I suggested that we read the book of John together at our last meeting. So here is some commentary on John 1 to go along with our time in the book of John. I'll skip all the introductions as to who John was and what kind of audience he had and all the other things you might find in a Biblical Commentary. You can find plenty of those in the library or bookstore, on line as well.

Let's just jump in with the text.

John 1 The Word Became Flesh

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

In the beginning was the Word...

Who gets to decide when the beginning was anyhow? I mean, John wasn't there in the beginning, was he? Yet, he confidently writes about it, as if he were there. Where does this certainty come from, this confidence to write down his version of history? He will be quoted for centuries following this little bit of writing. His comments will be drawn and quartered for nearly two thousand years.

And yet, there he is, talking about the beginning as if he were in on the whole affair, as if he was on the committee to create, to begin, to explode on to the scene, to make a scene in fact where there was none. These are big words, big talk you could say.

In our time of Knowledge and Science, we need proof before we offer commitment. We need nature to show it's self to us before we believe it exists. We need research and studies to prove that our way is healthier, or that this drug is more effective than this one. We are into empirical studies, laden with proof.

Is there room for any other kind of knowledge? Take a look at the word Omniscience. Do you see the word science in there? Omniscience is the ability to know everything into infinity. Imagine such power. You cannot. You can only try to imagine it, and that effort will be useless at best. How can you know all the knowledge that others know for instance? You can't. How can you know everything about the universe out there? You can't. How can you know what volcano is about to go off around the world? You can't, or what Jupiter's moons will look like in a few years? You can't.

This is where we have the most trouble. Since we can't know or be omniscient and we can prove it, what gives God the ability to be omniscient? How believable is He? John says He was there in the beginning. Even that must be only part of the answer, because God must have been there before the beginning.

Our modern minds are set up to believe what we can see or prove. To our dismay, God is neither visible or provable. John didn't seem to worry about this too much. Maybe he had a visit from God or an angel. He certainly spent time with Jesus.

Can you imagine John sitting down with quill in hand and starting his book with these stupendous words, "In the beginning"? Audacious you might think. I think humble. I think simple. I think confident. I think he had proof enough. I think that after all John experienced that it was a simple sentence for him to write.

In our day, faith is not readily equated with knowledge. It doesn't take much to get an argument started. All you have to do is to say that you KNOW God exists. There you go. Well how do you know? You can't prove it. Science says you can't prove it. You know how that conversation goes. I wonder how John would answer questions in that argument. Would he even try to answer these questions or would he simply say he had seen God with His own eyes, walked with Him over the hills and valleys of Israel? Would he even say that? I don't know what he would offer as an answer to our modern or postmodern questions.

But I doubt he would recant his statement, In The Beginning. Maybe he KNEW something we don't KNOW.