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“Beginnings and Endings” by Romans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0chUm4BJDs
This past week I was listening to a Philadelphia minister on the Internet going through the Apostle Paul's second epistle to Timothy. Scholars speak of this epistle as Paul's final epistle before he was martyred. In it, Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” The sermon was titled, “Finishing Well.” That got me to thinking in terms of contrasts. We just finished a Series called, “War and Peace.” So, I was inspired to build on the Theme of that Internet Sermon and present a Discussion called, “Beginnings and Endings.” What I plan to present are the significant occasions in Scripture, with the most Spiritual Lessons for us, where things began, and things ended.
We will start with the Beginnings. We read in Genesis 1:1, the first three words Moses was inspired to write: “In the beginning...” As believers, we know those words so well that we do not fully appreciate their significance. In the beginning... there was a beginning. This is a reality that the greatest minds of Science did not always understand or accept. Aristotle, whom many recognize as a father of the Sciences, dogmatically stated that the Universe was Eternal, in essence, that there was no Creation. Atheists would counter our belief in an Eternal God with their belief in an eternal Universe. They have had to abandon that belief because the scientific evidence kicked it to the curb. Moses was correct: There WAS a beginning; there was a time when there were no heavens and earth. They had a beginning.
There is a scientific maxim that declares, “Anything that begins to exist has a cause.” The fourth word in the first verse of Genesis 1 identifies that First Cause: “In the beginning God...” Scientists now accept the reality that matter did not always exist... that there was a time when there was absolutely nothing. And they are faced with the dilemma of having to explain, from their strict perspective of accepting only empirical evidence that abides by established the Laws of Nature, how there can have been absolutely nothing in one second, and, a split second later, absolutely everything instantaneously burst into existence. They know that implications of such a reality. If there were no matter – nothing – then something that was itself, not composed of matter, existing outside the realm of matter, had to have intervened and caused matter to come into existence. This is the very presentation of the Creator God of the Bible. Even though scientists have set the utterly empty stage that introduces Genesis 1:1, they cannot / will not acknowledge a Creator as that First Cause of all matter.
Astronomer Robert Jastrow has this to say in the opening pages of his book, “God and the Astronomers.” “When an astronomer writes about God, his colleagues assume he is either over the hill or going bonkers. In my case, it should be understood from the start that I am an agnostic in religious matters. However, I am fascinated by some strange goings on in Astronomy – partly because of their religious implications and partly because of the peculiar reactions of my colleagues.
The essence of the strange developments is that the Universe had, in some sense, a beginning – that it began in a certain moment of time, and under circumstances that seem to make it impossible – not just now, but ever – to find out out what force or forces brought the world into being at that moment... Now we see how the astronomical evidence leads to a Biblical view of the origin of the world. The details differ, but the essential elements in the astronomical account and the Biblical Account are the same: the chain of events that leading to man commenced suddenly and sharply at a definite moment in time, in a flash of light and energy. Some scientists are unhappy with the idea that the world began in this way. Theologians are generally delighted with the proof that the world had a beginning, but astronomers are curiously upset... It turns out that scientists behave the way the rest of us do when our beliefs are in conflict with the evidence. We become irritated, we pretend that conflict does not exist, or we paper it over with meaningless phrases.”
So you see, scientists now have irrefutable scientific evidence that the Universe had a beginning. They know that it is impossible for matter to have created itself from nothing, but most of them will not, at least not publicly, acknowledge a Creator God as that First Cause that brought the Universe into existence. In his commentary on Genesis 1:1, Adam Clarke writes, “A general definition of this great First Cause, as far as human words dare attempt one, may be thus given: The eternal, independent, and self-existent Being: the Being whose purposes and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence: he who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, and most spiritual of all essences; infinitely benevolent, beneficent, true, and holy:
the cause of all being, the upholder of all things; infinitely happy, because infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, needing nothing that he has made: illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully only to himself, because an infinite mind can be fully apprehended only by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived; and who, from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just, right, and kind. Reader, such is the God of the Bible;”
F.B. Meyer writes, “All beginnings must begin with God. Always put God first. The first stone in every building, our first thought every morning, the first aim and purpose of all activity. Begin the book of the year with God, and you will end it with the glory of the New Jerusalem. At first, as in the physical creation, your heart and life may seem to be “without form and void.” Do not be discouraged, the Spirit of God is within you, brooding amid the darkness, and presently His Light will shine through. It is the blessed presence of the Lord Jesus that stirs in your heart and will presently rule your life. His Presence divides between the good and evil. You must distinguish between Christ and self. Follow the gleam, and you shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life...”
We read in the Sermon Bible in its commentary regarding Genesis 1:1, “I. What is meant by creation? The giving being to that which before was not. The expression, "the heavens and the earth," is the most exhaustive phrase the Hebrews could employ to name the universe, which is regarded as a twofold whole, consisting of unequal parts. Writing for men, Moses writes as a man. The moral importance of the earth, as the scene of man’s probation, is the reason for the form which the phrase assumes. The truth of the creation governs the theology of the Old and New Testaments, and may have influenced the formation of heathen cosmogonies, such as the Etruscan and the Zendavesta. Creation is a mystery, satisfactory to the reason, but strictly beyond it. We can modify existing matter, but we cannot create one particle of it. That God summoned it into being is a truth which we believe on God’s authority, but which we can never verify.
II. Belief in the creation of the universe out of nothing is the only account of its origin which is compatible with belief in a personal and moral God. Creation suggests Providence, and Providence leads the way to Redemption. If love or goodness were the true motive in creation, it implies God’s continuous interest in created life. By His love, which led Him to move out of Himself in creation at the first, He travels with the slow, onward movement of the world and of humanity, and His Incarnation in time, when demanded by the needs of the creatures of His hand, is in a line with that first of mysteries, His deigning to create at all. Belief in creation keeps man in his right place of humble dependence and thankful service. A moral God will not despise the work of His own hands, and Creation leads up to Redemption.
H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 2nd series, p. 38.
“The Bible spoke in the language and through the knowledge of its time. It was content to reveal spiritual truth, but left men to find out scientific truth for themselves. It is inspired with regard to principles, but not as regards details of fact. The principles laid down in this chapter are: (1) the unity of God; (2) that all noble work is gradual; (3) the interdependence of rest and work; (4) that man was made in the image of God.”
S. A. Brooke, Sermons, p. 222.
I. Man naturally asks for some account of the world in which he lives. The answer of the text as to the creation of the heavens and the earth is: (1) simple; (2) sublime; (3) sufficient. If God created all things, then (a) all things are under His government; (b) the heavens and the earth may be studied religiously; (c) it is reasonable that He should take an interest in the things which He created.
II. Biblical theology teaches: (1) that creation is an expression of God’s mind; (2) that creation may form the basis for the consideration of God’s personality and character; (3) that God’s word is its own security for fulfilment; (4) that the word which accounts for the existence of nature accounts also for the existence of man.
Parker, People’s Bible, vol. i., p. 118.
The whole Trinity, each in His separate office, though all in unity, addressed themselves to the work of creation: (1) the Holy Spirit brooded over the watery chaos; (2) the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was that power, or "Arm of the Lord," by which the whole work was executed,—"In the beginning was the Word;" (3) the Father’s mind willed all, planned all, and did all. God created only "the heaven and the earth." He provided a heaven, but He did not provide a hell. That was provided, not for our world at all, but for the devil and his angels.
If we ask why God created this universe of ours, three purposes suggest themselves: (1) it was the expression and out-going of His wisdom, power, and love; (2) it was for the sake of His noblest work, His creature, man; (3) the heaven and the earth were meant to be the scene of the exhibition of His own dear Son. Remember, that marvellously grand as it was, that first creation was only a type and earnest of a better.”
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 15th series, p. 37.
References: Gen_1:1—H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 205 (see Old Testament Outlines, p. 1); J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 320; H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. iv., p. 1; A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 333; J. Cumming, Church before the Flood, p. 79; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 87, vol. iv., p. 420; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xx., p. 19, vol. xxii., p. 82; S. Leathes, Truth and Life, p. 1; J. E. Gibberd, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 249; M. G. Pearse, Some Aspects of the Blessed Life, p. 25; C. Kingsley, Discipline and other Sermons, p. 112; C. Kingsley, The Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 1; R. S. Candlish, The Book of Genesis, Discourses, vol. i., p. 18; B. Waugh, The Sunday Magazine (1887), p. 59. Gen_1:1-3—F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 1. Gen_1:1-5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi., No. 660.
In Genesis 1, the Plurality of the Nature of God is first hinted at when He speaks of creating man. God says in Genesis 1:26, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...” A plurality on Personages is revealed for the first time in English. But it is also revealed earlier in the original Hebrew which we miss by the English translation. When Moses wrote, “In the beginning God...” the Hebrew word there for “God” is “elohiym” which is a plural word actually meaning “Gods.” The King James translators rendered “elohiym” in English as “God.” In the Old Testament, Jewish doctrine teaches that there is but One God (Deut. 6:4). In the New Testament, Christian doctrine also recognizes and accepts that there is but One God, but He is a God Who is composed of three distinct Persons, The Father, The Word Who became Christ, and The Holy Spirit.
Matthew Henry writes, The Hebrew word is Elohim, which bespeaks, [1.] The power of God the Creator. El signifies the strong God; and what less than almighty strength could bring all things out of nothing? [2.] The plurality of persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This plural name of God, in Hebrew, which speaks of him as many though he is one, was to the Gentiles perhaps a savour of death unto death, hardening them in their idolatry; but it is to us a savour of life unto life, confirming our faith in the doctrine of the Trinity, which, though but darkly intimated in the Old Testament, is clearly revealed in the New. (3.) The manner in which this work was effected: God created it, that is, made it out of nothing. There was not any pre-existent matter out of which the world was produced. The fish and fowl were indeed produced out of the waters and the beasts and man out of the earth; but that earth and those waters were made out of nothing. By the ordinary power of nature, it is impossible that any thing should be made out of nothing; no artificer can work, unless he has something to work on. But by the almighty power of God it is not only possible that something should be made of nothing (the God of nature is not subject to the laws of nature), but in the creation it is impossible it should be otherwise, for nothing is more injurious to the honour of the Eternal Mind than the supposition of eternal matter. Thus the excellency of the power is of God and all the glory is to him.”
The Beginning that Moses wrote of is not the only place in Scripture that describes Creation in general, or the fact that One God is to be understood in a plural existence. We read in John 1:1: “In the beginning...” There it is, again! John refers to a beginning. I think we can all agree that ultimately, there can be only one beginning. John cites the same one beginning that Moses wrote of. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
Matthew Henry writes, “The Son of God, the eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father, was with him when he made the world, nay, we are often told that the world was made by him, and nothing made without him.” He then provides five cross-references for us to consider regarding the New Testament's presentation of The Word as the Creator Who brought everything in being from nothing:
John 1:3: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (More on this later...)
John 1:10: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”
Colossians 1:16: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” (More on this later...)
Hebrews 1:2: “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;”
Matthew Henry continues, “In the beginning was the Word. This bespeaks his existence, not only before his incarnation, but before all time. The beginning of time, in which all creatures were produced and brought into being, found this eternal Word in being. The world was from the beginning, but the Word was in the beginning. Eternity is usually expressed by being before the foundation of the world. The eternity of God is so described (in Psalms 90:2), Before the mountains were brought forth. So Pro_8:23. The Word had a being before the world had a beginning. He that was in the beginning never began, and therefore was ever, achronos - without beginning of time. So Nonnus.
2. His co-existence with the Father: The Word was with God, and the Word was God. Let none say that when we invite them to Christ we would draw them from God, for Christ is with God and is God; it is repeated in John 1:2: the same, the very same that we believe in and preach, was in the beginning with God, that is, he was so from eternity. In the beginning the world was from God, as it was created by him; but the Word was with God, as ever with him. The Word was with God, (1.) In respect of essence and substance; for the Word was God: a distinct person or substance, for he was with God; and yet the same in substance, for he was God, Heb_1:3. (2.) In respect of complacency and felicity. There was a glory and happiness which Christ had with God before the world was (John 17:5), the Son infinitely happy in the enjoyment of his Father's bosom, and no less the Father's delight, the Son of his love. (3.) In respect of counsel and design. The mystery of man's redemption by this Word incarnate was hid in God before all worlds, Ephesians 3:9. He that undertook to bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18) was himself from eternity with God; so that this grand affair of man's reconciliation to God was concerted between the Father and Son from eternity, and they understand one another perfectly well in it. He was by him as one brought up with him for this service. He was with God, and therefore is said to come forth from the Father.
His agency in making the world, John 1:3. This is here, (1.) Expressly asserted: All things were made by him. He was with God, not only so as to be acquainted with the divine counsels from eternity, but to be active in the divine operations in the beginning of time. Then was I by him, (as we read in Proverbs 8:30). God made the world by a word (Psalms 33:6) and Christ was the Word. By him, not as a subordinate instrument, but as a co-ordinate agent, God made the world (Hebrews 1:2), not as the workman cuts by his axe, but as the body sees by the eye. (2.) The contrary is denied: Without him was not any thing made that was made, from the highest angel to the meanest worm. God the Father did nothing without him in that work. Now, [1.] This proves that he is God; for he that built all things is God, Hebrews 3:4. The God of Israel often proved himself to be God with this, that he made all things: Jeremiah 10:10-13: “But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.” [2.] This proves the excellency of the Christian religion, that the author and founder of it is the same that was the author and founder of the world. How excellent must that constitution needs be which derives its institution from him who is the fountain of all excellency! When we worship Christ, we worship him to whom the patriarchs gave honour as the Creator of the world, and on whom all creatures depend. [3.] This shows how well qualified he was for the work of our redemption and salvation. Help was laid upon one that was mighty indeed; for it was laid upon him that made all things; and he is appointed the author of our bliss who was the author of our being...O what high thoughts should this form in our minds of that great God whom we draw nigh to in religious worship, and that great Mediator in whose name we draw nigh!”
For the pagan culture to whom John wrote, (to the Greeks in general, and to the Gnostics in particular) his introduction of the Word, Who was both “the true Light” (in John 1:9), and the One Who became flesh and dwelt among us (in John 1:14) was both revolutionary and catastrophic to what they had been formerly taught. In the original Greek, when John writes, “In the beginning was the Word,” the term
John used for “the Word” was the “Logos.” In Greek thought, Aristotle, as a scientist, observed Nature, and recognized the undeniable order, balance, and reliable, systematic functions that were in operation. Without that order and reliability, Science, itself, could not exist. If, today, water froze at 32º Fahrenheit, but tomorrow water freezes at 27º, thermometers would be useless. Aristotle identified The Logos as that regulating Force that sustained Nature in, what he believed was a eternal Universe. The Logos was not identified or worshiped as a god. It had no consciousness. It was just a powerful, governing Force of Nature like Gravity.
Along comes John, and lobs an ammo belt-full of grenades into everything the Greeks/Gnostics understood. Grenade One: “In the beginning,” he wrote in the first verse of his Gospel Account. BOOM! In what? A beginning! There was a beginning? The Universe is not “eternal?” it had a beginning?? “In the beginning was the Logos.” Ok... Yes... The Logos. So far so good. “And the Logos was with God.” Yes... we can deal with this. And then, Grenade Two: “And the Logos was God”!!! BOOM! The Logos was not an impersonal, unconscious, regulating Force of Nature?! The Logos has a Consciousness??! The Logis is the living, Creator God??!!
Albert Barnes writes of John's use of the “Logos;” “a.) It was used in the Aramaic translation of the Old Testament, (as we find it in Isaiah 45:12: “I have made the earth, and created man upon it.” In the Aramaic it is, “I, ‘by my word,’ have made the earth,” etc. In the Aramaic, “‘By my word’ I have founded the earth.” And so in many other places. b.) The term was used by the Jews who were scattered among the Gentiles, and especially those who were conversant with the Greek philosophy. c.) The term was therefore extensively in use among the Jews and Gentiles before John wrote his Gospel, and it was certain that it would be applied to the Second Person of the Trinity by Christians. whether converted from Judaism or Paganism.
It was important, therefore, that the meaning of the term should be settled by an inspired man, and accordingly John, in the commencement of his Gospel, is at much pains to state clearly what is the true doctrine respecting the Logos, or Word. It is possible, also, that the doctrines of the Gnostics had begun to spread in the time of John. They were an Oriental sect, and held that the Logos or “Word” ...had been created, and … had been united to the man Jesus. If that doctrine had begun then to prevail, it was of the more importance for John to settle the truth in regard to the rank of the Logos or Word. This he has done in such a way that there need be no doubt about its meaning.”
The Apostle Paul confirms Jesus' Creator/Logos Status for his formerly-pagan readers in Colossians 1:16-17: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
Adam Clarke writes of this: “For by him were all things created, etc - Four things are here asserted: 1.
That Jesus Christ is the Creator of the universe; of all things visible and invisible; of all things that had a beginning, whether they exist in time or in eternity. 2. That whatsoever was created was created For himself; that he was the sole end of his own work. 3. That he was prior to all creation, to all beings, whether in the visible or invisible world, and 4. That he is the preserver and governor of all things; for by him all things consist. Now, allowing St. Paul to have understood the terms which he used, he must have considered Jesus Christ as being truly and properly God.
I. Creation is the proper work of an infinite, unlimited, and unoriginated Being; possessed of all perfections in their highest degrees; capable of knowing, willing, and working infinitely, unlimitedly, and without control: and as creation signifies the production of being where all was absolute nonentity, so it necessarily implies that the Creator acted of and from himself; for as, previously to this creation, there was no being, consequently he could not be actuated by any motive, reason, or impulse, without himself; which would argue there was some being to produce the motive or impulse, or to give the reason. Creation, therefore, is the work of him who is unoriginated, infinite, unlimited, and eternal. But Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things, therefore Jesus Christ must be, according to the plain construction of the apostle’s words, truly and properly God.
II. I. Creation is the proper work of an infinite, unlimited, and unoriginated Being; possessed of all perfections in their highest degrees; capable of knowing, willing, and working infinitely, unlimitedly, and without control: and as creation signifies the production of being where all was absolute nonentity, so it necessarily implies that the Creator acted of and from himself; for as, previously to this creation, there was no being, consequently he could not be actuated by any motive, reason, or impulse, without himself; which would argue there was some being to produce the motive or impulse, or to give the reason. Creation, therefore, is the work of him who is unoriginated, infinite, unlimited, and eternal. But Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things, therefore Jesus Christ must be, according to the plain construction of the apostle’s words, truly and properly God.
II. As, previously to creation, there was no being but God, consequently the great First Cause must, in the exertion of his creative energy, have respect to himself alone; for he could no more have respect to that which had no existence, than he could be moved by nonexistence, to produce existence or creation. The Creator, therefore, must make every thing For himself.
III. As all creation necessarily exists in time, and had a commencement, and there was an infinite duration in which it did not exist, whatever was before or prior to that must be no part of creation; and the Being who existed prior to creation, and before all things - all existence of every kind, must be the unoriginated and eternal God: but St. Paul says, Jesus Christ was before all things; ergo, the apostle conceived Jesus Christ to be truly and essentially God.
IV. As all creation necessarily exists in time, and had a commencement, and there was an infinite duration in which it did not exist, whatever was before or prior to that must be no part of creation; and the Being who existed prior to creation, and before all things - all existence of every kind, must be the unoriginated and eternal God: but St. Paul says, Jesus Christ was before all things; ergo, the apostle conceived Jesus Christ to be truly and essentially God.
V. As every effect depends upon its cause, and cannot exist without it; so creation, which is an effect of the power and skill of the Creator, can only exist and be preserved by a continuance of that energy that first gave it being. Hence, God, as the Preserver, is as necessary to the continuance of all things, as God the Creator was to their original production. But this preserving or continuing power is here ascribed to Christ, for the apostle says, And by him do all things consist; for as all being was derived from him as its cause, so all being must subsist by him, as the effect subsists by and through its cause. This is another proof that the apostle considered Jesus Christ to be truly and properly God, as he attributes to him the preservation of all created things, which property of preservation belongs to God alone; ergo, Jesus Christ is, according to the plain obvious meaning of every expression in this text, truly, properly, independently, and essentially God.”
Read Adam Clarke's next words carefully to get the full impact of what is being said: “Taking, therefore, the apostle as an uninspired man, giving his own view of the Author of the Christian religion, it appears, beyond all controversy, that himself believed Christ Jesus to be God; but considering him as writing under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, then we have, from the plain grammatical meaning of the words which he has used, the fullest demonstration (for the Spirit of God cannot lie) that he who died for our sins and rose again for our justification, and in whose blood we have redemption, was God over all. And as God alone can give salvation to men, and God only can remit sin; hence with the strictest propriety we are commanded to believe on the Lord Jesus, with the assurance that we shall be saved. Glory be to God for this unspeakable gift!”
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews also confirms Jesus as The Light, and Divine, and The Logos/Sustainer of all things all in one verse. He wrote in Hebrews 1:3: “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power.”
Of this, Adam Clarke writes, “This is an astonishing description of the infinitely energetic and all pervading power of God. He spake, and all things were created; he speaks, and all things are sustained. The Jewish writers frequently express the perfection of the Divine nature by the phrases, He bears all things, both above and below; He carries all his creatures; He bears his world; He bears all worlds by his power. The Hebrews, to whom this epistle was written, would, from this and other circumstances, fully understand that the apostle believed Jesus Christ to be truly and properly God.”
There were two more pins to be pulled, and two more grenades to be thrown into their understanding. John pulls the third pin and lobs the grenade as he continues his description of the Logos in verse 3: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” BOOM! The Logos does not just sustain all things and bring order to the Universe, He Created it... all of it!
In the Greek / agnostic culture, there was an understanding of the symbolic difference light verses darkness meaning good verses evil. But they also subscribed to the same symbolic contrast between matter and flesh being intrinsically evil, and spirit being intrinsically good. It was fine and acceptable for them to read in John 1:9 that Jesus “was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” But he wasn't finished: In verse 14, John pulls the pin and throws Grenade Four: “And the Logos was made flesh and dwelt among us...” BOOM! We read these things and just accept them as reality. To the Greek mind, they had to discard everything that they had always believed, and start out with a radically new worldview: The Universe had a beginning. It was created by the Logos, Who was God, coming to the earth not only to be the Light of Men, but coming in, of all things, the flesh!
Which brings us to the third and last “beginning” we will discuss this evening. The Apostle John is once again the author. He is once again discussing not only beginnings, and the Logos, and God coming to the earth in the flesh, but he is doing it in a way that will oppose and push back against, even more directly than we just saw in his Gospel, the Gnostic teaching that the flesh was intrinsically evil, and the spirit was intrinsically good. There was a false teaching that was being spread in the Churches that, yes, Jesus had come, but that His presence here was just in spirit. They claimed that “He was not flesh.” If we are unfamiliar with that heresy, we can and often do, read right over these opening verses without realizing what John is saying, and we especially miss why he is saying it.
John opens in 1 John 1:1, once again speaking of A beginning, but this time I don't believe he was referring to THE beginning. In context, it is more likely the beginning the he, himself, was a part of, namely the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ. John, as you may recall, was one of the first disciples Jesus called. He opens this epistle with the words, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word {Logos} of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-3).
Notice, perhaps for the first time, what John is doing. He is undermining the false teaching that Jesus came into the world as a spirit. And he does so by repeated referring to Him in tangible, and especially physical terms: We have heard... which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled... the life was manifested... we have seen it... and was manifested unto us.” The word “manifest” is the Greek term “phaneroo” which means “to render apparent, to appear.” John is saying, Jesus was right there in front of our eyes: we saw Him, heard Him and touched Him. He was not some ethereal, immaterial entity; He was a flesh and blood human being. “The Logos was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
Albert Barnes writes, “Though he had the Son of God in view, and meant to make a strong affirmation respecting him, yet the particular thing here referred to was “whatever” there was respecting that incarnate Saviour that furnished testimony to any of the senses, or that pertained to his character and doctrine, he had borne witness to. He was looking rather at the evidence that he was incarnate; the proofs that he was manifested; and he says that those proofs had been subjected to the trial of the senses, and he had borne witness to them, and now did it again.
There is evident allusion here to the opinion which early prevailed, which was held by the Docetes, that the Son of God did not truly and really become a man, but that there was only an appearance assumed, or that he seemed to be a man. It was evidently with reference to this opinion, which began early to prevail, that the apostle dwells on this point, and repeats the idea so much, and shows by a reference to all the senses which could take any cognizance in the case, that he was truly and properly a man. The amount of it is, that we have the same evidence that he was properly a man which we can have in the case of any other human being; the evidence on which we constantly act, and in which we cannot believe that our senses deceive us.”
Now we can read John's introduction in his first epistle with a new and deeper understanding. But we can also far better appreciate why he also wrote in his first epistle: “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 John 4:3).
As I wrote tonight's Discussion, I realized for the first time why the heresy of Jesus not coming in the flesh is so diabolical. We must remember that, as “the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field (Genesis 3:1), Satan's attempt to introduce heresy that questioned and supplanted Jesus' having been made a flesh and blood human being. If he could have people deluded into thinking that Jesus appeared only as an apparition, Divine or not, he would successfully have laid the groundwork in undermining the reality of our Salvation. On the night before His crucifixion, we read of Jesus beginning in Matthew 26:27: And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; 28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Do you realize, now, the pernicious subtlety of the heresy? Were Jesus a mere apparition, He would neither have needed blood to exist, nor can He have shed His blood for the remission of our sins! But we are told in Hebrews 9:22: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Albert Barnes writes, “Remission or forgiveness of sins. That is, though some things were purified by fire and water, yet when the matter pertained to the forgiveness of sins, it was “universally” true that no sins were pardoned except by the shedding of blood. Some impurities might be removed by water and fire, but the stain of “sin” could be removed only by blood. This declaration referred in its primary meaning, to the Jewish rites, and the sense is, that under that dispensation it was universally true that in order to the forgiveness of sin blood must be shed. But it contains a truth of higher order and importance still. “It is universally true that sin never has been, and never will be forgiven, except in connection with, and in virtue of the shedding of blood.” It is on this principle that the plan of salvation by the atonement is based, and on this that God in fact bestows pardon upon people.
There is not the slightest evidence that any man has ever been pardoned except through the blood shed for the remission of sins. The infidel who rejects the atonement has no evidence that his sins are pardoned; the man who lives in the neglect of the gospel, though he has abundant evidence that he is a sinner, furnishes none that his sins are forgiven; and the... pagan can point to no proof that their sins are blotted out. It remains to be demonstrated that one single member of the human family has ever had the slightest evidence of pardoned sin, except through the blood of expiation {or, atonement}. In the divine arrangement there is no principle better established than this, that all sin which is forgiven is remitted through the blood of the atonement; a principle which has never been departed from hitherto, and which never will be. It follows, therefore:
(1) That no sinner can hope for forgiveness except through the blood of Christ;
(2) That if people are ever saved they must be willing to rely on the merits of that blood;
(3) That all people are on a level in regard to salvation, since all are to be saved in the same way.”
That same way is the blood of physically manifest Jesus Christ, God in the flesh Who shed His blood for us, that we might have Life. Matthew Henry writes of the shed blood of Christ, “All men by sin had become guilty before God, had forfeited their inheritance, their liberties, and their very lives, into the hands of divine justice; but God, being willing to show the greatness of his mercy, proclaimed a covenant of grace, and ordered it to be typically administered under the Old Testament, but not without the blood and life of the creature; and God accepted the blood of bulls and goats, as typifying the blood of Christ; and by these means the covenant of grace was ratified under the former dispensation. The method taken by Moses, according to the direction he had received from God, is here particularly related
(1.) Moses spoke every precept to all the people, according to the law. He published to them the tenour of the covenant, the duties required, the rewards promised to those who did their duty, and the punishment threatened against the transgressors, and he called for their consent to the terms of the covenant; and this in an express manner. (2.) Then he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and applied this blood by sprinkling it. This blood and water signified the blood and water that came out of our Saviour's pierced side, for justification and sanctification, and also shadowed forth the two sacraments of the New Testament, baptism and the Lord's supper, with scarlet wool, signifying the righteousness of Christ with which we must be clothed, the hyssop signifying that faith by which we must apply all. Now with these Moses sprinkled, [1.] The book of the law and covenant, to show that the covenant of grace is confirmed by the blood of Christ and made effectual to our good. [2.] The people, intimating that the shedding of the blood of Christ will be no advantage to us if it be not applied to us.
And the sprinkling of both the book and the people signified the mutual consent of both parties, God and man, and their mutual engagements to each other in this covenant through Christ, Moses at the same time using these words, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. This blood, typifying the blood of Christ, is the ratification of the covenant of grace to all true believers. [3.] He sprinkled the tabernacle and all the utensils of it, intimating that all the sacrifices offered up and services performed there were accepted only through the blood of Christ, which procures the remission of that iniquity that cleaves to our holy things, which could not have been remitted but by that atoning blood.”
We have only scratched the surface regarding the Beginnings that the Bible teaches us about. I hope you can join me in the coming weeks as we review and examine other Beginnings that no other Book but the Bible, the Word of God, can share with us. At this point, I honestly do not know how many Installments there will be, but I can promise you that I will make each one as Scripturally grounded, and spiritually nourishing as I can. Pray with me and for me that God would direct and guide me as I present these Lessons to you. God willing, I will see you all next week.
This concludes this evening's Discussion, “Beginnings and Endings.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on June 27th, 2018.