John 1 Bible Study

What claims are being made above about the “Word” (John 1:1)?
A.  The Word is someone who can be referred to as “Him” (John 1:3).
B.  He was “with God” (John 1:1).
C.  He “was God” (John 1:1).
D.  He existed “in the beginning” (John 1:1 & 2).
E.  Everything was “made through Him” (John 1:3).

Are these five claims internally consistent with the rest of the Bible?
Since John 1:1 talks about “in the beginning,” let's turn to the beginning of the Bible - in Genesis 1 - and read verses 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24 and 26.

What are the second and third words in each of the eight verses above?
“God said,” so according to the Bible, God created everything not with a wand or a snap of His fingers but through “Word” (John 1:1), hence “E” above.

When does Genesis 1 say the creation through His Word took place?
“In the beginning” (Genesis 1:1), hence “D” above.

What is the fifth word in Genesis 1:26?
“Us,” which means that whomever God is referring to is: (1) also God; (2) with God; and (3) someone who can be referred to by a personal pronoun, hence “A,” “B,” “C” above. So A, B, C, D, E above are internally consistent in the Bible.

To whom does the “Us” refer?
God the Father, God the Son (see John 1:14 in The Word Became Flesh), and God the Holy Spirit.

Is the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Genesis passage above?
“And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2).

What is the “darkness” (John 1:5)?
Our fallen world. It should be noted that ου κατελαβεν (ou katelaben), the original Greek words translated “did not understand” (John 1:5), could also mean “did not overcome,” in which case “darkness” would refer to Satan's dominion, which could not overcome the “light” (John 1:5) that penetrated it.

Is the writer of this gospel referring to himself in John 1:6 above?
No, he is referring to John the Baptist.

What role was John the Baptist sent to perform?
According to John 1:7-8, he was to “bear witness of the/that Light.”

Who is the “Light” (John 1:7, 8, 9)?
John 1:10 onwards refers to the Light as “He” and “Him,” and states that the “world was made through Him,” equating Him to the “Word” above. So the “Word” above is now being referred to as the “Light.”

Where is this “Light”?
John 1:10 states, “He was in the world,” and John 1:11 states, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.”

What is “His own” in John 1:11?
The Israelites.

To what does the “blood” (John 1:13) refer?
The bloodline of the Jews, who descended from Abraham.

What do “the will of the flesh” and “the will of man” (John 1:13) mean?
The human desire to have sex and the husband's desire for offspring.

But who can become children of God?
“Those believing in His name” (John 1:12).

And who can believe in His name?
The Jews believed that they were God's children by virtue of having been born Jewish. John 1 declares that God's children in fact are those who believe in the Creator God who came into the world (see next page), and the ability to believe in Him is granted by God Himself: “born... of the will... of God” (John 1:13).