Thoughts Across The Bow

  John’s Prologue: Jesus’s Unity with the Father As argued in the previous post, the Gospel of John begins with a prologue contained in John 1:1-18. John the son of Zebedee uses the prologue as a roadmap to future theological points of interest that he exposits later through historical accounts concerning Jesus’ life and ministry. This series will argue that the theological assertions specified in John’s prologue are connected to affirmations detailed later in his account. The first assertion that was examined was Jesus’s pre-existence . In this post, Jesus’s unity with the Father will be discussed. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God , and the Word was God." In John’s prologue, he states, “And the word was with God” (John 1:1b). John uses the preposition “with” (πρὸς), which denotes spatial proximity or that Jesus was alongside God. Murray Harris explains that when πρὸς is used to describe relationships, it signifies not just proximity, but ...

  John’s Prologue: Jesus’s Preexistence        The Gospel of John opens with a simple, but theologically deep prologue (John 1:1-18). This prologue is connected to the rest of John’s Gospel account in “intimate and intricate ways.” [1] John the son of Zebedee uses the prologue as a roadmap to future theological points of interest that he exposits later through historical accounts concerning Jesus’ life and ministry. John’s prologue or introduction section, becomes an evangelistic method exhorting the reader to “believe that Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31). [2]   This series of posts will argue that the theological assertions specified in John’s prologue are connected to affirmations detailed later in his account. In particular, John explains in John 1:1-18 that Jesus is preexistent; Jesus has unity with the father; Jesus is a distinct person of the Trinity; Jesus is divine; Jesus is Creator; Jesus is Life; Jesus is Light; Jesus became flesh; John the...

  Jesus’ Pre-existence: Biblical References John 1:1a “In the beginning was the Word” John 1:1b “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God” John 1:1c “and the Word was God” John 1:2 “He (Jesus) was in the beginning with God.” John 1:3 “All things were made through him…” John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” John 1:30 “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.” John 3:13 “No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven…” John 6:33 “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will...him who sent me.” John 6:62 “Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” John 8:23 “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.” John 8:56-57 “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” John 8:58 “Jesus said to them, ...