Gospel of John: Prologue

The Prologue

Text: John 1:1-18

Structure:

A. 1:1-3, Word with God.

  B. 1:4-5, Light vs. darkness.

    C. 1:6-8, witness of John.

      D. 1:9-10, He was IN the word.

        E. 1:11-13, He came to His own.

      D'. 1:14, Word dwelt AMONG us.

    C'. 1:15, witness of John

  B'. 1:16-17, Grace (upon grace) vs. Law

A'. 1:18, Son made know the Father

Comments: Dr. Weinrich in his commentary (Weinrich, John 1:1 – 7:1, CPH, 2015) dedicates 8 pages to a single phrase: in the beginning... By no means we can say that his brilliant commentary is the final word on this precious words of John. But it gives a reader a sense of depth of John's Gospel – 2000 years later a brilliant theologian dedicates these many pages to four Greek words. We don't have a luxury of a multi-volume format. Therefore, we will simply highlight the main directions for understanding the words of John given to us to believe (John 20:30-31).

The Word and the Son. There are countless papers written on the parallels between Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. To point out just one – from the very beginning God works out the created world via Word (cp. Genesis 1:3). God speaks the world into being. Here we have the Word – the divine Logos – as the One who was, and is with, and is God himself. Should we understand it terms of time, or relationship? And the answer is YES. Later St. John will record the Revelation, where Jesus identifies Himself in terms of time (Revelation 1:8). We also shall see the revelation of the Father through Son [only] – John 1:18 and following the question of Phillip (John 14:8-9).

Light vs. darkness. In Genesis account of creation the darkness (Genesis 1:3-5) did not have the dark side (pun intended). The narrative of the first day simply tells us of duality of created world. God planned a period of the day for productive actions, and another period for us to have a rest. Any attempts to read the mutiny of angels into the first day should be answered by God's own assessment of the created world at the end of the sixth day – everything was done VERY good.

But John writes in the context of the fallen world. Therefore, for him the term darkness (or darkness related words) will bear a significant spiritual load (cp. John 13:30). At the same time, we need to be careful not to identify the Law of Moses with the darkness of the present age. The Law is turned into darkness by the people who didn't want to see the ultimate source behind the actions and the words of Moses (remember, Deuteronomy – the fifth book – of the Bible in Hebrew means the Words). Jesus will point it out very clearly (cp. John 6:32-34). Yet, if they insist on the supremacy of Moses, this turns a great gift of God into an idol – the LAW as a pattern of salvation, while we know that the ONLY way of salvation is grace of Jesus (John 1:17 and John 14:6).

The identity and witness of John. At the first glance a reader might be under impression that John talks about himself. It would make a perfect sense, but it would go against the pattern of the usage of the name John in the Gospel. Whenever it is used – it refers to John the Baptizer, while John identifies himself as “the disciple that Jesus loved” or “the other disciple” (cp. John 13:25; 20:3). This becomes really clear, reading John 1:15 – the testimony of John is the One who came after/later is ranked above because he was before (means forever, cp. John 1:1-3).

Presence in the world and dwelling among us. John comes back to the theme of light, which forces us to re-read Genesis 1:3 – the light of the first day was not created, it was spoken into the world, presenting the idea un-created light sustaining the world for three first days of the world. It is definitely not the light of the sun or any other star or celestial object for it gives LIFE to everything that exists in the world. Sun is essential to the life of the world, but it also can have devastating effect on the creatures – burns, cancer, fires... Therefore, the light of John 1 is Jesus – what John will illuminate even more in John 8 to 10.

Similarly, the mystical presence of the Word dwells among us – the word dwell here meaning the presence of God among His people only. No one, nothing can dwell in the world in the same way. Therefore, saying that the Word became flesh and dwelt creates a beautiful theological paradox for an Ancient mind, as well as a mind of a modern skeptic. How come transcendent God can be limited to the flesh of a human man? Paradox, it can only be resolved in Jesus Christ who is both God and man (cp. Creed).

Reception of the He. The whole purpose of John's Gospel is to show that Jesus is the Son of God, and believing in Him people can have eternal life. It should be received (John 1:12). But when one receives – that means that there is a Giver on the other end. We do not search for God (even when psychological picture looks like this), He is who reaches out for and to us. Jesus came to save the world (for us, John 3:16), and He comes in the Word and the Sacraments that everyone of us can have life [eternal] (to us, John 10:10).