Sermon Central
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The Explanation Of The Word Series
Contributed by Stuart Guthrie on Aug 20, 2021 (message contributor)
Summary: The Explanation of the WordThe Explanation of The introduction to the book of John
The Explanation of the Word
Introduction.
When we try to get an overall perspective of the Gospel of John, the most common way that we find the book divided, is that it divides fairly evenly down in the middle. The first half of the Gospel of John splits (from chapters 1-12) and is focused on presenting Christ before the world. (You could say that this is the public ministry of Christ that has taken place over a period of about three years.) The second half of the book (which is divided into chapters 13-21) took place in about three weeks. Here in these chapters, we see John presenting Christ before His intimate followers. (You could say that this is the private section of Jesus’s ministry.) Some commentators also like to define the first half of the Book of John (chapters 1-12) as the “book of signs,” and the second half of the Book of John (chapters 13-20) as the “book of glory.”
The Book of John is such a masterpiece because it’s a book that can be read by a child with understanding, or the Book of John can be studied by the most well-known of theologians with the greatest amounts of theological depth. Someone once said (and many think it was coined by Augustine) that the Gospel of John is, “deep enough for an elephant to swim in and shallow enough for a child not to drown.” The Book of John is simply a profound book which we have been given.
If I could take the liberty to summarize the Book of John in one simple word, that word would be, “believe!”
Just like with every good research paper or term paper, one must have a powerful thesis statement if it’s going to be a strong and effective work! It’s important, because this thesis statement is an announcement for what the writer says the purpose is for which he is writing the paper on. So, we shouldn’t expect less from the Book John as John himself even has a thesis statement for the Book of John. We find that wrapped-up in John 20:30-31.
30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
John was written for the purpose of bringing life to a dead soul, that you may believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
So, without any delay, let us begin to jump right into our study in the Book of John today.
Today, we will look into the first five verses of the prologue of the Book of John (or its introduction). Let’s begin by reading our text.
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.
As we look at this text, I believe that John here is defining persons right off the bat, trying to create the reality of what He says in that thesis statement in in John 20:31.
31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Five verses bring about five items that I believe we find within the text that point us to the explanation of the Word. Let us look this morning out our five main points.
1. The Word as He relates to eternity
2. The Word as He relates to relationship
3. The Word as He relates to deity
4. The Word as He relates to creation
5. The Word as He relates to life
Let’s begin this morning by looking at the first point.
1. The Word as He relates to eternity
John’s very first words create a timeframe!
1 In the beginning was the Word,
In the explanation of the Word, John feels it necessary to give us a timeframe into when the Word existed. The Greek for Word (????) can have a few different meanings, and the context always defines that meaning. It’s true that ???? can mean “ruler,” “source,” and “authority” as in other passages of Scripture it’s defined. And those are true about Christ, as He is the Authority, the Ruler of Nations, and the Source of Life (as He will state in John 14:6, “‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life’”). Here in the context of what John is trying to communicate to us, ???? is referring to the beginning of the universe. The same idea is found in Genesis chapter one when it says, “In the beginning, God created.”
