John The Baptist Wasn't The Point

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John 1:8

8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

 
 

John the Baptist was an electric figure in 1st century Judea, but as important as he was, John the author wants us to understand that his only job was to testify about the Light of the World.

In some ways, nothing has changed: we all have important work to accomplish, but that work is all in service of pointing people to Jesus, who is the light of the world.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

How could you use the first interaction you have with someone after reading this sentence to point toward Jesus?

 

P.S. Have you been working on memorizing your verses? We should have learned through verse 8 today. If you’re behind, catch up over the weekend. Remember, by January 24 my goal is to have memorized verses 1–18.

Witness

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John 1:6-7

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

 
 

John the Baptist is the John referred to in today’s verse. Here, we are introduced to another key idea in the Gospel—“witness.”

The testimony of witnesses is an important theme in John’s Gospel. John the author himself is a witness of the crucifixion (see 19:35), and we will learn later that the entire Gospel is in fact true testimony about Jesus (21:24).

QUESTION OF THE DAY

If you were put on the witness stand today, what testimony could you provide about Jesus?

 

A Light In The Darkness

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John 1:5

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

 
 

Throughout his prologue, John is setting us up to learn what we need to know about what will follow in the rest of his Gospel. Here we learn that the darkness and the light are in opposition. So, we should pay attention to times when darkness appears in the Gospel, because it will mean that something or someone is working in opposition to Jesus. (Pay attention to when events take place in darkness.)

For me, I have always loved the simplicity of the image: a light boldly shining in the darkness, and a darkness that is unable to snuff it out.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Whatever bad thing that happens, it cannot win in the end. Jesus is light, and the light shines forever. Any darkness you experience today is just temporary, like a cloud passing in front of the sun. Don’t be discouraged!

 

Life=Light

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John 1:4

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

 
 

In v. 4, John is teaching us how to read his Gospel. This is what we learn:

· The Word is a “Him.” (See v. 3, too.)
· In Him is “Life.”
· And that Life is also “Light.”

So, for the rest of the Gospel, when we read life we should think light, and vice versa.

Life=Light

QUESTION FOR THE DAY

What do you think it means that the life that Jesus brought also provides light to people?

 

Arius Was Wrong

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John 1:3

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

 
 

Around A.D. 300, there arose a controversy in the ancient church, provoked by a man named Arius. Arius was a priest from Egypt who began to teach that the Son had been created by the Father and was not co-eternal with Him. This controversy became known as the Arian Controversy. Arius’s famous phrase was “There was a time when He was not.” What he meant was that the Son had a definite beginning, unlike the Father, who had always existed.

The great opponent of Arius was a priest named Athanasius, who stubbornly insisted that the Son had always existed, because He was God. God has no beginning, and if the Son had a beginning the way Arius taught, then the Son was not God.

For Athanasius there could be no higher stakes, because if Jesus were not God, then His death on the cross would not have saved anyone. For decades Athanasius held the line, and ultimately Arius’s ideas were defeated at the great Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.

What’s interesting is how Arius just ignored John 1:3 when making his argument, because John clearly tells us that the Word was not created but was ever-existing, and that through the Word everything that was made was made.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

When we try to get away from the Scripture, we always get ourselves in trouble. Arius was a clever man, but he was also a fool who thought he knew better than the Bible. The reason it is so important that the American church reads and loves the Bible is because the more we do that, the more it will protect us from ourselves and our arrogant tendency to think we know better than the Bible.

 

There Was No BEFORE Christ

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John 1:2

2 He was in the beginning with God.

 
 

Why is there order to the universe? Why are there the laws of physics and thermodynamics? It’s because the universe was made according to the Logos—the Word. When God made the world, it was made to have meaning. As we shall see, the Word was not created but has always existed, even at the beginning of everything.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What does it say about Jesus that, though He was there at the creation of everything, He chose to empty Himself of that power and privilege to be born in a humble manger?