Difference between revisions of "John 1:1-18"

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The New Testament > John > Chapter 1

Questions

Verse 1

Why does John begin his testimony of Christ’s ministry with the same words we find at the beginning of Genesis (Genesis 1:1), "In the beginning . . ."? Why does John begin his book by referring to the beginning rather than to the birth of Christ? Is he concerned with the creation itself or with something else? If the latter, what?

Why is Christ called "the Word"? How is Christ the word of the Old Testament? What does it mean to say that he is?

What does it mean to say that Christ was with the Father in the beginning? What does it mean to be in the presence of God? In what sense might Christ have been "toward" the Father? (Moses 4:1-2 seems relevant here.)

Verse 2

This verse repeats the content of verse 1. Why?

Verse 3

To what is the verse referring when it says that "all things" were made by Christ? Is it referring only to the world and the objects in the world?

Verse 4

What does it mean to say that life was in the Word? Physical life? Spiritual life? When did the physical creation occur? When did the spiritual creation, the spiritual life, with which John is concerned occur? What is the connection of this verse to the previous verse? In other words, what does the meaning of this verse have to do with that of verse 3? A more literal translation of the second half of the verse might be, "and this life was the light of human beings." To what does "this life" refer? What does the last half of the verse mean?

Verse 5

What does it mean to say that the light shines in darkness? What does it mean to say that the darkness did not comprehend the light?

Lexical notes

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Verses 1-2

The Greek word translated "beginning" has a variety of meanings. For example, it can mean "first in time," "ultimate principle," "ruler," or "norm." Thus, a person who spoke Greek would hear not only the meaning we get in the translation ("In the beginning was the word"), but also the connotations created by these other meanings. Those connotations would have influenced how a person reading John when it was first written would understand the passage. The implication of those connotations would be that Christ is the ultimate principle, standard, or ruler, a ruler who has existed, in the presence of God, from the beginning.

The Greek word translated "Word" is logos. It has two broad meanings: (1) the explanation or revelation of something (including meanings like "account," "speech," "proportion," "relation," "measure," and "mind"), and, (2) the most essential element of things, the things that makes every other thing intelligible. (The latter broad meaning gives rise to specific meanings like "revelation," "law," "truth," "knowledge," "virtue," "nature," and "spirit.") The root of the word logos is the verb legein, "to gather."

Though John writes in Greek and seems to be addressing a primarily Greek audience, he is probably also depending on the Old Testament use of the word "word." (See the New Testament footnotes for more information.) For us, given the way English works, a word is a sign of a thing, a concept. But in the Old Testament, God’s word refers more to an event or a deed than it does to a concept. A word is what does something. As a result, in the Old Testament, "word" usually refers to prophetic revelation and, often, specifically to the Mosaic Law. It refers specifically to the giving of the revelation rather than to its content. In line with this, "word" also can refer to the word spoken to create something, as in Genesis 1:1. (We can see this use of word in Ezekiel 37:4 and Jacob 4:9, and, by implication, in Isaiah 40:26.)

The phrase, "the Word was with God," can literally be translated "the Word was before ['in front of,' 'in the presence of,' or even 'toward'] God."

The order of the words in the Greek exhibit a literary form known as Climax or Gradation:

 In the beginning was 
   the Word: and 
   the Word was with 
     God: and 
     God
       the Word was, and
       the same [word] was in the beginning with God.

Verses 4-5

Notice that the verse in verse 4 are in the past tense and the last verb in verse 5 ("did not comprehend") is also in the past tense, but the first verb in verse 5 ("shines") is in the present tense.

The Climax form is used again:

 In Him was
   life; and the
   life was the
     light of men. And the
     light shineth in
       darkness; and the 
       darkness comprehended it not.

Verse 5

• Comprehended. The Greek word katelaben means "to seize" (possibly with one's mind), "to make one’s own," or "to overcome." (See the NT footnotes and the NET footnotes.) The NRSV rendering is "And the light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

Exegesis

Verses 1-18

It appears that John has used an existing hymn to open his gospel, inserting commentary at a few points in the hymn. Verse 1 of the hymn: verses 1-2; verse 2 of the hymn: verses 3-5; verse 3 of the hymn: verses 10-12; Verse 4 of the hymn, verse 14; verse 5 of the hymn, verse 16. The other verses (6-9, the last part of 12, 13, 15, 17, and 18) are probably commentary on the hymn.

Verses 4-5

In the Old Testament, the word "light" usually refers to experienced brightness; it refers to experience rather than to a thing or a state. Therefore, the word "light" also refers to salvation, our experience of being in the right relation with God or our experience of our relation with God made right. God is our light (Psalms 27:1): he enlightens us by making our salvation possible (Psalms 97:11). The contrast of light and dark is not as important to the Old Testament (or to the B.C. part of the Book of Mormon) as it is to John; in making that contrast John seems to introduce an essentially new element. In the Gospel of John, light stands at least for revelation (see John 12:36) and, therefore, also for the Revealer (John 1:5?, 8:12, 9:5, and 12:46).

Related links

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