In the Beginning was the Word (John 1.1-14)

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of life—this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. He is the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. In these last days God has spoken to us by his Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.

In him was life, and the life was the light of all people. For with God is the fountain of life; in His light do we see light. The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For as the Father has life in himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in himself. As the living Father sent him, and he lives because of the Father, so whoever feeds on him, they also will live because of Him. He is the light of the world. Whoever follows him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. He is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in him, though they die, yet shall they live. He has come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in Him may not remain in darkness. He is the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him, the Author of life. He became a priest, not based on a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. This is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. He has the keys of Death and Hades.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. As prophesied by Malachi, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. He appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He said, “I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’” John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him,

John the Baptizer came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through Him. This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” John bore witness about Him, and cried out, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because He was before me.’ I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” He has borne witness to the tHe was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. To fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah, “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. For us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

He came to his own, and His own people did not receive Him. He bore witness to what He had seen and heard, yet no one received His testimony. Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but they did not receive our testimony. He had come in the Father’s name, and they did not receive Him.

But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, that they may be children of the Father in heaven, for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. Whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. Those who believe in Him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. This is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

Theywere born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. AsJesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The Word saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to God’s mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Of His own will He brought us forth by the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring Word of God. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. They are now justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so grace might also reign through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. He emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of humans. Being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He has reconciled you in His body of flesh by His death, to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him. Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.

We have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Without any doubt, the mystery of godliness is great: He was revealed in flesh, vindicated in spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among gentiles, believed in throughout the world, taken up in glory.

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with mortals. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.”