John 1: 19-28, Questioning the Voice in the Wilderness

After the prologue, John has a series of events (through chapter 4) in which Jesus is introduced to various communities.  In the first set of events, Jesus is introduced to the Jewish nation.

John 1: 19-21, John the Preparer/Announcer
Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. 
20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

21 They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

NIV footnotes: the word "leaders" in verse 19 is implied. The Jewish leadership wants to know John's role. He makes it clear that he is not the coming Messiah, but other than that, he is not particularly helpful. Presumably Elijah was to appear before the Messiah did. Or a prophet was to come (see Deuteronomy 18:15.)

But in Matthew 11:14, Jesus says the John was indeed that "Elijah" who was to come before the Messiah. John, in making denials as to who he is, wishes to focus on the Other One, the Messiah. He pushes the focus away from himself.

John 1: 22-27, The Voice from the Wilderness

Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

23 John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent 
25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. 

27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

Those sent by the Jewish leaders are insistent and so John does identify himself as the Voice from Isaiah 40:3.  Here John does identify himself as that prophet, one who announces the Messiah. John's last sentence makes it clear that his role is very minor, compared to the One who is coming.

The strange short verse 24 identifies some of "the sent" as Pharisees, who ask about John's strange rite.  John's method of preaching, using baptism, is a strange one, challenging the Jews. It was most likely a ceremonial washing expected of Gentiles who converted to Judaism.  By using this washing, John implies there are no true Jews.

Suggested by NIV footnotes: In verse 26 the preposition "with" could just as well be translated "in".

John 1: 28, The "other side" of the Jordan
This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The gospel writer identifies the location of the baptizing as on the east side of the Jordan river, across from Jerusalem. It was probably not far from the ancient site of Jericho. The gospel writer wants to make sure his readers do not confuse this Bethany with the one near Jerusalem, where Jesus stayed later with Mary and Martha and where Lazarus was raised.

For further meditation: Would the Greek concept of the Logos, the divine Word that organized the world, have been an attractive idea to the Jew?  How much Greek philosophy is the apostle John willing to adopt?

We continue with specific actions of this Divine Logos in the next section.

John 1: 14-18, God Made Known

We continue studying the Prologue of the Gospel of John, describing the actions of the Word.

John 1: 14, Incarnation
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

A miraculous event is described in verse 14, often called The Incarnation. Let's not let a name reduce the wonder in this event, for John says that the Creative Word of the universe took on human flesh and lived among his creation.  "We" (the gospel writer and others) have seen the "glory" of this Divine Word; the "Son".

John 1: 15-18, God made known
(John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 
16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 
18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known

Jesus is portrayed here as the completion of the Mosaic covenant, representing "grace and truth" and is God-made-known, God in the flesh.

The person, John, mentioned here, is John the Baptist.  (The author of this letter never directly names himself. )  John the baptist prophetically points to the Messiah when he appears.

Grace already given -- to what does this refer?

The Old Testament points to the Law, given through Moses.  But the lesson of the Old Testament was that it required grace.

Jesus is the human representation of God. Although we cannot see God, we could observe Jesus.  The gospel writer will have a lot to say about his own observations.

NIV footnotes, regarding verse 18: "Some ancient manuscripts do not have the phrase 'who is himself God'."

After the prologue, John has a series of events (through chapter 4) in which Jesus is introduced to various communities.  In the first set of events, Jesus is introduced to the Jewish nation.

John 1: 6-13, The True Light

After introducing Jesus as the creative and eternal Logos, the gospel writer moves on to a particular moment in time.

John 1: 6-8, John the Baptist
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 
7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 
8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

This verse is a parenthetical statement; there are two in the prologue, in which the author, John, digresses. Here we digress to introduce a certain human being, often called John the Baptizer or John the Baptist. (That there are two different people with the name John can be confusing to one reading the New Testament for the first time!  However, the author of this gospel never refers to himself by name, so any use of the name John refers to the baptizer.)

This John the Baptist, just introduced, has a prophetical status. He is a witness to the coming Messiah ("the light"); he is not the Messiah, but a prophet pointing to Him.

Why does the Messiah need a witness? The gospel writer stresses that this is so that "all might believe".  The concept of individual belief runs throughout this gospel.

John 1: 9-13, The Light enters the world
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 
11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 
12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 
13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

A theme is developed in the second paragraph of this passage -- that Jesus created a spiritual lineage, the possibility of a spiritual "birth", parallel to, but quite different from a natural birth.  This concept will reappear.

This Logos, Word, created the world (universe) yet when he entered his creation, the (people of the) universe did not recognize him.  That Jesus appeared to "his own" (verse 11) probably refers to the Jewish nation. But those who do recognize the Creator and submit to Him, become a special race, a special people, the children of God.

John 1: 1-5, The Logos

For the last two years I have covered the New Testament twice on this blog, going through roughly a chapter a day.  In 2018 I intend to slow down and go much more slowly through major books of the New Testament, in a process designed to look at every verse, and cover the New Testament in three to four years.

We begin with John's Gospel. Today we look at the first five verses, which introduce the Logos, translated here as "Word". This is a very Greek concept, examined from a Jewish viewpoint.

John 1: 1-5, The Logos
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 
2 He was with God in the beginning. 
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John begins with a philosophical concept, the Greek "Logos" ("Word") and claims that it is God, having been with (part of) God for all eternity. This Logos is the Creator of the Universe.  The Logos is not a secondary afterthought, but part of the very beginning of Space and Time.

John, a Jew, uses the Logos, a Greek (or Gentile) philosophical concept to introduce the Jew's Messiah. By the end of the first century, most Christians were Gentiles and John, writing to Gentiles, explains the Jewish Messiah in terms that they can better understand.

Would the Greek concept of the Logos, the divine Word that organized the world, have been an attractive idea to the Jew?  How much Greek philosophy is the apostle John willing to adopt?  Commentator William Barclay points out that the Jews had their own idea of Logos, of the spoken word of God. The voice of God was the action of God (see Genesis 1) and was personified as Wisdom (see Proverbs 8). According to Barclay, some Jewish translators replaced the word "God" by "Voice of God" in the Torah out of a desire to keep some distance from the holy (and scary) Yahweh.

The gospel writer says that this creative Mind offers life -- purposeful, meaningful Life -- to all humanity. Instead of darkness and chaos, we have a chance for purpose and meaning!

The Logos is light for mankind. (The last phrase of verse 5 could also be translated "the darkness has not understood it.") In the metaphor of light and darkness, darkness is the absence of light, and so the appearance of light destroys it. We will see this clash of light vs. darkness in other places in John.

John 1, The Logos Enters the World (Overview)

Before we begin a verse-by-verse study of the first chapter of John, let's do an overview of this chapter.  The first eighteen verses of the first chapter constitute The Prologue, an introduction to the entire gospel.

John 1: 1-5, The Logos
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John begins with a philosophical concept, the Greek "Logos" ("Word") and claims that it is God, having been with (part of) God for all eternity.

The Logos is light for mankind; the last phrase of verse 5 could also be translated "the darkness has not overcome it."

John 1: 6-8, John the Baptist
There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

This verse is a parenthetical statement; there are two in this passage, the prologue, in which the author, John, digresses. (Tenney)

John 1: 9-14, The Light enters the world
The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

A theme is developed in the second paragraph of this passage -- that Jesus created a spiritual lineage, the possibility of a spiritual "birth", parallel to, but quite different from a natural birth.  This concept will reappear.

That Jesus appeared to "his own" (verse 11) probably refers to the Jewish nation.

John 1: 15-18, God made known
John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'"

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

The person, John, mentioned here, is John the Baptist.  The author of this letter never directly names himself.

Jesus is portrayed here as the completion of the Mosaic covenant, representing "grace and truth" and is God-made-known, God in the flesh.

After the prologue, John has a series of events (through chapter 4) in which Jesus is introduced to various communities. In the first set of events, Jesus is introduced to the Jewish nation. Here we learn more about John, the Baptizer.

John 1: 19-28, John the Preparer/Announcer
Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ."

They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" 

He said, "I am not."

"Are you the Prophet?" 

He answered, "No."

Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" 

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, `Make straight the way for the Lord.'" 

 Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 

"I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."

This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The quote in verse 23 is from Isaiah 40:3.

Why did John deny being Elijah? In a sense, wasn't he?  Jesus describes him that way, but here (says my friend, Tim Hall) we see John merely doing what the nameless wilderness voice is to do, to put all focus on the Messiah. "John does what the voice does, and no more."

In the next section, John the Baptist begins preaching in the area of Jerusalem, talking about the coming Messiah.

John 1: 29-31, The Lamb of God
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, `A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

John introduces his disciples to the sacrificial lamb, the one who will replace the old ritual of sacrifice once a year in the Holy of Holies.

John 1: 32-34,  The baptism of Jesus
Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, `The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

Jesus probably appeared to be a rather ordinary man, but the Spirit told John otherwise. Jesus will also baptize people, but his baptism will be different.

John 1: 35-42, Andrew, another, and Peter
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" 

They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" 

"Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus. 

Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which, when translated, is Peter).

Who was the second disciple, the one with Andrew?  We are not sure but one reasonable conjecture is that it was John, the author of this letter.  (There is a stackexchange discussion of this here.)

What is the significance of the name change, from Simon to Peter? Why does Jesus do this?

John 1: 43-46, Philip and Nathanael
The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.

Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. 

"Come and see," said Philip.

Why does Nathanael respond, as he does, to Philip's invitation?  And how, then, does Philip answer back?

John 1: 47-51, Philip and Nathanael
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."

"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. 

Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."

Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."

Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

We are never given any indication as to why Jesus chooses certain men to be his closest followers. But each, when called, respond quickly.  Here Nathanael is impressed that Jesus seems to have some special sight, able to see things that happened yesterday, from far away.  Jesus's response to Nathanael's awe is essentially, "That's nothing...."  It is one thing to see small miracles; it is another thing to walk with the eternal Messiah.

We will look more closely at each passage throughout the rest of this week.

The Gospel of John

This year, instead of studying a chapter a day, I will go more slowly through the New Testament, carefully reading a paragraph or two each day.  I will begin with the gospel of John.  This study will take about four months, but should leave us with a strong understanding of the topics, big and small, that are covered in this famous gospel.

This "fourth gospel" is quite different from the other three, much more philosophical, putting the life of the Jewish Messiah in terms of a universal plan for all humankind.

The other three gospels, presumably elaborating on a common source, emphasize Jesus's ministry in Galilee.  They provide a sequence of short pithy statements of Jesus (in keeping with Jewish wisdom literature, such as the book of Proverbs) and describe miraculous works he does, often near Capernaum.  In contrast, John assumes we have read those books and elaborates on Jesus's ministry near Jerusalem and on his longer Messianic teachings.  As I read this gospel, I hear John thinking, "I don't think anyone has heard of the the time when..."

I am using a number of resources as I read through the Gospel of John.  One is the commentary by William Barclay. Another is the commentary by Merrill Tenney.

Merrill Tenney outlines the Gospel of John as follows:

• John 1: 1–1: 18, Prologue
• John 1: 19–John 4, Period of Consideration
• John 5–6, Period of Controversy
• John 7–11: 53, Period of Conflict
• John 11: 54–12: 36a, Period of Crisis
• John 12: 36b–17: 26, Period of Conference
• John 18–20, Period of Consummation

(Obviously Tenney enjoys poetically making everything "Period of C...".  He also seems to like seven divisions for this book.)

In the "Period of Consideration", Tenney sees Jesus presented at the beginning of his ministry to a number of different groups.  In chapter 1, John the Baptist claims witness to the Messiah and introduces the Messiah to his disciples.  In chapter 2 of John's gospel, Mary presents her son to family and disciples, after which Jesus makes a statement in Jerusalem about the future of Jewish worship by driving out the temple merchants.  A Jewish religious leader, Nicodemus, gets a private interview in chapter 3, followed again by witness from John the baptist.  After that, a non-Jew, a woman from the reviled Samaritans, also gets a private interview.

These presentations of the Messiah occur primarily in Judea and Jerusalem and apparently happened before the opening of Jesus's great Galilean ministry.  A. T. Robertson, in his classic harmony of the gospels, puts the opening of Jesus's Galilean ministry, recorded in Mark 1:4, Matthew 4:17 and Luke 4:15, after the visit with the woman of Sychar, which ends at John 4:45.

Beginning in John 4:46, Jesus is presented to the people of Galilee as he heals a nobleman's son in Cana, the site of the earlier wedding.  The nobleman is from the town of Capernaum, a place that Jesus will shortly set as his home.

A Few Praise Passages from Revelation

Looking more at Revelation, I have collected some adoration & praise passages

Revelation 1: 5b-8
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Revelation gives a long overarching vision of history, begun and ended by the eternal Creator.

Revelation 1: 18
I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

The Living One experienced even death and now controls all sin and death.

Revelation 4: 11
"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

A simple praise chorus based on the creative character of God.

Revelation 5: 9-10

And they sang a new song:
"You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."

Again, the praise leans on the willing sacrifice of the Lamb.  Notice the diversity of the Kingdom of God, purchasing from death men and women of every tribe, language, people, nation. 

Revelation 5:12

In a loud voice they sang:
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

Praising the slain Lamb.

Revelation 7: 10-12
And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

"Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"

The Lamb reigns forever!

Revelation 7: 15-17
Therefore,
"they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16 Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

I look forward to the time when God wipes away every tear.

Revelation 19: 1-4

After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants."  

And again they shouted: "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever." 

The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: "Amen, Hallelujah!" 

A time of reckoning, justice, and praise.  The praise focuses on the longterm, eternal reign.

Rejoice!