2017年アドベント、ニューイングランドの母校からメッセージ　その3日目

2017 Gordon-Conwell Advent Devotional
Day 3 | The Eternal Bridge: From Creation to Incarnation
John 1:1-18

Much of my time in ministry has been spent in post-communist Eastern Europe. One of the most impactful parts of that ministry is a regular column entitled Time and Eternity, published in a widely read secular periodical.

Here in the distinctly theological introduction of the Gospel of John we see how the omnipotent God built a bridge between Eternity and Time. This prologue might have been an early Christian hymn glorifying Christ, the Eternal Word (Logos), who came to the world for our salvation.

Students sometimes ask why there is no Christmas story in the Gospel of John—no genealogy, no Bethlehem, no Joseph and Mary, no singing angels, no flight to Egypt. John is definitely different from the first three Gospels.

John is not as much interested in the earthly background of Jesus and the circumstances of his birth, but more in his status before he became man. Christ, the creative Logos (Word), who eternally dwelt with God and was divine, was also the agent of creation of the universe (v 1-3).

Christ, the Word, was also the source of life and a light offered to the world (v 4-5). Notice in the following analytical chart the repeated or equivalent terms placed one below another, bringing out the relationships, progression and poetic beauty of the verses.

(v 4-5)
In Him was LIFE
and the LIFE was the LIGHT of men
and the LIGHT shines in the DARKNESS
and the DARKNESS…

(v 10)
HE was in the WORLD
And the WORLD was made
through HIM and the WORLD
knew HIM not.

The eternal divine Word (Logos) became human flesh (carne) and dwelt among us (v 14). This is the climax of John’s equivalent of the Christmas story.

Dr. Peter Kuzmič
Paul E. and Eva B. Toms Distinguished Professor of World Missions and European Studies