Page 7 - The Gospel of John - Student textbook

Study Section 2: The Divine WORD

2.1 Connect

Have you ever had a Jehovah’s Witness come to your door and try to give you his literature? Did you
know that he does not believe that Jesus Christ is God? He believes that Jehovah decided to create,
and His first creation was to make Jesus. Then He gave Jesus special ability to be able to create the
universe as we know it. But Jesus is nothing more than a created being, just like the angels and you.
They derive this belief from a priest who lived from 256 to 336 AD who asserted that Jesus Christ was
“begotten of God” (i.e., created by God). He taught that Jesus was a distinct creature from the
Father and is therefore subordinate to Him. For years, church councils were convened to determine if Jesus
was God or a created being by God. The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe He was created and subordinate to
Jehovah. Let’s study in this lesson the issue and determine if the Jehovah’s Witness are correct or incorrect in
their teachings….

2.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to explain the three evidences for the deity of Christ as presented in the
first five verses of John’s Gospel.

2. The student should be able to define the word, “logos” and how that word describes who Jesus
Christ is.

3. The student should be able to explain the fact that since Jesus is the Creator of all things, He is God.

2.3 The Divine Word

John 1:1-5

The opening section of John's Gospel expresses the most profound truth in the universe in the
clearest terms. Though easily understood as a child, John's Spirit – inspired words convey a
truth beyond the ability of the greatest minds in human history to fathom: the eternal, infinite
God became a man in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glorious, incontrovertible truth
that in Jesus the divine "Word became flesh" (1: 14) is the theme of John's Gospel. The deity of the Lord Jesus
Christ is an essential, nonnegotiable tenet of the Christian faith.

The direct statements of Scripture affirm that Jesus is God in keeping with his emphasis on Christ's deity, John
records several of those statements. The opening verse of his gospel declares," the word (Jesus) was God. In
John's Gospel Jesus repeatedly assumes for Himself the divine name "I am". (4:26; 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19, 18:5, 6,
8). He claimed to be one in nature and essence with the father and the unbelieving Jews recognize this as a
claim to deity from their reaction 10:30 – 33; 5:18. Nor did Jesus correct Thomas when he addressed him as "my
Lord and my God!" (20:28)

In the first five verses of John's Gospel he presents three evidences for the deity of Christ: His preexistence, His
creative power, and His self-existence.

6