Jesus, Son of God

THE APOSTLE JOHN wrote his Gospel with a specific and very direct purpose. He declares this to be: "Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name" (chap. 20:30, 31).*

The dismissal of the relevance and meaning of Jesus Christ and Christian faith by contemporary man is truly amazing if these claims made by and about Christ are true.

It is all too easy to overlook the fact that in human experience, especially in Western civilization, certain factors plainly indicate the centrality of Christ in the life of the world. Our chronology is based on the fact of Christ's birth. The annual holidays of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun indicate our recognition of His incarnation, death, resurrection, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The existence of Christianity and its persistence in times of persecution, prosperity, and perversity actually bear testimony to man's acceptance of the uniqueness of Christ.

However, none of these factors either individually or collectively can serve to move the heart, mind, and will to belief in Christ as Saviour and Lord. These events compel recognition of Christ, but they cannot convict the heart and lead to that faith in Him which brings life in its train.

John's express purpose in giving us his Gospel is that through acceptance of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, we might find life. To achieve his object, John, under the inspiration of God's Spirit, selectively chose his material in order to demonstrate that Christ is the divine God incarnate.

In John's Gospel the title Son of God is clear claim and testimony to the divinity of Christ. The Jews and John both understood the claim this way. After the healing on the Sabbath at Bethesda, John wrote, "The Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God" (chap. 5:18; cf. 10:30-36).

The Structure of John's Gospel

John's selective use of source material and his plainly stated purpose suggest that he has grouped his facts in a significant order to make his point. Several readings of the Gospel confirm this.

The prologue, verses 1-18, sets forth the method and nature of his approach. It may be said to constitute a table of contents. Not everyone will agree, but the following is a reasonable thematic tabulation of the introduction and one that corresponds with the themes of the Gospel's contents.

Verses 1-5—The eternal Word is the divine Creator.

Verses 6-8—The Baptist's testimony to the Word authenticates his claim and fulfills prophecy.

Verses 9-13—Salvation made possible to all through the Word.

a. The rejection of the Word by His people.

b. Acceptance of the Word through faith brings sonship.

c. Salvation derives from the divine initiative.

Verses 14-18—The incarnation of the Word is twofold.

a. To bring grace for man's salvation.

b. The revealing of God to man. Actually the arrangement of the material in chapters 1:19 to 20:31 serves to illustrate these seven aspects of Christ the Word and His work of revealing God and redeeming man.

Assertions Concerning the Word

In chapter 1, verses 1-5, John deals with the nature of the Word.

"In the beginning was the Word" indicates the eternity of Christ. This phrase declares, "Go to any point in time or eternity and you will find the Word." John is claiming for Christ what is the prerogative of Deity—an underived existence. This idea is not compatible with reason, for the human mind cannot comprehend the concept of a being who never had a beginning. However, such is the nature of Christ as given us by rev elation, and we can accept it as true because God has revealed it as such.

"The Word was with God." The person of Christ and the Father are separate, but their individuality in no way destroys or impairs their unity. In John 10:30 Jesus says, "I and the Father are one," but this unity does not destroy their individuality. This is stressed in chapter 1, verse 2, "He was in the beginning with God."

"The Word was God." John is now explicit. The Word who existed from eternity, who is with the Father, is Himself God. Many have stumbled unnecessarily over the grammar and meaning of this phrase "the Word was God."

Alfred Plummer in the Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools has this sane and pertinent observation to make on the phrase "the Word of God."

"Θλóγóς is the subject in all three clauses. The absence of the article with νεóς shows that νεóς is the predicate; . . . and the meaning is that the Logos partook of the Divine Nature, not that the Logos was identified with the Divine Person. In the latter case νεóς would have had the article. The verse may be thus paraphrased: the Logos existed from all eternity, distinct from the Father, and equal to the Father." —Page 64. James Moffatt translates the phrase "the Logos was divine," † which conveys what is explicit in John's words—Christ is God.

"All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made." Plummer (op cit., p. 65) points out that by using "antithetic parallel ism: John presses home the awesomeness of the truth he wishes to impart. Christ the Word is the Creator of all things throughout the universe, but is Himself the uncreated, the self-existent, God.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Col. 1:15-17).

"In him was life ..." is one of the distinctive aspects of all John's writing. Life is of God, and this life, John claims, derives from Christ. It would be hard to find a more compelling reason for the divinity of Christ than this claim John makes concerning Him. Ellen White points this out in her well-known comment:

"In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived. 'He that hath the Son hath life.' 1 John 5:12. The divinity of Christ is the believer's assurance of eternal life."—The Desire of Ages, p. 530.

'The [Christ's] life was the light of men." This is one of the most intriguing phases in the prologue. What does John mean here? Perhaps the obvious meaning is the true one. All of man's existence, his mental, moral, and physical activity, comes from Christ. Man has life in the widest sense of that word because Christ, who has this life in Himself, has imparted it to him. The nature and activity of human life can be adequately explained only by reference to Christ the source of life.

The implication of verse five, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not over come it," suggests this is a reference to the light of God's character, which Christ manifested in both time and eternity. In each case the darkness was unable either to alter the light or diminish it.

Aντò ov xατελαβεν translated by Moffatt "not master"; Weymouth, "never overpowered"; T.E.V., "never put it out"; and E. V. Rieu, "did not conquer," all indicate the conflict between light and darkness in time and eternity, which John draws out in his Gospel and the Revelation.

The Authorized Version with its "did not apprehend" suggests the unwillingness of darkness to em brace the light. Hoskyns and Davey comment "the double significance of the Greek verb—to grasp with the mind and so to comprehend, and to grasp with the hand and so overcome or destroy . . . must be given full weight in the interpretation."— The Fourth Gospel, vol. 1, p. 139. Within the context the greater emphasis should fall upon the in ability of darkness to conquer the light.

The implication is that darkness, which here and elsewhere in John's writing is synonymous with evil, has sought and is presently seeking to destroy the light that Christ manifests. The light in and displayed by Christ is a reference to the character of Deity. It is unlikely that reference is made here either to physical illumination or infinite power, but to God's moral and righteous character. Also, the manifestation of this righteous character is amid the darkness. God's holiness, justice, love, and benevolence are not in the slightest diminished by the opposition and distortion of darkness. Rather, as John says, "The light shines in the darkness."

In these five short verses we have some of the most compelling of reasons for accepting the deity of Christ Jesus as the Son of God and believing in Him in order to have life through Him.

Christ is the Eternal One. Christ is the Word, who has eternally been with the Father. Christ is the possessor of the character of deity. Christ is the Source and Giver of life. Christ is the Agent and Originator of all the created universe. Christ is the unquenchable revelation of the character of God.

Christ is the Saviour, Sanctifier, Keeper, and Redeemer of all who believe in Him. Christ is our God.