Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20130526.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
John: Believing On The Christ, The Son Of God, For Eternal Life
Part VI: Believing On Christ As God Incarnate, The Complete And Adequate Exegete Of The Father
(John 1:15-18)
  1. Introduction
    1. The Apostle John wrote that his Gospel was penned that his readers might "believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name," John 20:31 KJV.
    2. However, some claim Jesus was just a prophet, that another supplants Him in importance and revelation.
    3. John 1:15-18 counters this to claim Jesus as Creator God Incarnate is the Complete Exegete of the Father:
  2. Believing On Christ As God Incarnate, The Complete And Adequate Exegete Of The Father.
    1. In a clear claim to Christ's deity, the last Old Testament prophet, John the Baptizer, said that Christ who came after him humanly in age ranked before him since He existed as deity before John existed, Jn. 1:15:
      1. We know from Luke 1:35-36, 57-63, 80 that John the Baptizer was born approximately six months before Jesus, that Jesus was humanly younger than John the Baptizer.
      2. Yet, John the Baptizer claimed Christ (John 1:17) "had once-for-all [perfect tense] existed" (gegonen from ginomai, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 321) "higher in rank" ( emprosthen, Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk-Engl. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 256; Thayer's Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1963, p. 208-209) than John himself, for Jesus Christ (John 1:17) "was existing" ( en, third person singular imperfect tense, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.; The Analytical Grk. Lex. (Zondervan), 1972, p. 187) "first" (protos , Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 732-733; Ibid., Thayer, p. 554-555), or before John the Baptizer existed, Jn. 1:15.
      3. In view of John the Baptizer's greater human age than Jesus, Jesus thus existed as God before John!
    2. Thus, the Apostle John wrote that all believers like himself had received of Christ's fulness, namely "grace in place of grace," (charin anti charitos), or "the constant reception of one evidence of God's grace replacing another," continuing waves of expressions of God's unmerited favor piled upon previous waves of His unmerited favor through Jesus Christ, Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 273; John 1:16.
    3. To explain this expression, John 1:17 clarifies that though the law highlighted Moses' ministry, the grace and truth of God highlighted Christ's ministry! Where the glory of Israel was the giving of the Law, "the glory of the Church is the revelation of God's grace and truth . . . through Jesus Christ," Ibid.
    4. Then, in a final declaration of enormous import, John 1:18 reveals that Jesus Christ, the unique God, is the Only Ultimate and Adequate Expositor of God the Father for all men (as follows):
      1. In the Apostle John's era, the Gnostics held "the non literal sense of Scripture is correct and can be understood only by a select few," Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, "Intr. to the First Letter of John," p. 1770.
      2. To counter this, John 1:18 revealed the truth of God the Father was fully expounded by Jesus Christ, that there is no superseding messenger from God as Islam and the Unification Church claim today:
        1. The Apostle John wrote that no man had seen God the Father at any time, John 1:18a. This claim does not contradict passages like Isaiah 6:5 where Isaiah said his eyes had seen the Lord, for John meant that no mortal has seen God's "inner essence or nature," 1 Tim. 1:17; Ibid., B. K. C., N. T.
        2. Yet, the unique (monogenes, our last lesson) God (Theos, P<:f180,,>66 [A. D. 200]<:f180,,> and P<:f180,,>75 [early third cent. A. D.] papyrii, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 966, p. 322), Who is in the "lap" (Ibid.; T. D. N. T., v. III, p. 824-826) of the Father, "that One" (ekeinos, Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T. ) has "declared, exegeted" (exegeomai, Thayer's Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1963, p. 223; Ibid., B. K. C., N. T.) Him.
        3. In other words, Jesus Christ as the Unique God Who alone has beheld the Father's unseen aspects from eternity past has fully disclosed Him to mankind in His earthly ministry. The Father is thus fully knowable to all men through Christ [versus Gnosticism], and there no other superseding messenger from God Who supplants Jesus Christ versus what Islam and the Unification Church say!
Lesson: Jesus Christ, the Eternal God and Unique God Incarnate, has so fully revealed God the Father that any mortal can fully know and fellowship with Him via faith in Christ, John 1:12-13, 18. There is thus no further messenger from God the Father who supplants Jesus and His revelation of the Father.

Application: May we believe Jesus Christ is the Eternal God Incarnate, the Full and Adequate Exegete of the Father, God's Ultimate Messenger, and that all believers truly know God through Jesus Christ.