In the Beginning

Seeing Jesus PART I
05 January 2014
Dr Timothy Keller

John 1: 1-14
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2He was with God in the beginning.  3Through him all things were made, without him nothing was made that has been made.  4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6There was a man sent from God whose name was John.  7He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him all might believe.  8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--12children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from Father, full of grace and truth.

THE CLAIM (v1-4)
--Personal, Divine, without a beginning.
--In him was life - the source of all life.
--WORD / LOGOS - a spirtual / cosmic order.
--The WORD is a person, not just a principle.

REJECTION (v5-11)
--V.5 - The darkness has not understood it.(KJV)
--Rejection through hostility or not fully understanding it.
--Most have a strong moral feeling without a program of justice.
--Jesus was hard to understand for the moral upright, because he spent time with sinners.

ANSWERS (v.12-14)
--Not all are children of God--something that is received.
--Unconditional commitment of a father.
--As the Word becomes Flesh, Jesus became the temple.
--The story of Jesus is a non-oppressive absolute (God becomming weak).