Land and Bible

Notes for One God Report Podcast #17.   Exegesis of John 1, part 1 “In the beginning was…” Bill Schlegel with Rivers O Feden To hear the podcast click here .  As we begin an exegesis of the Prologue to the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18), in this podcast we give more evidence (see this previous podcast ) for why the Prologue should be understood as an introduction to the ministry of Jesus the Messiah, and not as a direct reference to the Genesis creation. The topics discussed in the podcast include, but are not limited to the following: 1.        The phrase “In the beginning” and the word “word” of John 1:1 are best interpreted by comparing them first and foremost with other uses in the Gospel of John, in other Johannine literature, and then in other New and Old Testament literature. "In the beginning" occurs other times in the New Testament, and over 30 times in the Old Testament, none of which refer to the Genesis creation. When this comparis...

To hear the One God Report Podcast of this transcript, click here .  In a previous podcast, episode #7, called Jesus is the Beginning of God’s New Creation , we saw that the literary context of the Gospel of John requires that we understand John’s prologue to be introducing the ministry and life of Jesus. In our last podcast, episode #15, called More New Creation in the Gospel of John we saw how the Old Testament scriptures anticipated a New Creation, and how language, events and the miracles recorded in John’s Gospel declare the New Creation coming with Jesus the Messiah. This is further evidence that John’s introduction, the prologue to his Gospel, should be understood in a New Creation, or New Beginning context.   In this podcast we will take a closer look at the historical context in which 1 st century readers of John’s Gospel would have understood this Gospel to be about a new beginning. We will also see how other New Testament authors saw in Jesus a new beginning, ...

To hear on One God Report podcast, click here . 1 John 5 was especially significant for our family several years ago when I was coming to understand that God is One and that Jesus is God's human Messiah. My wife points out the irony in the fact that while Trinitarians often go to the Gospel of John and the Epistle of 1 John for presumed evidences of the deity of Jesus, it was these two books of the Bible that showed us that God is One person, and that Jesus is God’s designated human Messiah (Christ). 1 John 5:1 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah) has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whomever has been born of Him.” How tragic that people who believe that Jesus is God condemn those who believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah). The "diety of Christ" believers say that unless you believe that Jesus is God, you are “denying Christ”. What a strange twist of Scripture. The Scripture says that “anyone who believes that Je...