We should ponder carefully our Lords own conception of who He was. He said I am from above (Jn. 8:23); Before Abraham was, I AM (Jn. 8:58); I and my Father are one (Jn. 10:30); He that hath seen me hath seen the Father (Jn. 14:9); and I am not of the world (Jn. 17:16). He also declared His eternal pre-existence and that He shared the Fathers glory (Jn. 6:62; 17:5).” The Gospel of John is often referred to as the Theological Gospel in contrast to the other three Synoptic Gospels, grouped together due to their similar (synoptic = same eye, or same view) genre and content. John’s Gospel starts out with “In the beginning was the Word” (v 1), the proclamation of the Cosmic Christ; the pre-existent Word or Logos of God, through whom all things came into being and “without him not one thing came into being”(v 3). The Greek Stoics had a partial revelation of the Logos some 500 years earlier, but it is here, in John, that we first see and hear the full revelation of the Logos, the Word of God, as the Son, the Christ, manifest in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. This is God as person, as hypostasis; a living, involved God with whom man could form an intimate personal relationship and union. This not God as “nothingness”, it is not God as a transcendent anthropomorphized (giving God human traits) all- holy magistrate or angry judge. This is God as love (agape), light (phos), and life (zoe). As the Apostle Paul often said, it is about our life in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) and Christ in us (Gal. 2:20). This is the uniqueness of the Christian revelation. Many western scholars criticize the Early Christian Fathers for using the terms and concepts of Greek language and philosophy, like the Logos Doctrine, to explain mystic Christianity. John and the early church Fathers used Greek philosophical terms and concepts because Greek was the language of intelligent discourse in New Testament times. In fact, rather than Hellenizing the Gospel, the early Fathers actually ended up Christianizing pagan Hellenism! The Logos Doctrine of John and the early Church is absolutely foundational ancient Christianity at its most grand and cosmic level. The life in Christ is truly a mystery.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 18:48:19 +0000
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