John, writes J.I. Packer in The Glory of Christ, "wants his book to take all his readers into the full depth of his own understanding of Jesus. But if its opening words were, 'In the beginning was the Son' or 'the Son of God,' Jewish readers, who knew these phrases as titles for Israel's king, would take John to be affirming the preexistence of a human Messiah. Gentile readers, knowing Greek mythology, would think he was talking of a hero like Hercules, who had a divine father and a human mother. So a different way of starting had to be devised."

1. What do you learn about the One John calls "the Word" in verses 1 through 4?



2. What does John say (v. 14) happened to the Word?



3. How can you tell that the divine Word and the human Jesus are one and the same (vv. 15, 17)?



4. What is the significance of the term "the only Son of the Father" in verse 14?



5. How is the only Son's status different from those who have become "children of God" (v. 12) by believing and accepting Christ?



6. How did Christ's coming in human form (v. 18) make it easier to comprehend God's nature?

Thank God for the core truth of Christmas: that the only Son entered space-time history as a human to make God tangible and to die a substitutionary death.

¹In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn't make.

⁴Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. ⁵The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. ⁶God sent John the Baptist ⁷to tell everyone about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.

⁸John himself was not the light; he was only a witness to the light. ⁹The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was going to come into the world. ¹⁰But although the world was made through him, the world didn't recognize him when he came. ¹¹Even in his own land and among his own people, he was not accepted. ¹²But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

¹³They are reborn! This is not a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan—this rebirth comes from God. ¹⁴So the Word became human and lived here on earth among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father. ¹⁵John pointed him out to the people. He shouted to the crowds, "This is the one I was talking about when I said, 'Someone is coming who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before I did.'"

¹⁶We have all benefited from the rich blessings he brought to us—one gracious blessing after another. ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses; God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart; he has told us about him.

Prayer for the Week

Lord, keep my familiarity with the trappings of Christmas from blinding me to its quiet but explosive significance.

				Try an Issue of Men of Integrity Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Men of Integrity as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up for the Men of Integrity Newsletter    RSS Feed   RSS Help