Some Seriously Deep Theology

Scripture: 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 nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:1-5

Observation: John begins his gospel - one of the last documents written in the bible - with a collection of metaphors to describe the nature of Jesus. Jesus is the Word, the Life, and the Light. He repeats these through chapter 1, discussing Jesus as the Word of God that people do not understand, and the Life of mankind that others may claim by faith and thus born of God, and the Light of truth that the evil cannot overcome nor understand.

These seemingly evoke the three character qualities of God contemplated the most by believers. The Lord is merciful and thus lifegiving to any, especially those who believe in and seek him. The Lord is just, with precepts and commands that represent lawful truth. The Lord is the all-powerful authority of creation, able to do any and all things through his simple command. John is declaring Jesus to be these qualities of God ... not to also have these qualities, but to be the manifestation of the qualities. Jesus IS the authoritative word of God. Jesus IS the light of God's goodness. Jesus IS the promised salvation of life with God.

Application: This feels to me like deep, deep theology ... like the kind of thing where some scholar could spend a lifetime studying the meaning of John 1, or just these five verses, or maybe even just the first six words, and create a massive thesis into the nature of the trilogy, Jesus, God, and creation. I'm not going to be that scholar, of course.

John was moved to create this context for his gospel. There was a reason God wanted us to understand a different nature of Jesus than the one presented in the other gospels ... two of which begin with the Christmas story, and the other simply jumps into John the Baptist fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah and then declaring Jesus the Messiah. Mankind also needed this "not a man" version of Jesus, to go along with the "fully man" version.

There are things that scholars can and should study deeply. These same things are likely simply to be believed by me. I believe in Jesus as the son of God, part of the trilogy, with power and authority of God, and my savior faith. That's as deep as I probably need to understand.

Prayer: Lord, you are my light of truth, my life of hope, and the word I seek to obey. While I desire to know you better, I also know I can never understand you as your ways are too great for me. I am comfortable with those mysteries. Please give me your word today, both as guidance for my life, and as the love of Jesus. Amen.