Beyond The Basics

Transcript:

Welcome to the Gospel Thread Podcast. My name is Dan Snyder and I’ll be your host as we study the Bible to discover the story of the Gospel spread throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.

Well thanks for joining me for this episode as we get into the book of John finally. Thank you for all of those of you who joined me for the first Gospel Thread episode going through the entire book of John, just giving an overview. And now we’re going to get deep into the book this week.

And as you know, if you listen to the Beyond the Basics podcast, that is where the Gospel Thread came from. If you listened to that, you know that I’m going chapter by chapter. However, with this episode, we’re not going to cover the entire first chapter of John because it’s just too long, way too much to get through. So we’re going to split this chapter up. We’re just going to cover the first 18 verses of John chapter 1. This is what I call the prologue. If you listen to the last episode, this is the introduction to the book of John.

So, once again, if you listen to the Beyond the Basics show, where we went through the book of Genesis, obviously, the book of Genesis is all about the beginning of all things. That’s how the book starts out. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And as we went through the book, we saw that even then, even that book that had been written down thousands of years ago, it included a glimpse at the beginning of God’s plan of restoration for humanity, for the earth, restore humanity back to their status in the Garden of Eden. We see that in chapter three of Genesis, where he talks about the seed of the woman that would crush the head of the snake.

Genesis was the beginning of the planet we call earth, the universe, and humanity. It was also the beginning of the fall of humanity. It was the beginning of God’s plan of restoration. And now, in the book of John, in this very first chapter, in the very first sentence of the chapter, we’re going to find out that the fulfillment of that plan was already in place when that plan began. God had a plan in place already the day that Adam fell. God had a plan in place to restore him.

So, let’s get into the chapter.

First verse of the first chapter, the book of John says, the beginning was the Word. If you’ve spent any time reading the Bible, I’m sure you’re familiar with this phrase. If you haven’t, let’s take some time and talk about it. So, John begins his gospel the exact same way or a very similar way as the book of Genesis. Like I said, Genesis 1:1 says: in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now, John begins his gospel saying, in the beginning was the Word.

Okay, so Genesis says, in the beginning was God. John says, in the beginning was the Word. And then he goes on and says, the Word was with God and the Word was God. So, in the beginning is when John begins his gospel. In the beginning.

This is contrasted to the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Matthew starts his gospel with the family of Abraham, tracing the line of Abraham to Jesus. Mark starts his gospel right off with Jesus already in his ministry and calls him the Son of God. And Luke begins his gospel with Adam and his sons, tracing that lineage all the way to Jesus.

Okay, so you’ve got three different portrayals there. Matthew portrays Jesus as the Son of Abraham. Mark portrays Jesus as the Son of God. Luke portrays Jesus as the Son of Adam. All three very important portrayals of Jesus, all three very important aspects of who Jesus is. He’s the Son of Abraham. He’s Jewish. He’s the inheritor and fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. He’s the Son of God. He is directly sent by God to humanity, and He’s the Son of Adam. He is fully human. Fully God, fully human.

But now, in the book of John, we are presented with the idea that Jesus predated all of those. In fact, He was at the beginning. He was in the beginning. He was with God and He was God. He was already present at creation. Jesus is not created.

And if you’re curious, by the way, if you’ve never read the book of John, if you’re curious why John says “the Word” and I’m saying Jesus, I’m skipping ahead a little bit. John will equate the Word to Jesus. That is who the Word is. I’m skipping ahead a little bit. That’s what we’re going to find out. That’s who John is talking about here. We’re finding out that the Word was present at creation.

So again, Genesis told us in the beginning was God. In John, we’re told, in the beginning was the Word, Jesus. He was with God and was God.

So, why is the Word significant? Well, the Word was the means of creation. In Genesis 1:3, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. So, that’s how creation came about. It was through God’s Word.

And Hebrews 11:3 says, by faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

I mean, that’s a pretty astounding statement when you think about it. Consider that when you make something, it has to be made out of something that already exists, something that’s visible, right? I just made some raised garden beds for my family the last weekend and I had to take lumber that had already existed, cut it up to the size that I needed, screw it together, assemble it in the form that I wanted it to be in the shape of a garden bed. I had to take something that existed and was visible that I could touch with my hands and make it into something else that was visible that I could touch with my hands.

When you cook a meal, you take ingredients, raw ingredients, green peppers, rice, meat, whatever it might be, and you make it into something else that is also visible.

What the author of Hebrews is telling us is that God took something that is not visible, a word, and created what is visible, the universe. And this we understand by faith.

So it is the word that is the means of creation. A better way to say this is word in action. If I say, “Go,” and you go, that is a more accurate portrayal of what happened here.

If I say, “I want you to build these raised garden beds for me,” and you build these raised garden beds for me, that’s a more accurate portrayal of what is happening here, except for God didn’t have anybody that did it for Him. It just happened.

So then the author goes on to say, the Word was with God. So the Word is with God. The Word is distinct from God. The Word is not simply an attribute or a characteristic of God. We can’t say that God is Word-like. That wouldn’t make any sense. But there is God, and there is the Word that is with God.

So the Word was with God, the Word was separate from God, but also the Word was God. So the Word is distinct from God, the Word was with God, and the Word was indistinct from God. The Word was God.

The Word is in full unity and one with God, we’re told here. That’s what it’s saying. Hebrews 1, 1 through 4 is one my favorite passages in scripture. You can spend entire months probably just studying these few sentences. They’re one of the most detailed descriptors of who Jesus is. I love it. It says: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

So notice what the writer of Hebrews is doing. We’re told that God’s Son was the one through whom God created the world. God created the world through His Son. He is the glory of God. He is the exact imprint of His nature. Meaning there is full unity. There is no contradiction between the Son and the Father. They’re one. They’re the same. So you have full unity. The Word was God. And you have fully separate.

Even in this passage, it says: After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

So you have the same tension, you have the same seeming contradiction, or you have Jesus with God and also God.

Now, this sentence, this concept, contradicts the heresy of modalism. If don’t know what modalism is, modalism is a way of describing the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, as existing as one God in three modes, meaning God switches back and forth between these three persons. God cannot be both God the Father and God the Son at the same time. God is one, and so God is the Father. And then He came to earth as the Son, and then He departed earth, and now He resides on earth as the Holy Spirit. But He is not God the Father and the Holy Spirit at the same time. He is not God the Son and the Holy Spirit at the same time. He exists in modes. He is one God in three modes.

And this is a heresy. This is considered a heresy. And here’s why. This verse describes exactly why that’s a heresy. Because it says, the Word is both God and with God. He is God and with God. This makes it impossible for God to switch between modes. He can’t switch between God the Son, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, He is all three all at once. Just because it’s impossible for our minds to comprehend doesn’t make it less true.

There are some pretty prominent teachers out there that teach modalism. Keep an eye out for that. If you notice that concept slipping into their teaching, know that that is heresy and I recommend turning off their teaching and not listening to it anymore.

Okay, so. Why is this important? Besides all the different reasons I just went into, this is the introduction to John’s book. So he’s trying to tell us something very, very important before he introduces Jesus as the person, Jesus as the human being. What is he trying to say?

It means as we read about Jesus in this gospel, we need to understand and keep in mind that as we read about him, that these are the words and actions of God, not just a man. There are going to be times when Jesus talks about his Father, and we need to be reminded that this is not just a man talking about his heavenly Father. It is God talking about himself. Especially because there are so many times where the Jews get into arguments with Jesus about who he is and his claims to be one with the Father.

It’s going to be very important for us to be reminded in the very first sentence of this book, this is who Jesus is. He is God and He is with God. He is one with God and He is separate from God. He is both God and man at the same time, fully God, fully man.

All right, so after all that, let’s move into verse 2. So, verse 2 says, was in the beginning with God. So now we’re not just introduced to the Word, now we’re told that the Word is a he. The Word is a person. The Word is not just a concept. The Word is not just an action. The Word is not just a thing that is spoken. The Word is not just a what. The Word is a who.

Which means it’s not just a word, not just a phrase, not just a spoken word that was used to create the world, but it was a person. Again, that person, that Word, was distinct from God, yet indistinct from God. At the same time, he was in the beginning with God. Genesis 1 tells us it was just God. John 1 tells us there’s somebody else there who was also God.

In verse 3, it says, all things were made through him. So God spoke the Word to create all things, but all things were made through who? Through the Word. Nothing was made without the Word’s involvement. All things were made through Him.

Then it says, without Him was not anything made that was made. So God did not create anything without the involvement of the Word, without the involvement of Jesus. And this is basically just a repeated concept in the negative from the first clause of this verse. All things were made through Him. Without Him was not anything made. So you’ve got that contrast, the positive and the negative, to show there is no way around it. Everything in existence was created through Jesus.

Now, if you read the New World Translation, which is the Jehovah’s Witness Bible, this is a very easy deception to get into. Their version says: apart from Him, not even one thing came into existence. The implication being that Jesus was created and then He proceeded to create everything with God.

Make no mistake, Jesus was not created. It is very clear in the Bible, in a proper translation, that Jesus was in the beginning with God and was God. He was not created and then goes on to create everything else. It’s not what happened. The author of the Gospel of John tells us very clearly in a proper translation that does not have an agenda that the Word was God, the Word was with God, and all things were created through Him, without Him nothing was created. If it weren’t for Jesus, we wouldn’t even exist. Nothing would be here.

So again, beware of that deception, especially if you have Jehovah’s Witnesses that regularly come to your house. Be aware that they’re going to twist that because that’s how their translation of the Bible translates it. It’s not a correct translation.

If you have been involved with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, please get a good translation. Look into this. Read a translation with reputable scholars. Any mainline translation will do. It can be the KJV, it can be the ESV, it can be the NIV, the NLT. There’s dozens of other great translations out there. Read one of them.

All right, so going on to verse four, it says: In him was life, both physical life and the breath of life.

Okay, so this is going to be a significant theme throughout the book of John, the theme of life, eternal life being found in Jesus. He is the carrier and provider of life because He is life. In Him was life. He is the originator of life.

In Genesis 2:7, we’re told: The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. That’s the ruach, the spirit life, and the man became a living creature.

Now, we’re told, in the Word is life. In Jesus Christ is life. Jesus Christ was even present at the formation of human beings, because nothing was created without Jesus.

It says, in Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

See, without Jesus, we’d be lost in darkness. He is the one who provides light. Just like without the sun, we would be lost in darkness and we would die because there’d be no heat, no warmth. We’d be in the same exact position without Jesus. We’d be in spiritual darkness and we would all die. There’d be no hope.

Now, this verse is important because it’s going to provide the context to the double meaning of verse 5.

So, in verse 4, we’re told that the light is life, that life was the light. And then in verse 5, it says, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. So, we see that light is life in verse 4. So, what is darkness? Death. Darkness symbolizes death, light symbolizes life.

And that’s going to be something to keep in mind as you read through the book of John, it is very, very common for John to use this duality of light and dark, life and death. We’re going to see it all over the place. So keep that in mind, keep those symbols in mind. We want to remember that as we read through the book.

So he says, light shines in the darkness. Now he says that in the present tense, the light shines in the darkness, but it’s just like the light that was called forth at creation. In Genesis 1:3-4, God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.

So, just like the light came at creation from God, from the Word, now, the author is saying, in the present tense, the light shines right now. When we receive that life, the light of men, Jesus Christ, it’s a new creation. It’s just like on that first day. It’s as if light is piercing through the darkness in our own hearts, in our own lives. You want to create something you like creating, there’s no greater creation than the regeneration of a human spirit when the light shines forth into the darkness. And that light comes from Jesus himself.

Revelation 22:5 says: Night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever.

It’s talking about a future reality when Jesus comes back to the earth and reigns. We won’t even need a sun because the light coming from Jesus is so intense, so bright, there will be no darkness. The light shines in the darkness.

Remember those symbols, light equals life, darkness equals death. So light shines in the darkness, life shines in the midst of death. Even though this world is filled with death and sin and decay, we see it all over the place. We see death all the time. We see sin all the time. We can’t avoid it. But Jesus came and brought life. Life shines forth in the midst of death. It’s a new creation.

Out of death, is brought life. And darkness can’t overcome it. Just like darkness can’t exist when a light switch is turned on. The darkness of the world has been defeated now that the light has come. It can’t exist.

Now, of course, we live in an age of the world that is already and not yet. Many of you have probably heard that descriptor. I’ve used it many times. It’s already and not yet. We live in a reality where there is still death and decay that is just hanging on. The darkness is hanging on. Just like sometimes you turn a light on in a room and depending on what you have in the room, sometimes there’s still shadows in the room. We’re living in that world where there’s still dark, dark shadows. And we’ll find out later on in the book why that is, because men have rejected the light.

But if we come to light, we can live in that already state where we no longer have darkness in us. We can live in that reality even now and then in a future day, and then not yet. There will be a day when Jesus will come back and all those dark corners, all those shadows will all be illuminated and there will be no more darkness.

But darkness can’t overcome light. It’s impossible as long as the light’s on, as long as the light is shining. And that will be the case.

In verse 6, we switch gears a little bit. It says there was a man sent from God whose name was John. Now it says John the Baptist and he’s only referred to as John in this gospel. In the other gospels, he’s referred to as John the Baptist. But the narrative makes it clear who he is because the narrative repeats many of the same story beats as the other gospels. We know this is John the Baptist, even though it just designates him as John.

And it says about John, he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. So, he came to tell others what he had seen. He bore witness as if he had seen the light before it came, which is exactly what he did. He came before Jesus began his ministry. He came before the light, but he bore witness about the light.

And this is going to be a theme throughout the entire gospel, this idea of the witness or a witness, a testimony. This is the first time that we see this word witness or bear witness. This is very, very important. It’s essential to understanding this gospel. John came to bear witness. John came to tell others before the light came that the light was going to come.

And in fact, today, we can hold a very similar ministry. We bear witness. That’s what that term witnessing comes from. If you’ve heard people talk about street witnessing or just, you know, witnessing about Jesus in general. That’s what that term is from. This is why we use that word, witnessing, because we have seen the light and we are telling others what we have witnessed. We have seen Jesus. Come and see. That’s going to be a phrase that we see later in this chapter. Come and see. Come and witness. I’ve witnessed. Now you come and witness. We can have this very same ministry as John the Baptist did, telling others about the light, bearing witness about the light.

It says, he is not the light in verse eight, but came to bear witness about the light. So he was a lamp, but not the light. In John 5:33-36, it says: “You sent to John and he is born witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from men, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me, that the Father has sent me.”

So John was a lamp. He was not the light. His witness only pointed to the greater witness of Jesus’ works, of the things that Jesus did once he came. And then even later in John 8:12, the author tells us that Jesus is the light, not John. He says: Jesus spoke to them saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Same phrase here as in this chapter. So just like John, we bear witness of the light to a dark world, but we are not the light. We are a lamp. The light shines through us, but Jesus is the light.

And verse nine says: The true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

He gives light to everyone, but there are still those who choose darkness. John 3 verses 19 through 21 says: And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, Jesus, and people love the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

There are still those who choose darkness. Jesus gives light to everyone. He is the true light. But you have to step into the light. You can’t just remain in darkness and expect that light to shine. You can’t remain in darkness and expect to receive life. The other gospels will describe this as repentance. The book of John describes it as belief. We’ll get into more into why that is as we go on. But you can’t stay in darkness. Staying in darkness results in death because darkness is death.

And then it says in verse 10, he was in the world and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

So he was there. He was in the world. He existed. He was walking around. He was working, probably as a carpenter or as a stonemason, more likely. But the world did not know him. They didn’t recognize their own creator.

It’s like a ray of sunshine falling on a blind man. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says: Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The world is blinded. Can a blind man see the sunlight? No. The world is blind. They can’t see the light of Christ. They don’t recognize Him. They didn’t recognize when He came the first time. They don’t recognize Him now. And the vast majority of the world will not recognize Him when He comes a second time.

Moving on to verse 11, He came to His own. So this is a more narrow definition than the world. It refers to Israel, God’s people. He came to Israel and His own people did not receive Him.

So Israel rejected Jesus when he came to them, not just now. Most of Israel rejects Jesus now, but in ages past, even before Jesus came. Israel has always had a problem with rejecting their own God. This has always been an issue with them. Jeremiah 7:25-26 says, “From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have persistently sent all my servants, the prophets to them day after day, yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.”

So, Jeremiah is saying, “Hey, from the day that you guys came out of Egypt, you rejected me. From the day your nation, the nation of Israel was formed, you haven’t even listened to your own God.”

And John continues that theme by saying Jesus came to His own, His own people, and they rejected Him. It’s like a person who goes to a friend’s house and knocks and the friend doesn’t even allow him to come inside. Or goes to give a friend a hug, but the friend backs away and refuses the hug. This is what Israel has done to Jesus, their own God. Jesus is Israel’s Messiah. I think those of us who are Gentiles forget that many times, but Jesus is Israel’s Messiah. He is the one that Israel has been waiting for, for thousands of years. And they reject Him. They reject the Word. They reject the life, reject the light.

But in verse 12: But to all who did receive Him, so there are some individuals who did receive Him, who believed in His name. So it’s more than just head knowledge because belief involves the will. It requires action or allegiance. That’s what I was talking about earlier when I mentioned repentance. It’s the same thing. John uses the word belief. The other gospels and Paul maybe would talk about repentance. But belief, if you believe something, you’re going to act on it. You’re going to do something about it. You’re not going to say you believe something and then just not do anything about it.

If you believe there’s a pot of gold hidden in your backyard, you’re not going to just not do anything about it. You’re going to go dig it up. Requires action or allegiance requires you to do something. So what does belief require us to do?

In this context it requires us to receive him. That’s the belief. That’s the action the belief requires. We must receive the light, allow the light to penetrate the darkness in our own hearts and in our own lives. And it says: To those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

See, we are not naturally God’s children, despite what popular culture might say. There are many out there, even many preachers that say we’re all God’s children. No, that’s not true. That’s not the truth. We are not all God’s children. Those who receive Jesus are adopted into God’s family. Once we receive him, we are given the right to become children of God. But we are not naturally children of God. We must receive Jesus. We must believe in his name in order to become children of God.

Just as the Word made all things in the beginning, the Word will now make us children of God. It’s a new creation. We are dark. We are full of death and sin. We receive the light. The light pierces the darkness. We are now a new creation. We are now children of God.

Verse 14. Now the author pivots again and says, the word became flesh. This is the absolute pinnacle of the prologue. We’ve been told about the coming of the light. We’ve been told the light is coming, the light is coming, the light was in existence. God sent someone who would tell us about the light, that the light is coming, and now we’re told the light has come. The exact nature of His coming is in the flesh, just like one of us.

And this answers both Greek and Jewish misconceptions about God. Remember, this is being written in the first century, and there’s a first century context. This wasn’t written in the 21st century, it wasn’t written in 2025. It’s written in the first century, and so we need to remember that this is taking on a first century context.

Greeks believed that gods were totally separate from humanity. And in fact, there was a group called the Decetics that believed that Jesus only gave the illusion of being human. So the Greeks would have believed, well, maybe God came, but He didn’t come in the flesh. He didn’t come as a person. He might have even given the illusion that He was here, but if he did come, which is doubtful, he wouldn’t have actually come as a person. This verse answers that and says, no, he came in the flesh.

The other group of people, the Jews, rejected the idea that God could become a man. Numbers 23:19 says: God is not a man that he should lie or a son of man that he should change his mind. Has he said and will he not do it, or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?

So, many Jews would use this verse to prove that God cannot become a man. That’s not what that verse is talking about. It’s saying that God is not flawed like a human being.

But the word flesh here is a very specific word. It doesn’t leave room for ambiguity. The word took on the physical stuff that we’re made of, bones and muscle and blood and skin. The word became flesh. The light, life came to dwell among us.

You see, the story of the Bible is over and over we see man trying to get up to God in heaven. Whether it’s to access God or whether it’s to take God’s place, we see it from the garden, we see it in the Tower of Babel, we see it in people sacrificing on the high places, all throughout the books of the law, throughout the history books. People would sacrifice, make sacrifices on mountains and hills on as high as they can get throughout human history. We’ve been trying to get up to heaven up to God where God is. But it’s impossible. Man can’t get there. God is unapproachable.

So what does he do? He comes down to dwell with man. God says I created you, I want to be with you, but you messed up and you can’t get here. So I’m gonna come down to you. One day, He’ll come and dwell with man permanently. He’ll come to earth and He’ll come to stay. Revelation 21:1-4 says: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Take confidence in this. We don’t have to try to get to heaven. God is coming down to earth. Jesus came. He will come again. He will dwell with us forever.

If you ever feel like you try so hard, you can never get it right. Be confident. You don’t have to work your way to heaven. You don’t have to work your way to where God is. Rest in the fact that Jesus will come to you. God will come to you. He will come to us in our humanity. He will come and dwell with us. But even now, he sends his Holy Spirit to dwell with us. He will send His Spirit to you, to dwell with you, to empower you, trust in Him.

Glory as of the only Son from the Father. In other words, the unique Son. See, we are adopted as heirs through faith in Jesus. Ephesians 1:5 says: He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will.

So we’re adopted. We receive Jesus, we are adopted. But Jesus does not need any such requirement. He does not need to be adopted because He is the only Son who came from the Father. All other sons come to the Father. So there’s the distinction there.

And He’s full of grace and truth. It refers to the only Son, not to His glory. There’s debate there about what that phrase, full of grace and truth, refers to. Does it refer to the Son or does it refer to the glory? I believe that, and most commentators and translators believe that it’s referring to the Son. He is full of grace. He is full of truth. He is grace. He is truth.

Moving on, verse 16, it says: For from His fullness we have all received.

Who is we? Of course, the author and his readers. That includes us today, John 20:29 says: Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

So there are those who have seen him and believed. There are many who have not seen and have still believed. We don’t have to be eyewitnesses. We don’t have to exist in the first century to be included in the we. It says we have received from his fullness.

The author here assumes that his readers have already received the fullness of Christ, which indicates that this gospel is meant to encourage in the faith and not necessarily to evangelize. Of course, it’s going to have evangelistic properties because it is a gospel about Jesus. However, this gospel should be just as useful, if not more useful, to encourage those who already believe, who already have placed their faith, who have already received the fullness of Christ.

When he says grace upon grace, or in other words, grace in place of grace, meaning there is a constant supply of grace. His fullness provides a constant supply of grace. Just like the manna that would fall fresh every morning in the desert. Exodus 16:21 says: Morning by morning, they gathered it, each as much as he could eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

So that phrase, morning by morning, is similar to grace upon grace. Just like the manna would be constantly refreshed each morning, we receive constant refreshment of grace from the fullness of Christ.

Then in verse 17, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

So we have a contrast between the law given by Moses and the grace and truth given by Jesus Christ. That doesn’t mean that there’s no grace and truth in the law. In fact, this is a common misconception that the new covenant is a covenant of grace and the old covenant is a covenant of the law and there is a inconsistency between the two or an incompatibility. Not true. Exodus 34:6-7 says: The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

The law was given by God, who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, abounding in faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. This is who God has always been. He has always been full of grace. He has always been full of truth. The law, the covenant of the law, does not contradict it. It is not incompatible with grace.

Instead, the law is fulfilled by grace and truth. The law could not provide grace, which is the means by which we are saved. We are saved by grace. The law couldn’t provide grace. It couldn’t provide truth, which is found in Jesus. But it is not incompatible with grace and truth. The law pointed to our need for grace, our need for truth found in Jesus. Jesus is the fullness of the grace and the truth found in the law. And John’s going to explore this theme in many ways. We’re going to see that as we go forward.

And now we get to verse 18. It says: no one has ever seen God.

Which seems like a contradiction because Abraham, Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel all saw God, but in context, we’re exploring the idea of the fullness of God. No one has ever seen God in his fullness. Abraham, Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel all saw God in part. No one has ever seen God in his fullness until Jesus came.

It says no one has ever seen God, the only God. Or in other words, the only one who is God, which is similar language to the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4-5. It says, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

So what he’s saying is Jesus is the one and only God. It’s not inconsistent with Jewish belief that there is one God, that God is one. Jesus is the fullness of the one God. There is no distinction between Yahweh and Jesus. He is one. And Jesus has now made Yahweh, the God of Israel, known among his people, the Israelites, the Jewish people.

That phrase made him known, in other words, he explained or interpreted the Father.

Now, that doesn’t mean that we should only get our theology from the Gospels. There’s ministries out there, very prominent ministries that will say Jesus is perfect theology and they will only get their theology from the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

That is not what this verse is saying. It’s not saying ignore the rest of the Bible. It’s not even saying elevate the Gospels over the rest of the Bible. It’s saying the God of the Old Testament is now revealed in Jesus in the New Testament. We need both. We can’t have Jesus revealing the Father if we don’t know who the Father is from the Old Testament. We can’t have Jesus interpreting the Father from the Old Testament if we don’t have the Old Testament to begin with. We need both.

All right. So we got through the first 18 verses of the book of John. There was a lot to get through. Now you can maybe see why I split this up into two parts, this first chapter.

So I’ve got a new segment that we’re going to do here at the end. Beyond the Basics podcast, I call this the segment where we point to Jesus. Now we’ve got a different segment. It’s going to be called the Gospel thread.

What is the Gospel thread? How do we see that the gospel has been threaded throughout the Scriptures as revealed in this chapter or in this half of chapter? We’ve talked about it many, many ways.

Of course, that Jesus is the eternal, uncreated God who is present at creation. Of course, God is the main character of the Bible. He’s introduced in the first sentence of the Bible. And now we see that God’s story throughout the Old Testament is the Son’s story as well. The Son came to reveal and interpret and make the Father known.

We see that Jesus came. Jesus came to dwell with man because it’s always been the Creator’s goal to dwell with His creation. He didn’t create us with the intention of just leaving us alone and letting us figure things out for ourselves. He always desired to dwell with His creation. He would walk and talk with Adam in the garden and that sin that occurred when Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, it separated Adam from God. But God came in the form of the Son to dwell with us once again.

Like I said, this has been a hope all throughout the Old Testament. This is something that the authors of the Old Testament were looking forward to the day when God would dwell with man again. You read the prophets and it’s all throughout the prophets. Now here he is, Jesus, the Son of God. He’s come to dwell with us.

Once again, we talked about creation being shrouded in darkness and chaos. It was in chaos in the beginning in Genesis 1:2. It says the earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Now, just as then, creation is chaotic, full of chaos and darkness, and the light pierces through that darkness. Just as God’s Word, “Let there be light,” pierced through the darkness at creation, now Jesus has come as a light, piercing through the darkness.

Jesus, the Word of God, Jesus has made the Father known. Now we can have a better understanding of who God is through Jesus. God revealed himself throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, but what better way to understand who he is than through a more relatable form than a human being, Jesus Christ. It’s not that he needs to relate to us better. It’s that we need to be able to relate to him. We need to be able to see him. We can’t see him. We can’t approach him, like I mentioned before.

Some of the fathers, they saw him in part, but they couldn’t see the fullness. They would die. Now we can see the fullness of who God is. We can see the fullness of the Father in Jesus Christ.

And lastly, Jesus came to complete what the law could not. The law was insufficient for salvation. The law was to point out our need for salvation. Romans 3:23-22 says: For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight.

We can’t do enough to justify ourselves. We can’t do enough to save ourselves since through the law comes knowledge of sin. It’s the law that gives us an understanding of what sin is. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. We understand our need for a savior because of the law. We wouldn’t even understand how bad we have it if it weren’t for the law. We need the law.

But the law is incomplete because it doesn’t have the power to save. Jesus is the only one who has the power to save.

All right. So with that, let’s get to our question for reflection. So think about this. Typically I would ask you to reflect on this over the next week, but as I’m releasing these episodes only about once a month for now, think about this over the next month. And if you’d like more questions for reflection, go ahead and you can download the study guide for free. I’ve got all the scripture references, all my notes on there, as well as several questions for reflection, along with many questions for further study that you can spend some time on. So you can download that from the website. I’m still posting these episodes on beyondthebasics.blog. That website is still active as well as you can sign up on Patreon, patreon.com/thegospelthread. If you subscribe for $4 a month there, you can download the study guide as I post the episodes there.

Speaking of which, if you subscribe on Patreon, you get this episode early. You get the episode in its entirety. I do cut out certain sections just to keep the length at a manageable level for the free listeners. Keeps it a little bit more focused on the main theme of each chapter. If you want to hear a little bit more information, I usually end up with about 15 to 30 minutes of additional audio that I leave in for the Patreon audience. If you want to hear that, go subscribe. Like I said, it’s $4 a month. You’ll get that as soon as it’s ready. As soon as the episode’s produced, I post it on Patreon. Free listeners will have to wait until the first of the month, or first Sunday of the month, I should say. And then you also will get the ability to give your input on which books of the Bible you want to hear me go through next. Right now I’ve got a poll up on the Patreon site, patreon.com/thegospelthread, and you can vote. I’ve got about five books there, I think, that I’m considering going through next. can vote on one of those books if you become a member. So become a member, you’ll be able to download this study guide when the episodes are posted.

If you want to just download the study guide for free. It’ll be the the Basics website, beyondthebasics.blog. Click on the episode there.

Let’s get to the question. And the question that I want to ask kind of goes off what we talked about at the end of the chapter here, at the end of the section, verse 17 and 18. What are some ways in which you have seen the fullness of God’s grace at work in your own life? How have you seen God’s grace? Reflect on how you’ve seen God’s grace at work in your own life. If you haven’t seen God’s grace in your own life, or if you have rejected God’s grace in your own life, I encourage you to spend some time meditating on the words in this chapter and in the book.

Go through, read through this book. As we’re going through it, read through it each month. If you want to follow along with the study, read through it. See who Jesus is. See what he does for those who believe. Don’t reject the light. Accept the light. Let the light of Jesus Christ drive out the darkness in your life.

Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for everything that you’ve spoken to us through these words written down so long ago. Lord, thank you that you came in the flesh, that you were there in the beginning, Jesus, and you came in the flesh to reveal the Father to us so that we could believe. And then you’re going to come again one day. I pray that each one who hears your word would believe. Each one who believes would receive the light of life. Lord, don’t let your word fall on deaf ears. Don’t let your light fall on blind eyes. Open the eyes of those who would see, open the ears of those who would hear, Lord. And for those who do believe, Lord, I pray that you would continue to reveal the Father. Thank you, Lord, for your word. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Well, thank you once again for listening. I encourage you to continue following along as I go through the book of John. We’ll finish the first chapter in the next episode. We’ll go all the way through verse 51. And from there, we’ll go chapter by chapter. I don’t anticipate any other chapters where we would have to split it up, but you never know. John is pretty intense, pretty in depth. So we’ll see how it goes. But please, please, please like the show, subscribe, give the show a five star rating, anything you can do to help out will be greatly appreciated, not for my sake, but for others’ sake, so that more people can find the show and hopefully hear the word taught and receive the truth that is found in Jesus Christ. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time.