In John 1:1–18 we encounter the major themes of the Gospel as Jesus is revealed to be the eternal Word, the Creator, the Light, the Life, and the One who reveals the Father. John shows us who Jesus is and why He came. He calls every reader to make a choice: receive Him or reject Him. This passage reveals who Jesus is, what He came to do, how witnesses confirmed Him, and how we are to respond.
The Word as God and Creator
John opens with “in the beginning was the Word”. This is reminiscent of Genesis 1 where “in the beginning” God spoke (using words) creation into existence. Jesus is the eternal Word (the logos) of God. By using the word logos to identify Jesus, John might have also had the Greeks, who were very philosophical, in mind since logos can also mean thinking and reasoning.
The Word was with God and the Word was God. From the start, John presents the Word as both divine and yet somehow distinct from God. This becomes clearer when John tells us that He is the Son who came from the Father. The Son and the Father are both God, yet they are distinct from each other.
The link to Genesis 1 is strengthened when John tells us that the Word created everything. He was not created. In fact, there was nothing created that He did not create. Some, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, claim that Jesus was a created being. But John excludes that possibility. If it was made, He made it. Jesus is the uncreated Creator.
The Word does not just create the world and then walk away leaving His creation to its own devices. The Word is directly involved in the world, revealing God and making Him known.
Life and Light in the Word
After establishing the Word as both God and Creator, John moves from the Word’s identity to His mission. In Him was life. Life that is eternal because He is eternal. And that life was the Light of the world, revealing what is hidden, shining in the darkness. Jesus is the source of all life and the One who makes the Father known. The Word is not just God and Creator. He is the Light shining in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it.
The Word Became Flesh
The Word did not just come as the Light. He was not just revealing truth about God. No, He came in flesh, dwelling on the earth as a man. Jesus was not a spiritual being manifesting as a man. He did not suddenly appear as a fully grown man. He had a physical body just like we do. As we learn in the other gospels, He was born and He grew. He lived a life just like every other person.
Except Jesus was different from other people. While He really was a man, He was not merely a man. He was the Son from the Father who had seen the Father and came to make the Father know. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known. From the very beginning of John’s Gospel, we are introduced to the man Jesus as the Word, the Creator, God Himself, the Light, the source of life, the Son from the Father, who came to reveal the Father.
The Witnesses
After introducing the Word, John introduces us to another man named John who was sent to bear witness to the Light. Throughout his gospel, John is careful to present multiple witnesses to testify about Jesus. John the Baptist is the first.
Apparently, there was some confusion about who John the Baptist was. Some thought he might have been the Messiah, but he denied that. He made it clear that he was not the Messiah or the Light. He was the prophet sent to testify about the Light, crying out for all to hear, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.‘” John was a witness to who Jesus was as much as Jesus’ miracles and teachings were.
Just as John bore witness, so did the author as he mentions his own qualifications to testify about the Light, the Word, the Christ, who came as the man Jesus. From Jesus, John, along with others, received grace upon grace as he lived with Jesus and learned from Him.
Receiving or Rejecting the Light
The Light that John testified about came into the world to reveal the Father to a dark world. Unfortunately, the world did not recognize Him. Even His own chosen people, who knew the Messiah was coming, did not receive Him.
But not everyone rejected the Light. And all those who received the Light were given the right to become children of God. John does not leave us wondering how to receive the Light. It comes by believing in Him. And to those who did believe in Jesus, He gave the right to become children of God. Later we learn that by being children of God, we gain eternal life.
Unlike Moses, who brought the law, Jesus came in grace and truth from the Father’s side to make the Father known. The law of Moses revealed to the Jews who they were: sinners who could not live up to God’s expectations. Jesus, on the other hand, revealed the Father. While fulfilling the law, Jesus also offered eternal life with the Father. By receiving Christ, we can become God’s children, and Jesus’ Father becomes our Father.
From the very beginning of his Gospel, John focuses on the choice all of us have: receive Jesus or reject Him. This theme weaves through the entire Gospel. If fact later John later tells us why he wrote).
Conclusion: Believe and Receive
These themes permeate the rest of the Gospel, calling on us to believe in Jesus and, by believing, to receive Him and eternal life. The question remains for us as it did for them: will we receive Him?