Lesson #03

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
Lesson #03
THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF JESUS CHRIST — Joh 1:15-18

• Memory verse: Joh 1:18

• We have examined the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist:
• John the Baptist was human but not ordinary.
• John the Baptist was a light bearer but not the Light.
• John the Baptist was a voice but not the Word.
• John the Baptist was useful but not indispensable.
• John the Baptist was a witness but not the object of worship.
• We have seen the beginning of John’s explanation about the deity of Jesus Christ by using a series of triplets (sets of three related statements). He continues that pattern in this lesson.
• John has already explained to us that Jesus Christ who became flesh is the Word, the Creator, the Life, and the Light.
• Read Joh 1:15-18

• Triplet #1

(15)

• =1=“John bare witness of him…

This was he of whom I spake…” (15)

• John the Baptist’s calling from God was to be a witness about Jesus Christ.
• God had been silent in speaking to His people, the Jews, for 400 years. This is the length of time between the Old Testament book of Malachi and the New Testament book of Matthew.
• Therefore, after 400 years of silence, God will speak to man through the prophet, John the Baptist.
• =2= “He that cometh after me is preferred before me…”

(15)

• Jesus was born after the birth of John the Baptist, and therefore, in linear time, Jesus is after John the Baptist.
• John the Baptist was simply a human prophet of God, while Jesus Christ is the Holy Son of God.
• Therefore, Jesus outranks John the Baptist.
• =3= “…for he was before me.”

(15)

• John just told us that Jesus came after John the Baptist in linear time. Now he tells us that Jesus was before John the Baptist.
• The author is simply reminding us of what he told us in verse 1.
• Jesus Christ is the eternal second member of the Holy Trinity. While He was born as a baby into human flesh after the birth of John the Baptist, He always existed even before the creation of the world.
• Receiving His fullness (16)

• “And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”

(16)

• John, the author of this gospel, is speaking about the disciples and those who were close to Jesus when he walked this earth. They received the abundance and completeness of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. However, that fullness of life in Christ is available to believers in Christ today.
• John used the word, “fulness” because it directly relates to the Gnostics who believed that fullness was in the totality of the Greek gods. A person could obtain the fullness of truth only through secret knowledge. This secret knowledge was a protected mystery not revealed to everyone.
• John uses the word, “fulness” concerning Jesus Christ because it is no secret or mystery that truth became flesh in Jesus Christ, and He is revealed to everyone. (Col 2:9-10)
• The coming of Jesus Christ was an open revelation of God to man.
• The fullness of life comes to us through Jesus in His Word.
• “grace for grace”:
• New Testament grace of Jesus replaces the grace experienced in the Old Testament.
• Grace, unmerited favor, is never ending in Jesus Christ.
• For the believer in Jesus Christ, God’s grace is never exhausted.
• For the believer in Jesus Christ, God’s grace is gradually built into the life of that believer.
• “…For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

(17)

• The Mosaic law was an iron-fisted restriction placed on the Israelites to make them realize that they could not live up to full satisfaction or completion of the Mosaic law. The law did not change the heart.(Gal 3:24-26)
• This is why we need Jesus, for when we invite Him into our hearts, He changes us.
• Because man could not live up to the law, he needs God’s grace. That grace came through Jesus Christ who took our sins on himself on the cross so that we would be saved by the marvelous grace of God.
• God’s truth comes to us through Jesus Christ, not through philosophies, human knowledge, or religions. God is truth and Jesus demonstrates God to us.
• Triplet #2

(18)

• =1= “No man hath seen God at any time…”

(18)

• Why does John say that no one can see God, when Moses in the Old Testament saw God and other verses say that we will see God?
• Read Exo 24:9-11
• No one has seen the full glory of God because God is a spirit (Joh 4:24).
• Sometimes in the Old Testament, people saw “theophanies” which are a manifestation of God in human form.
• =2= “…the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father…”

(18)

• The phrase “only begotten” refers to Jesus’ deity. He is uniquely God.
• When John tells us that Jesus is in the bosom of the Father, he is calling our attention to the close, intimate relationship between God, the Father and God, the Son. Jesus comes to us from the heart of the Father.
• Jesus also told us of this close relationship with the Father in his prayer in Joh 17.
• John told us in verse 12 that we can become the sons of God. In verse 18 he tells us that Jesus is the only Son. How do we explain what John meant?
• Jesus Christ is unique in his sonship with God the Father. He is the Son of God by His eternal right of inheritance. (Col 1:15)
• Believers in Jesus Christ are sons by adoption in which we inherit through Jesus Christ. (Rom 8:15, 17)

Jesus Christ as the Son of God	Believers in Christ as sons of God
He is the only begotten Son (Joh 1:1)	Believers are adopted sons by choice. (Rom 8:15)
He had no beginning (Joh 1:1)	Humans are created.
He is the Creator (Joh 1:3)	Believers are part of the creation made in the image of God. (Gen 1:27)
He is God by nature	Believers participate in the divine nature by new birth redemption. (2Pet 1:4)

• =3= “…he hath declared him.

” (18)

• Jesus is the living representation of God. He brings God out into the open for everyone to see. He is not a hidden Gnostic mystery. He became flesh so we could see God who is a spirit.
• Read Joh 14:9
• In other words, we see more of the fullness of God when we look at Jesus than those in the Old Testament that saw “theophanies” or visions.
• The more we see and understand Jesus Christ, the more we will understand God, the Father.
• Jesus declares God in his being, in his personality, and in his works.
• Summary:
• We have learned to this point in this first chapter of John that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man.
• This concept of the incarnation has been greatly debated over time.
• The Church Council of Nicea (325 AD) was specifically to decide on the issue of the divinity of Jesus Christ.
• The argument of Arianism went something like this:
• If the Father begat the Son, then the Son had a beginning somewhere in time.
• The popular cry at the time was, “There was a time when the Son was not!”
• Christ is inferior to God the Father but with more authority than man. Therefore, Christ is simply a mediator between God and man.
• The argument of Athanasius which laid the foundation for the Nicean Creed stated the purpose for which Christ came:
• God came in the form of flesh because He is only one who could recreate human beings in the image of God by the new birth in Christ.
• The Church Council of Nicea decided that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man.
• When we deny the deity of Christ, we lose the concept of the magnitude of God’s love that sent Christ to make a connection with fallen man. (Joh 3:16)
• When we deny the humanity of Christ, we lose the concept of God identifying Himself with the needs of man.
• Read Phi 2:5-11
• We have learned to this point in this first chapter of John that God has put the general light of truth in his creation (Rom 1:19-20).
• However, because man lives in spiritual darkness, he does not see the light of God in creation.
• Therefore, it was necessary that Jesus come to this earth to make that light of God shine brighter in this dark world.
• Even this incarnation of Jesus Christ as a specific revelation of light did not cause many to awaken to the true light of God in the world.
• Therefore the true light of the world needs a witness to that light.
• The witness was John the Baptist.
• What do we learn about the deity and the humanity of Christ from this passage?
• The deity of Christ:
• We learn that Jesus Christ is God in the fullest sense of the word because:
• He has always existed. (15)
• He is the ultimate authority. (15)
• He is the one who brings grace and truth. (17)
• The humanity of Christ:
• The purpose of the incarnation of Jesus Christ was to help man see God. (18)
• God’s Awesome Fingerprints in the Universe:

• In the creation of the universe, God put the fingerprint of the Trinity everywhere. (Rom 1:19-20) Notice the following triplets:
• The universe consists of time, space and matter.
• Time consists of:
• Past, present, and future.
• Space consists of:
• Length, breadth, and height.
• Matter consists of:
• Energy, motion, and substance.

Coordinating Aspects of the Triplets

Time		“In the beginning ”(1)
	Past	“The same was in the beginning with God.” (2)
	Present	“ and dwelt among us ” (14)
	Future	“He that cometh after me is preferred before me ” (15)
Space		“And the Word was made flesh ” (14)
	Length	“the Word was God” (1)
	Breadth	“ (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (14)
	Height	“No man hath seen God at any time ” (18)
Matter		“No man hath seen God ” (18)
	Energy	“All things were made by him ” (3)
	Motion	“and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (3)
	Substance	“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” (4)

HOMEWORK
The Witness of John the Baptist — Joh 1:19-34
This is a Self-Study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Joh 1:15-18
• What is it that impresses you the most about Jesus Christ in this section of chapter one?
• How does that make you want to respond to Him?

• Preparation for Joh 1:19-34
• Read Joh 1:19-34
• Why does John the Baptist say that he did not know Jesus? (33) We know they were related.
• Why did Jesus choose to be baptized?
• What does this passage teach you about witnessing for Christ?
• What does this passage teach you about humility?
• Using John the Baptist as an example, how can you tell when a person is sent by God for a specific purpose?
• Memory Verse: Joh 1:34