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2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES

Wednesday in the Word

Second Baptist Church

May 7, 2025

John 1:1-34

  1. Chapter 1:1. Matthew and Luke begin with the birth of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus, and Mark begins with the ministry of John the Baptist. John goes all the way back to “the beginning.” The first words of John’s Gospel mirror the first words of Genesis. John’s gospel is a faith statement about the preexistence of the SON. In the beginning of Genesis there are three things: God, the spirit and his word prior to creation. John wants us to know that before Jesus came in the flesh he existed in the beginning as the very word that was spoken from God. In this first chapter of his Gospel, John does not mention the name “Jesus” until verse 17, and then not again until verse 29. He does not say, nor can he, that “Jesus” was in the beginning. “Jesus” is the name given to the God-man, born of the virgin Mary. It is His human name, which is given Him only after His incarnation. Before he came in the flesh he existed. Before He took on human flesh, “the Word” existed eternally as God, and in fellowship with God the Father. John uses the term the Word. That term is LOGOS to mean the logic or thought of God. Jesus is the thought of God, the word of God, the will of God. In essence God. John attempts to explain that the will of God was with and independent of God at the same time. Two.yet one. One yet two in complete harmony. Separate yet unified. God’s very words are God himself. God’s words are in essence God.

  2. Verse 2. John gives the Word his own personality. John says “He was with God.” The gospel writer is conveying that there is a distinction in God between God and the Word of God. What John tells us in the first two verses of his Gospel is mind-boggling: Jesus is God. Before He took on human flesh, “the Word” existed eternally as God, and in fellowship with God the Father. Our Lord is God. He is eternal. He existed in the very beginning, and He has ever existed with the Father. The God who created the universe is the One who was found lying in a Bethlehem manger. Our Lord did not “begin to be” in Bethlehem. He did not even have His origins in Genesis 1 and 2, when God created the world. He was there; He already existed when the world was created. He was there with God. He was there as God. The Word may have had a beginning, but it wasn’t when we began.

  3. Verse 3. John goes on to show that our Lord was not only present at the beginning, but He was the source of all that had a beginning. The “Word” was not passive, but active, the One through whom all things came into existence. He was not created; He was the Creator. He did not merely create all things for God, He created all things as God. All things came into being through Him. The “Word” spoke, and all things came into existence. As the Creator, He is the origin, the source of life.

  4. Verses 4-5. The first thing that God created in the beginning was Light. Light brings Life. In the first creation, light proceeds life. Life needs light. Jesus is the Light. This was the first beginning. In this second beginning God will bring forth light again, but this time the light will be his Word in the flesh. When the “Word” came into the world, the world was in a state of chaos, spiritually speaking. When the “Word” appeared, He was the “light” that illuminated the darkness, revealing the righteousness of God and exposing man’s sin. This had the effect of separating the “light” from the “darkness.” John introduces “light” as a theme that will recur throughout this Gospel (John 3:18-21; 5:35; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36; 12:46), 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, Ephesians 5:7-14, & Philippians 2:14-16.

  5. Verses 6-8. John turns his attention to John the Baptist. John the gospel writer probably was a disciple of John the Baptist. John the gospel writer is explaining how he first followed John, but then began to follow Jesus. John the Baptist’s ministry pointed to Jesus. John the Baptist’s task was to bear witness to the “light.” John came as a witness to the “light,” that all men might put their trust in Him. He was not the light, but only a witness to the light. The writer wants to make clear to his readers that John the Baptist and Jesus were not the same person. Many spread rumors that Jesus was John the Baptist reincarnated.

  6. Verses 9-11. John himself is not the light to which he bears witness. The light to which he bears witness is the true Light. He is the fulfillment of all that “light” foreshadowed. The “Word” is the source of light; He is the One who called light into existence (Genesis 1:3). After the creation account in Genesis, “light” becomes a prominent Old Testament theme. 2 Samuel 23:4, Psalm 18:28, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 104:2, Isaiah 9:2, Isaiah 10:17, Isaiah 42:16, and Isaiah 49:6. When John tells us that Jesus is the “light,” he is telling us that our Lord is the fulfillment of Israel’s hopes, realized in Messiah, who was symbolized and characterized by light in the Old Testament. Jesus is the “true light,” that is, the final consummation of that “light” foreshadowed in the Old Testament. The appearance of the “true Light” established a standard of righteousness which exposes the sins of those who walk in darkness. The “true light” came into the world, but the world’s response to that light was not what we would have hoped. The Word, who existed before the world was created, who brought the world into existence, who brought forth the light, came into the world which He made and yet the world did not know Him. The one who was both the Word and the Light came into the world He created, and this world did not recognize him nor want Him.

  7. Verses 12-13. There is good news. The rejection of “the Light” by His own people did not at all thwart the purposes of God. All did not reject him. Those that received him were given rights. Those who receive Him are given the authority to be called God’s children. John separates God’s creation and God’s children. Everyone was created, but only those who receive Jesus become his children. John uses three expressions to describe a person’s human origins. John wants to make sure his reader understands that just being born by human parents does not entitle one to being God’s child. One must receive Jesus to be born anew as a child of God.

  8. Verses 14-18. Until now, the One John has been introducing to us has been identified only as “the Word.” This “Word” is also the “Light” which shines upon men. Illumination can occur from a great distance, as the light of the sun shines on us from afar. But John is now about to tell us an astounding fact: the “Word” became flesh and lived among men. Up till now we have not yet been told who this person is. This One John has been introducing is Jesus Christ. He is the One of whom John the Baptist bore witness. He is the One who is greater than all. He is greater than John the Baptist; He existed before him. He is greater than the law. He is “full of grace and truth” (verse 14). The law was a revelation of God, written in stone. The Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation of God, manifest in human flesh, who lived among men. He is the full and final revelation of God. The “Word” lived (tabernacled) among His people by adding perfect humanity to His undiminished deity. Thus He manifested His glory to men. God’s “glory” was once displayed by means of the tabernacle in Exodus 29:42-43 and Exodus 40:33-35.

  9. Verse 19. In the days of Jesus and John the Baptist, the religious elite were threatened by the ministry of John the Baptist. Baptism was not a new ritual to the Israelites. Baptism was one of the rituals by which Gentiles were brought into Judaism as converts. The problem with John the Baptist was that he was baptizing Jews. John was treating Jews as though they were lost sinners, in need of salvation. Jewish religious leaders had convinced their Jewish followers that simply being Jewish and keeping the Law (as they interpreted it) was sufficient to save them. John’s ministry and message said otherwise. The Jewish religious system was under siege, and the religious elite were looking to quiet John the Baptist. “The Jews” who send the delegation to investigate John the Baptist and his ministry are the religious elite of that day, Jews who hold positions of power which they are not inclined to give up. These men do not come to John personally, for this would acknowledge John’s importance. Instead, they send a lower level delegation of “priests and Levites” to John, telling them what to ask, and by so doing, send John a signal that they are in power: they are the ones who accredit the ministry of others. In their minds, they and they alone give permission to men like John to do ministry, and he can only operate with their permission and under their authority.

  10. Verse 20. Apparently they questioned him about being the Christ. John made it clear that he was not the Christ. John will answer all of the questions directed to him by pointing to the One that would come after him.

  11. Verse 21. Since John said he was not the Christ the delegation asked him who he was. Was he Elijah who was prophesied to return? John denies being Elijah. We know from the other Gospels that Jesus called John the Elijah that would come. This would seem to be a contradiction. Jesus was referring to the fact that John would be like Elijah not actually Elijah. John is a kind of Elijah, who comes in the spirit and power of Elijah, fulfilling (or partially fulfilling) the prophecy of Malachi 4. John both is and is not Elijah. He is Elijah in spirit; he is not literally Elijah in the flesh. The delegation then asks him if he is the Prophet. John answers by saying he is not that Prophet either. The jews were referring to the Prophet spoken about in Deuteronomy 18:15-19. This “Prophet like Moses” is not John the Baptist; He is the One for whom John is the forerunner, the Messiah. And so John quickly responds “No” to their question about him being this Prophet.

  12. Verses 22-23. The delegation gets upset and demands John to give an answer to who he is and what is his ministry all about. John quotes Isaiah 40:3 referring to the one who would come ahead of the Messiah.

  13. Verses 24-27. If John is not the Messiah, not Elijah, and not the Prophet, then what in the world is he doing baptizing? John answers by stating that he is getting people ready for the one who will come after him. He is like a person that plows a field prior to a person planting seed. John’s ministry is just one of preparation for the one who will come baptizing with the Spirit. John continues to state that the one coming after him is so worthy that John isn’t fit to untie his shoes.

  14. Verses 29-34. John did not know who Jesus was until he baptized him. It was then that he saw and heard that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God. John knew the Messiah was coming, but did not know when or how. When he sees Jesus it is revealed to him that he is the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world. John now knows that he was baptizing so that Christ would be revealed through the baptism. God revealed the true identity of Jesus on the day of his baptism by declaring from heaven that Jesus was his Son, and sending the Holy Spirit to fall on him. John witnessed this and is now declaring that Jesus is the Christ; the one he was sent to go ahead of.

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