The Known and the Unknown

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January 5, 2003 - John 1:1-4, 10-18

Open It

  1. What are some of the slang expressions you used growing up?
  2. In what ways are words different from visual images?

Explore It

  1. Who is the Word? (1:1)
  2. What is the relationship between the Word and God? (1:1-2)
  3. What was the Word's role in creation? (1:3)
  4. How is the "life" the light of men? (1:4)
  5. How did the light give light to every person? (1:9)
  6. Why didn't the world recognize the light? (1:10)
  7. What is the benefit of receiving or believing in the Word? (1:12)
  8. How and why did the Word make his dwelling among us? (1:14)
  9. Whose glory did the Word reveal? (1:14)
  10. What did God give us through Moses? (1:17)
  11. What did God give us through Jesus? (1:18)
  12. Why is it significant that no one has seen God but "God the One and Only"? (1:18)

Get It

  1. Why did the Word become flesh and live among us?
  2. How does a person receive the Word?
  3. What happens when we receive or believe in the Word?
  4. How should being a child of God affect our lives?
  5. How did Jesus reveal God's glory to us?

Apply It

  1. What do you need to do to be certain of your relationship with God?
  2. What will you do this week to better enjoy your status as a child of God?
  3. How should the reality that God became a man affect your life today?



NOTES

"The darkness has not understood it" means that the although Christ created the world, the people he created didn't recognize him (John 1:10). Even the people chosen by God to prepare the rest of the world for the Messiah rejected him (John 1:11), although the entire Old Testament pointed to his coming.

"The Word became flesh" means becoming human. By doing so, Christ became (1) the perfect teacher-in Jesus' life we see how God thinks and therefore how we should think (Phil. 2:5-11); (2) the perfect example-as a model of what we are to become, he shows us how to live and gives us the power to live that way (1 Peter 2:21); (3) the perfect sacrifice-Jesus came as a sacrifice for all sins, and his death satisfied God's requirements for the removal of sin (Col. 1:15-23).

"The One and Only, who came from the Father" means Jesus is God's only and unique Son. The emphasis is on unique. Jesus is one of a kind and enjoys a relationship with God unlike all believers who are called "children" and said to be "born of God." When Christ was born, God became a man. He was not part man and part God; he was completely human and completely divine (Col. 2:9). Before Christ came, people could know God partially. After Christ came, people could know God fully because he became visible and tangible in Christ. Christ is the perfect expression of God in human form. The two most common errors people make about Jesus are to minimize his humanity or to minimize his divinity. Jesus is both God and man.

Law and grace are both aspects of God's nature that he uses in dealing with us. Moses emphasized God's law and justice, while Jesus Christ came to highlight God's mercy, love, and forgiveness. Moses could only be the giver of the law, while Christ came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17). The nature and will of God were revealed in the law; now the nature and will of God are revealed in Jesus Christ. Rather than coming through cold stone tablets, God's revelation ("truth") now comes through a person's life. As we get to know Christ better, our understanding of God will increase.

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