV
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
John the Baptist, as we will see next week, had a very profound and powerful ministry. He called people to repentance, calling them to get on God’s plan, and prepared the way for Jesus.
John the Baptist was clear that his primary ministry was to bear witness to the one who is to come - to prepare the way.
Now, John was about 6 months older than Jesus and stepped on the scene shortly before him as well. Tradition would say that the older should be served by the younger, but part of John the Baptist’s ministry and mission was to dispel any myth that he might be superior.
John 1:15 ESV
(John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”)
Closing Thoughts
Just as the Overture to an opera like Candide introduces musical themes that will be fully developed throughout the musical; just as the opening credits of a Mission Impossible movie foreshadows some of adventure that will ensue, so too here in the prologue of his gospel, John, one of Jesus’ disciples, artfully introduces themes for us to unpack as we read, study, and meditate on this book.
I believe He is doing this to pique our interest. He is doing this to get us to gaze at the beautiful mystery of Jesus Christ - the living revelation of God. He is doing this to draw us in to believe.
Have you believed in Jesus? Do you believe in His name? Have you been born of God?
Beloved, when you consider all that God did - his creative work, his coming into the world, how he addressed our sinful condition, how he left glory to put on human flesh -
oh that we would delight in His Word to understand him more.
may we joyfully lay aside the comforts of this world to live holy lives before him
may we daily find refuge in Him
may we rejoice in the opportunity to be ambassadors for Christ in the world around us.
Let’s pray.
Sources:
al’qahtani, Nasser Gospel of John (ch1): https://youtu.be/I3M0HExadAo
Burge, Gary M. The NIV Application Commentary: John.Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000.
Carson, D. A. The Gospel according to John. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991.
Crossway Bibles. The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008.
Milne, Bruce. The Message of John (The Bible Speaks Today). Downers Grove, IL. Inter-Varsity Press, 1993.
Morris, Leon. The Gospel according to John. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995.
