John Verse by Verse

Grant R. Osborne

• Publisher: Lexham Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781683590767
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

John is at once the most complex and the easiest to understand of all the Gospels. If we want a young seeker or new believer to read something that is both clear and filled with the gospel and good basic theology, we give them the Gospel of John. And if we want to study an incredibly deep theological masterpiece that stretches the brightest mind, we open the Gospel of John. It is the most evangelistic account of Jesus' life and ministry, and it also gives the mature Christian deep theological truths to chew on.In John Verse by Verse, respected New Testament scholar Grant R. Osborne invites the reader to become caught up in the dramatic masterpiece of the Fourth Gospel. He writes, "If I were teaching a course in college or seminary on creative writing, John's Gospel would be set alongside Shakespeare as models of brilliant characterization and plot." It is perhaps Osborne's favorite book of the Bible, and enthusiasm for it shines on every page. The Osborne New Testament Commentaries, by respected professor and author Grant R. Osborne, are for people seeking a straightforward explanation of the text in its context, avoiding either oversimplification or technical complexity. Osborne brings out the riches of the New Testament, making each book accessible for pastors and all who consider themselves students of Scripture.

PROLOGUE: THE WORD MADE FLESH

(1:1–18)

The purpose of a prologue in any of the Gospels is to introduce the drama of Jesus and the key themes that will flow through the writer’s presentation. This is probably the most remarkable prologue ever written, and one could easily take an entire book to present in depth all that John says. Jesus is the Living Revealer (Word) of God and is God himself. In Jesus God has taken on human flesh (incarnation), and in him the Shekinah (God “dwelling” among his people) walks planet Earth. Moreover, Jesus has brought the light of salvation into this world, and sinners by believing in him can become the children of God. However, sin is the great obstacle between God and humanity, and sinners must turn to Christ and be reborn to be forgiven. Many of the key terms in this Gospel are introduced here: life, light, darkness, sent, truth, world, believe, know, receive, witness, new birth, love, and glory. These terms will come up again and again throughout John’s narrative.

It is not necessary to say, as some have, that this prologue was written after the Gospel was finished, perhaps by another author. The language and style fit the rest of the narrative quite closely, and they were clearly written together. Others have labeled this a hymn with prose insertions, and they debate which parts are the hymn and which the insertions—for instance, verses 1–5 (6–8), 9–14 (15–18), or 1–2, 3–5 (6–9), 10–12a (12b–13), 14 (15–18).

However, while it is poetic, it is likely best categorized as high prose rather than a preexisting hymn. I would conclude that the prologue is particularly beautiful prose with a depth of theology unmatched in any other writing. Every time I teach or write on this material (like now), I am thrilled just at the privilege of digging into it once again.

JOHN BEGINS WITH THE ESSENCE OF THE WORD AND CREATION (1:1–5)

John has deliberately constructed the story of the “new creation” by Jesus after the opening words of Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). It all started not with the material that made up the old creation but with the Word: “In the beginning was the Word.” Jesus was there at the origins of the universe and that he was involved in that creation, which we will see in verses 3–4. This is also a statement of preexistence, that Jesus as the Word existed before time and creation began. As creator of both physical and spiritual life, he was the divine agent responsible for both the original creation of the world (v. 3) and the spiritual re-creation of the world (v. 4). The Son of God as the preexistent Word is the basis of all the incredible claims John makes in this section. The first two verses relate who he was before creation, verse 3 tells what he did in creation, and verse 4 states what he is doing in the new creation to bring spiritual light and life into this world.

Jesus as the “Word” (logos) in Greek thought would denote the principle of reason that governs life and makes thinking possible. However, John’s use here is much closer to Jewish concepts of the Word as the divine Wisdom that God used to create the world (Prov 8:30–31) and was seen as God’s living voice in his relation to the world. So this means Jesus is the “Living Revealer” of God, the very voice of God in this world (Ps 33:6).

THE DIVINITY OF THE WORD (1:1–2)

This first verse relates three things about the Word: He is preexistent (NLT, “already existed”), he enjoys a special relationship with God, and he is himself deity. Each step is more intense than the previous one. The Word first exists before creation comes into being, then has a special relationship with God, and finally is in his very nature God himself. Think what is going through John’s mind as he pens this. This Jesus with whom he walked throughout Galilee was actually the eternal Word, God himself in human flesh. He created the very world in which he walked, and when he spoke it was the very voice of God John heard. Only a being who had that special relationship with God and was there at the beginning could have created this world, and John walked with him!

The idea that the Word was “with” (Greek: pros) God connotes both presence (they were together) and special relationship—the idea of pros is often “side by side” with another. In the second and third statements, Jesus’ humanity (relationship with) and divinity (identity with) are brought together. He is the God-man.

The Greek for “The Word was God” (theos ēn ho logos) has been misused by Jehovah’s Witnesses, who interpret the absence of the article before God to mean “a god.” There are several serious errors in this. To begin with, there is no actual relationship between the Greek and English articles. The absence of the article in Greek rarely meant “a,” and it normally established an abstract aspect, namely, that Jesus partook of divinity or “Godness.” At the same time, it was common in Greek to designate the subject by using the article (so “the word” was the subject) and to show the predicate nominative by leaving off the article (so “God” or “divinity” come after the verb), resulting in “the Word was God/divine.” This is proved when the same thing takes place in 1:18, when theos without the article is used for God the Father (“no one has seen God at any time”). So this cannot be translated “the Word was a god” in this context. It is a perfectly clear statement of divinity.

The second verse combines the first two clauses of verse 1, reemphasizing the special relationship of the Word “with God” at the origin of creation. In this sense, it states that the act of creation in Genesis 1 is renewed in the new creation established by the Word. The gospel reality constitutes this new creation and was the purpose of God and the Word “in the beginning.”

THE WORD IN THE OLD CREATION (1:3)

As a corollary to the deity of the Word, John tells us that he was the agent of God in the very act of creation. Christ as Creator is an exciting truth found also in 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:3; and Revelation 3:14. To emphasize this truth, John states it positively (“Through him all things were made”) and negatively (“without him nothing was made”). Every single aspect of the created order came into being “through” (dia) him. This is even more wondrous for us, for we know that there are more galaxies out there than there are stars in our galaxy, and there are more complex cells in our body than have ever been imagined before. With all our knowledge, we know that the created universe is beyond scientific understanding, and the Word has made it all! Christ is both Creator and Sustainer of all there is.

When John says “in the beginning” in 1:1, he does not mean that the Word came into being along with creation as parallel births. The Word preexisted creation and was the power that brought creation into being. John uses expansive language—“all things” and “nothing”—to stress the whole of creation. The verb egeneto means “to come into existence” and here stresses the act of creation (“were made”). The technical phrase we now use to describe this is creatio ex nihilo, “created out of nothing,” meaning that there were no materials out of which God made the world. Everything mentioned in the six days of creation of Genesis 1 was the product of the creative work of the Word.

It is unclear whether the phrase that ends verse 3 in most versions (“that has been made”) actually ends verse 3 (as in NIV, KJV, NASB, LEB, NET) or should start verse 4 (with NRSV, NLT, NJB), thus reading, “What has been made in him was life.” My opinion is that the parallelism of the lines and the developing thought fits the latter better than a redundant “nothing was made that has been made.” I disagree that in the second option “what has been made” would have to mean the incarnation. I believe it is the new creation, and that fits very well in the context.

THE WORD IN THE OLD AND NEW CREATIONS (1:4–5)

Life and light are at the heart of the Genesis 1 creation, and they form the core of the new creation as well. So in these verses there is a double meaning in the move from physical life and light to spiritual life and light in Christ. The Word has bridged the gap between the two. Life is encased in the Word, and in God’s gift to sinful humanity the life and light of God have become incarnate. Spiritual life is now available to all, and that life has become “the light of all mankind,” meaning it illuminates every human being with the light of God. All of creation culminates in the new life found in Christ.

The two key words “life” and “light” permeate all of John’s writings. “Life” appears thirty-six times in John and seventeen in Revelation, nearly half of the total number in the New Testament. The earthly life of the old creation has been transformed into the heavenly, eternal life of the new creation.

The imagery of “light” is another major concept, appearing twenty-three times in John. The light-darkness motif is a dominant theme in the Gospel. Here it is part of what is called the “universal salvific will” of God, presented in verses 4, 7, 9, and here. Putting the three together, God sheds his salvific light on all humanity (v. 4) so that they may experience that light and believe (v. 7), and that means every single person is convicted by the light of God (v. 9). The doctrine is best defined in 2 Peter 3:9, where Peter states that God does not want “anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” This looks to the revelation of God in Jesus, as all of us are confronted with our utter sinfulness by the light of Jesus and his sacrificial death so our sins could be forgiven. Here we are at the very heart of John’s gospel message.

John introduces the darkness-light dualism in verse 5. The light of God “shines in the darkness” through the Word, building on Genesis 1:2–3: “The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep.… And God said, ‘Let there be light.’ ” The darkness here is greater and more sinister, for it is the darkness of sin (as in John 3:19; 8:12; 12:35), but as in Genesis it has felt God’s salvific light. Throughout John the war between light and darkness rages.

However, John expresses the eternal truth clearly: “The darkness has not overcome it.” There is a debate here, for the verb katelaben can mean either “understand, comprehend” (as in KJV, NASB, NIV 1984) or “overcome, extinguish” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT, ESV). The former would fit the influence of 1:10, in which the world does not “recognize” or “know” the true light. There are also some who think there is a double meaning here, as the world does not understand the light and so opposes it.

While this is probably true, the main thrust in this context of conflict is on the inability of darkness to keep the light of conviction from shining in the lives of those the Spirit encounters (as in 12:35, “walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you”). Throughout this Gospel the light of Christ confronts the darkness of sin and forces the sinner to make a decision to accept or reject the light, and nothing can stop that light from shining.

JOHN THE BAPTIST ARRIVES AS A WITNESS (1:6–8)

John explained the heavenly reality behind this extraordinary new creation in verses 1–5. Now the prologue turns to the earthly witness to this light of God, the Word. The Word was not a purely supernatural phenomenon but actually appeared on the stage of this world. He was heralded by John the Baptist, who is introduced in verse 6: “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.”

“There was” might better be translated “there came,” using the verb (egeneto) that in verse 3 described creation (“was made”). This may carry a small bit of that force and describe John as created for this very purpose. He was part of the new creation. In the same way that God was the source of the light, he was the source for the witness. The Baptist was “sent from God” as his official envoy to prepare for the arrival of the Word, whom we now know is Jesus the Christ. He is the first of the “sent ones,” a semi-technical description of a shaliach or (sent) ambassador to represent God and his ultimate Sent One, Jesus.

The ministry of this John is described in verse 7 as his being a “witness,” which is a frequent theme that speaks of official testimony to the reality of the Christ (5:31–40; 8:14–18). As a witness he was sent from God to testify “concerning that light”—Jesus as the Word. There is a judicial flavor to this concept: Jesus is presented in the courtroom of this world, and the witness to this reality is none other than John the Baptist.

The purpose of this testimony dominates this Gospel: “so that through him all might believe.” The verdict is clear, and it is proved that Jesus is indeed the Word, the light of God. This continues the message of verses 4–5, namely, God’s desire that “all mankind” might respond to the light by making a faith-decision for Christ. This doesn’t teach universalism, for every person will not be saved, but every person will be encountered by the light (v. 5) and be convicted by it (see 16:7–8). The mission theme of John’s Gospel begins here, preparing the reader for 1:35–39, where two who hear the Baptist’s witness do indeed believe and follow Jesus.

John wants to make sure there is no misunderstanding and so tells us in verse 8, “He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” The entire focus of the prologue is to introduce the world to the Word, Jesus, whom we will see as “the true light” in verse 9. Some have thought this reflects a later time when a Bapt...