https://esv.literalword.com/?q=John+1
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Thursday, 21 March 2024:
Note: Here is a link to a short video overview of John chapters 1-12: https://youtu.be/G-2e9mMf7E8
John 1:1-5 — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Today, John begins his epistle by stating that Jesus is the Word. Below are some comments on the significance of that statement:
“One of the most intriguing titles for Jesus is found in a passage that theologians have studied for millennia and have yet barely scratched the surface of its meaning. The title of which we are speaking is ‘Logos,’ and it is found in John 1:1–18.
As is common in English translations, the Greek term logos in today’s passage is translated as ‘Word.’ This is perhaps the simplest meaning of logos, and we find its presence in several English words. For example, we have the disciplines of biology (a word about living things) and theology (a word about God). In ancient Greek, however, logos had far richer connotations than just ‘word.’ Ancient Greek philosophers, in particular, had special uses for the term logos.
Philosophy is concerned with addressing the ultimate questions of reality, and the ancient Greeks who pursued this discipline were always searching for ultimate truth, the final reality that lies behind everything visible and invisible. As the Greek philosophers considered the questions of truth, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and more, they began to use the word logos to describe the ultimate reality they were all pursuing. This logos was an organizing principle, that which gives life and meaning to the universe. Consequently, the ancient Greeks thought of the logos as an impersonal force, as bare rationality that cannot love or interact with the world.
John the Apostle had to speak the language of his day when he wrote his gospel, so it is not surprising that he used the term logos. Yet the Apostle did not simply copy the word as it was used in Greek philosophy, but he transformed it, investing it with biblical content. His logos is personal and can be received or rejected by human beings (vv. 11–12). This was scandalous enough for Greek minds, but what was even worse, from their perspective, was that John said the logos could become incarnate as a human being (v. 14).
The logos is God Himself, more specifically, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who shares fully in the one divine essence. He is the One who was there ‘in the beginning,’ before all things (1:1; see Gen. 1:1). The logos — the organizing entity behind all things — is the personal Creator who loves His people.
The idea that God is personal is a radical one indeed. Ultimate reality in Hinduism and Buddhism is impersonal. Islam and Judaism know something of a personal God due to the influence of the Bible on Muhammad and the rabbis, but the God presented in these religions is not consistently personal. Our God is personal, and we can have a true relationship with Him because He came to us in the person of Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ligonier Ministries online)
This Logos loved you so much that, despite your sin, though you didn’t even ask for It or want it, He died for you that you would have eternal life and the fullness of joy (Romans 5:8; Colossians 2:14; Romans 6:23; 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 8:1; Isaiah 53:5; John 17:3). How does this truth change your outlook, how you respond to people and circumstances, and how you live your life?
– Romans 6:6 — We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
– Romans 12:1 — I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
– Romans 6:8 — Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
– 1 John 3:1 — See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
– 2 Corinthians 5:14 — For the love of Christ controls us….
– 2 Corinthians 5:17 — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
– Luke 9:23 — And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
– Philippians 4:13 — I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
– 1 Peter 1:13 — Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
– James 4:7 — Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
– 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 — So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
John 1:7 – He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
John was the first Ambassador for Christ who modelled our life mission – bearing witness to Jesus that others might believe in Him, not in “goodness” or vague concepts of “god,” but Jesus Christ.
John 1:8 — He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
Your life mission is to bear witness to Jesus. Never point to yourself or to anything else. Always point to Jesus.
John 1:9-13 — The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
What have we done with our right to become “children of God?”
“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” The religious reject Jesus when they proclaim Him theoretically, but follow idols practically. Those who truly believe Jesus is the Logos, the Son of God, LORD and Savior, will act like it.
You must be born of the Spirit through Jesus to be truly alive. Those without the Spirit are the real walking dead.
John 1:14 — And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
When you read the Bible honestly, you cannot help but fellowship with the Living Word of Jesus. The Bible is the word of the Word, the One you need to know. Read the Bible to draw closer to Jesus.
John 1:29, 32, 33 – The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!…” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”
Baptism is a symbol, not only of the death of our old self and the new life we now have in Christ, it is also a reminder that in our new life, we are to be immersed in, or saturated in, the Holy Spirit. Our human spirit was never intended to operate independently from the Holy Spirit. Jesus saves us from the broken condition of spiritual disintegration, which was caused by sin, and gives us a New Life in the Spirit. Now we must “abide” or remain in the Spirit in all we do, which takes practice since we have spent a lifetime trying to live apart from the Spirit with the rest of the broken world. Now we need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds; we need to learn to use what we have already been given.
– 2 Peter 1:3-15 — His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.
John 1:39, 46, 50 — Come and you will see…. You will see greater things than these.
If you are truly willing to follow Jesus, He will show you things you could not possibly imagine.
John 1:41 – He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah (which means Christ).”
Mission begins with your own family.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 21 March 2024: Ask God to expose your heart and make your heart’s desire Him. Make your life ambition knowing Jesus and becoming perfectly one with Him in mind, spirit and will so that your thoughts, attitudes, words, and deeds are exactly what His would be in your shoes.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 