Although I love all the Gospels, I have to count Yochanan’s as my favorite, followed by Mattityahu, Luke, and Mark. Yochanan presents a unique story of our Messiah.

The Gospel of Yochanan is different from the Synoptic Gospels in that more than 90 percent of its material is unique. His Gospel does not focus on the miracles, parables, and public speeches that are so prominent in the other accounts. Instead, this Gospel emphasizes Yeshua’s identity as the Son of God and how we, as Believers, should respond to His teaching^.[1]

Although the author’s name does not appear in the Gospel, early church tradition strongly and consistently identified him as the Apostle Yochanan. The early church father Irenaeus (ca. a.d. 130–200) was a disciple of Polycarp (ca. a.d. 70–160), who was a disciple of the Apostle Yochanan, and he testified on Polycarp’s authority that Yochanan wrote the Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia Minor when he was advanced in age^.[2]

Yochanan 1:1-18 has been called a “theological masterpiece.” The brilliance of these verses beckons readers to worshipful reflection and a desire to know more. While there’s a radiance that characterizes this section, verse 14 has a splendor of its own. The verses leading up to it are like an ascending staircase that takes us to this pinnacle. Using language found in Genesis 1:1, the Apostle Yochanan shows the existence and experience of the pre-incarnate Word (John 1:1). What was true of Yeshua before time found expression in His earthly existence. He imparted life and dispelled darkness – both in the physical and spiritual realms (vv. 4-5). We can know Yeshua – the light of life – personally when we place our trust in Him.

In The Beginning

In his prologue to the Good News, Yochanan sets forth both the divine and human origin and nature of the Messiah. Contrary to modern Jewish opinion, which holds that the Messiah is to be human only, numerous Jewish sources speak of the supernatural features of the Messiah.

1 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing made had being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it. ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was Yochanan. ⁷ He came to be a testimony, to bear witness concerning the light; so that through him, everyone might put his trust in God and be faithful to Him. ⁸ He himself was not that light; no, he came to bear witness concerning the light. ⁹ This was the true light, which gives light to everyone entering the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world – the world came to be through Him – yet the world did not know Him. ¹¹ He came to His own homeland, yet His own people did not receive Him. ¹² But to as many as did receive Him, to those who put their trust in His person and power, He gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God. ¹⁴ The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw His Sh’khinah, the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ Yochanan witnessed concerning Him when he cried out, “This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of me, because He existed before me.’ ” ¹⁶ We have all received from His fullness, yes, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the Torah was given through Moshe; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father’s side – He has made Him known. [3]

I didn’t want to break up the flow of Yochanon’s beautiful passage, so here are some notes of explanation:

1a – In the beginning was the Word. The language echoes the first sentence of Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The Word which was with God and … was God is not named as such in Genesis but is immediately seen in action: “And God said, ‘Let there be light’ ” (Genesis 1:3).

1b – 3 – Is Yochanan speaking about two (the Word was with God) or one (the Word was God)? Yochanan’s answer expresses Hebraic rather than Greek thinking: it is a matter of both/and, not either/or. We learn in these verses that the Word was not a created being, as the fourth-century heretic Arius taught and as Jehovah’s Witnesses teach today.

4 – 9 – Yeshua as the true light for the world is a major theme of Yochanan.

12 – Put their trust in his person and power, literally, “put their trust in his name.” The concept of “name” in the Ancient Middle East included everything a person was. We retain the sense today when we say someone speaks “in a person’s name,” meaning with his authority and expressing his views. To “trust in the name of Yeshua the Messiah” certainly does not mean to attribute magic properties to the name itself.

The right to become children of God. Isn’t everyone a child of God? In a sense, yes (Acts 17:28); indeed, all are created “in his image” (Genesis 1:26–27, James 3:9). In numerous places, God reveals himself as a Father (and in at least one place, Isaiah 49:14–15, as a Mother) to Isra’el. But here being a “child of God” means having an intimate personal relationship with him, as did Avraham, Yitzchak, Ya‛akov, Moshe, and David. God spoke to them personally, and they spoke to Him. It is exactly the same way with everyone who comes to trust in the Messiah, meeting the conditions of the New Covenant: the Believer is able to be in touch with God, His Father. We will learn more about that in chapters 15–17 and numerous places in Sha’ul’s letters. [4]

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^[1] Andreas Köstenberger, “John,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Commentary, ed. E. Ray Clendenen and Jeremy Royal Howard (Broadman & Holman, 2015), 1127.

^[2] John F. MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006). Introduction to John.

^[3] David H. Stern, Yochanan 1:1-18.

^[4] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary 1:1-18.