NOTES for Joh 1:1-18
Each Gospel begins in its own way. The Synoptic evangelists usually tell either of the Nativity or, like Mark, begin directly with the Baptism. John, however, begins with a wonderful hymn to the Word that is “in the beginning” (vv. 1–3). Of course, much is also said about God's word in the Old Testament books, where it was both revelation (Gen. 15:1, 4) and God's instrument in the world He created (Ps. 147:18; 148:8). But the Word of which the evangelist speaks is more than a revelation given to a particular person. He is even more than a mere instrument of God's action. He is primordial; His life is rooted in those depths of the Divine Person that will forever remain hidden from every creature God has made. Then came the day when the pre-eternal Word, bearing within Himself the fullness of God, the fullness of God's life and light (vv. 4–5), contained Himself within the bounds of human nature so that this fullness might become accessible to everyone wishing to share in it (v. 9). A new era then began in the world, the era of the coming Kingdom. It is no accident that the evangelist compares the incarnate Word to the Tabernacle (v. 14; the Greek word rendered in Russian as “dwelt” could literally be translated “pitched the Tabernacle”). Since Moses' time, the Tabernacle had been the place of God's presence, whose fullness is now bound to the person of the One in whom the Word becomes incarnate. He opens the fullness of the Kingdom and of God's life to those willing to believe Him and follow Him, although such people seem to be few (vv. 10–13). The evangelist calls this fullness “grace of grace” (v. 16), an expression Greek in language but Hebrew in form, meaning the absolute fullness of God's grace, inaccessible to an ordinary person. It is certainly no accident that he compares this new revelation with the giving of the Torah, the Law, to Moses (v. 17). The Torah was not only a revelation of God's will but also a real power changing a person from within, if they were willing to follow God's law. Yet the Torah revealed God to a person only in part, whereas the Son brought those following Him into the fullness of God, which they could not otherwise behold (v. 18). And along with God's fullness, the fullness of the Kingdom was revealed to those following Jesus.