John 1.1-18: What if God was One of Us?
Introduction
In J.B. Phillip’s New Testament Christianity, a senior angel is showing a very young angel around the splendours of the universe. They view the whirling galaxies and blazing suns, and then flit across the infinite distances of space until at last they enter one particular galaxy of 500 billion stars.
As the two of them drew near to the star which we call our sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a tennis-ball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.
“I want you to watch that one particularly,” said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.
“Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me,” said the little angel. “What’s special about that one?” …
To the little angel, though, earth did not seem so impressive. He listened in stunned disbelief as the senior angel told him that this planet, small and insignificant and not overly clean, was the renowned Visited Planet.
“Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince … went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball? Why should He do a thing like that?” …
The little angel’s face wrinkled in disgust. “Do you mean to tell me,” he said, “that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?”
“I do, and I don’t think He would like you to call them ‘creeping, crawling creatures’ in that tone of voice. For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them. He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him.”
The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.
That God became man is probably just as perplexing to angels as it is to us – but that is exactly what we are confronted with in John 1.1-18.
There is so much in this passage could be covered, since it like an overture to an opera as it previews the themes of the entire Gospel: witness, glory, life, faith, light, truth, and Christ himself. Most of all it proclaims to us in language powerful, precise and poetic: that Jesus the Word is God.
1. Jesus the Christ is the pre-incarnate Word of God (vv. 1-5)
Before I was a Christian, I went with a friend to see the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. During the song performed by Angry Anderson [Aussie version of Yule Brynner] playing Herod where he scandalously mocks Jesus, he stops for a moments and pauses, and wiping his face in confusion he says aside to the audience, “He thinks he’s God.” With that witty remark, not in the script, the entire audience (myself included) erupted in huge bouts of laugher. Jesus thought he was God – what a fool!
The idea that Jesus is God is a concept no less bazaar in our own day that it was in John’s day. It was certainly a sticking point to the Jewish people who John wants to dialogue with. The Arrian’s of the 4th century advocated that Jesus was not God and this precipitated what was arguably the most crucial theological battle ever waged for the heart and mind of the church. When Muslims overran Asia Minor they converted Christian churches into mosques, they carved this inscription onto the ransacked churches: “God did not beget and is not begotten.” However offensive and divisive as it has been, the truth that Jesus is God is what we are confronted by here in this opening verse. Or is it? Some would argue that it doesn’t say Jesus is God at all. There are certain quasi-Christian groups, modern day Arrians, who maintain that Jesus was not God, he was merely a god.
How I would love to go into the finer exegetical intricacies of John 1.1 and discuss the usage of predicative nominatives and ‘Colson’s Rule’ – but at the risk of boring you to death I shall resist the temptation. Let me just make four brief points:
(1) The word ‘was’ is in the imperfect tense in Greek, meaning, that the Word always was God. Ever since the beginning the Word was God and there never was a time when he was not God.
(2) If John wanted to say that the word was merely ‘divine’ or ‘a god’ he could have used word theios instead of theos.
(3) The Word performs activities such as creation and salvation which are exclusively the prerogative of God.
(4) Now keep in mind what the passage is not saying. It is not saying that God is the Word in the sense that A = B. Rather what it is saying is all that is true of God is also true of Jesus. In one sense they share an identity but in another sense they are also separate entities. I like the NEB translation: ‘what God was, the Word was.’
So John says in clear and unequivocal terms that Jesus the Word is God.
Look at verse 14 for a moment where John restates this thought. John says that the Word ‘dwelt among us’ and the word for ‘dwelt’ means literally ‘tabernacled’ or ‘pitched his tent’. This alludes to God’s dwelling with the people in the desert in the Exodus. This is also the kind of language that Jews used for the Temple. The Tabernacle and the Temple were the central incarnational symbols of God’s presence with Israel. When the Jews thought of God being with them they thought of the in particular Temple. It was the place for sacrifice, worship and a place for meeting God. But here John attributes all of that to Jesus the Word. Jesus as the New Temple is the place of God’s glory, the place of atonement, healing, cleansing and worship – that is where God dwells with us.
At this point we need to ask the question, when John says that Jesus is the Word, what does he mean by ‘Word’. John uses the Greek word LOGOS to call Jesus the ‘Word’ – which is a bit of a conundrum because it has its background steeped in Greek philosophy. You see in Greek philosophy there was this problem. They thought that reality consisted of two realms. First, there was the transcendent realm of abstract ideas and, second, the physical realm among us. The question is how do these two spheres relate to each other? A philosopher called Heraclitus came up with the idea of the logos which mediates between these two realms. For him the logos is the ever present wisdom which steers and guides all things. In Stoic philosophy the logos was the common law of nature. The Jewish Philosopher, Philo, thought of the logos as the eternal expression of God’s wisdom. Philo even asserted that men can know God only through the logos. The logos is the captain or pilot of the universe. For Justin Martyr (2d century) the logos was the all pervasive unifying principle of reason that governs the universe.
It is this logos that Christ is identified with since he is the one who unifies the cosmos the one who mediates between the human and divine realm. He is the one who sustains the universe like intergalactic glue and touches both heaven and earth. John uses this word logos because he wants us to know that God’s word that went forth in creation, God’s word that echoes out in revelation, redemption, renewal and finally retribution is none other than Jesus the Christ. Does it unsettle you that John takes a term like logos, a term invented by pagan, polytheistic, bi-sexual philosophers and uses it to describe God. I find something very ironic about taking something that is utterly pagan and using it to glorify God. So let’s do the same. Do you know the American rock band called ‘The Beach Boys’ sing a song which goes, ‘we’re gonna have fun, fun, fun, till my daddy takes my T-Bird away.’ Now, perhaps I’m showing my youthful age, but I don’t know what a T-Bird is and so I won’t be terribly annoyed if my daddy takes one away.’ Yet the Christian Parody band ‘Apologetix’ has rewritten the lyrics to this song so it now runs, “John 1.1 says that God is really Jesus the Word.” Lets stand up a sing that line for a moment [audience does so]. That is an example of using something pagan and forcing it to glorify God despite itself. But if you can remember that quirkly little phrase with that up-beat tune that “John 1.1 says that God is really Jesus the Word” then you have understood one of the most profound and beautiful passages of the entire Bible.
The point is, (1) Jesus the Word and God are one; (2) Jesus the Word is God’s agent in creating and sustaining the universe.
2. John the Baptist is the First Witness to the Word (vv. 6-8)
I think John’s Gospel is arguably addressed to Jews living in Hellenistic (Greek cities) in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). The question posed to the Christians is: ‘You believe that Jesus is the Messiah – well prove it!’ The Gospel of John attempts to do just that by parading before us an entourage of witnesses who testify that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah of Israel. One of the most prominent witnesses in John’s Gospel is John the Baptist. John’s Gospel accentuates the witness of the Baptist, perhaps because his community has been in contact with groups that continue to venerate John the Baptist as Paul met in Ephesus (Acts 19.3) and by modern day Mandeans in southern Iraq. The Baptist’s testimony is that he himself is not the light; Jesus is the one who comes after me yet was before me – he precedes John in place and pre-eminence. Elsewhere, the witness of John is that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away our sin, Jesus is the one anointed with the Spirit who gives the Spirit without measure, he is the Son of God who speaks for God, the bridegroom, and is the one sent from above – who needs any more witnesses, the defence can its case. John the Baptist is aware of his phenomenal role in redemptive history as the forerunner who paves the way for the Son of God. But John doesn’t let it get to his head. That’s why John can say later on, ‘I must decrease, and he must increase.’
The musical, “Jelly’s Last Jam” is about Jelly Roll Moreton, the founder of Jazz music. Apparently Jelly invented Jazz through listening to African-American songs of his youth. Yet Jelly tried to distance himself from his black heritage and instead identified himself as a French Creole. And so the musical goes that Jazz was God’s gift to the world, but Jelly came to think that God’s gift was him! He confused the message with the messenger.
We are messengers; we ourselves are not the message. People don’t come to church to see you, to hear you sing, see watch you lead worship, taste your cooking, hear you preach or play an instrument. They come, as they should, to see Jesus. Let us never forget, like John, we are messengers, not the message.
3. The Word is both Received and Rejected by the World (vv. 9-13)
Imagine that a reporter from outer space, a correspondent of the Mars Tribune, comes down to earth to do a story on significant events in the history of the planet earth. He goes up to a bystander and decides to interview him he asks what is the single greatest event this planet have ever experienced:
Bystander: Well, fried chicken is a pretty good invention. Especially with french fries and a coke. Yum yum yummy.
Reporter: [Takes note] Yes, anything else.
Bystander: Invention of the flush toilet rates up there as well. Before that, oh boy, you don’t wanna go there.
Reporter: Okay, anything else.
Bystander: Let me think. Star Wars Trilogy was cool. And oh, yeah. God came to earth.
Reporter: [Startled] What, God came here? You mean I’m standing on the same planet that God walked on. I can’t believe it? This is the visited planet? Wow, this is amazing? So what did ya do when he came, did ya have a global party, roll out the red carpet, honour him in every way imaginable, worship him? Decree an international holiday?
Bystander: Well, no, not exactly.
Reporter: Oh, did you just gather all the heads of state together and welcome him to earth with an international state dinner?
Bystander: Ummmmm, no, we didn’t quite do that either.
Reporter: Was it just a quiet affair then with a few representatives from the world to greet the Creator?
Bystander: No, we didn’t do that either.
Reporter: So, what did ya do then to welcome the Creator to Earth?
Bystander: We, umm, ahh, we kinda cccrucified him! [muffled with a cough)
Reporter: Sorry, I didn’t quite here you then.
Bystander: We, kinda, sorta, crucified him.
Reporter: I’m confused is “crucifixion” a metaphor for a celebration, like roasting someone is a tribute dinner.
Bystander: No, crucifixion is where you kill someone by nailing them to a tree.
Reporter: Let me get this right. The Creator and Lord of the universe comes down to earth as a man and you crucify him.
Bystander: It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Reporter: What kind of stupid planet is this?
Bystander: Stupider than you think since we didn’t kill him properly. Three days later he came back to life.
‘He came to his own, but his own received him not.’ Jesus was the promised Messiah, who came to the nation, who came to Israel, to redeem them and save them – but his own did not receive him. The Jews were God’s chosen people called to be the light of the world and a kingdom of priests, indeed, they were the representatives of the world before God. So in another sense, their rejection of the Messiah is the rejection of the world at large. But that’s not where the story ends. It says some ‘did receive him’. Some people looked at Jesus and saw his signs and said, ‘nice trick, do it again’; but others looked at Jesus and saw the signs and said, ‘this one is the Son of God’.
Which one are you? A fan or a follower? Because to those who do believe and receive Christ he gives them the right to become children of God. That ‘right’ does not mean ‘ability’ but instead it means ‘status’. God graciously bestows the status of being a son or daughter of the living God. There is no greater status – Prime Minister, King, Queen, President, Reverend, Mister, Doctor, Professor – those are worthless in comparison to the richness and the privilege of being a child of God. By faith you receive Christ and enter into his heavenly family, visibly represented by those among you. You can be like the rest of the world and fail to recognize that Jesus the Word is God, refuse to give him the worship he is due. But if you do, then as John says in 3:18 – ‘whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.’ In Christ, God gives grace upon grace, but there is a point where that grace ends and judgment begins.
Conclusion
In the early 1990s the pop singer Joan Osborne sang a very melancholic song called, ‘What if God was one of Us?. The chorus ran like this:
If God had a name, what would it be? And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with him and all his glory,
What would you ask if you had just one question?
...God is great. ...God is good.
...What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us,
just a stranger on the bus,
Trying to make his way home.
No-one can call him at home, accept maybe the Pope up in Rome
Joan Osborne asks the right question, but she gives a pessimistic answer. We are alone in this God-forsaken universe, if God is there, then he is too impotent to help us, too remote to notice us, too inaccessible to empathize and too impassable too care. I’m glad to say that Osborne is wrong. God is there and he has made himself known in Jesus the Christ – to Israel and to the world.
I wish Joan Osborne would know the same experience that led of Charles Wesley to write these beautiful words:
Veiled in flesh the God-head see
Hail th’incarnate deity
Pleased as man with men to dwell
Jesus our Emmanuel
Resources
Leon Morris, The Gospel of John (NICNT).
George Beasley-Murray, John (WBC).
D.H. Johnson, ‘Logos’, in Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, pp. 481-84.
Apologetix: John 1.1
Joan Osborne: What if God was one of Us?
