The God Who Was in the Beginning

 The God Who Was in the Beginning

John 1:1-5 
John 20:30-31 

The Gospel of St. John is the fourth book in the New Testament and the fourth gospel. It was written by John presumably from John's perspective. As we understand, the gospels are all about the good news and have different perspectives of the same message from their different authors.  

There are several Johns in the New Testament. Whether it is, John the brother of Jesus, or one of the Zebedee’s we do not know.  We do have some clues who this John might be. In John 21:20-22, the author says it was the disciple of Jesus who Jesus loved much. We also know that this John is the same author of the three epistles of John. Some scholars will dispute that this John is not the same author of Revelation.  It must also be noted that many NT scholars ascribe the authorship of the gospels to different authors. Some of these same scholars believe the authors were redactors who made edits to the gospels for different reasons. For us believers, we accept that this is John's gospel, and John the disciple was the author.

The book was written for the Jewish communities who were Christians in Ephesus. They were Jewish Christians who had converted in the first century. These Jews were subject to ostracism and persecution from the Jews, so they were careful with proclaiming their beliefs and affiliation with Jesus Christ. 

Some scholars argue that the Gospel of St. John was written before 70 AD. We know that 70 AD was the time the Roman Empire destroyed the last temple and this is a year that many Christians use as a reference point when dating early Christian writings. Since the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, it seems strange John did not mention anything about the temple. Others say the book was written later at around 80 or 90 AD. We do know that Paul had already been to Ephesus in 52 AD. We read this in Acts. Paul had established a Christian community in Ephesus. This included Christians of the diaspora and new converts. 

 John wrote the gospel so that Christians may hold onto their faith.  He wanted to persuade his audience to believe that Jesus is God. That the Word had a preexistence. In Greek, Logos would be the word that John meant. They believed Logos, reason, was involved in creation and everything was made from Logos. The Greeks had the concept of Logos but was abstract and influenced by Platonic thinking whereas Jesus was Logos made flesh. The word Logos was the power to create everything out of nothing. Jesus was the channel of creation and was God. 

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. 

Psalms 33:6 ESV 

The same Logos is resurrected and does come back as spirit, but as living, physical flesh to be with us.

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 

John 20:19 ESV 

From John 1:1-5 and John 20:30-31. We understand three crucial points.

1.       Jesus is the creator and is God. 

2.       Jesus is real and rose from the dead and is with us. He is dwelling amongst us all the time.  

3.       Jesus will be an abstract reality unless we put our faith in him. We have to believe and act in faith.