#john 1

In the Life of Christ “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” — John 1:6–8 John’s Gospel opens by lifting our eyes beyond Bethlehem, beyond time, and beyond creation itself. Jesus is introduced as the eternal Word who…

Photo by Owen.outdoors on Pexels.com Teaching Summary of John 1–2 🌿 Overall Themes in John 1–2 Jesus as the eternal Word — He is pre‑existent, divine, and the source of life and light. Revelation of Jesus’ identity — Lamb of God, Son of God, Messiah, Rabbi, King of Israel. The formation of new creation — John echoes Genesis: a new beginning dawns in Christ. Discipleship as seeing and…

The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has never overpowered it.

Long after this/long before us, there appeared a man Graced by God. John came as a witness to testify to the Light(of God’s eternal Life) so that all people might become believers. John wasn’t the Light/the Word/the Life, but he came to bear witness to it. Even as John arrived, the True Light, which enlivens us all, was already in being, enlightening every man born into the world.

The Word was in the world, but even though the world owed its existence to him, it did not recognize him. He entered his own kingdom (in the Holy Land) and yet his people would not receive him. But there were those who did welcome the Word; to those who pledged their allegiance to him, the Word gave the right to become Children of God, not by their lineage nor because of the carnal desires of men and women, nor the will of humans, but born of God himself.

So the Word (of God) became flesh; he pitched his tent among us and we saw his radiance — a radiance as of the only Son originating in the Father, full of grace and truth.

Here is what John testified: John called out, “This is who I meant when I said ‘He comes after me but takes rank before me,’ because before I was born, he already was.”

Out of his Fullness, we have all received grace upon grace upon grace. While the law was given to us through Moses, grace and truth came to the earth through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God’s only Son/the only one, nearest to the Father’s heart/himself God, has made God known.

DID YOU KNOW Did you know that when life feels out of control, God may be positioning deliverance in ways you cannot yet see? In Exodus 1–3, the situation of Israel looks hopeless. Oppression increases, cruelty hardens, and the future appears sealed under the weight of Pharaoh’s power. Yet quietly, beneath political violence and human fear, God’s purposes are moving forward. A baby is born into…

There is what scholars sometimes describe as a “lovely strangeness” in how the evangelists talk about John the Baptist. Each writer is announcing the same figure, but each tunes John’s ministry to a distinct theological key. Modern scholars tend to emphasize those distinct emphases; the Church Fathers, with their characteristic theological imagination, tend to harmonize them. Mark leads with…

As noted above, this gospel lays out the story of a new creation that flows through the “next day” of our gospel reading and into the remainder of the first chapter. In that vein, Flannagan notes that a similar story is unfolding as witnesses to Jesus are gathered. It is the “new creation” of the people of God. No longer defined by ethnic association, but by belief in Jesus as the Son of God.…

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 30  He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’ 31 I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.” 32 John testified further, saying, “I saw the Spirit…