John 1:1 Second Sermon
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1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Title: The Word was with God.
Title: The Word was with God.
About the writer
About the writer
John was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary John the Apostle
JOHN THE APOSTLE (Ἰωάννης, Iōannēs). One of the 12 apostles of Jesus. A fisherman at the Sea of Galilee who was called by Jesus and became a disciple and an apostle, along with his brother James. Possibly the author of the Gospel of John, 1–3 John, and Revelation.
JOHN THE APOSTLE (Ἰωάννης, Iōannēs). One of the 12 apostles of Jesus. A fisherman at the Sea of Galilee who was called by Jesus and became a disciple and an apostle, along with his brother James. Possibly the author of the Gospel of John, 1–3 John, and Revelation.
He was a fisherman at the Sea of Galilee who was called by Jesus and became a disciple and an apostle, along with his brother James.
It has been tradition that John the Apostle was the writer of this account.
A quick fact about this account is that John and his brother James are never mentioned.
A quick fact about this account is that John and his brother James are never mentioned.
John wrote five New Testament books. He wrote the gospel of John, the three short epistles that also have his name and the book of Revelation.
John wrote five New Testament books. He wrote the gospel of John, the three short epistles that also have his name and the book of Revelation.
John was 1 of three, out of the twelve, that were closest to Jesus.
John witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus who was with Moses and Elijah on the mount. Found in .
James and John were called the sons of thunder.
part of Jesus’ “inner circle” and, along with Peter and James, John was given the privilege of witnessing Jesus’ conversation with Moses and Elijah on the mount of the transfiguration (). His importance in the twelve grew as he matured, and after the crucifixion, he became a “pillar” in the Jerusalem church (), ministered with Peter (, , ), and finally was exiled to the island of Patmos by the Romans, where he received from God the majestic visions that comprise the book of Revelation.
Some have pointed out that this was descriptive of their personality.
An example of this can be found in
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 53 But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 And they went on to another village.
Another example can be found in .
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
Even though John struggled with his zeal, we see in the book of Acts that he became a “pillar” in the Jerusalem church (). He also ministered with Peter who had similar issues himself.
We see him in forbidding a man to cast out demons in Jesus’ name because he was not part of the twelve (). Jesus gently rebuked him, saying no one could cast out demons in Jesus’ name and then turn around and speak evil of Him. In , we see the brothers wanting to call down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans who refused to welcome Jesus. Again, Jesus had to rebuke them for their intolerance and lack of genuine love for the lost. John’s zeal for Jesus was also influenced by his natural ambition, as seen in his request (through his mother) that he and his brother be seated on Jesus’ right and left hands in the kingdom, an incident that caused a temporary rift between the brothers and the other disciples ().
and finally was exiled to the island of Patmos by the Romans, where he received from God the majestic visions that comprise the book of Revelation.
We see in the book of Acts that he became a “pillar” in the Jerusalem church (). He also ministered with Peter.
Some have noted that in the passages where it mentions “the disciple whom Jesus loved” that this was John.
Not to be confused with John the Baptist, the Apostle John is the brother of James, another of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Together, they were called by Jesus “Boanerges,” which means “sons of thunder,” and therein we find a key to John’s personality.
It may have been as some believed. And if so, then we can say that John was the one left with Mary at the crucifixion
We do know that John was exiled to the island of Patmos by the Romans, where he received from God the visions that were recorded in the book of Revelation.
We do know directly from the author the reason for this book.
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written 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.
Outline
Outline
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised II. Authorship
We should not pass over the curious fact that in this Gospel John and his brother James are never mentioned.
A quick fact about this account is that John and his brother James are never mentioned.
We should not pass over the curious fact that in this Gospel John and his brother James are never mentioned.
Outline
Outline
1: The Word (recap from last week)
2: Our focus: The Word Was with God
1: The Word (v.1)
1: The Word (v.1)
Last week we talked about why John used “the Word” here to describe Jesus.
In Greek philosophy, the term “word” or as they would say “logos,” was used to describe a principle that would bring everything together which would give everyone the wisdom to live.
They believed that by finding THE PRINCIPLE that this would unify and make sense of everything. Thus giving man the means to be one.
Speaking to the Greeks, John spoke of Jesus being the living principle who would bring everything together and that He is the One who holds all things together.
To the Jews who knew the Word as “the word of the Lord” spoken in the Old Testament, John was showing them that Jesus was not just a prophet. He was and is the Word of God Himself. Making Him far better than any prophet before Him.
Calling Jesus the Word was an admission that Jesus was there in the beginning. Before anything that was made there was God and the Word was God and was with God from the beginning.
By inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John is writing of Jesus as God in whom all things were made.
The Word which holds everything together is Jesus Christ. And the implication here is that since Jesus is God and because all things were made for Him, we can trust Him through anything.
That is what we arrived to when reading, “In the beginning was the Word.”
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The second point which is our main focus today speaks of the Word being with God.
2: The Word was with God (v.1)
2: The Word was with God (v.1)
This part of the verse shows us that Jesus who was and is the Word was with God. Meaning that Jesus the Son of God was with God.
Meaning that Jesus the Son of God was with God.
This is a good reminder of the doctrine of the Trinity.
In Article 2 - The Trinity
2-1. There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, the same in substance, eternally equal in power and glory.
This is also a reminder to guard ourselves from what is called Binitarianism.
Binitarianism is the belief that the one true God exists only as two Persons (the Father and the Son). And it teaches that the Holy Spirit is actually just another name for Jesus.
Binitarianism is the belief that the one true God exists as two Persons (the Father and the Son).
It teaches that the Holy Spirit is actually just another name for Jesus.
It also asserts that since the Holy Spirit is Jesus Christ it means then that the Holy Spirit came into the flesh.
This is not what the bible teaches.
Binitarianism teaches that the Holy Spirit is actually just another name for Jesus—more to the point, that Jesus is simply the Spirit incarnate.
The Word is clearly Jesus Christ, not the Holy Spirit.
In the incarnation we see the Son being sent by God the Father and the Son being led by God the Holy Spirit.
Which immediately refutes the Binitarian heresy.
What I want to do today is focus our attention to “the Word was with God.”
First, I want to look at the relationship of the Father and the Son.
Secondly, we will look at the relationship with the Son and the Holy Spirit.
It is very important to note that we cannot separate the Godhead. Nor can we divide them. What we will do today is see distinctions according to Scripture.
A: The Father and the Son
A: The Father and the Son
The first in looking into the relationship of the Father and the Son, is that they are equal in substance. As with the Holy Spirit.
The first in looking into the relationship of the Father and the Son, is that they are equal in substance. As with the Holy Spirit.
30 I and the Father are one.” 31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
It is important to note that Jesus and the Father are eternally equal in substance. Meaning that though they are distinct persons, The Father and the Son are God. The Holy Spirit is God and He shares equally with them the same substance.
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
We see clearly that Jesus is one with the Father and is equal with the Father. That is why Jesus said, “How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?”
It is very clear that the Father and the Son are equal in substance.
The second, in looking into the relationship of the Father and the Son, we see that the Father sent the Son.
The second, in looking into the relationship of the Father and the Son, we see that the Father sent the Son.
14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
The Father sent the Son. Which means that in the role of redemption (meaning the plan of salvation), the Son humbled Himself when sent by the Father. The Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world and He did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
The Father sending the Son meant that the Son lowered Himself.
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
This shows that in terms of status, man was made lower than the angels.
But this Psalm was prophetic in that it was pointing to Jesus Christ coming in the flesh.
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? 7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
Hebrews 2:
Jesus in being sent became lower than even the angels. Revealing to us his obedience and humility.
What an example!
The Word who was with God became a man! He lowered Himself from sitting on the highest place to the lowest place. Even lower than the angels that He created.
2 Corinthians
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
He was rich. He was with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
Yet for our sake he became poor. He became a man. Despised and shamed. He was betrayed and He suffered.
But by His poverty we became rich. Which doesn’t mean that we will have money, health, material prosperity, luxuries or earthly gain.
Being rich means to be with God. That is what it meant for Jesus to be rich. He was with God.
This is truly what eternal life is. It is not living forever.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Being rich is to know God. To be with God. This is what eternal life is!
Jesus in being sent by the Father has guaranteed this to those who come to saving faith!
Because of the Father sending the Son and the Son becoming a man, humbling Himself and lowering Himself, we become rich because it was through the life of the Son that we have come to salvation.
Jesus who was with God was sent to die so that we could live eternally with Him.
Jesus who was with God, left to bring us into fellowship with God.
The last, in looking into the relationship of the Father and the Son, we see that the Father loves the Son.
The last, in looking into the relationship of the Father and the Son, we see that the Father loves the Son.
English Standard Version Chapter 1
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
This is one of the most stunning truths of all of Scripture.
The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father.
In the Trinity each person of the Godhead loves one another. And this was always how it was.
So what God the Father did in sending His Son was to include us in fellowship with Him. To be loved forever.
The Word (the Son) was with God. And because He came to live a sinless life and die, by Him giving His life as a ransom for many, we have come into fellowship with God.
This is a stunning truth because apart from saving faith we were not with God.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
We were not with God.
We were dead in trespasses and sins
We were following the course of this world
We were following the prince of the power of the air
We were sons of disobedience not sons of God
We lived in the passions of our flesh
We were carrying out the desires of the body and the mind
We were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
By sending His Son we were made righteous! We were made alive in Christ!
And this is done by the power of the Holy Spirit!
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
B: The Son and the Holy Spirit
B: The Son and the Holy Spirit
The Word being with God in the beginning means that God the Son was with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
The first, in looking into the relationship of the Son and the Holy Spirit, we see that the Holy Spirit worked in the incarnation.
The first, in looking into the relationship of the Son and the Holy Spirit, we see that the Holy Spirit worked in the incarnation.
The last, in looking into the relationship of the Father and the Son, we see that the Father loves the Son.
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
From the Holy Spirit Jesus came in the flesh.
This disproves the idea that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were the same person.
The Holy Spirit in the incarnation, led Christ.
He descends on Christ at His baptism.
Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit before being led to the wilderness in .
Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit before being led to the wilderness in .
Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit in .
In the incarnation we see clearly the involvement of the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit.
The last, in looking into the relationship of the Son and the Holy Spirit, we see that the Holy Spirit implements the work of the Father and the Son.
The last, in looking into the relationship of the Son and the Holy Spirit, we see that the Holy Spirit implements the work of the Father and the Son.
The Holy Spirit is sent to bring conviction .
4 But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Remember ?
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
The Holy Spirit gives life and dwells in us. And He seals us!
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
God the Holy Spirit was with God the Son in the beginning!
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit has worked in redemption for His glory and our good!
The Father sent the Son, the Son sent the Holy Spirit and now the Holy Spirit resides in us and He seals us until the day of redemption!
This gave us the means to be with God where He brought us into eternal fellowship with Him!
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Close with and how God included us in the love.
The Word that was with God, Jesus Christ, prayed that we would become one. And in doing so, He has brought us into fellowship with God. To the point that we are loved even as the Father loved the Son!
Which proves that we who are with God now because of the finished work of Christ will be with Him forever. Loved forever and secure in Him forever!
Forever with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
CLOSE IN PRAYER!