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for the reading of God’s word. This evening’s passage is from John chapter one, which you can find on page 1053. This evening’s message will be primarily on verses one through five, but in order to get the fuller context, we’re gonna read from verses one through 18. John chapter one, verses one through 18. Hear now the word of the Lord. 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 were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, this was he of him who I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Let us pray. Lord, we thank you once again that you have preserved your word for us. That through your word, we can come to know you. And through your revealed will, and through your revealed son, we can come to know you in an intimate way. That once again, because of what your son Jesus Christ has done for us, we can worship you and commune with you. Lord, I pray that as we read your word this evening, that you would use it to draw us closer to you, that you would use it to deepen our understanding of you and our love for you. And I pray, oh Lord, that you would strengthen me, that I would speak clearly and that I would speak only the truth, that these words would be a blessing to your people and that they would be a comfort to them. In Jesus’s name, amen. You may be seated.

Well, this passage this evening from John chapter one is perhaps one of the most important passages that the church historically has referred to when discussing the deity of Christ and the Trinity. As such, much ink has been spilled, analyzing every word and every sentence of this prologue. My goal tonight is not to rehash every argument or to bring out the complete depth of the passage. Because as my systematics professor once said about John 1, you could spend a lifetime studying John chapter 1 and you would still learn something new each time that you return to it. Every sentence in our passage this evening is pregnant with theological and practical significance. Literarily and theologically, this is one of the greatest and most beautifully constructed passages in the New Testament.

John chapter one, verses one through 18, which is the prologue or the introduction of the gospel of John, has within it, even within the introduction, a brief summary of the coming good news, which John is to tell us about the son. In verses one through five, which will be the focus for us this evening, John gives us a brief summary of the gospel of John. And it echoes the purpose statement that he gives in chapter 20, verse 31, where John writes, 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 him. John shows us in his gospel, according to John, two things. First, that Jesus Christ, the man, is truly God. And second, that he has come into this dark world to be a light and to save his people from their sin. And this will be our outline for this evening’s passage. First, Logos, i.e. the word, the eternal son of God, and secondly, Logos, the word, the light and life of the world. Let’s turn now first to Logos, the eternal son of God, from verses one through three.

If an unbeliever were to read 1 John, John chapter one, the terminology that John uses here would seem quite odd to him. The ESV, which translates the Greek here as Word, would seem quite odd to someone reading it for the first time. In verse one, for example, it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But what does this mean? What does it mean that the Word was with God and the Word was God? How can a Word be with God?

Well, if you look down at verse 14, which we read, it says this, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father. In other words, this word is not an abstract principle or ideal. This word is a personal being. This word, as we will see later, refers to Jesus. So why does John refer to Jesus as the word? Why not something like the Messiah or the Son or any of the other countless terms that are used to describe Jesus in the New Testament?

I’m sure some of you have heard the explanation that John chapter one is an attempt to meld Greek philosophy with Christian understandings of Jesus. And under this view, they argue that John has been reading or has an understanding of the Greek understanding of the Logos. And from that, he uses that term and applies it to Jesus. The problem with this understanding is that those who argue this, argue that John somehow brings in meaning from the outside.

But this denies the fact that the scriptures are wholly different from other pagan philosophy. And secondly, the other problem is that as the proponents point out, the word logos is everywhere in Greek philosophy of that time. It is so prevalent in fact, that it’s impossible to get any sort of useful unified meaning from the literature. So there’s no need to turn back to these pagan ideas about logos to understand what it means.

Because when John uses the word logos here, he’s not using it from the Greek meaning, but from the meaning used in the Old Testament. We can tell this for certain because what we saw in verse 14. In verse 14, John’s Logos is a personal and an embodied being. But in Greek philosophy, it refers to a impersonal ideal, not a person who became man. So if it’s not from Greek philosophy, where is it from?

The answer is it lies in the Old Testament as so much of the New Testament relies upon. Let’s now look at several of these Old Testament passages together. Please turn with me to Jeremiah chapter one. We’re gonna read from verses four through five. Jeremiah chapter one, verses four through five. Jeremiah chapter one, verses four through five.

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations. Notice the text here does not say that the Lord came to Jeremiah and said to him, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

No, it says that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. The subject that is doing this action of drawing near to Jeremiah and bringing him this word is the word of God. Meaning that Jeremiah is treating this word as a personal being that acts and draws nears and speaks to his people. Now, if this was a one-off in the Old Testament, you might be justified in seeing it as a metaphorical meaning. that maybe Jeremiah is just using this in a metaphorical sense. But another more pertinent example can be found in Psalm 33. Please turn there with me. Psalm 33, verses four through six. Psalm chapter 33, verses four through six.

For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. But by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth, all their hosts.

He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap, and he puts the deeps in their storehouses. Verse six of this Psalm 33 teaches us exactly what John teaches us in John chapter one. That is that through the word, God made heavens and earth. The agent through which God made the heavens and the earth is the word.

There are many examples just like this that can be found throughout the Old Testament. If you want to do further reading, you can read chapters like Proverbs 8, Psalm 107, and 1 Samuel 3 verse 21. All of these passages reveal something to us, a different aspect about the word in the Old Testament. So then the word logos, the word word in the Old Testament can be understood as the agent or the person through which the father carries out his will, his creation, his revelation and his salvation.

And thus there’s no reason to look to Greek philosophy for an answer because the word already exists in the Old Testament. Now going back to John chapter one, we see John picking up on this theme of the word proceeding from God and being an agent of him. John begins this verse, verse one, by saying, in the beginning was the word. And this of course brings us all back to the creation narrative that we just read. Our scriptures, the Bible, begins with the words, in the beginning was God.

These words are some of the most famous words of the Bible, perhaps outside of John 3.16 and more recently, judge not lest ye be judged. It is clear that this beginning in John refers not to the beginning of the gospel or to any time in existence, rather it refers to a time at the beginning of time.

And that is to say that Jesus existed before time began. When God created heaven and earth, when time itself began, the Word already existed according to verse one. The Word, therefore, is prior to time itself. In other words, the Word, Jesus Christ, is eternal. John goes on.

The Word was with God. So not only was the Word existing prior to time and prior to creation, but He existed in relationship with God. Some translators translate this as the Word was face-to-face with God, meaning that He was in an intimate relationship with God.

So we learn here that the Word did not exist apart from God, but that He existed with God and in communion and fellowship with Him. But this also means that, at least in some sense, the word is separate from God. We’ll explain this a little bit more later. Because how can something exist with something else while also being that thing? So far, we’ve learned that the word existed prior to time itself, and that he is not identical with God, but that he had intimate communion and relationship with God.

And John goes on, he says, the Word was God. But wasn’t the Word with God? How can the Word both be with God and God at the same time? Well, without getting too technical, what the Greek shows us is that John is not saying that the Word is exactly God.

In the same way, for example, in verse 14, when John says that the Word became flesh, it does not mean that the Word makes up all of flesh. It means that Jesus became flesh. He took on the nature of man. And this is clear because there are other human beings besides Jesus. In the same way, the second person of the Trinity, just as he became a man and took on that nature, in verse one, when it says that he was God, it does not mean that he was everything that God is, rather he shared in the same nature as God. So the Word eternally existed and always has been in loving communion with God, while at the same time being God, being a part of, we might say, the Godhead. Many theologians suggest that this latter part of the verse should be translated as, the Word was in His nature God. That is to say that he shared in his essence, in his nature, the same nature as the other persons of the Godhead.

One passage that we can read that hopefully will clear some things up is 1 Corinthians 8. Let’s turn there now. 1 Corinthians 8, verses five and six. We read this this morning, if any of you were here when Dr. Gidley was teaching. 1 Corinthians 8. verses five and six.

Paul writes, For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we exist.

Here Paul proclaims that there is indeed only one God. This is, of course, the same confession that has been brought to us and revealed to us from all of the Old Testament and the New Testaments. There is truly only one God. And yet, according to Paul, there are two persons, the Father, who is the source of all things, and the Son, through whom all that exists came into being. In other words, both in Paul, in 1 Corinthians, and in John, in John 1, they are both teaching that there is only one God. we only worship one God. Yet in God, there are two persons, the Father and the Son, or in John chapter one, the Father and the Word.

And from other passages, we see, of course, that there is a third person, the Holy Spirit. But going back to our chapter this evening, John has established that the Word has always existed, that he is in communion with God, and that he himself is God. John goes on then to establish the fact that this relationship between the Godhead, between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is an eternal relationship. This is what he says in verse two.

He was in the beginning with God. In other words, there’s never been a time when the relationship between the Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has not been. They have always had communion with one another. and they have always loved one another. They have always had perfect union and perfect communion that is bound in love.

As a side note, one of the strongest arguments outside of exegesis, outside of an exegetical argument for there being a Trinity is that the Bible reveals to us that God is love. If God in his essence is love, How can he love with just one person? For to love requires more than one person. While the Unitarians and Muslims can’t explain this source of love, Christians can. Because in Christianity, God has three persons who from eternity have loved one another. The Father loved the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Son loved the Holy Spirit and the Father, and the Holy Spirit loved the Son and the Father. In order to leave no doubt, John continues in verse three. He writes, all things were made through him and without him was not anything.

Now at this point, it should be clear to you that John is identifying the word as the eternal God. He’s communicated this in several different ways. He has shown that the word has always existed. Only God is eternal. He’s shown that the Word since before time was in communion with God, and this only applies to God. And lastly, he shares that the Word shares in the same essence as God. But John does not leave it there. He continues to show that Jesus was not only in communion, but he actually partook in the creation of this world. In verse three.

Now there are a lot of modern heretical sects which continue to teach things that were once already responded to by the early church. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, when they read passages like John 1, try to translate it differently than the ESV does. They translate it as, The Word was a God instead of the Word was God. Now, this isn’t the correct translation of the Greek, but we’re not gonna go into that. Without going into the Greek, we can all see that this is not the case.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses want to say that Jesus was a created being, that there was a time when he was not. But according to verse three, it says that all things were created through Jesus. This alone makes it clear that the Word cannot be a created being because all things were created by the Word. But just in case you may have an Arian or a Jehovah’s Witness friend who is unconvinced, John makes this point. Even stronger, he continues, without him was not anything made that was made. Now that’s a little bit confusing when you read it for the first time, but it means that in case there was something that you thought that was created outside of this all, I want to make it clear to you that I really mean all.

All things that were created were created by the word. John makes this clear, that the Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, is the agent through which God created all things that exist. Now what it means in detail that the Word is the agent of creation goes beyond our passage, but the point is this.

The Word existed in eternity past and in perfect communion with the other persons of the Trinity. And He participated in creating all things, the heavens, the mountains, the rivers, the beautiful oceans, and He created you and He created me. So the Word is God. He is one of the persons of the Godhead. And through that Word, all things were created. But what else can this word do?

John goes on in verses four through five to show us what else the word does. Let’s read verses four and five. John writes, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And this brings us to Lagos, the light and life of men. This theme, which John introduces here in verses four and five, continue to come out over and over again throughout the gospel of John. And as we work our way through this gospel over the coming year, I want you to take note of how John uses these words. I hope you’ll remember this theme as we come back to it over and over.

John writes in verse four, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. Here John masterfully, beautifully transitions between creation and the new creation. In the word was life, in the sense that he brought life to all things. But not only that, he brings new life to those who are in darkness.

And this brings us to the second half of the purpose statement that John gives in chapter 20, by believing you may have life in him. Throughout John’s writings, having life is intrinsically linked to knowing Christ. One example can be found in 1 John. In 1 John, John writes, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you eternal life. Another more clear passage can be found in John chapter 17, verse three, where he says, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

The source of life has always been and can be the word. Man has no life without the eternal word breathing life into him. And man will not have new life, man will not have resurrection life unless that same word breathes in eternal life into us. And John goes on. The life was the light of men. Notice that John says that the word was the light of men, meaning that even prior to the incarnation, Jesus was already the light of man. The light has always existed for man to know and to draw close to.

When man sinned in the garden, he was plunged into darkness, and that same darkness exists today. And the only hope that we have as sinful man is the light which Jesus Christ has shown us. And that light is the eternal life that is offered to us in the gospel. The only hope that we have, or that anyone has ever had, is the gospel. It is to know the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ.

From the beginning. When man was plunged into darkness after he sinned, when Adam and Eve felt helpless and hopeless, God did not leave them without hope. He did not leave them without a light to walk through this dark world. God gave Adam and Eve a promise. In Genesis chapter three, he writes, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. The light, though faintly shown in darkness, there was hope for the people of God from the beginning that God would overcome sin, death, and the devil through this seed.

As the Old Testament unfolded, this light became clearer and clearer to God’s people. More and more was revealed about this coming Messiah. Until finally, we find that the light and life that had been prophesied of old has indeed come. The culmination of this light and light, of course, is the word himself coming to this earth.

Christ came to this earth to reveal God to man. He took on human flesh and walked among man. He lived a perfect life and died for our sins on the cross. And by rising from the dead, he conquered sin, death, and Satan. It is in his death and resurrection that we can find new life. Now just like Adam and Eve, and everyone who has lived since then, we live in a dark world. In every age, it seems to be, for those who are living in it, the worst age.

There is much which passes itself off as light and life in our world. There is much that promises us that it is light and life to us. If you listen to those who promote Eastern mysticism or Buddhism or any other ism which promises to solve the fundamental issues of life, they never actually offer true solutions. They offer coping mechanisms that help us to sear our consciences and to dull the pain which has pierced our hearts. But the Word of God, the second person of the Trinity, does not offer half measures. The Word of God brings us new life.

He brings complete foundational and definitive transformation to us who believe in him. He brings us eternal life so that we can be in communion with Him. He doesn’t bring us a life full of pain and suffering separated from the presence of our Creator. He brings us life eternal in the presence of He and the Father in communion with Him. He brings us something that no one else can offer, which is a relationship with our creator.

So let’s take a hold of this light. When the light is shown on us, let us follow it. Let us turn to our Lord. Let us put our trust in the word that has always existed and come to know the one who has given his life for us. Let us put our trust in the one who can truly give us new life. Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you that you have not left us in a state of darkness, that in Christ Jesus you have revealed to us life and light, that in Christ we have eternal life, that through Christ’s work on this earth and on the cross and in his resurrection, we can once again have a relationship with our creator, that we can come before you and we can bring our petitions to you, that we can come to you and we can call you Father. Lord, we thank you for this word, the eternal word that created all things, that gave all things life and gives us new life. I pray, O Lord, that we would no longer walk in darkness, but we would turn to the light and that we would live in it. I pray that you would bless us this week as we go forward from here, that you would strengthen us, that we would continue to walk in the light. In Jesus’ name, amen. Let’s rise and sing hymn 158. All praise to thee, my God, this night. Hymn 158.