John 1:1-18: Jesus is not just a man

PDF Document of my tracing of John 1:1-18

According to John 20:31, the reason John wrote this book is “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  Keep this in mind as we examine John 1:1-18.  This passage may be broken up into two sections: verses 1-5 and verses 6-18.

Verses 1-5 – Jesus is the Word, Life, and Light.

John begins his presentation of Christ by going back to a time before time even existed as we know it.  John says that “In the beginning was the Word…”  Notice the past tense verb used in conjunction with the phrase “In the beginning was…”  Before the world was created, the Word existed.  In fact we see that the Word was the one who actually created everything.  The Word created everything that was created, therefore we may safely conclude that nothing created the Word.  The Word existed with God in fact the Word is God.  John is here setting the stage for his presentation of Jesus as the Son of God and presenting the claims for His deity.

John says that the Word contains Life.  The Life spoken of here is not normal everyday life, but spiritual life.  There is a difference between physical life and spiritual life.  Physical life is having breath in our lungs and a beating heart.  Spiritual life means being free from the condemnation of sin.  You see, sin brought death and death came to all.  All who sin are under the judgment of God and deserve the just punishment for sin.  The Word however is free from sin, free from the judgment of God and therefore does not deserve to die.  (This is an important aspect that makes the gospel clearer!)

The good news is that the Word has Life, but the better news is that the Word shares this life.  ”The life was the light of men…”  This life is meant to be given to us because of our current state of condemnation.  But take heart lest you feel that you are too far gone to receive this life, the life is a light that shines upon us and the darkness is powerless to stop it.  No matter how evil or far gone you feel you are, the life of the Word is able to come upon you.

As we shall soon see, the Word, Life, and Light are all Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Son of God!

Verses 6-18 - John’s testimony and the Revelation of the Word/Life/Light

A man named John (not the author of this book) came as a witness to the Light to be revealed.  He was not the Light but came to tell everyone that the Light was coming and to prepare themselves for that day by believing that this was from God.

This Light came into the world, the world He created, yet the world rejected Him.  The very people He created refused to believe who He was, but some did believe and they were given the right to become children of God.  It is important to see that one becomes a child of God not through heritage, or hard work, but through the grace of God.

The Word, the Life, and the Light are revealed as Jesus of Nazareth!  The Word became flesh, which means that the preexisting Word of God (the agent of creation) became born in a human body.  This magnificent, all-powerful God, came down from heaven and lived here among us!  Unbelievable!  What a thought!  He came to us to break the curse started in the Garden of Eden and to redeem mankind from our rebellion.  John saw His glory!  John saw Him as the special/unique Son of God, who is God.  Jesus is greater than the most godly man anyone at the time could imagine, John the Baptist.  For John himself said Jesus far outranks him.

Jesus, the Word, came not to bring law but to bring grace.  Jesus did not come to condemn because we are already condemned.  Jesus came to bring us the grace of God, which is life.  Jesus perfectly reveals God to us because He Himself is God.

Jesus is the Son of God and He is the Christ promised and my prayer is that you believe and by believing you may have life in his name.