John 1:4-5

Who is Jesus? part 7

“Two verses at once, what a luxury,” you say? Well, yes, it has taken me six posts to tackle the first three verses of John’s Gospel, but who’s counting? (Aside: I am). I have my reasons, okay? These opening verses are not some heavy-duty philosophical manifesto as some folks might claim, but more like a delightful little song with a touch of poetic flair. It’s like John is telling us that the story of Jesus began even before creation itself, and he’s doing it with style! Cheers to poetic licences and pre-creation narratives, am I right?

We’re not here to pace the floor and stroke our beards like some ancient Greek stoic. We’re here to hear this song and go “WOW!” Let’s keep the excitement alive, folks!

The Nativity song of John kicks off with some cosmic drama: the Word creating the universe, like a divine DIY project gone wild. And then, just when you thought it couldn’t get any brighter, it’s time to shed some light on the next epic theme: Light.

⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:4-5

Genesis backwards

The light of the Word is meant to bring enlightenment to humanity, as conveyed in John 1:4. This contrasts with the order of events in the creation account in Genesis, where light precedes the creation of humans at the end. John was aware of this parallel as he was writing, effectively echoing the sequence of the creation account up to this point.

Genesis Chapter 1 unfolds over three phases, each with a significant impact on the next, and then the sequence repeats, illustrating the profound interconnectedness of each period.

The first three days
Day 1 – God makes light and separates it from darkness.
Day 2 – God separates the waters from the sky.
Day 3a – God makes dry land appear.
Day 3b – God creates plant life.

The second three days
Day 1 – God populates with lights: the day sky with the sun and the night sky with the moon and stars.
Day 2 – God populates the sea with fish and the sky with birds.
Day 3a – God populates the land with animals.
Day 3b – Humans are created in the image of God.

But John is absolutely right to reverse the order of creation in Genesis because God’s creation of humans was always part of the plan! Genesis chapter 1 beautifully showcases God setting the stage for man to thrive, and then Genesis 2 eloquently flips the narrative, presenting creation from Adam’s perspective as the first man. It vividly portrays him awakening in the garden and skillfully captures the order in which he would have observed these magnificent events unfolding around him. This intentional reversal emphasizes the significance of human existence in God’s plan!

Notice that in Genesis God is not creating out of nothing. It begins with everything without form and empty, to which God brings order out of the chaos. For creation from nothing we need the New Testament and phrases like, “without him was not anything made that was made,” which comes immediately before the one we are looking at here.

I have skimmed over the word life on my way to light because light is the next theme in John’s unusual nativity story. Life is one of the main themes in John’s Gospel, appearing 36 times, so I will address it soon.

John and Isaiah

John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”

Two poems about light and darkness, double trouble! John had his inner Isaiah unleashed. These poems are such a perfect pair, like peanut butter and jelly. Isaiah predicted and John said, “Yes, that’s the guy!”

But later in the Isaiah passage it says, “The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor enquire of the Lord of hosts.” Not good news, the people who had seen a great light had rejected it.

The John passage seems to shine brightly, especially in English, until we delve further into its contents. However, it does contain elements of darkness. Please note that the following contains spoilers regarding the direction the Gospel of John is taking.

Light and darkness are recurring themes throughout the story. At this point, it is mentioned that God is light, but in Chapter 3 it is states that people will choose to love either light or darkness, and this love will dictate their actions. Chapter 12 reveals that those who believe in Christ are considered the children of light. The old creation began with the phrase “Let there be light,” but John is referring to a new creation (spoiler alert) that commences with the arrival of light into the lives of believers. The light has arrived, woohoo!

John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” the Greek verb translated “overcome” can also mean to grasp or to understand. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not grasped it.” or “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it.” There is a different feel here: People will not understand what Jesus is saying and doing and will oppose him. That opposition will be developed in Chapters 7 to 12 and will eventually lead to the crucifixion of Jesus.

But the greatest interpretation of this passage is totally at odds with my waffling here. Martin Luther King Jr. said. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.“

As I said, all this is spoilers. I will look at it in more detail later. For now I’ll leave you with a decision: Are you going to reject the light of Christ?

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