|
LIFE OF CHRIST I
A Harmony of the Gospels
PROLOGUE
John 1:1-18
The Prologue is summed up with three thoughts:
| 1. |
(John 1:1-5) |
The Logos |
| 2. |
(John 1:6-11) |
The Logos disowned |
| 3. |
(John 1:12-18) |
The Logos acknowledged and regained |
Vincent adequately demonstrates the similarity of expression throughout
these 18 verses:
| "The Person whom the Apostles beheld, Who was
proclaimed by John the Baptist, and in Whom the Church believed, is
none other than He whose existence and supreme greatness have been
indicated by the title Logos. Thus the Prologue forms a compact, organic whole, of which the germinal thought is this: by the
Incarnation believers are restored to that communion with the Word,
and that living relation with God, of which man had been deprived by
sin." |
|
John 1:1-18
(1) In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2)
He was in the beginning with God. (3)
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made
that was made. (4) In Him
was life, and the life was the light of men.
(5) And the light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not comprehend it.(6)
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
(7) This man came for a witness, to bear
witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
(8) He was not that Light, but was sent
to bear witness of that Light. (9)
That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into
the world.
(10) He was in the world, and the
world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
(11) He came to His own, and His own did
not receive Him. (12) But as many
as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of
God, to those who believe in His name: (13)
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God.
(14) And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
(15) John bore witness of Him and
cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, ' He who comes after
me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"
(16) And of His fullness we have all
received, and grace for grace. (17)
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came
through Jesus Christ. (18) No one
has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom
of the Father, He has declared Him.
(NKJV) |
JOHN 1:1
The three clauses contain all that it is possible for man to realize as to
the essential nature of the Word in relation to time, and mode of being, and character:
| 1. |
He was |
IN THE BEGINNING |
| 2. |
He was |
WITH GOD |
| 3. |
He |
WAS GOD |
At the same time these three clauses answer to the three great moments of
the Incarnation in verse 4:
| 1. |
He who |
"was God" |
BECAME FLESH |
| 2. |
He who |
"was with God" |
TABERNACLED AMONG US |
| 3. |
He who |
"was in the beginning" |
BECAME (in time) |
IN THE
BEGINNING WAS: With
evident allusion to the first word of Genesis.
But John elevates the
phrase from its reference to a point of time
- in the beginning
of creation -
to the absolute Existence and Pre-Existence before the creation
which is not mentioned until verse 3. |
This beginning had no
beginning (compare v.3; 17:5; Eph. 1:4, Prov. 8:23).
Eight times in the
narrative of creation (in Genesis) there occur, like the refrain of a
hymn, the words: "AND GOD SAID." John gathers up all those
sayings of God in a single SAYING - living and endowed with activity and
intelligence, from which all divine orders emanate:
he finds as the basis
of all spoken words,
THE SPEAKING WORD. (See Col. 1:16, 17) |
| |
The root meaning is: to lay; then
to pick out, gather, pick up.
This led to the further use: to gather
or put WORDS together =
TO SPEAK.
Therefore logos is:
| 1. |
A Collecting or Collection of things of the mind |
| 2. |
Of Words by which they are expressed |
Regarding the Inward Thought, it is:
| 1. |
The Faculty Of Thinking and Reasoning |
(Heb. 4:12) |
| 2. |
Regard or Consideration |
(Acts 20:24) |
| 3. |
Reckoning, Account |
(Phil. 4:15, 17; Heb. 4:13) |
| 4. |
Cause or Reason |
(Acts 10:29) |
In Revelation 19:13, the conqueror is
named: THE LOGOS OF GOD
In I John 1:1 & 2, that which the
disciples saw and touched is called: THE LOGOS OF LIFE
It was a commonly used theological term at
the time; therefore it was used without explanation.
| HEALER |
(Ps. 107:20) |
"He sent his Word, and healed them" |
| MESSENGER |
(Gen. 15:1) |
"The Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision" |
| DIVINE PRESENCE |
(Gen. 3:8) |
"...they heard the voice (sound) of the Lord God
walking..." |
LATER JEWISH USAGE After the Babylonian captivity, Jewish theologians combined the
Theophanies (visual manifestations of Jehovah) and the Prophetic
Revelations into a single perception that they called: MEMRA.
MEMRA
| 1. |
Memra has the sense of a spoken work or
declaration. |
|
|
| 2. |
It is used in combination with the personal
pronoun:
| memri |
"my word" is equivalent to "I myself" |
| memreka |
"thou thyself" |
| memreih |
"he himself" |
|
| |
Example:
| "There is a covenant between me and thee." |
| "Kayema bein memri uvein memrika." |
|
|
|
| 3. |
Further, it came to mean the Lord Himself:
| "Memra da Yeya" THE WORD OF THE LORD |
Example
| And Moses led forth the people to meet with
God. (Ex. 19:17) |
| "likdamoth Memra da Yeya" = "To meet
with the Word of the Lord" |
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Memra |
= |
Aramaic |
= |
Memra da Yea |
| Logos |
= |
Greek |
= |
Logos tou Theou |
| Word |
= |
English |
= |
Word of the Lord |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| 4. |
Memra is used in the Targums* with such intimacy of relation to the
Almighty as to render it in many cases as synonymous of the Divine One
Himself. Example
| "By Myself have I sworn"
(Gen. 22:16) |
| "By My Memra have I sworn" |
* When the Jewish people returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of
captivity in Babylon, they spoke a combination of Hebrew and
Arabic, called "Aramaic". They no longer understood the
pure Hebrew of the Old Testament. The Targums were the Old
Testament Scriptures in Aramaic. Also, Aramaic was the
local language of Israel during New Testament times.
|
| |
|
| 5. |
The visible manifestation of the Glory of the
Divine Presence, known in Hebrew as the Shekinah,
is frequently referred to in the Targums as the
Memra. |
| |
|
| 6.. |
In the Hebrew Bible we often read of the Divine Malak
(Angel)
| A. |
Malak ha-berith |
- |
"the Angel of the Covenant" |
| B. |
ha-malak ha-goel |
- |
"the Angel who redeems" |
| C. |
ha-malak Jehovah |
- |
"the Angel, the Lord" |
Example
| Gen. 16 |
The Angel-Jehovah appears to Hagar
in the wilderness; speaks to her as God.
And is adored by her as Jehovah that spoke to her.
The Targum paraphrases it:
| "And she returned thanks before the Lord,
whose Word (Memra) spoke unto her." |
|
| Isa. 63:7-10 |
The Targum of Jonathan recognizes
the Redeemer:
| "...and His Memra was their
Redeemer." |
|
| Mal. 3 |
In the final book of the Old
Testament the same Targum refers to the coming One:
| the Angel of the Covenant and the
Memra of the Lord. |
| |
|
|
| So it is no accident that the Gospel of John begins:
|
"In the beginning was
the Word" |
| Genesis 1:1-3 opens with the same thought: |
"In the beginning ... God said" |
| (1-3) |
God |
|
| (4) |
Life |
THE WORD |
| (5) |
Reception |
THE
STATEMENT |
| (6) |
Mission |
JOHN THE BAPTIST |
| (7, 8) |
Witness |
|
|
| |
|
| (9) |
Light |
| (10-13) |
Reception |
THE WORD |
|
|
| (14) |
Flesh |
|
THE STATEMENT |
| (15) |
Witness |
JOHN THE BAPTIST |
| (15) |
Mission |
|
|
| |
|
| (16) |
Fullness |
|
|
|
| (17, 18) |
Revealer |
|
THE STATEMENT |
| (19) |
Witness |
JOHN THE BAPTIST |
| (20-28) |
Mission |
|
|
|
If you compare verses 1-3, 14,17 & 18, you will find:
| (verses 1-3) |
The Word was God |
| (verse 14) |
The Word was made flesh |
| (verses 17, 18) |
The flesh (which was the Son)
revealed God |
If you compare verses 4,9,16, you will find:
| (verse 14) |
In Him (the Word) was life (which was the light) |
| (verse 9) |
This true light lighteth every man |
| (verse 16) |
Of His fullness (or life), we have all received |
If you compare verses 5, 10-13, 16, you will find:
| (verse 5) |
The light (or the Word) could not be
comprehended (or grasped in the physical sense of overcoming, or in
the mental sense of comprehension or understanding) |
| (verses 10-13) |
He was in the world, |
but not recognized |
| |
He came physically, |
but was not received |
| (verse 14-16) |
Those that do receive Him receive His
fullness |
If you compare verses 6-8, 15, 19-28, you will find:
| His witness was of Christ the Messiah |
| His mission was to prepare the way before Him |
In John 1:1-14 we find that the Word:
Existed in the beginning
Was God
Was with God in the beginning
All things were made (created) through Him
Nothing was made (created) without Him
Life was in Him
That life was the light of men
The light (the Word) shines in the darkness
Was not understood
Gives light to every man (individual)
He was in the world
The world was made (created) through Him
The world did not recognize Him
He came to His own
His own did not receive Him
Those who believed in Him, He gave the right to become Children of God
Became flesh
Dwelt (Lived) among us
Came from the Father
Was full of grace and truth |
The Creative power of God,
the Visible manifestation of God,
the Malak,
the Shekinah,
the Memra,
the Logos, |
the WORD of Jehovah became flesh and
gave Himself for us.
This is the THOUGHT, the very
ESSENCE and HEART
of
God communicated to us -
and we know Him as Jesus.
Bibliography |
