Post by M.R. Hagerty on Jan 30, 2023 13:43:39 GMT -7
His Birth and Kingdom Preaching
John 1:1-13
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. )
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Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
(Note: Old Testament quotations in the New Testament are represented in the NASB in caps. Ex: “As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old-- Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US;)
Commentary
John 1:1, John 1:14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John goes back further in the narrative than the other gospels, to the place where God was alone with Himself before the present created world; and at this point in time there was the Word, meaning His Word. We later find that this is not just to take us back to the earliest beginning of all things but rather to declare that the Son about whom this account is concerned actually pre-existed the Creation. Christ as Son was there in the beginning. We know this from the later statement that the Word John is talking about became flesh and dwelt among us.
. . and the Word was God. Since we later find out that the Incarnate Son was this Word, we have a formula for declaring that Jesus Christ was God, was deity. What is important here is that ‘Word’ is being used to describe something that is for us a Person. John is telling us that when you consider God’s Word to man, you can consolidate everything He wanted to say to mankind in the Person of Jesus. It is as though God had one simple message – His Son, and the whole Bible is dedicated to the revelation of Him, more figuratively and symbolically in the OT, then vividly in CinemaScope and color in the NT.
Jehovah’s Witnesses and other groups that deny the deity of Christ claim that the verse should read “. . and the Word was a god.” This, they claim, is because there is no article here in the Greek and where no article exists, it must read not “the God” but “a god.” ” But this isn't the only grammatical rule for these cases.
If someone says to you, “a man came to the door today,” this assumes you have no prior knowledge of the man – the indefinite article case – in which case you will ask, “What man?” If they say, “The man came to the door today,” this assumes you already know who the man is – the definite article case.
But if they say, “Man came to the door today,” you would (with appropriate curiosity) conclude that something like the essence of man had come to the door, or mankind came to the door. This is a rule of translation here in the Greek for this verse. “the Word was God” is the same as someone saying “the essence of God came to the door today.” The Word was the very essence of God.
The Import of John 1:49
For those who insist that John 1:1 must be translated “a god,” they must engage an inconsistency. In John 1:49, Nathaniel states that Jesus was “the King of Israel.”
In the Greek, the construction is exactly the same as in John 1:1, the noun ‘basileus’ (king) is in the predicate position without the article. If those sponsoring ‘a god’ wish to insist on it, then they should be consistent at John 1:49 and read “You are a king of Israel” which is an assertion even the trinity debunkers would never wish to propose.
What is being said in John is that the Word was the essence of God, which undermines all attempts to make Jesus merely a god.
John 1:1-13
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. 9 There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. )
_____________________________________________________________
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
(Note: Old Testament quotations in the New Testament are represented in the NASB in caps. Ex: “As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old-- Salvation FROM OUR ENEMIES, And FROM THE HAND OF ALL WHO HATE US;)
Commentary
John 1:1, John 1:14
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John goes back further in the narrative than the other gospels, to the place where God was alone with Himself before the present created world; and at this point in time there was the Word, meaning His Word. We later find that this is not just to take us back to the earliest beginning of all things but rather to declare that the Son about whom this account is concerned actually pre-existed the Creation. Christ as Son was there in the beginning. We know this from the later statement that the Word John is talking about became flesh and dwelt among us.
. . and the Word was God. Since we later find out that the Incarnate Son was this Word, we have a formula for declaring that Jesus Christ was God, was deity. What is important here is that ‘Word’ is being used to describe something that is for us a Person. John is telling us that when you consider God’s Word to man, you can consolidate everything He wanted to say to mankind in the Person of Jesus. It is as though God had one simple message – His Son, and the whole Bible is dedicated to the revelation of Him, more figuratively and symbolically in the OT, then vividly in CinemaScope and color in the NT.
Jehovah’s Witnesses and other groups that deny the deity of Christ claim that the verse should read “. . and the Word was a god.” This, they claim, is because there is no article here in the Greek and where no article exists, it must read not “the God” but “a god.” ” But this isn't the only grammatical rule for these cases.
If someone says to you, “a man came to the door today,” this assumes you have no prior knowledge of the man – the indefinite article case – in which case you will ask, “What man?” If they say, “The man came to the door today,” this assumes you already know who the man is – the definite article case.
But if they say, “Man came to the door today,” you would (with appropriate curiosity) conclude that something like the essence of man had come to the door, or mankind came to the door. This is a rule of translation here in the Greek for this verse. “the Word was God” is the same as someone saying “the essence of God came to the door today.” The Word was the very essence of God.
The Import of John 1:49
For those who insist that John 1:1 must be translated “a god,” they must engage an inconsistency. In John 1:49, Nathaniel states that Jesus was “the King of Israel.”
In the Greek, the construction is exactly the same as in John 1:1, the noun ‘basileus’ (king) is in the predicate position without the article. If those sponsoring ‘a god’ wish to insist on it, then they should be consistent at John 1:49 and read “You are a king of Israel” which is an assertion even the trinity debunkers would never wish to propose.
What is being said in John is that the Word was the essence of God, which undermines all attempts to make Jesus merely a god.