John 1:1-18

Go Deep

(John 1:1-18)

Read John 1:1-18. Make note of any insights you have into the text.

Why does John begin his account of Jesus by echoing the opening words of the Bible? (Consider Matthew 19:28; Isa. 65:17; 66:22; 2 Peter 3:9.)

Who is the “Word” (vv. 1, 14)? Why does John call him that? (See Genesis 1 and Ps. 33:6.)

According to John’s Gospel, what was Jesus’s role in creation? (Compare with Colossians 1:15-17 and Hebrews 1:2-3.)

Read the verses in John that relate Jesus to light: John 3:19; 8:12; 9:4-5; 12:35-36, 46. Does the emphasis on light point back to Genesis 1?

What does John mean by saying the darkness has not understood (literally, “grasped”) the light the light?

Read John 1:9 and compare with Isaiah 49:6.

Why is it important to set the story of Jesus within an Old Testament framework? What do we lose if we tell the story of Jesus outside this context? How would our story be told within a biblical framework?

How does John 1:10 fit with the rabbinic idea that God gave the law (the Ten Words) to the world, but the world didn’t receive it?

What does it mean to “receive” Jesus? Is it the same as to “believe on his name”? Is it different?

Read verse 14. What is the significance of the word “tabernacled” (or “tented”; translated as “made his dwelling” in the NIV)? See Exodus 40:30-35.

What, according to verse 18, has Jesus done? What are the implications of this for anyone who wants to know God?

What is the gospel – the “Good News” – in this passage?