The Foundation of the Gospel

When we turn in the New Testament to the Gospel according to John, we dis­cover that John makes an approach to the atoning work of Christ altogether different from that used by the other Gospel writers. He begins at the be­ginning, and shows us clearly why it is that He who "was God" needed to become man in order to deliver man from the power of death. It is impossible to read thoughtfully the first chapter of John's Gospel without conclud­ing that there was but One in all the universe of God who could be the Saviour of man. In­deed, it is not necessary to read beyond the first five verses of that wonderful chapter to compre­hend why that is so.

The startling revelation that it brings to us is not that the Son of God left His glory, and became man, and dwelt among us as a bond servant; but, rather, that sin, which made the sacrifice of Christ necessary, has not changed God's purpose for man.

There is no formal introduction to this Gos­pel. Its first fact is its important fact. "In the beginning was the Word." Were this not true, all that the Gospel relates would be valueless. To give power and effectiveness to all that is purposed in the gospel through Christ, this fact must stand. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we must know not merely that He is, but also that He was, and that He was "in the beginning." His being in the beginning is our assurance for His being now and to all eternity.

The second fact is of equal importance. "And the Word was with God." It is not enough that we know that Christ was in the beginning. We must also know that then He was with God—that they were together in the beginning of the creative purpose. There is a very important reason for our being assured upon this point. He through whom the crea­tive purpose once wrought is now intrusted with the responsibility of bringing about a new creation, and inasmuch as we are vitally con­cerned with that new creation, it is assuring for us to know that the work is in the hands of One who was with God in the very begin­ning, and through whom the whole work of cre­ation was executed.

The third fact is likewise of first importance. "And the Word was God." The whole purpose of the gospel is to take from man that which separated him from God, and to bring to him that which is of God, and will make him one with God. "That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us," is the expression of a con­stant purpose of Christ for His people. Plead­ing with His Father for those that the Father had given Him, He said, "They are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them. . . . Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as we are." This work of bringing us back to God, and of making us one with God, is vested in Him who in the beginning "was," who was there with God, and who then was God. And by these facts our hearts are well assured of the truth, the completeness, and the perfection of the work undertaken for our redemption by Him. Observe the emphasis that John gives to all three of these facts in the second verse: "The same was in the beginning with God."

A wonderful foundation of gospel truth is thus laid for our study. This One who as the Word was with God, and was God in the begin­ning, is the One by whom "all things were made." He was the Agent of power in active operation in the whole work of creation. Ob­serve again the emphasis here: "And without Him was not anything made that was made." There can be no doubt at all as to when this beginning was, for clearly it is before all crea­tion. There, He who is now our Saviour became our Creator, and the Creator of all other things that were made. That He should be the One by whom the new creation is wrought is, therefore, in complete accord with the purpose that wrought by Him "in the beginning."

But still weightier testimony is supplied by John in setting before us the ground of fact on which Christ has undertaken with authority the work of our redemption. In the beginning, when He was with God, and was God, and all things were made by Him, "in. Him was life; and the life was the light of men."

Well indeed had it been for us had we always remembered this great truth. But this is the vital fact that the serpent, in beguiling Eve, caused her to forget. The one thing that God had required of man was obedience. The one thing that could separate man from God, and bring death, was disobedience. The command of God was definite: "Ye shall not eat of it, nei­ther shall ye touch it, lest ye die." But at the suggestion of the evil one, that she would not die, that disobedience would not bring death, that she had life in herself and therefore was independent of the Source of life, she partook of the fruit, and in doing so separated herself from Him in whom from the very beginning "was life." In reaching out to find life that was independent of Him, she found death. And Adam, joining Eve in her disobedience, brought death "upon all men."

In the beginning God had purposed that all life shall emanate from His Son. The one way to retain connection with that Life was obedi­ence to the Father's will. Any separation of His creatures from that Source of life brought death. Now, death having passed upon all men through sin, the one way for man to regain life is to restore his connection with the Source of life.

Washington, D. C.