Continued from class on 09/11/05
A reading of John 1:4
In him life was and this life was the light of men. (Eger's translation)
Here John is probably making a reference to the Septuagint (LXX) translation of Genesis 2:7
Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
The Logos was life and when it entered man, man became an
enlightened being with moral understanding. "The
words of the Torah (Old Testament) are
light for the world"
(Midrash Dt Rabba 7.3).In this verse the Apostle was striking a blow against Gnosticism which said that "light" was, among other things, one of the many aeons that were intermediates between the kosmos and the "unknowable God."
He also showed the connection between the teachings of the rabbis. They did have an understanding. In the following chapters of John's Gospel we will see that many people did
believe in Jesus during his earthly ministy.
And believing they had ...
Greater Lansing FirstAssembly of God
Review of School of Ministry Adult Elective
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Gospel of John Teacher Joe Eger
We began by reviewing ancient gnosticism. See following links
(I cannot vouch for the entirety of each web site) We then reviewed some modern gnostic religions:
A reading of John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.
We discussed the use of the term
"Word" in the Targums. The
Targums are the translations of the Old Testament Hebrew into Aramaic.
So it appears that the Old Testament Rabbis were not totally ignorant of the "Word" being God and involved in the creation of all things.
John, therefore, was inspired to use "logos" (Greek for "word") and thereby addressing two groups of people: Gnostics and Rabbinic Judaism.
A reading of John 1:2
This one was in the
beginning. (Eger's translation)
This one = the logos. He did not come into being at the beginning, he was there.
in the beginning = before time. From the Theory of Special Relativity we understand that before the existence of space and matter there was no mathematical time. Only after the creation of space and "stuff" could there be time as defined by movement. If we define time as a sequence of thoughts--there would be time, a
Sequential Occurrence of thoughts. But for the discussion of "in the beginning" there was nothing before the creation except God, the Logos and the Spirit.
A reading of John 1:3
Because of him all things came into existence, indeed, without his will not even one thing which (came into existence) came into being. (Eger's translation)
This is in contradiction of the gnostic teaching that the Logos was an emanation from the "unknowable God," that he was a creation and not the creator.
It also ties into the Targums' assertions that the Logos (Memra--Aramaic for Word) was co-existent and co-equal with God.
So, John rebutts the gnostics and affirms the Rabbinic Targums in one
sentence.
Click on the link to see some of the review for next Sunday, September 11.
Perseus Greek Bible and Aids
