The following matter are notes from which I taught my adult Sunday School class. They are posted here primarily for the benefit of class members who were not in attendance for the lesson.
John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) The same was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (4) In him was life; and the life was the light of men. (5) And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Verse 1: In the beginning
To what does this refer?
Genesis 1:1 — In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
What does this imply?
The second person of the Godhead is eternal.
He was in the beginning and pre-existed the beginning. V. 3 tells us he is the Creator of all things; therefore he has to pre-exist his creation.
John 17:5 — And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Hebrews 1:10 — And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:
Micah 5:2 — But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Isaiah 9:6 — For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
“As the eternity of God is the ground of all religion, so the eternity of Christ is the ground of the Christian religion. Could our sins be perfectly expiated, had he not an eternal divinity to answer for the offences committed against an eternal God? Temporary sufferings had been of little validity, without an infinity and eternity in his person to add weight to his passion.”— Stehen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God
The second person of the Godhead is uncreated.
Colossians 1:16-17 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (17) And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
If “by him all things consist", he must be excluded as a created being because it is impossible to create oneself.
NOTICE: John wrote, “In the beginning”; not from the beginning.
In the beginning was the Word
The Word was not a physical being (John 1:14 -And the Word was made flesh).
The Word was not Jesus. That name was given to him after his incarnation.
The Word is the thing spoken
"Logos is common for reason as well as speech." — Robertson
"Hence λόγος (logos) is, first of all, a collecting or collection both of things in the mind, and of words by which they are expressed. It therefore signifies both the outward form by which the inward thought is expressed, and the inward thought itself….” — Vine
Jesus Christ, the Divine Logos, is the physical manifestation of all that God says to the human race.
“and the Word was with God”
“with” = προς (pros); toward
speaks of
distinctness
intimacy
communication
“and the Word was God”
We will pick up with this clause next Sunday.
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