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IN HIM WAS LIFE, AND
THE LIFE WAS
THE LIGHT OF MEN
John 1:1-5
By Jon Quinn

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      The first five verses of John's gospel say quite a
lot about Jesus. It is a grand introduction to the Son of
God and the Savior of the world. The rest of the book is a
record which was written to show  "that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have
life in His name." (JOHN 20:31).

     John, the son of Zebedee, was a Jew familiar with the
customs and feasts of Israel. He was an apostle of Jesus
and an eyewitness of Jesus' ministry . He observed that
Jesus was tired as he sat by the well in Sychar, a city in
Samaria. He was present at the final Passover. He
specifies that it was the right ear of Malchus that Peter
cut off with a sword in the misguided attempt to save
Jesus from arrest. Clement of Rome, as early as 96 A.D.
indicates a knowledge of John's gospel. It seems to have
been written between 80 and 95 A.D., while the other three
gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke were all finished by about
70 A.D.  The reason this is important is because there is
a rather large group of liberal, modernistic scholars who
contend that the gospels were gradually compiled by early
Christians in later generations to justify their faith,
and were not written by inspired men present during the
timeframe of Jesus' ministry and the book of Acts.  But
both historical references as well as the nature of the
accounts themselves show otherwise.

      Consider the first five verses of John's gospel: "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 came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing
came into being that has come into being. In Him was life,
and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."
(JOHN 1:1-5).

JESUS THE WORD: HIS RELATIONSHIP TO GOD

    "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with
God." (JOHN 1:1,2). In the first century, it was the
Gnostics who were denying the deity of Christ. They were
the wise of the age, the ancient counterparts to the
modern, liberal skeptics. John's gospel, as well as his
epistles, are an answer to such infidelity.

     In much the same way as we use words to express
ideas, the Son is God's expression of Himself. Later,
verse 14 identifies  the Word as the One who "became flesh
and dwelt among us." In this way, the Word explained God
to us.

     There are three things which we learn in the first
two verses about the Person who became Jesus of Nazareth.
First, that He was in the beginning with God. The Bible
does not say He had a beginning, but that He was already
there "in the beginning."

     Second, that He was "with God." He was in fellowship
with the Father. The Scriptures show that He was equal
with God, but "did not regard equality with God a thing to
be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of man."
(PHILIPPIANS 2:6,7).

     Third, we see that "the word was God." He possesses
the characteristics of God, such as His eternal nature;
His identity; His purpose and His mind. While Jesus
certainly subjected Himself to human limitations during
His incarnation (HEBREWS 2:17,18; 4:14-16; PHILIPPIANS
2:8), He did not become a different person. Even as He
walked on earth, He was still the eternal One (JOHN 5:18;
8:56-59;  11:30-33; 20:28). Regarding that last reference;
any doctrine that makes one feel uncomfortable addressing
Jesus as "My Lord and my God" is  not a Biblical doctrine
whether it comes from a liberal modernist, a member of a
cult or even a misguided brother or sister in Christ!



JESUS THE LIFE: HIS RELATIONSHIP TO CREATION

     "All things came into being by Him, and apart from
Him nothing has come into being that has come into being.
In Him was life..." (JOHN 1:3,4a).  One of the most used
phrases in the Genesis account of creation is, "And God
said..." When God spoke, it became so. In the creation, we
witness the power, majesty and wisdom of God. The creative
force which acted to bring all things into existence was
not impersonal, but rather a living being. He is called
"the Word" and He is eternal, He is with God and He is
God.

      The One we came to know as Jesus was the active
agent in creation. The Genesis account makes it clear that
there is a plurality of Persons that are included in the
one God we worship. The Bible says, "Then God said, 'Let
us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...."
(Genesis 1:26). The Word carried out this determination of
the mind of God.

     Some say the concept of a plurality of Persons as one
God is difficult to understand. I agree, but I am not one
who expects that it would be easy to comprehend all the
facets of our eternal God. Certainly, if the Bible can
speak of a man and woman "becoming one flesh" (Genesis
2:24) then it can also speak of the Father, Son and Holy
Spirit as being "one God."

     There are several passages which speak of the Son's
role in creation. God created "all things" which He
"carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord."  (EPHESIANS
3:9-11).  Again, speaking of the Son; "For by Him all
things were created, both in the heavens and on earth...
all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is
before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
(COLOSSIANS 1:16-17) and "in these last days has spoken to
us through His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things,
through whom also He made the world." (HEBREWS 1:2).

    These passages plainly show that the Son, or Word of
God is the source of all creation. Nothing has come into
being apart from Him.


This means that the Son Himself is
eternal,  for He couldn't have created Himself! He is the
source of life itself. No created living thing exists
apart from Him.

JESUS THE LIGHT: HIS RELATIONSHIP TO MAN

     "...and the life was the light of men. And the light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not
comprehend it." (JOHN 1:4b-5). The phrase "and the life
was the light of men" is in the Greek imperfect tense.
This means that "the life" began to be "the light of men"
in the past and continues to be so in the present time.
The Son of God is the source and essence of life itself.
When lost in darkness and death, the best place to look
for redemption is the source of all life (Jesus, the Son)
and not the source of death (Satan, the adversary). The
wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (ROMANS 6:23).

     Even as the Son first gave physical life to the
creatures of the world, and just as He continues to
"uphold all things by the word of His power" (HEBREWS
1:3), He offers spiritual life to the spiritually dead and
eternal life to those who live by faith. In the darkness
of suffering and sin, as evil and wickedness continues to
have such a cruel impact on our existence in this world,
it would seem as if people would be flocking to the light
that has come into the world. But that is not the way it
is!

     "And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness
did not comprehend it." The sad truth is darkness is
opposed to the truth. Many have closed their hearts and
minds to the light. They choose to ignore it, neglect it,
or even oppose it.  Many have come to "love darkness" and
"hate the light" because "their deeds were evil" (JOHN
3:19-21). The final result of this kind of rebellion is
eternal darkness; a final separation from the light. But
this also means a final separation from all that is good;
from love, joy and peace. It means never ending sorrow,
tears and pain. Do not retreat from the light! It leads to
life!



Contact the Writer:
JWQuinn@AOL
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