Jesus, The Word

January 18, 2026|Jesus, The Word|John 1:1-5

JD Cutler

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This morning we begin our journey through the gospel of John. Sometimes, as Pastors, we take for granted that everyone sitting in the pews on Sunday is familiar with their Bibles, but in reality, some of you may not be overly familiar with your Bibles. So I want to spend just a few minutes orienting us this morning. For those who are, think of this as a refresher in the basics. The gospel of John is one of four books that begin the New Testament and are often referred to by the name of their author predicated with the words ‘the gospel of’. We have the gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

Together, they tell the story of Jesus’s birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, commissioning of his followers, and his ascension into heaven. Although they all tell the same story, each one has a unique lens as well as purpose with which they unfold the narrative and teachings of Jesus’ life. Think of it as viewing the same story from different angles. Here’s an example. On Friday Brittany and I watched Lilly in a powerlifting meet. When an athlete approaches the lift, whether its back squat, bench press, or deadlift, there are three judges that view the lift from different angles. When the observer sees a good lift, they hold up the white side of a bar, if they see an incomplete lift or some technical violation of the rules, they hold up the red side of a bar. Now we are observing from the stands, so at any time there are at least four perspectives at play watching the same exact lift. Add coaches and other athletes and that number becomes infinitely bigger, each one with a unique perspective.Together they observe the same event, but each one sees it from a different angle. This is a good way for us to understand the gospels. There are differences but they all tell the same story. 

For instance, among those differences is where they begin the story. Matthew and Luke begin with accounts of the birth of Jesus and in Luke the birth of John the Baptist as well.Mark and John, after a prologue, both begin with the ministry of John the Baptist, the one who would announce the coming of Christ. Each one also seems to have a different audience in mind. Matthew writes with a distinctive style that emphasizes that Jesus is Israel’s messiah, seemingly written to show Jews that Jesus was the promised Messiah. In a similar way, Mark seems to write to an audience with less Jewish understanding and aims to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Luke tells us that he is writing to an individual after carefully investigating all of the facts. Traditionally we understand that Matthew would have been writing as an eyewitness, as one of the apostles, as does John, while Mark likely wrote his gospel account based on Peter’s eyewitness testimony and preaching. Luke, a companion of Paul, says he interviewed eyewitnesses to bring together his account. So what we have is eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus.

John’s gospel is the most unique among the four. The other three are often referred to the synoptic gospels because they contain much of the same material and often in very similar or the same order. They were all likely written within 15 years or so of Jesus’ ascension and the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost. John on the other hand was probably not written until the later part of John’s life some 40 years after the others. The Gospel of John stands apart, offering different stories, themes, and a more theological, reflective perspective on Jesus's identity, with very little overlapping content with the Synoptics. It is very likely that John therefore sat out to write after the other gospel accounts were well known and wrote his account as supplementary and complementary rather than simply repeating what had already been declared. 

It is highly likely that John wrote his account down towards the end of his life for a number of reasons. The desire to preserve what he had experienced as an apostle for future generations and to refute some of the false teachings and heresies that were beginning to develop later in the first century. This becomes clear from not only where John begins his gospel but the things he focuses on, even how he arranges his material. His purpose is clearly stated towards the end of his gospel. John 20:30–31 “30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

John wrote not just to record his experience for experience sake, but so that people, hearing or reading the truths about Jesus, his ministry, and messages, would believe that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing experience life.Our prayer as we begin this study is that it would do just that, that men, women, and children who do not know Jesus would come to know him and find life, and that those of us who know Jesus might grow in our life in Him. 

With that as our background, this morning we want to begin our look at the prologue of John. The main narrative begins in verse 19 with the ministry of John the Baptist. Over the next three weeks we are going to look at the prologue as we see John introduce central elements to his account of Jesus life, death, and resurrection. If you haven’t already, open your Bibles to the fourth book of the New Testament, the gospel of John. 

John 1:1–5 ESV

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

It is hard to overestimate how important it is for us to grasp what John says in these few verses in reference to understanding who Jesus is. What John says here at the beginning of his prologue combats a number of early heresies that were trying to creep into the church universal in his day, some of which we addressed in our study of 1st John, but the main two that John clearly contradicts are early forms of Arianism, the rejection of the trinity and the divinity of Christ, claiming that Christ was created by God and therefore not God. This heresy can be found today within groups like the Jehovah Witnesses and similarly held beliefs within Mormonism. The other is Modalism, which similarly rejects the trinity and describes the Father, Son, and Spirit as different modes of God. This heresy is most well seen today in the Oneness Pentecostalism movement as well as other non-denominational groups. There are also others that teach that the Holy Spirit descended on the man Jesus and departed prior to the cross. Here’s the reality, if heresy and false doctrine were already a problem in the lifetime of one of Jesus’ disciples and one of the foundations of the church (apostles), how much more do we have to guard against it?

So this morning we are going to look at Jesus, The Word, highlighting three distinctives of Jesus as the pre-incarnate word. 

I. JESUS, THE UNCREATED WORD

John begins his prologue with the words ‘In the beginning’ drawing our minds back to Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

This is much farther than any of the other gospel writes begin. It is also very similar to the way John begins his 1st epistle. 1 John 1:1 “1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—”

This already puts us at odds with many of the false views of Christ and clearly establishes that Jesus did not begin existence at the miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit. Jesus existed prior to the incarnation, otherwise we cannot make sense of John’s statement that the word was in the beginning and his claim in verse (ESV) 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John identifies the word in his prologue with the person of Jesus Christ. But what about those that say that Jesus was the first created being and all John is saying is that he is the first created and so he was in the beginning?

Three times in this first sentence John uses the word ‘Was’, which is the imperfect tense which conveys the idea of not origin but of simply continuous existence. This stands in direct contrast to the verb John uses when he says the word became flesh at the beginning of the incarnation of the Word. 

John takes us beyond it into eternity itself. ‘was the word’, ‘was with God’, and ‘was God’.

In the beginning was the word establishes that Jesus existed before there was a beginning, otherwise John would have say at the beginning was the word.

In the beginning the word was with God establishes an interpersonal relationship element between God and the Word. Distinct but in perfect harmony.

In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. With that last statement, John unequivocally states that Jesus is co-equal with the Father.

There is no grammatical, textual, or contextual reason to insert the letter ‘a’ into the sentence and say that John was saying that the word was ‘a god’ as some false religions attempt to do. 

Spurgeon said this of John’s opening sentence, which I find incredibly helpful.We cannot describe the deity of Christ in clearer language than John uses. He was with God. He was God. He did the works of God, for he was the Creator. If any doubt his deity, they must do so in distinct defiance of the language of Holy Scripture.

If we believe the Bible is true, then we have to accept what it declares, even when it is hard to understand. And yes, the trinity is hard to understand. 

There is no good analogy for it, as a matter of fact, if you think you have one, you can be pretty sure that it is heretical.

The trinity is not like an egg, thats partialism, its not like ice, water, and steam, thats modalism. It isn’t like how a man can be a father, son, and uncle, those are distinct roles, and certainly not the way the book the Shack presents it with its confusion of modalism and incarnation. Others are equally wrong, whether its an apple, a shamrock, a slice of pizza, the sun.

The reality is that no earthly analogy perfectly captures the Trinity because God's nature is a divine mystery beyond creation. These illustrations fail because they either split God into parts or suggest a sequential change, both contradicting the biblical truth of three co-equal, co-eternal Persons in one Godhead. 

John declares that the Word, whom he identifies as being incarnated in the person of Jesus, is eternal and divine in his opening statement. Before anything was created, before there was a beginning, there was the triune Godhead. 

Since we cannot adequately illustrate the trinity, how are we to understand it?

This is why historical church confessions are helpful. Nicene Creed, first adopted in 325 as an orthodox statement on who Christ is reads as follows.

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.Amen.

The historic formulation or way we have spoken of the trinity is to say that God is one in essence and three in person.

You can hear that influence in our own confession of faith.

Article II of the Baptist Faith and Message on God says this in it’s opening paragraph which begins There is one and only one living and true God and concludes that same paragraph with the statement. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

Does your understanding of Jesus include the fact that he was uncreated, that he is the eternal son of God, fully divine and in the incarnation fully human? Anything less is a distortion of the Jesus scripture presents and falls short of the orthodox faith the Bible says is essential to salvation. Jesus is the uncreated word. Let’s pick up in verse 3 and look at…

II. JESUS, THE CREATING WORD

John moves from the uncreated nature to his work in creation when he says John 1:3 “3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” This again takes us to Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” 

Thus begins John’s assertion that the word was the intermediate agent in the work of creation. In the creation account we are simply told that (ESV) 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, or (ESV) 9 …God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. That phrase and it was so is repeated a few times.

The Genesis account is concerned with declaring that God created everything that is, John here explains the means, all things were made through him.

It is not hard to see the inference that John is making. God spoke and creation lept into existence, Jesus is the eternal creating Word of God. John also precludes anything being made apart from the Word when he says all things, something both the author of Hebrews as well as Paul echoes in their own writings. 

This is not limited to Johannine thought, but is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Hebrews 1:2 “2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” Colossians 1:16 “16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” 

John, as he often does, then states the same thing in reverse. Without him was not any thing made that was made. The Biblical worldview rejects that matter is eternal, everything that was created had a beginning. Not only does this reenforce that Jesus is the creating word, it further rejects any notion that the word itself was created. In his creative role, we are also told that the word continues operating in the creation. Colossians 1:17 “17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  Echoed again by the writer of Hebrews when he says Hebrews 1:3a “3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power…

Here’s why I think this is important.

I believe John is setting up what we are going to read about throughout his account of Jesus’ life and ministry. John is going to tell us that Jesus had power over the creation in an almost unfathomable way.  He is going to tell us that he saw Jesus change the molecular structure of water, that he can speak and illness be cured while he is not even near the sick individual, he is going to tell us that Jesus took a couple of loaves and fish and fed over 5,000 people, that he walked on water, gave sight to the blind, and raised the dead.

These are miraculous things that show a mastery over creation and matter that can only be described as divine.

How can Jesus do these miraculous things, that John calls signs? Because he is the incarnate, eternal, creating word of God. 

How can Jesus declare concerning himself that if they destroy this temple, referring to his own body, that in three days he would raise it up? Because he is the creating word of God who is sovereign over all of his creation.

Everything John is going to record for us that he saw Jesus do is a testimony that had led him to declare that Jesus is the eternal word of God, both uncreated and the agent of creation, which brings us to our third statement concerning Jesus this morning. 

III. JESUS, THE REVEALING WORD

Let’s pick back up in verses 4 and 5. John 1:4–5 “4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” 

In essence John begins his gospel with life, in him was life, and ends as we saw in his purpose statement towards the end of his account, that those who believe might have life in his name.

James Montgomery Boice sees a double meaning for the term life in Him in John 1:4. Yes of course, the immediate reference we think of physical life. John just told us that the only reason life in the physical sense exists is because of the Word through which all was created but Boice sees something else at work here. He says…But this is only the groundwork for the spiritual interpretation of the word that he unfolds in the pages of the Gospel. It is true that John speaks of physical life here, but as the book goes on he speaks increasingly of spiritual life. And the point is that just as Jesus is the source of physical life, so is he the source of the spiritual life that we receive when we believe on Him....(and) the life that God gives through Jesus Christ is not merely an earthly life or a life of such quality that it can be lost, but eternal life. It can never be lost....(and) he has also given us a life that is meant to be abundant even in our present circumstances...It is unfortunate that many Christians, though they have eternal life, nevertheless do not have life abundantly. This was not meant to be. Instead of living a miserable life and always complaining, Christians are meant to live lives of such joy and exuberance that their lives will be a blessing to others....Oh, the joys of living out the abundant life of Christ! They are the joys of increasingly finding him to be the bread of life that satisfies all our hunger and the water of life that quenches our deepest thirst

Again John says, not that Jesus became life, but that he was (present tense) is life, he has always been life. John, with the his reader standing between being a created being and his goal of seeing them born again or recreated in Christ, wants the reader to understand that the creative power that brought physical life to them is Christ, so that as he unrolls the truth of who Christ is that they may understand that spiritual life is also found in Christ alone.

This truth permeates all of his gospel. 

 John 5:24 “24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” , John 5:39–40 “39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” John 6:35 “35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”  

They are spiritually dead and need the life of Christ.

They are also spiritually blind and in darkness, and they need the light of Christ to bring knowledge of who God is as Jesus is recorded as saying in John 8:12 “12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”” 

The way John phrases this statement, life and light are so connected as to not be able to be separated. The sentence can be read, the life is the light of men and the light is the life of men. Jesus is both life and light. 

Therefore, without Jesus we are dead and in darkness.

The incarnate word reveals God because the pre-incarnate word is God. Jesus reveals to us fully and finally who God is. This is why Jesus could say to his disciples toward the end of his earthly ministry, John 14:9 “9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” 

This light, Jesus, is the light of men. It offers illumination to all men. It shines in the darkness. There is no darkness that can withstand the light and those who see the light and love the light will find life, those who love the darkness will refuse to come into the light because they hate the light (John 3:19-21)The darkness has not overcome it. 

John MacArthur says it this way“The light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2Cor 4:4) is nothing more than the radiating, manifest life of God shining in His Son. Paul specifically says: “God … is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (Jn 1:6). So light is God’s life manifest in Christ.

What does John mean by the darkness has not overcome it?The Greek verb can mean “to overcome” or “to grasp, to understand.” Throughout the Gospel of John, you will see both attitudes revealed: people will not understand what the Lord is saying and doing and, as a result, they will oppose Him.

John is continuing to set the foundation for his gospel so that we will understand who Jesus is.

Although Jesus came to reveal the father and to do his will perfectly and fully, all throughout his gospel account we will see men not understand or grasp what Jesus is saying, including his own disciples, of which John is one. Two we will see an increasing hostility towards Jesus growing throughout the gospel, culminating in the attempt to put out the light by extinguishing the life of Christ on the cross. And yet.

The darkness did not overcome it. Jesus is alive, he rose again, even in the prologue, John is setting the stage for the great declaration of the gospel, Jesus defeated sin, death, and the grave and true life is found in him alone.

Furthermore, one day the light of men will come again and darkness will be forever banished from all its corners throughout the universe, both in the physical sense and in the spiritual sense.

In Revelation, also written by John, he describes the New Heaven and Earth after Jesus stands in full victory, listen to what he says. 

English Standard Version Chapter 22

3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Notice that there is no more spiritual darkness and no more physical darkness because we will see his face and be his. Jesus will usher us fully and finally into the presence of God and we will see him clearly and fully and we will live in the light of a revealed Godhead forever and ever. 

These five verses are sixty one words in the greek, five sentences in the English and in this beginning of his prologue, and John has set the stage for the unfolding of the gospel. He has laid the foundation for everything that follows. Jesus is the Word of God. The eternal, uncreated, divine Son of God. The creative agent of everything that exists. The revelation of God to a dead and blind world.This is Jesus, the Word. 

John is not only concerned with right orthodoxy, that we believe the right things, he is concerned with right orthopraxy, that we respond appropriately to the truth. The eternal word of God became flesh and walked among us. He both perfectly obeyed the father as well as revealed him to man. His life, subsequent death, and resurrection the means by which lost, dead, and blind men and women might see the light and by faith be redeemed and born again.

If you know this Jesus, then I pray that today has been a helpful reminder of who he is to you.

If you didn’t know Jesus before today, I pray that you see him in his majesty and glory this morning as the pre-incarnate word of God.

If you are still not sure about Jesus, then I pray that what you have heard today might be buried in your heart and that God would use both it and the remainder of our study of the gospel of John to shine the light of truth into your life. 

Let us pray.