THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS, THE CHRIST AND THE SON OF GOD, ACCORDING TO JOHN. Manfred Diefenbach

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СКАЧАТЬ the beginning was the WORD,

      and the WORD was with GOD

      and GOD was the WORD.

      This was in the beginning with GOD” (cf. John 17:5; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16–17; Hebrews 1:2; 1 John 1:1; 2:13; Revelation 3:14).

      As in Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26, 29, the monotheistic¹⁷ God (cf. John 5:18) had spoken this “Word” as His own decision during His creation of the world (cf. Revelation 19:13).

      - Jesus is the Creating Word (vv. 3–5)

      v. 3: In this way, “all” things – Heaven (for example, the sun, the moon, the star) and earth (for example, the plants, the animals, men) – were “made”¹⁸/created “through” God, the Creator of all (cf. Genesis 1:1–2:4a and Wisdom 1:14; 9:1; 11:24; Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 3:9; 4:10; Colossians 1:16–17, 20; Hebrews 1:2–3; 2:10; Revelation 4:11). Note the play on the verb (infinitive “gínomaɩ”) in Aorist “egéneto” (= made) in verse 3a, b, c:

      “All” things were “(made) through Him ( )” – note the parallelism with verse 10b,

      “and without Him /was/ made nothing

      that /was/ made”. All things in creation are sacred since they originated in God’s Word.

      v. 4: So, the heavenly God(’s Word) has spent the “life” (in Greek “zo锹⁹ in v. 4a, b and in 6:63; 8:12; 11:25; 14:6; 20:31) which was the “light” (in Greek “phõs” in vv. 4b, 5a, 7b, 8a, b, 9a and in 3:19–21; 5:26; 8:12; 9:5; 11:9–10; 12:35–36, 46 – cf. Genesis 1:3–5; Psalm 119:105) “of men” respectively human beings on earth. This “light” as His life-giving power enlightens the people/every (wo)man like a plant “through Him” (cf. Colossians 1:16).

      v. 5: A contrast²⁰ – “light” versus “darkness” (in Greek “skotía” in v. 5a, b and in 6:17; 8:12; 12:35, 46 – cf. Isaiah 9:1) – concludes the first strophe of the hymn with the help of an antithetic parallelism:

      “… The light (shines)” – note the present tense! – “in the darkness ( )” of the world,

      “and the darkness” of Satan has “not grasped²¹/overcome” the divine light (cf. John 3:19).

      - Strophe 2: The Roles of John the Baptist and Jesus (vv. 6–13)

      “God sent” John the Baptist, “his messenger”, “to prepare his people for Christ’s coming” (cf. vv. 6–8), “but the role of” the pre-existent, incarnate, transcendent-immanent²² Jesus, “his only Son”, “is to make God known”²³ (cf. v. 18).

      + John the Baptist – the Role as a Witness for the Light respectively Jesus (vv. 6–8)

      v. 6: “John”²⁴ the Baptist (cf. Mark 1:4–5; Matthew 3:1; Luke 3:2) is like an “angel”/messenger (cf., for example, Luke 1:19, 26) respectively the “forerunner”/“precursor” (v. 23 and Isaiah 40:3–5 [LXX]; Malachi 3:1; Mark 1:2–3; Matthew 3:3; Luke 3:4–6) who has been “sent” (in Greek “apostéllo” in v. 6b and in 3:28 and “pémpo” in v. 33b) by God or like an apostle who has been “sent” by Jesus (cf., for example, Luke 9:2; 10:1, 3 or especially John 20:21) in contrast to the “sending” of the delegation by the Sanhedrim in Jerusalem (cf. 1:19b, 24): John the Baptist was a “man” of “God” – a “man … from” and for “God” like Jesus (cf. 3:17; 5:36, 38; 10:36; 11:42; 17:3, 8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 20:21).

      v. 7: John’s task was to “testify” (in Greek “marturéo” in vv. 7b, 8b, 15a, 32a, 34a and in 3:26; 5:33) “the light” (vv. 4b, 5a, 7b, 8a, b, 9a and in 3:19–21; 5:35; 8:12; 9:5; 11:9–10; 12:35–36, 46) – Jesus – in the “darkness” (cf. v. 5a, b and in 3:19–21; 8:12; 11:9–10; 12:35, 46) of the “world” (in Greek “kósmos” in vv. 9c, 10a, b, c, 29c and in 3:19; 9:5; 12:46). The purpose/aim of his “testimony”²⁵ as a witness was/is that everyone (in Greek “pántes” [= all] in v. 7c and “pánta” [= all] in v. 9b) – then and nowadays – “believes” (in Greek “pɩsteúo” in vv. 7c, 12d, 50d and in 20:31; Acts 19:4) in Jesus Christ, the “light” (cf., for example, John 8:12), as a universal²⁶ invitation – for Christians, Jews(, Muslims, …)

      v. 8: He is defined with the help of a correction²⁷ (“not … but”) in the sense of an understatement like in verses 20–21, 27 as being “not … the light but to testify” as His witness “about the light” (cf. 5:35) – Christ Jesus.

      + “To be or not to be” in the “pre-existent”, incarnate Jesus, “the True Light” (vv. 9–13)

      v. 9: The incarnate Jesus is described in the metaphoric words as “the (true²⁸) light ( )” (cf. 1 John 2:8 and Isaiah 49:6) for the people as their ray/flicker of hope who illuminates the “darkness” (cf. v. 5a, b) “in the world”. He is like the “shining”²⁹ (cf. Matthew 4:16) of the life-giving sun “into the world” (cf. John 3:19; 6:14; 10:36; 11:27; 12:46–47; 16:28; 17:18; 18:37 or 8:12; 9:5; 11:9; Matthew 5:14) respectively

      v. 10: “in the world” (vv. 9c, 10a, b, c, 29c) – note here the concatenation (in Latin “concatenatio”³⁰) in verses 9c–10a as in verses 1–2. In the same words in verse 3a – “expressis verbis”: “… (made) through Him ( )” – are used in verse 10b. So, the author emphasizes that Jesus (of Nazareth), the divine “only Son” (vv. 14d, 18b) of God, was involved in the creation of the world by God, the Creator of all things in Heaven and on earth. However, the so-called “world” did “not know” (in Greek “gɩnósko”³¹) respectively ignored/ignores Jesus (cf., for example, John 14:17; 16:3 or 1 Corinthians 2:8; 1 John 3:1).

      v. 11: In verses 11–12 two groups are described in view of an “either-or-decision”³²: On the one side the group which did not accept Jesus as the “only Son” of God (cf. v. 11) and on the other side the group of the believers in Him (cf. vv. 12–13). Either someone trusts in Jesus (cf. vv. 12–13, 16–18 and 20:30–31) or s/he turns against Him by not believing in Him (as the refusal of Him – cf. vv. 10c–11b).

      The antithetic parallelism with the noun “tà ídɩa” in verse 11a and the term “ídɩos” in verse 11b – note the same root of word – underlines the “controversy”/“conflict” between Jesus and the “Chosen People” (cf. Matthew 21:38) from the beginning:

      “(He came) in/to His/ own ( ),

      and /His/ own /people did/ [ ] not receive³³/accept [Him]” like a stranger (cf., for example, СКАЧАТЬ