Deity Before Discourse | Sermon 08/28/2022

John 1:1-5

Every other Gospel account begins their addresses with the virgin birth of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. But God has sought to take this prologue a step further. Although the synoptics reveal the deity of Jesus through implicit and explicit means, John doesn’t want his readers to miss it. In fact, to this writer, inspired by the Holy Spirit, if the divine nature of Jesus is not articulated first, the rest of the Gospel account might as well be blasphemy. To understand the Gospel According to John one must understand who the Word is, first. Jesus is the fullest and most manifest representation of the “word of the Lord.”

The Greek word, ἦν, is used multiple times in the Prologue in relation to the Logos. It is translated “was” but it is much richer in Greek showing the being of something that has no point of origin. The Word was not simply there “at the beginning” because He was made there (Gen. 1) but has always been in existence eternally. He has been face to face with God showing He is personal and not a force of some kind. And most importantly, the Word (ἦν) has always been God. We see eternality, personalness, intimacy with the Father, and deity. The Word is in a different category than all things that came into being. The Logos is paired with ἦν while all other things that have come into being are paired with ἐγένετο. The Word cannot be a created ‘agent of creation’ that God used to bring about matter because He is excluded from “all things” coming into being.

In Him is life and light, the very things that brought about creation. And life and light foreshadow the great works of redemption that the Word will accomplish. The Light has invaded earth from heaven and the darkness doesn’t comprehend it nor will it ever overpower Him. This account is so much like Genesis because in many ways, the world was changed forever at the coming of the divine Word, the Son of God.