Jesus' Real Beginning
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1.
Here is the real beginning of the Jesus story. Whereas Matthew and Luke commence their Gospel with Jesus' miraculous birth and Mark with the inauguration of His ministry, John takes his readers back to the beginning of beginnings.
And what was that? A first thought is to go to Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." But that is not where John 1:1 starts. After all according to verse 3 Jesus already existed before the Genesis creation, being an active agent in it (cf. Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2).
As a result, with a stroke of his pen John draws our minds not back to the Creation story of Genesis 1, but to the vast eternity before Creation and the place of Christ the Word within that boundless infinity of time. Ellen White captures the depths of that eternity when she writes that Christ "was equal with God, infinite and omnipotent....He is the eternal, self-existent Son" (Evangelism, p. 615). When John says "beginning," he means the real beginning before the creation of anything.
The apostle goes on to make two other statements about the Word. The first is that He was "with God." The flow of the fourth Gospel helps us understand that "withness." It pictures Jesus as being at the Father's side (John 1:18), the Father placing everything in His hands (John 3:35), He and the Father being one (John 10:30), and so forth throughout the gospel story. Thus John's second declaration about the Word, when combined with the first, presents Christ as the Word who from all eternity has enjoyed a profound intimacy with the Father.
The last declaration about the Word equates Him with God. Here it is important to note that John is not saying that Jesus is the Father. After all, his Gospel presents the two as distinct individuals capable of talking to and about each other. Thus both the Father and the Son are identified in Scripture as "God" (cf. Heb. 1:18.). We might say that They share the same family name (God) but with different functions.
Father, as we bow before You in prayer our minds are profoundly affected by the fact that the Baby born as Jesus of Nazareth is none less than eternal God. Thank You for the Gift of all gifts. As we continue our study, help us to begin to grasp the meaning of that gift for our world and our lives.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1.
Here is the real beginning of the Jesus story. Whereas Matthew and Luke commence their Gospel with Jesus' miraculous birth and Mark with the inauguration of His ministry, John takes his readers back to the beginning of beginnings.
And what was that? A first thought is to go to Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." But that is not where John 1:1 starts. After all according to verse 3 Jesus already existed before the Genesis creation, being an active agent in it (cf. Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2).
As a result, with a stroke of his pen John draws our minds not back to the Creation story of Genesis 1, but to the vast eternity before Creation and the place of Christ the Word within that boundless infinity of time. Ellen White captures the depths of that eternity when she writes that Christ "was equal with God, infinite and omnipotent....He is the eternal, self-existent Son" (Evangelism, p. 615). When John says "beginning," he means the real beginning before the creation of anything.
The apostle goes on to make two other statements about the Word. The first is that He was "with God." The flow of the fourth Gospel helps us understand that "withness." It pictures Jesus as being at the Father's side (John 1:18), the Father placing everything in His hands (John 3:35), He and the Father being one (John 10:30), and so forth throughout the gospel story. Thus John's second declaration about the Word, when combined with the first, presents Christ as the Word who from all eternity has enjoyed a profound intimacy with the Father.
The last declaration about the Word equates Him with God. Here it is important to note that John is not saying that Jesus is the Father. After all, his Gospel presents the two as distinct individuals capable of talking to and about each other. Thus both the Father and the Son are identified in Scripture as "God" (cf. Heb. 1:18.). We might say that They share the same family name (God) but with different functions.
Father, as we bow before You in prayer our minds are profoundly affected by the fact that the Baby born as Jesus of Nazareth is none less than eternal God. Thank You for the Gift of all gifts. As we continue our study, help us to begin to grasp the meaning of that gift for our world and our lives.
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