International S. S. Lessons Exposition and Practical Application By R. A. Torrey Outlines and Suggestive Points By T. C. Horton
Jesus the Light and Life of Men JANUARY 7, 1917. LESSON L . John 1:1-14. (Read 1:1-18. Memorize vs. 11, 12). G olden T ext : “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.”—John 1:4. EXPOSITION AN*D PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
ùs back to the dawn, not merely of human history, but to the dawn of the history of the universe, and way back there countless ages ago we behold a being who even then already "war.” He did not then begin to be, He “was.” Thè phrase “in the begin ning” necessarily carries our thoughts back tos the first words in the Bible (cf. Gen. 1:1). The name here given to this eternally existent Being is “the Word." This eter nally existent Person is called “the Word” because it is in Him that God fully expresses Himself (or reveals Himself). The Bible is the written Word of God because in it God speaks and reveals Him self. But God has revealed Himself not merely in the book but in a Person, and that Person Is The Eternal Word who became incarnate in our Lord Jesus (Heb. 1:3; 1 John 1:2; John 1:14; 14:9). This Person here called the Word “was with God,” i.e., in His presence, in close intimacy with Him. The Greek preposition trans lated “with” is not the preposition ordinar ily so translated. The idea conveyed by it is not merely that of two persons in company with one another, the thought is rather that of one person being directed towards and regulated by the other. “The Word” was not only in company with God, but more than that His whole being was centered in God and directed toward God. There were two separate Persons, but one derived His whole, being from and directed His whole being toward the other. But not only was this Person “with God,” He “was God." In the Greek the definite article is used
■y. 1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" Verses 1 to 14 is John’s intro duction to his account of the words and works of Jesus. In reading most books we omit the author’s introduction, and as a rule we lose little by doing so, but in this book the introduction contains the very heart of the whole. It was written for the definite purpose of preparing those who rpad it for a right understanding of the incidents and discourses which are to fol low. John, led by the Holy Spirit, starts out by giving us a true and full statement of the nature of Him whose acts and teach- , ing were to form the whole subject of the narrative which is to follow. We shall not understand the rest of the book unless we ponder deeply these introductory words. s John makes no attempt at argument in the introduction, he gives us something far better and higher than argument—a calm and fjill statement of the truth revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. So we have here, not man’s argumentation, but God’s revela tion, and to properly understand it we must study it as such. The first sentence in the book, the one now before us, is one of the profoundest, most inexhaustible, most remarkable, and most significant sentences ever ' written. John’s whole gospel is the deepest book in the gospel, and these open ing verses form the deepest portion of the book. Any exposition of these words must seem incofnplete and inadequate. They should be,long and deeply pondered by each individual for himself. John here carries
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