Jesus: Logos, Life, Light, and Love
My friend Mike gave me Lesson 1 from One-on-One John Bible Study, a worksheet from the Berkland Baptist Church. It turned out to be an easy, simple reason to read a chapter in the Bible today.
To complete the worksheet, I thought I'd post my reflections here, with the intent that this blog will be supplemented with further reflections on other readings in the coming weeks. This exercise will actually be an interesting test to see how much I retained from my reading this morning, 11 hours ago.
This question forced me to clarify the perspective from which I'm answering these questions: I will answer the questions from my personal views while acknowledging what I think the questions want me to consider.
I think John's primary purpose in writing this Gospel is to raise awareness of Jesus. The kind of life John's talking about is one where God is at the center. In the life John describes, I assume that God should be the most important thing in the world.
According to the passage, in the beginning was the Word (with a capital 'W'). I'm not sure what this means, to be very honest, or how it relates to God. I don't think John's account necessarily differs from that of Genesis. John's account seems to be simply a summary of what happened at a very high level, whereas Genesis goes much deeper into the details of creation.
As for which "beginning" came first in the Bible, I would assume that the Word came first before Earth. It seems like the logical progression of events. But this is probably wrong since I really have no idea what the Word is.
As for what was there in the beginning, this is a question that I've pondered and never been able to answer. First, I would ask, the beginning of what, exactly? The beginning of Earth? The beginning of time in this dimension? Science tell us about the Big Bang Theory (which according to Wikipedia just now is still relevant), but I can't quite fathom how practically nothing can "explode" into an entire universe. For me, my brain can't quite comprehend how something can come from nothing, so I've just come to accept that the universe is, without a beginning.
Since I don't really know what the beginning is or isn't, I can't say that it has any palpable relevance to me.
"The Word was with God" (John 1:1). "The Word was God" (John 1:1). This is one of those strange sentences in the Bible that really confuses me. I don't understand what John is trying to communicate. How can something be with God and simultaneously be God? And so I don't know why John refers to God as the "Word".
From what I can tell in the passage, the Word created everything. Why is this significant? I think the significance is that all of us should be humble in remembering that we come from something greater and older than we can imagine.
Life was in the Word. I'm not sure if I'm misinterpreting verses 4 and 5, but it seems that "life" refers to more than simply being alive, and that "life" is really the better or good parts (the light) of man, as opposed to "the darkness" which could refer to vices and evils of man.
As I mentioned previously, the "darkness" I think refers to the less desirable parts of human nature. The follow-up questions seem interestingly strange, because the ESV version of the bible does not mention any kind of a response. Furthermore, in the ESV version there is no talk of understanding by the darkness of the light. The only relevant sentence I can find reads, "The darkness has not overcome [the light]" (John 1:5). My thought is that the passage wants us to believe that the light will always triumph over the darkness, or in other words, that good will always triumph over evil.
The passage wants us to believe that the essence of God is in us and in everything around us. And perhaps that God is the light, the good, and that God will always, eventually lead us to better ourselves by suppressing the darkness, the evil.
To complete the worksheet, I thought I'd post my reflections here, with the intent that this blog will be supplemented with further reflections on other readings in the coming weeks. This exercise will actually be an interesting test to see how much I retained from my reading this morning, 11 hours ago.
1. What is John's purpose in writing this Gospel? What kind of life is he talking about here? What do you think is the most important thing in this whole world?
This question forced me to clarify the perspective from which I'm answering these questions: I will answer the questions from my personal views while acknowledging what I think the questions want me to consider.
I think John's primary purpose in writing this Gospel is to raise awareness of Jesus. The kind of life John's talking about is one where God is at the center. In the life John describes, I assume that God should be the most important thing in the world.
2. What was in the beginning? Compare John's account to Genesis 1:1. Which "beginning" do you think came first? What do you think was there in the beginning? How is that relevant to you?
According to the passage, in the beginning was the Word (with a capital 'W'). I'm not sure what this means, to be very honest, or how it relates to God. I don't think John's account necessarily differs from that of Genesis. John's account seems to be simply a summary of what happened at a very high level, whereas Genesis goes much deeper into the details of creation.
As for which "beginning" came first in the Bible, I would assume that the Word came first before Earth. It seems like the logical progression of events. But this is probably wrong since I really have no idea what the Word is.
As for what was there in the beginning, this is a question that I've pondered and never been able to answer. First, I would ask, the beginning of what, exactly? The beginning of Earth? The beginning of time in this dimension? Science tell us about the Big Bang Theory (which according to Wikipedia just now is still relevant), but I can't quite fathom how practically nothing can "explode" into an entire universe. For me, my brain can't quite comprehend how something can come from nothing, so I've just come to accept that the universe is, without a beginning.
Since I don't really know what the beginning is or isn't, I can't say that it has any palpable relevance to me.
3. With whom was the Word? And who was the Word? Why does John refer to God as the "Word"? What did the Word do? Why is it significant that the Word created everything in the beginning?
"The Word was with God" (John 1:1). "The Word was God" (John 1:1). This is one of those strange sentences in the Bible that really confuses me. I don't understand what John is trying to communicate. How can something be with God and simultaneously be God? And so I don't know why John refers to God as the "Word".
From what I can tell in the passage, the Word created everything. Why is this significant? I think the significance is that all of us should be humble in remembering that we come from something greater and older than we can imagine.
4. What was in the Word? What does "that life" have to do with men?
Life was in the Word. I'm not sure if I'm misinterpreting verses 4 and 5, but it seems that "life" refers to more than simply being alive, and that "life" is really the better or good parts (the light) of man, as opposed to "the darkness" which could refer to vices and evils of man.
5. What is the darkness referring to? What was the response of the darkness to the light? Why do you think the darkness has not understood the light?
As I mentioned previously, the "darkness" I think refers to the less desirable parts of human nature. The follow-up questions seem interestingly strange, because the ESV version of the bible does not mention any kind of a response. Furthermore, in the ESV version there is no talk of understanding by the darkness of the light. The only relevant sentence I can find reads, "The darkness has not overcome [the light]" (John 1:5). My thought is that the passage wants us to believe that the light will always triumph over the darkness, or in other words, that good will always triumph over evil.
Reflection: What have you learned about God?
The passage wants us to believe that the essence of God is in us and in everything around us. And perhaps that God is the light, the good, and that God will always, eventually lead us to better ourselves by suppressing the darkness, the evil.