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Themes from the Prologue of St. John

Themes from the Prologue of St. John. John 1: 1-18. Jn. 1:1 - Logos. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

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Themes from the Prologue of St. John

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  1. Themes from the Prologue of St. John John 1: 1-18

  2. Jn. 1:1 - Logos • “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” • John traces the origin of the Word (Logos)into eternity past, where God the Son was present with God the Father before time itself began. 1 • This opening verse of John is a direct allusion to the opening verse of the Bible. “In the beginning…”(Genesis 1). 1

  3. The Word was God • was with God: Distinguishes the Word from the Father. They are not the same Person, yet they share the same nature in the family of the eternal Godhead. (CCC 254-256). 1 • was God:Or, “was divine”. This is the first and clearest assertion of the deity of Jesus in the fourth Gospel. (CCC 242).1

  4. In The Beginning…

  5. Λογος • Logos: “word”, “statement”, or “utterance”. • In biblical Israel, a spoken utterance was a powerful and even sacred reality. It said something about the speaker himself, and the spoken word itself had a kind of existence beyond the “sound” that it made. Ancient society, in many ways, revolved around the power of the spoken word to bring order to the world (e.g., in oaths, marital vows, judicial pronouncements, liturgical prayers, etc.). 2

  6. Logos • In theology, the identity of Jesus Christ as the Word is also one way of comprehending the inner life of God, whereby the Father generates the Son. 2 • From all eternity, God generates his Word, who is the coequal and consubstantial Son. 2

  7. Word: In The O.T. • In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the word dābār can denote both a word and a thing, a dual meaning that largely captures the Israelites’ idea of the power of the word. 2 • “The word of the Lord” appears throughout the Old Testament as an extension of the divine power that must be followed obediently. 2 • The word spoken by God possesses the same power as its speaker (Isa 55:11); the word is the creative power of God that brought creation into existence (cf. Gen 1:3; Ps 33:6; Wis 9:1). 2

  8. Cont’d… • The word was truth; what the Lord spoke would come to pass (Isa 38:7). • God’s word is not only his creative power, but also his means of reaching humanity, of intervening in history to save his people. 2 • The word is, in part, God’s revelation of himself. 2

  9. Word: In The N.T. • God’s word is still his revelation and his power, but in the New Testament we learn the most astonishing fact of God’s self-revelation: that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). • God has said all that he intends to say to us through the incarnate life and death of Christ. 2 • There is no further need for Revelation because all things have been revealed in and through Christ, the “Word made flesh”.

  10. St. Thomas Aquinas writes: • “The eternal generation or begetting of the Son is likened to the process by which the human intellect generates the concept or mental word. Hence the Word of God is the Person begotten by the Father. It is the personal name for God the Son.” (Summa Theologiae I, q.34 a.2).

  11. Jn. 1:2-5 (Life) • “He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” • Earthly life (vita) is a gift that is given and sustained by God through his eternal Word. (Heb 1:3). 1 • “I am the Way the Truth and the Life.” (Jn. 14:6)

  12. Light

  13. …and the Life was the Light of Men. • … not sensible, but intellectual light, illuminating the very soul. (Theophyl in loc.) 3 • Life of itself gives illumination to men, but to cattle not: for they have not rational souls, by which to discern wisdom: whereas man, being made in the image of God, has a rational soul, by which he can discern wisdom. Hence that life, by which all things are made, is light, not however of all animals whatsoever, but of men. (Augustine in Jn. tr. 1. c.18). 3

  14. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” • Light – Darkness: alludes to the battle between good and evil. • “He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 Jn. 3:8).

  15. St. John Chrysostom says…. • “Life having come to us, the empire of death is dissolved; a light having shown upon us, there is darkness no longer: but there remains ever a life which death, a light which darkness cannot overcome. Whence he continues, and the light shines in the darkness: by darkness meaning death and error, for sensible light does not shine in darkness, but darkness must be removed first; whereas the preaching of Christ shone forth amidst the reign of error, and caused it to disappear, and Christ by dying changed death into life, so overcoming it, that, those who were already in its grasp, were brought back again. Forasmuch then as neither death nor error hath overcome his light, which is every where conspicuous, shining forth by its own strength; therefore he adds, and the darkness comprehended it not.”(Chrys. Hom. V. [iv.]c.3). 3

  16. “He came to bear witness to the light.”

  17. Jn. 1:6-8 • “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.” • Testimony: “to bear witness” • John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ “who fulfilled a divine mission to Israel but was not the divine Messiah.” 1

  18. Jn. 1:14 • “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from the Father.” • The Word became flesh: Asserts the mystery of the Incarnation. It means that Christ, was fully divine, eternal, and equal in being with the Father, came from heaven to earth and entered history as a man. The word “flesh” signifies all that is natural, earthly, and human. 1

  19. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn 1:14).

  20. “…and dwelt among us.” • The Greek word for “dwelt among us” is shekinah. • Shekinah: “Tabernacled” Or, “pitched his tent” among us. • John is making a link between the Incarnation of Jesus and the erection of the wilderness Tabernacle in the Old Testament. 1

  21. The Tabernacle

  22. Shekinah • The Tabernacle, once the architectural expression of Yahweh’s presence in Israel, is a prophetic image of Jesus dwelling in our midst as a man. Likewise, as the Wisdom of God once tabernacled in Israel in the Torah of Moses (Sir 24:8), so Jesus is the embodiment of divine Wisdom in the flesh (1 Cor 1:24). 1 • Glory: The manifestation of power or might… It chiefly describes the majesty and sovereignty of God. 2

  23. Tabernaculum- “tent” • The tent-sanctuary where God’s glory “presence” dwelt. • God wished to dwell here with his people. • “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the 2 cherubim that are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you of all that I will give you a commandment for the people of Israel.”(Exodus 25:22).

  24. The Mercy Seat

  25. God’s dwelling • Ark of the Covenant: “Holy of Holies.” • “Contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant.” (Heb 9:4).

  26. Contents of the Ark • Golden urn holding the manna: “Bread from Heaven” (God feeds and provides for his people). • Aaron’s rod that budded: “God brings the dead to life” (God shepherds his people and brings them to life). • The tables of the covenant: “God’s law” (He governs and protects his people).

  27. The New Ark of the Covenant

  28. The Bread From Heaven • “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (Jn 6: 49-50).

  29. “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (Jn 11:25-26).

  30. “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (Jn 1:17). • “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.” (Mt 5:17-18).

  31. THE END

  32. Sources 1) Ignatius Catholic Study Bible NT RSV: Second Catholic Edition 2) Catholic Bible Dictionary By Scott Hahn 3) Catena Aurea (vol. 4) Gospel of St. John By St. Thomas Aquinas 4) Catechism of the Catholic Church

  33. Pictures Tabernacle, Mercy Seat, Contents of the Ark: The Tabernacle by Rose Publishing All other pictures: Wikipedia Corey Nelson

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