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    The Prologue to John's Gospel
    The Prologue to John's Gospel
    The Prologue to John's Gospel
    Ebook57 pages43 minutes

    The Prologue to John's Gospel

    By Edwin Walhout

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    About this ebook

    God spoke Jesus into existence just as he spoke Adam into existence in Genesis 1; both Adam and Jesus are products of God’s speech. Therefore all humans can find the purpose of life in Jesus.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEdwin Walhout
    Release dateMay 30, 2012
    ISBN9781476332574
    The Prologue to John's Gospel
    Author

    Edwin Walhout

    I am a retired minister of the Christian Reformed Church, living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Being retired from professional life, I am now free to explore theology without the constraints of ecclesiastical loyalties. You will be challenged by the ebooks I am supplying on Smashwords.

    Read more from Edwin Walhout

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      Book preview

      The Prologue to John's Gospel - Edwin Walhout

      THE PROLOGUE TO THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

      An Exegetical Analysis

      by Edwin Walhout

      Published by Edwin Walhout

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2010 Edwin Walhout

      Cover design by Amy Cole (amy.cole@comcast.net)

      See Smashwords.com for additional titles by this author.

      (Biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.)

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      CONTENTS

      JOHN1:1 JOHN1:2 JOHN1:3 JOHN1:4 JOHN1:5 JOHN1:6 JOHN1:7 JOHN1:8 JOHN1:9 JOHN1:10 JOHN1:11 JOHN1:12 JOHN1:13 JOHN1:14 JOHN1:15 JOHN1:16 JOHN1:17 JOHN1:18

      PERSPECTIVE

      The Apostle John had several major problems when he began to write his Gospel. The first problem was language. He was a Jew, familiar with the Hebrew language of the Jewish national literature, speaking a cognate Aramaic as his first language and, assuming that he is now living in Ephesus and writing for Greek-speaking people, John must master and write a foreign language.

      The second problem, more serious, was philosophical and religious. He must use his secondary language in such a way that it conveys Hebrew insights, not those of a foreign Greco-Roman culture. The Greek language itself always carried with it contextual philosophic and religious connotations. John must not use Greek terminology in such a way as to permit readers to understand him in a polytheistic or Platonic Idealist way.

      Furthermore, a third problem, John wants to begin his book in the same way the Hebrew book of Genesis begins. He must establish a meaningful point of contact with readers who understand only Greek. He cannot assume they know about Abraham and Moses and David and Jeremiah. He must contact them in a way they can understand immediately.

      He does this in the same way the Apostle Paul did when he addressed Gentile audiences, namely, by referring to the God who created all peoples and who governs the entire world, not just Jews but also Greeks and Romans. That is also where Genesis begins and that is where John wants to begin, with God who spoke the entire world into existence, and who therefore has something to say to all people, Jews as well as Gentiles.

      The first three verses of his Gospel, accordingly, require us to recognize these problems. John employs the term λόγος (logos) which has a very definite connotation in Greek literature. But John wants to use the term to convey the connotation of the Hebrew word, which is dabhar and the idea that God created the whole world by speaking. So the very first thing John does in his prologue is to define this term, define the meaning he wants to convey by the Greek word logos.

      JOHN 1:1

      Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.

      In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

      Ἐν ἀρχῇ In the beginning

      The phrase, in the beginning, is clearly a parallel to Genesis 1:1. Note also, as we shall see, that verse 3 sums up the entire first chapter of Genesis, All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. The purpose John has in this prologue is to establish a point of contact by writing that all of

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