Institute for Creation Research

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

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The same was in the beginning with God.

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All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

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In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

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And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

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There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

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The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

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He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

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That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

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He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

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He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

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But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

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Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

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And the Word was made 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.

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John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

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And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

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For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

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No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

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And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?

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And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.

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And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.

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Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?

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He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

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And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.

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And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?

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John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;

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He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose ° shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.

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These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

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The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

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This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.

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And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore ° am I come baptizing with water.

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And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.

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And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

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And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

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Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;

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And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

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And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

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Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which ° is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?

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He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.

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One of the two which heard ° John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

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He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

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And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.

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The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.

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Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

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Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

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And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.

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Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

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Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.

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Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.

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Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.

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And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

John

Introduction to John

The Gospel of John stands alone among the four gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the “Synoptic Gospels,” because they all exhibit the same “general” approach to presenting the life and teachings of Christ, though each has a particular and distinctive emphasis. John’s gospel, on the other hand, is very different from all the others. It was written almost thirty years after the others, under much different conditions, for a different audience, with a different purpose, and with a vastly different theme and emphasis.

All of the original apostles, including Paul, had been martyred by this time, and only John was left. In fact, John’s long survival had been predicted by the Lord Jesus after His own resurrection (John 21:20-23). Jerusalem and its temple had been destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70, and most of its inhabitants either slain or scattered, John obviously was not writing for Jews but neither for any other particular nation. His purpose was evangelistic (John 20:31) and His message addressed to “whosoever believeth” (John 3:16).

John’s vocabulary itself indicates His purposes. The words “believe” and “life” are used more in John than in all three other gospels put together. The same is true of many other words of evangelistic significance, such as “love,” “truth,” “eternal,” “grace,” “know,” etc.

Matthew had emphasized Christ as King, Mark as Servant, and Luke as Man. John presents Him as God. He is the Creator of all things in the beginning, Judge and Rewarder of all in the end (John 1:1-3; 5:22). Perhaps as an answer to the pagan philosophies that dominated the whole Gentile world of the day, the Gospel of John portrays the full deity of Christ in unmistakable terms—while confirming His true and perfect humanity as well.

Apart from the events associated with John the Baptist and then with the death and resurrection of Christ, the only event described by John which is also in the Synoptic Gospels is the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Furthermore, the record of each event and each miracle as recorded in John is accompanied by a doctrinal discourse not found in the other gospels. It is in John that the seven great signs or miracles demonstrating His deity are given (John 20:31), and also the seven great “I am’s” are recorded.

John himself was the beloved disciple, a fisherman by trade and brother of James, who was also one of the twelve. Although he does not identify himself by name in his gospel, the dominant belief of the early church was in the Johannine authorship, not only of his gospel, but also of the three epistles of John and the book of Revelation. According to extra-Biblical tradition, he later spent many years supervising the church in Ephesus and the other churches in Asia Minor, finally dying as a very aged man.

Some 19^th century liberals attempted to dispute John’s authorship, claiming that the book must have been written three hundred or so years after Christ. This idea was overturned by the discovery of papyrus fragments of John’s gospel dating from early in the second century.

Its message, in accordance with its own stated purpose, has been used to win multitudes throughout the centuries to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is perhaps the crowning proof of its authenticity and divine inspiration.

John 1:1

1:1 In the beginning. It is significant that the Apostle John began his gospel with the words: “In the beginning.” He obviously intended that his record should start with the same words as Genesis, that is, with creation. Since his explicit purpose in writing was to win his readers to Christ as Son of God and Savior (see John 20:30-31), he realized the foundational importance of prior belief in special creation of all things by God. People need to know Jesus Christ as offended Creator before they can believe with understanding on Him as sin-bearing Savior and Redeemer. A foundation of true creationism as the only meaningful context for true evangelism is thus revealed through John, under divine inspiration.

John 1:1

1:1 Word. The “Word” (Greek logos) is the first of at least a dozen titles given to Christ in this first chapter of John’s gospel. Note the others: “the Light” (John 1:7-9); “only Begotten Son” (John 1:14, 18); Jesus Christ” (John 1:17); “the Lord” (John 1:23); “Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36); “Master” (John 1:38); “King of Israel” (John 1:49); “Son of God” (John 1:34, 49); “Son of man” (John 1:51); “Jesus of Nazareth” (John 1:45); Messiah” (John 1:41). Probably, “the Word of God” (a phrase used 1200 times in the Old Testament) is the most meaningful. Note Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3; II Peter 3:5.

John 1:1

1:1 Word was God. This is a very strong assertion that Jesus is God. The eternal Word, who was to be made man (John 1:14), is God (not merely “a god” as some have alleged), and is the same God who created heaven and earth in the beginning. In fact, He is the only “true God” (I John 5:20), who was there “in the beginning.”

John 1:2

1:2 beginning. The definite article has been supplied. The actual Greek is en arche—that is, “in beginning.” The “Word of God” thus was there before the creation of the space-mass-time universe, so that John’s “beginning” even antecedes the Genesis “beginning,” extending without an initial beginning into eternity past, before even time was created. Note also John 17:24, where Jesus, in His humanity, acknowledged that He was with the Father, and loved by the Father, “before the foundation of the world.”