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THE KING'S BUSINESS
is essentially and fully in the Son, but at the same time thé Son is not the Father. Verse 2 gives us no added thought, but emphasizes fhe thought o f verse 1 by repe tition and by a different form o f expres sion, so as to make sure that there may be no mistake about it. It also forms the transition to what follows in the next sec-- tion where we have the W ord not in His eternal being but in His relation to the created universe. Thursday, March 30 . John 1 : 3 - 5 . Having taught clearly the eternal Divine nature o f Christ, John now turns to His Divine work. He is the one through whom all things came to be. God has executed all His creative plans through Him. He Who by His incarnation became our brother and our Saviour, was first our creator and the creator cff all things, apart from Him not one thing came into existence (cf. Eph. 3:9; Col.. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; Psa. 33:6; Heb. 11:3). There was life in Him before His incarnation and He is the 1 eternal source o f life, all life is come forth from Him, Eternal life is in Him (1 John 5:11). The only way to get eternal life is by tak ing Him in whom it is (1 John 5:12). Not only was life in Him, but He was Himself the life (1 John 1:2). And He who was the lite was also “the light o f men” (John" 8:12; 9 :5 ; 12:35, 36). “ T h e'W ord ” did not become “the light o f men” by His incar nation in Jesus' o f Nazareth, He ever was “the light o f men.” No ray o f light has ever shone upon man except through Him. The light that shone in Old Testament times shone from Him, yes, even the glimpsès o f light the heathen have had are from Him. When sin came, night came. The condition o f the whole world since the fall has been one o f moral, spiritual, and intellectual “ darkness.” But in the midst o f this universal darkness there has ever been a light shining. No matter Jiow deep the darkness, He has shone. The light shone, but the world did not, indeed would not, lay hold o f it. (c f. I Cor. 2:14; John 3:19, 20). That is the reason why the world continues in “ darkness” still. The
that preceded creation. In that remote past time, and in the eternity which lay beforj that, the Person who became incarnate in Jesus at His birth as Jesus o f Nazareth already "was.n Our Lord Jesus did not begin to be when He was born in Bethle hem, He always was, though He came to be as Jesus, God became man, at His birth through Mary. In His eternal state He existed “in the form o f God” (Phil. 2 :6 ). In the second group o f six words in verse 1 we see the clear distinction between the W ord o f God and the first Person in the Trinity, they are not one person—“ The W ord was with God.” The Greek preposi tion translated “with” is not the word ordi narily so translated, the construction is peculiar, though it is found elsewhere in the New Testament. The idea conveyed by it is not merely that o f co-existence-as o f two persons in company^ with one another, the thought is rather that o f one person being directed toward and regulated by the other. The W ord was with God it is true, but more than that His whole being was centered in God and directed toward God. There are two separate persons, but "one derived his whole being from and directed his whole toward the other. In the five closing words o f the verse we have the most explicit statement o f the full Deity o f that Person who became incarnate in Jesus o f Nazareth—“The W ord was G od .” In the Greek the definite article is used before the word “ God” the first time it is used in the verse, but it is omitted when the word “ God” is used the second time. This is an illustration of the minute verbal accuracy o f the Scriptures. While the omis sion o f the article does not suggest any idea o f inferiority o f the'Word to the first Per son o f the Trinity, and while it clearly affirms the true Deity of the Word, it does iihply the eternal subordination o f the sec ond Person o f the Trinity. As one has said in commenting upon a passage in Ephesians, “ In God the Father we have Deity in its origin and source—In God the Son, we have Deity in its outflow, but all the per fection o f the source is found in the stream which flows from it.’1 The Divine nature
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