The Deity of Jesus Christ

Transcript

GR 333
10/7/1979
The Deity of Jesus Christ
John 1:1-2
Gil Rugh

John’s gospel in your Bibles. The gospel of John. We began our study of this book our last time together and noted that John very clearly expresses His purpose as he gets to the end of the book. In the 20th chapter and verses 30 and 31, which are really the conclusion to the book proper—chapter 21 being an epilogue or a conclusion—John says that Jesus did many signs that he hasn't recorded. And the word ’signs' is John's word for miracle, because the miracles that Jesus did were to demonstrate and prove something. John has selected out of all the miracles that Jesus did certain ones and recorded them in his book. We looked at some of those which he recorded last week and he says in verse 31, "These that I have recorded have been written for this purpose, in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that by believing you might have life through His name." John says 'My purpose very clearly is this—that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah. The one that Old Testament scriptures had promised and prophesied concerning. He is the fulfillment of them all. He is the Messiah. He is the Son of God.' And we noted and we'll see as we move through the gospel of John that the 'Son of God' is a title of deity for Jesus Christ. It means that He partakes of the same essence and nature as God the Father. In effect, He Himself is deity as we will be studying this morning. So He is called a unique Son of God. We who have believed in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior have become sons of God by faith as the book of Galatians tells us. But Jesus Christ is the Son of God in a way that no other person has been or will be the Son of God. He is the unique Son of God because He Himself is deity in His Sonship. Now John says 'I write in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God Himself, and as a result of believing, you would have life in His name.' John wants us to believe because by believing we have life. When you come to believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, and as Messiah the Son of God, the one who died to pay the penalty for your sins as John will make clear, at that moment you are forgiven your sins and brought into a personal relationship with God. You enter in to the experience of eternal life which is an eternal relationship with God, with all sins forgiven.

So this is the point that John is writing to and he builds the public ministry of Christ around the miracles of Christ. The 1st twelve chapters of John deal with the public ministry of Christ. Then in chapters 13-17, he's going to deal with the personal, private ministry of Christ, to His disciples on the last night before His crucifixion. Then in chapters 18-20 he'll deal with the passion ministry of Christ, Christ's crucifixion. And then chapter 21 will be the conclusion or epilogue to the book.

We're going to start in chapter 1 of John this morning and look at just the opening two verses where John drives home what will be am emphasis of his book. The first 18 verses of chapter 1 form the prologue to the book, and in these first 18 verses John will give us in condensed or compacted form the theme that he is going to develop through the rest of the book, the emphasis that he wants to stress concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ. And then the rest of the book will unfold this for our understanding.

Now as most of you already know, the gospel of John has its own peculiar special emphasis. Matthew gives the emphasis on Christ to His kingship. It's Jewish in orientation. He stresses the fact of Christ as King of Israel.
Mark gives the stress of Christ as a servant in coming to serve. Luke as a man—Jesus' favorite name for Himself and used repeatedly in the gospel of Luke— the Son of Man. John's emphasis is on the deity. Now as you study these gospels there will be overlap and each of these areas will be covered. We noted already and we'll see as we move through John that he has a strong emphasis on the humanity. But John is special in the fact that he gives more attention to the deity of Christ. That's what he's going to start out with in the 1st chapter, stressing the fact that Jesus Christ is indeed deity. This makes Him totally unique, totally different than any person who has ever lived. It is THE Crucial issue in religion and theology—the deity of Jesus Christ. Because if Jesus Christ is indeed God, then that puts everything that He has done on a different plane. And that makes Him and Him alone worthy of my faith, my worship. And John is going to start out by a clear statement of the deity of Jesus Christ.

Let's read the first two verses of this first chapter. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." Three statements made concerning Jesus Christ in the first verse. "The Word was in the beginning." Secondly, "The Word was with God." And thirdly, "The Word was God." We're going to spend our time today looking at those three statements and then the further statements on the deity of Christ in some other passages of scripture. Let's have a word of prayer together.

Father, we praise you for the greatness of the privilege that is before us today to look into the revelation that you have given of yourself. We pray that as we consider Jesus Christ as the full and complete revelation of deity that the Spirit will open our hearts and minds, give us understanding. Father, give us an appreciation of who He is and what He has done. Lord, we pray that we might be those who believe in Him and have eternal life, and we pray in His name.

You note repeatedly in the first verse that John says 'The Word was, The Word was, the Word was.' And here he gives a unique name to Jesus Christ. He calls Him the Word. Only John does this in the New Testament—called Jesus Christ the Word. He does it again down in verse 14 where we read, "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..." Talking very clearly about Jesus Christ. He is the one who became flesh. He is the subject about whom John is writing so he uses this as a title. Two other times John does this. Why don't you turn to those, over in I John. Remember John wrote the First Epistle of John. I John chapter 1, verse 1. If you've studied the first epistle of John, you’ll note there is much overlap and similarity in the material as John writes it in his first epistle and his gospel.

With verse 1, "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life..." Talking about Jesus Christ and in his gospel he'll go on and talk about Jesus Christ as life. "In Him was life and the life was the light of men."

Over in John 19, the only other reference where Jesus Christ is called the Word as a name for Him. Revelation 19. Here we are at the climatic event where Jesus Christ Himself intervenes personally in human history, bodily returning to earth to set up His kingdom. And you'll note in verse 13, "And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God." The Word of God. Now, when John uses this, I take it he has an Old Testament background that he is drawing from. In the Old Testament, the Word of God is personified. It’s given personal characteristics as though it were actually a person itself. Just a couple of passages from the Psalms.

Turn back to Psalm 33, verse 6. "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.” You note here how the Word of God is given personality—personified. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made. It’s pictured as though the Word actually did something. Not talking here that God spoke and it was done, but the Word here is viewed as having its own personality. As though the Word itself did the creating.

Look over in Psalm 107, verse 20. "He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." You note He sent His word and healed them. The Word is viewed as having done something just as a person would. He does the same thing over in Psalm 147, verse 15. "He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftly." Now our words don’t run, literally. But a picture here of the swiftness of accomplishment and the words are personified to give them human characteristics. This is the background out of which John draws where the word of God is alive. Very similar to the passage in Hebrews 4, ’The word is alive and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.'
Some there would see Jesus Christ as being in view as well. It is often difficult to determine whether we are talking about the written word of God or Jesus Christ as the word of God. In John 14:6 Jesus said 'I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by Me.’ Over in John 17 He prays to the Father and says ’Sanctify them by your Word. Your Word is truth.’ Sanctify them by your Word, your Word is truth. Christ is the truth, Christ is the Word. The Word is the truth, the Word is Christ, and there is an overlap.

Now when John writes in chapter 1 about the Word, he is drawing out of this Old Testament background of the Word of God being alive. And what is Word, what are our words? They are an expression of our thoughts and our inner being. We'll talk to someone and we'll say 'Tell me what you're thinking.' We want them to express themselves in words. We know them. We'll say that a person really opened up to us, meaning they really spoke in such a way that they revealed something about themselves in their inner thoughts and inner character.

Now the Word of God is the same. The Word of God is that which reveals His very being and Jesus Christ is the Word of God because He is the One who fully and completely reveals and makes known the very character and being of God. So He is alive, and He is the one who reveals and makes God's being known.

Hebrews chapter 1 states this fact, not using the title 'Word' and the Word here is the word 'logos' which we're familiar with. It simply means 'the Word' the logos. In Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3 we read: "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature..." It's another way of saying He is the Word of God. He reveals the very character of God. God has expressed Himself, and that expression is Jesus Christ. So it's possible for us to know Him through the person of Christ.

Now in John's gospel, the first chapter and the first two verses, we're -6
talking about the Word of God as He relates to God. The relationship of the Word to God. Three statements: The Word was in the beginning, the Word was
with God, the Word was God. Now that verb 'was' is in the imperfect tense and that’s significant. Because we read the first statement ’The Word was in the beginning' and that word 'was' in the imperfect. The imperfect denotes continuance action in past time so you could literally translate this 'In the beginning the Word was already in the process of existing.' When you come to the beginning, the Word already was. So it denotes the continual existence of the Word. He starts with the beginning, 'In the beginning.' Now what does that remind you of?
Genesis 1:1. 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' Now I take it when John says 'In the beginning', he is talking about Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Well, in the beginning the Word was already in the process of existing. Before you get to the beginning,
Jesus Christ already existed is what he is saying. That's a fantastic statement. The statement of the fact that Christ is eternal with God. You say 'Well, wait a minute. Maybe He had a beginning before the beginning.' Now if you think about that, there's a problem. He had a beginning before the beginning, then the beginning wasn't the beginning! So I take it Genesis 1:1 is talking about the beginning; the beginning of all creation is Genesis 1:1. I see all creation, angelic as well as human creation as subsequent to Genesis 1:1. That is the true beginning of creation. But when you come to the beginning of creation the Word already was in the process of existing. It's another way of saying He is eternal. He existed before the beginning. And all there was before the beginning was that which was eternal. And the Word is eternal with God. So that first statement has to do with the fact that He is eternal. He has always existed. Now as far as we can go in our finite minds is back to a time point. And the only time point, as far back as we can go with a time line is Genesis 1:1. Before that we're carried into the realm of eternity with no way to mark time. So go back into eternity, the Word was already in the process of existing because He Himself is eternal. Second statement: "The Word was with God." The Word was with God. Now the first statement denoted the fact that He was eternal with God because God is eternal, obviously. The second statement makes clear that Jesus Christ is personally distinct from God. He is personally distinct from God. He is a distinct person. The fact that He was with God means that He is not the same as God. Now we'll pick this point up because the next point could seem confusing. He can't be the same person as God or He wouldn't be with God. He would be God. To say that I was in a room with me, we'd say that's interesting. But I don't have to say I was in a room with me because if I was in a room, I was in a room. Now we say 'with' someone else and that's what he's saying here. He was with God.
Interesting the preposition he uses here. The preposition 'pros', used over 600 times in the New Testament. There are a number of prepositions you could use in Greek to translate 'with' but this one denotes a personal, intimate relationship. A. T. Robertson, the great Greek scholar, in his major grammar says a literal translation of this would be 'He was face to face with God.' It denotes the most intimate, personal relationship. So Jesus Christ, the Word, was existing in eternity in the closest possible relationship with God. He is eternal with God, personally distinct from God. Third statement: "The Word was God." Now it seems like we just undid what we just said. The Word was with God—that means He is distinct from God, yet we turn around say the Word was God. So we're back to 'I was in a room with me.' I was in a room with me, I was me. You say 'Wait a minute.' That hardly makes a lot of sense. And that's not what John is saying. John is not saying the Word was with God, and in effect, the Word was the same person as God. What he is saying in this third statement is that even though He was eternal with God and personally distinct from God, He is identical in essence - 8 - with God. So He is identical in essence with God. In other words, He partakes of the same essence or nature as God the Father does. He Himself is deity. A clear statement: The Word was God. And God comes first in this last expression in the Greek construction to put emphasis on it. The Word was God, to drive home that point so you don’t get the idea that even though He was with God, He must have been inferior to God. He was not only with God, being personally distinct, He Himself was God.

Now. To be God means here that He partakes of the same essence, the same nature, the same being but He's not the same person. Not the same person. If there were 3 human beings in a room together, and I was one of them, it could be said that I was with humanity. I was in the room with two other human beings who partook of the essence and nature of humanity. And you could also say I was humanity because I partook of that same essence and nature. I was not only with humanity, indicating I was personally distinct from the other human beings there, but I myself was humanity. Now that's different than saying this chair was in the room with humanity. That would be true. But it would not be true to say this chair was humanity. It was present with humanity but it wasn't humanity. It doesn't partake of the same essence and nature and character and being. That's what we're saying about Christ. He was present with God the Father, but He is distinct from God the Father. He Himself is of the same essence and nature and being. He Himself is deity.

Now let me make a note here since some of you have probably heard it from people who knock on your door—that there's no definite article with the word 'God' here. The definite article 'the*. It doesn't say 'The Word was THE God.' Some have tried to make a point out of this and say that therefore this should be translated with a small 'g'. The Word is 'a' god. Something less. Well, that has nothing to do with anything, folks. Really. It has nothing to do with whether we're talking about deity here or not.

Couple of passages out of chapter 1 that ought to put that to rest and you ought to remind people who knock on your door and bring that up. The Word was God—they say ’Oh yes, a god.' The Bible they use has it translated that way. But look down in verse 12. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God." There is no definite article there. Should that be 'children of a god?1 Look over in verse 13, "...who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." No definite article. But we're talking about God.

Verse 18. "No man has seen God at any time..." No definite article. Are we talking about 'a god?' Obviously not. Now you want the other side to this, go over to John chapter 20, verse 28. John 20:28, "Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'" Literally, 'The Lord of me and the God of me.' God here has the article 'the'. But they say 'Oh those are exceptions. Besides this is just an exclamation coming out of an emotional situation that Thomas makes.' But those of you who have studied Revelation know what happens when John in the emotion of the moment falls down and worships the angel. The angel immediately rebukes him. John does it twice before the end of that letter. Here Jesus says 'Thomas, that's great and blessed is everyone who follows your example.' He recognizes and worships Me as God. So the presence or absence of the article has nothing to do with whether we're talking about deity. In fact, it's not uncommon at all for nouns like this to be absent, to not have the article. Often the absence of the article stresses the quality or essence involved.

So He partook of the essence of deity is what we're saying back in John chapter 1 and verse 1. So the Word was eternally with God, the Word was personally distinct from God, but the Word Himself was God. The Word was with deity and the Word was Himself deity; and interestingly, if you have the definite article with the word 'God' in verse 1, that would rule out the Father and the Holy Spirit being part of the Trinity. It would say 'The Word was all there was to God. God was the Word.' Period. No allowance for the Father or the Spirit. You couldn’t have the definite article with God here, because it's true Jesus Christ is God but so is the Father and God the Holy Spirit. They are 3 distinct persons, they all partake of the same essence or nature—deity. And they comprise THE ONE God. Now we go from one extreme to the other. We either want to become Unitarian and have only one person be God, or we want to go the other way and make 3 Gods and neither are true. There is only one God and they all partake of the same essence or nature. You know, we do the same thing. We talk about our families and we say about someone, 'That's okay, he's family' meaning he's part of us. But you don't say 'That's okay, he is THE family', why? There's more to the family than him. He's part of the family, so he is of this essence, has this quality about him, he's family. But you don't say he's THE family. You might say when all the family is together that this IS the family, or if you are the only surviving member of the family and someone might say 'Is there more to your family than this?', you might say 'No, I am THE family. I am the family in its entirety.' Well what we're saying here is that Jesus Christ is deity but He is not all there is to deity. There's also the Father and there's also the Holy Spirit.
So it's very, very grammatically and precisely clear. There's more that could be said on that but I won't say any more about it. Just that you ought to be familiar with the presence or absence of the article—it has nothing to do with deity. Just knowing a little bit with a few verses could make that clear. I had someone in my office in a discussion about this point. I invited them after talking with them at my door step to come and bring someone who was a student of the Greek language, that we could discuss this point. So they did and as soon as this person sat down, they hurried up and recited a little statement about the use of the article in Greek and I let them go on so they wouldn't forget what they had memorized! And then when they got done, we talked about it. Totally oblivious to the issue. And I took their Bible which has notes from the Greek sources, major Greek sources that have been included in their translation of the Bible to prove their point, and I read to them from these. Because whoever used these sources knew enough to quote portions of verses to give the idea that these major Greek scholars support what they are saying.
But you know what they’ve done? They've taken portions of quotes and put them together so that it looks like these people support them. But without exception not one of the Greek scholars they quote stands behind them on what they say about the article. So I read these people from these sources. You know what did? They took the names of them down and said we'll have to go to the library and look them up, you may have a special edition of these sources. Totally blind but they are being led by those who are blind as well.

I want to look at some other verses. This isn't the only verse that the deity of Christ stands on. The Bible is saturated with the deity of Christ.
I want to spend the rest of our time just looking at what the Bible says. We've just touched the tip of it. You could look at all the attributes of God. As you go through the Scriptures and you find all those attributes are also said to be true of Jesus Christ, therefore making Him deity as well. We're just going to look at some of the clear statements on the deity of Christ. I have 7 verses that will clearly state Jesus Christ as God, and then 2 others that add to that. Then a couple of verses from the Old Testament that state the same thing. We looked at John 1:1, starting out "In the beginning the Word was God."

Then verse 18. "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." There's a textural question here that we'll deal with when we get to verse 18—whether it ought to be the word 'God' but I think as we examine it, the overwhelming evidence is that the word ought to be God in this place. So it's the only begotten God, and we'll talk about 'only begotten' with reference to Jesus Christ and God when we get there.

Look over in John chapter 20. We read verse 28—Thomas' exclamation, "My Lord and my God!" And you cannot get around that by saying it was just an emotional response. It's never acceptable in the emotion of the moment for man to worship other than the true God.

Look over in Romans chapter 9 verse 5. Paul is talking about Israel here and we'll pick up in the middle of verse 5 here. "...whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever." I think we have here a clear statement that Jesus is the Christ, He is God blessed forever. He Himself is God, the One who is blessed forever.

Look over in Titus 2:13, "...looking for the blessed hope, even the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." What's he saying here? We're looking for the appearing! Who is going to appear? What does the Bible constantly remind us concerning the appearance? Who's going to appear? Jesus Christ! What is it? It is the appearing of the great God who is our Savior, Jesus Christ! Told here very clearly that this one who is going to appear, Jesus Christ, is our great God. He is our Savior. Clear statement of the deity of Jesus Christ.

Over in Hebrews 1:8. You can go back and read Psalm 45:6 where this is quoted from. We'll just take it from Hebrews 1:8. "But of the Son He says, 'Your throne, 0 God, is forever and ever...'" Now what does God the Father say about God the Son? 'Your throne, 0 God..' He calls the Son God. A clear statement of the deity of Jesus Christ. You read it in the context of Psalm 45 and you see it clearly.

Look over in I John 5:20, "And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life." Who is? Jesus Christ. He's the One in whom we have life— the Bible consistently talks about life in the Son. We're going to talk about this in John chapter 1. He is the true God—He is eternal life, and those who believe in Him as the true God and thus what He has accomplished for us have the life.

Back up to Philippians chapter 2. This great passage is called the 'knosis' passage, the Greek word for emptying himself in verse 7. Note verse 5. "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus..."
Talking here about an attitude of humility, being willing to humble ourselves before one another. This is what Jesus Christ did. You note, "...who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped..." He existed in the morpha—the form of God. You know a caterpillar undergoes a metamorphosis, the word morpha, a change from one form to the other. That form is part of His inerrant being. It’s not an external change of form. It’s part of what He is. You don’t just pin two wings on and have a butterfly. It comes out of his very being. Well, Christ existed in the very form and the very being of God. And you note, "He did not regard equality with God a thing to be held onto." Who else could you talk about as being equal with God except God? Any created being, no matter how great could not be said to be equal with God and yet here we're told that Jesus Christ existed on equality with God. That’s another way of saying He is God. Only God is equal with God. Every created being is inferior with God. The Word is clear about that. All the great things that God says about us who come to believe in Him, He never says we are equal with Him because for all eternity, with all the glory and splendor that we'll be involved in we’ll never cease to be but created beings. We’ll never be equal with God. Jesus Christ was and is.

One other passage along this line. Acts chapter 20. You will appreciate the fact that I greatly abbreviated the list! We still have 12 passages to do on my abbreviated list! And I abbreviated 7 more from it since 8:30! So praise the Lord! It’ll probably get briefer during the next hour! Acts 20:28, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." It's the church of God—He purchased with His own blood. God purchased the church with His own blood. Who died on the cross? God the Son!
Thus He purchased the church with His own blood.

So, the New Testament is saturated with an emphasis on the deity of Jesus Christ. Now we've even tried to develop the attributes of Christ that designate Him as deity. We'll see some of His character as manifested as deity moving through the Gospel of John. We've got a whole list of verses and passages I've pulled out of John that we don't have time to look through, that just stress His deity that we haven’t looked at. That just saturates the entire Scripture.

Go back to the Old Testament for a couple of passages. We'll just stick with Isaiah since time is running along. Isaiah 6—we're going to get to Isaiah 6 when we get to John 12. Because in John's gospel chapter 12 and verse 41, John says that when Isaiah wrote Isaiah 6, he was writing about the glory of Jesus Christ. Let's read part of Isaiah 6, "In the year of King Uzziah's death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

And one called out to another and said, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, (Yaweh—Jehovah of hosts), the whole earth is full of His glory.'" Now that's a splendid scene. Here you have Jehovah Sabaoth, Jehovah, the Lord of hosts.
And John says in John 12:41 that Isaiah was writing of the glory of Jesus Christ. That's a clear identification of the deity of Jesus Christ here. He is deity!
The Seraphim in glory proclaimed Him to be such, so you get some idea of the glory that was His before He humbled Himself, as we read in Phil. 2 and became a man for the purpose of dying for our sins.

Isaiah 8:13. "It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy."
(Note this, we have Jehovah Sabaoth again) The Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. He shall be your fear, He shall be your dread. He shall become your sanctuary; both to the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many will stumble over them..." Now just write down I Peter 2:7,8. You know what Peter says? This is Jesus Christ who is being talked about here. He takes this passage and says Jesus Christ is the One being talked about. Very clearly a passage concerning deity and yet God interprets it for us in the New Testament as being a reference to Jesus Christ.

Look over in chapter 9:6 of Isaiah. "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; the government will rest on His shoulders; His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, MIGHTY GOD, Eternal Father, Principle of Peace Mighty God, eternality is one of His attributes. That's the Son who will be born- He is deity!

Jump over to Isaiah 44. Some of you have been in the study of Revelation recently. Note Isaiah 44:6, "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel the Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.'" Note that. Thus says the Lord the King of Israel and His Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, 'I am the first and the last, there is no God besides Me.' Isaiah says the same thing over in chapter 48 verses 12-16. Now interesting thing, and just jot this down—in the book of Revelation chapter 1 verses 17-18, chapter 2:8, chapter 22:13, Jesus Christ says 'I am the first and the last.' Now what does God say here in Isaiah 44:6, 'I am the first and the last, there is no God besides Me.'" But who is involved there? Well, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They comprise the One true living God. There is no God apart from this one God, and He exists in 3 distinct persons- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Incidentally, that 3 distinct persons sets to the grave an analogy we often use for the Trinity. Where a man can be a father, and a husband, and a boss or a worker. That's not the true analogy. That's one person being 3 things. That's not what God is. That's not one person with 3 manifestations. There are 3 persons comprising one God. Three persons, all partake of the same essence and nature, they are deity.

Come back then to John 1. Some of you have forgotten we're studying John 1, right? In verse 2 John just comes back full cycle so that the last statement of verse 1 becomes the heart. He says, 'the Word was in the beginning, the Word was with God.T Now the third statement is "The Word was God." Now note verse 2. He reiterates the first 2 statements—"He was in the beginning with God." So the heart of the statement in the first 2 verses is ’The Word was God.’ Twice he states He was in the beginning, twice he states He was with God. So the heart of the matter is that Jesus Christ is God. He has eternally been God, and He has eternally been distinct from the Father as well as from the Spirit. This being the case, the study of the gospel of John as well as the study of all Scripture becomes one of the most exciting and worthwhile pursuits that we can because we are going to study the life of One who was not only a man but He was also God. This makes Him and everything that He did totally unique! That's why we can proclaim Him as one who is sufficient to forgive you all your sins. Because the penalty for sin is death, but God in love had His Son, the Son whom He shared a personal relationship with for eternity become a man so that He as the God-man could die on a cross for the penalty of our sins. So now that it is possible—and this is why John writes—that we might believe these facts, that this is indeed the Son of God. He has indeed died to pay the penalty for our sins. And it is indeed true that if you will believe in Him as your personal Savior, He will forgive you your sins, bring you into a personal relationship with Himself, and you will be one who has eternal life. Let’s pray together.

Father, what a privilege it is to study facts relating to your Son, that One who for all eternity existed with You in glory. Lord, thank you for the love that made possible His coming to earth, His dying to pay the penalty for our sins. Father, what a privilege that we should be able to believe in Him this morning by simply trusting in Him for forgiveness of sins, and become the possessors of eternal life. Lord, we pray for those who may be here this morning, who have been confronted with the reality of what you have revealed in your Word, that Jesus Christ is indeed your eternal Son. We ask that they too might see Him as the One who has accomplished your purposes in dying and being raised from the dead to pay the penalty for their sins, that they might believe in Him that they might know what it means to have eternal life, for we pray in His name