7) "What about John 1:1?" (Part 2) - Jesus is the Beginning of God's New Creation

Feb 13, 2020

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This episode is part 2 "What about John 1:1?" - Jesus is the Beginning of God's New Creation.

We recommend before listening to this podcast, first listen to our previous podcast, #6) "What about John 1:1, Part 1".

In this current episode we ask the question "What beginning does John 1:1 mean in the statement "In the beginning was the Word..."? We see that while John is echoing Genesis creation language, he is not directly describing the Genesis creation, but rather the renewal or new creation work of God in and through Jesus the Messiah.

Therefore, contrary to the "deity of Christ" interpretation of John 1:1, Jesus, the Word of John 1:1 was not literally present or involved in the Genesis creation. Rather, Jesus, the Word of John 1:1, is God's channel of the New Creation.

The entire text of this episode is available here.

The following is a summary:

1. “In the beginning” of John 1:1 is a new beginning. While intentionally echoing some of the language of the Genesis creation, “in the beginning” of John 1:1 directly refers to the life and ministry of Jesus the Messiah, not to the Genesis creation of earth, plants and animals.

2. In the rest of the Gospel of John “the beginning” never means eternity past or the time of the creation of the universe. In the Gospel of John “the beginning” refers to the life and ministry of Jesus.

3. In the Epistles of John, “the beginning” never refers to eternity past or the time of the creation of the universe, but rather to events associated in the 1st century when people saw, touched and heard Jesus.

4. In the Book of Revelation (another book attributed to John), Jesus Christ is presented as the “first-born from the dead, the beginning of God’s creation”. Jesus being the “first-born from the dead" and "the beginning of God’s creation” agrees with, and is evidence that “the beginning” in the Gospel John 1:1 is the beginning of God’s new creation in the life of Jesus.

5. The other three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke also associate words like “the beginning” and “word” with the life and ministry of Jesus. Like the Gospel of John, the Gospels

6. We see other places in the New Testament where the phrase “in the beginning” does not refer to the Genesis creation. Context is necessary to determine what beginning is meant.

7. Finally, we note that the literary context of John’s Prologue (John 1:1-18) is an introduction to and a summary of his entire Gospel, which describes the life and ministry of Jesus the Messiah. The Gospel of John is not a record of the Genesis creation of seas, dry land, plants, animals, moon and stars. Rather, the context of “in the beginning” in the Gospel of John is the life of Jesus.