Example research essay topic: Gospel Of John God The Father - 1,491 words

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The Gospel of John is the fourth book of the New Testament. The passage that we will be dealing with from the book of John is chapter one verses one through five. In the outline from the background study it is under the section, The eternal Word incarnate. This passage is the prologue, which John uses in order to establish the foundation that he will use to build his presentation of the life of Christ, as it was not portrayed in the synoptic Gospels. Verses 1 - 5 will be best understood in light of the entire context of the book. We should remember that the Gospel of John was written to supplement the other Gospels.

Although John does not start out his Gospel with the birth of Christ the man, he starts out with Christ in eternity. In this prologue, he mostly deals with the deity of Christ, and His involvement in the creation of the world; however, he does deal somewhat with the authority and power given to Christ empowering him to overcome the darkness. In this paper, we will seek to understand the theological meaning that John presents in verses 1 - 5. We will seek to relate this meaning to the context in which this passage is found. For example, since it was commonly believed at the time of Johns writing of his Gospel that the Word had not yet come to the Jews, how did John deal with this? Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand the significance of the writing of Johns Gospel, and the scripture upon which the theology of the Trinity is established.

We will do this through a study of the words that John used in this particular message, through a study of the theological meaning of the message, and through interpreting the relevance of the message to the time and circumstances of its writing. In the beginning. Starting off like Genesis 1: 1, John here alludes to the Old Testament and the Jewish idea of God creating the earth through his preexisting wisdom (Clarke). This simple terminology implies so much about the very nature of the Trinity. First of all, the phrase can also be interpreted, from all eternity characterizing Christ as preexisting (New Commentary on the Whole Bible). Secondly, In the beginning does not mean from the beginning; Christ was already there.

However, this does not imply that the man Christ had an existence before the world was created. Christ never ceased to be God; He chose to take upon himself the form of humanity (Life Application Notes). Finally, in the Greek, en archer is definite, however, it does not prove that the Trinity exists; it is simply assumed. Either Christ existed as the creator of the universe, or matter has come out of nothing (Robertson). John later explains that Christ is the creator of everything, and also the source of eternal life (Life Application Notes).

Was the Word. Next, John goes beyond the common Jewish idea that Jesus was created by saying that in the beginning, Was the Word, Existed the logos, was the expression, or was the reason. Whatever is meant by this phrase, it is applicable to an infinite Christ. There are many opinions on why this name was given to the Son of God. Some believe this was used to describe Christ because a word is something used to communicate. Christ might be called the Word because he is the one who communicated Gods will and commands for our lives to the world (Barnes).

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Word was an agent of creation (Psalm 33: 6), the source of Gods message by way of the prophets (Hosea 1: 2), and the standard of Gods holiness (Psalm 119: 11) (Life Application Notes). The term word was also commonly used by the Jews to describe the Messiah. In their writings He is described as Micro which is to say Word (Barnes). Since John was describing Christ as the Word, the phrase, the Word was God was blasphemous to the Jews. To the Greek readers the phrase, the Word became flesh was unthinkable. But, John used these phrases to express his new understanding that this Word was the Gospel.

Also, by calling Jesus the Word, John calls Him the incarnate revelation of Gods commands in the scriptures, and therefore declares that only those who accept Jesus honor the law fully (Inter Varsity Press). Since the Word can also be described as the expression, it is also plausible to consider Christ as the expression of God to the world (New Commentary on the Whole Bible). The Greek culture encouraged the worship of many mythological gods. These gods had supernatural powers that were as important to the Greeks as the genealogies were to the Jews. John shows that Jesus is superior to these gods of mythology (Life Application Notes). Three times in the sentence, John uses the imperfect form of was or in the Greek, em.

This conveys the idea that God is without origin, simply a continuous existence, an eternal God (Robertson). The word logos in Greek is also commonly used to describe reason in addition to word. Heraclitus used logos to describe the principle which controls the universe, while the Stoics used it to describe the soul of the world (Robertson). The preexistent Logos, became flesh, so by this phrase John answered both of these heresies at the same time (Robertson).

And the Word was with God. This expresses friendship, intimacy, or co-existence between the Word and God. Christ himself explains this relationship clearly in John 17: 5, And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was (Barnes). Christ is co-existent with God the Father. He was and is with God forever.

The word with, (pros in the Greek) has the meaning of both being with, and acting toward something. Jesus (the Word) was both with God and acting with God before creation (POSB Commentary). Since it can be assumed that God was not with himself, then it can also be assumed that Jesus and God are distinct, while at the same time both share the single authority of God. This is the foundation for the doctrine of the Trinity (Barnes).

And the Word was God. This could also be interpreted, God was the Logos, which is to say there is no subordinate; therefore the eternal Jehovah and Christ are one (Clarke). In the previous phrase John had said that the Word was with God. As if some might assume that He was a different and lesser being, here John states that, the Word was God.

So John thus left no doubt that the one he was referring to was equal with God. First of all, it is clear that the Logos meant Jesus Christ. Next, we see that this is not just a quality of God, but rather a person (the Word became flesh). Another thing that is interesting about this passage is that there is no other variation in any other manuscript; they all say that the Word was God.

John also did not state that the Word was a god, or, the Word was like God. John states it plain and clear that Jesus Christ is God. The Greek clause underlying in this phrase stipulates, according to one of the rules of grammar in the Greek, that the Word is the subject, and that God is the predicate nominative (New Commentary on the Whole Bible). Another particularity of the Greek is that the article is often used for interpreting an individuals identity and is often not used in ascribing a quality or a characteristic to the individual (New Commentary on the Whole Bible). In the clause, the Word was with God, there is an article before God (ton the), which is to say God the Father. In the other clause, there is no article before God.

Although this distinction is a very small one, it seems that John was inspired to write it and intended for it to be that way. In the earlier clause, John indicates that the Word was with God, the Father. In this clause, John states that the Word was the deity. For this reason, some translators have attempted to bring out these small, but important distinctions by writing the last clause to say, and what God was the Word was, (NEB) or, and He was the same as God (TEV) (New Commentary on the Whole Bible). One other interesting observation is that the phrase found here, kai theo's en ho logos, in the Greek, can only be said as, the Word was God, it cannot be turned around to say, God was the Word; thus showing an even greater distinction between the two parts (Robertson). Jehovahs Witnesses translate this clause to say, The Word was a god.

This is incorrect and logically is polytheism, or...

Research essay sample on Gospel Of John God The Father