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"And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not
written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through His name"
(John 20: 30, 31).
Any structure that ignores this testimony must be faulty, and consequently misleading.
We were therefore obliged to start afresh, and the result we commend to the
discriminating reader.
The majestic prologue of John 1: 1-18 now awaits us. Its theme is magnificent
beyond our comprehension, and as we draw near, let us remember that we are
approaching holy ground. May worship mingle with our studies, and may we too
"behold His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth".
#5.
The Prologue in Outline (1: 1-18).
pp. 172 - 175
In reading John's Gospel, most of us find that it is the prologue that contains the more
difficult expressions, while in the body of the Gospel itself we feel on more familiar
ground. It is probable, however, that those who were primarily in the Apostle's mind
when he wrote this record, would find the reverse to be true. As they began to read about
the Logos, at the beginning of the Gospel, they would be on familiar ground, but they
would feel that they were entering quite new territory as they followed the earthly
footsteps of Him Whom was the Logos "made flesh". We have thought so frequently of
the Hebrew people as the channel of Divine revelation and as the supreme example of the
failure of the creature to attain unto righteousness, that we have tended to forget the
Greek nation, as the example of the failure of human reason to attain unto wisdom. We
are expressly told that the Jew sought after righteousness but did not attain it, because he
sought it by law and not by faith (Rom. 9: 31, 32; 10: 3), and in I Corinthians we read:
"The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom" (I Cor. 1: 22).
Just as "Christ" was the true Righteousness of the Jew, so He was equally the true
Wisdom of the Greek.
"But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (I Cor. 1: 30).
In the first three Gospels the Jew is distinctly prominent, and there are abundant
references to the Old Covenant Scriptures. The Jew and the Old Covenant Scriptures are
conspicuous, too, in the body of the Gospel of John--for it is a faithful record of the
Lord's deeds and words in Jerusalem, Judæa and Samaria--but in the prologue the Greek
point of view is prominent, and the problem of the Greeks is shown to be solved in the
person and work of the Son of God.