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Coffee with Jesus: John 1

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Brief Thoughts From Daily Devotions

I’m sure we’re all familiar with John 1, especially the first few verses:

John 1:1–2
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Sometimes I think we can become so familiar with a Biblical text that we can forget or gloss over the rest of it, or what comes after and around it. Similar to the other famous John verse, John 3:16. After reading all of John 1 today, I was struck again with just how much theology John packs into such a short space in the opening paragraphs (vv.1–18)!

There is often a lot of debate around the translation of the first verse amongst certain heretical groups who try to diminish or alter the view of Jesus’ divinity or pre-existence etc. but I think the familiarity with the beginning three verses has caused us to miss that the next sixteen verses all point very strongly to the true nature of Jesus, who he is, and that he is also God.

John 1:10
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him.

Verse three identifies the “Word” with creator status as “without him nothing was made”. John expands on this more, and then in verse 10 he states that this Word figure was coming into the world which he had also made, and then makes it really clear in verse 14 and 15:

John 1:14–15
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’

John plainly says that this “Word became flesh” (the incarnation of Jesus) and then clearly points to the pre-existence of Jesus here by saying “he was before me”. This isn’t an issue of age either, as John was actually six months older than Jesus, physically speaking (Luke 1:26–27). This also points towards something Jesus later declares about himself in John 8:58 when he says, “before Abraham was, I am.”. So definitely not an age thing!

But if that wasn’t clear enough, John really drives the point home in verse 18 by saying that the “Son” is “himself God” alongside the Father:

John 1:18
No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

I like how the CSB translates v.18 as it seems to point more directly back to Daniel 7 and the Son of Man imagery, and the ancient Jewish theology of the “two powers in heaven”:

V.18 (CSB)
No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side — he has revealed him.

It’s interesting that John the Baptist didn’t know about who Jesus truly was, despite being cousins, until he baptised him, as it appears that the Father had spoken to John at some prior point telling him what to look out for:

John 1:32–33
And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptise with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptises with the Holy Spirit.’

One last thing I also found it interesting which stood out to me, is that John was baptising in Bethany, where Jesus was baptised by him and began his ministry (Matthew 3:13–16; Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21–22), and it is also the place where Jesus ended his ministry and was ascended into heaven (Luke 24:50–52). It’s like everything went full-circle, also highlighting the importance of this area where the Mount of Olives is and its role in the ministry of Jesus.

 

Further Reading:

 

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