The four different perspectives on Jesus.
Mark 1.1 • Matthew 1.1 • Luke 1.1-4 • John 1.1-18
|
|
|
These are the introductions to the
Unlike the others, the author of Luke (what the heck, we’ll assume it’s actually St. Luke, same as the other traditional authors) explained to his recipient exactly why he wrote his gospel. Others have done gospels, but Luke did an extra-thorough job to find the truth and present something accurate we can base our religion upon. So here’s the real history of Christ Jesus. Theófilus might be the recipient’s real name, but in those no-freedom-of-religion days there’s just as much a chance it’s an alias: Theófilus means “God-lover.”
John tends to go its own way, so its introduction is a bit longer and more theological.
John 1.1-18 KWL - 1 The word’s in the beginning. The word’s with God. The word is God.
- 2
He’s in the beginning with God. 3 Everything came to be through him. - Nothing that exists came to be without him. 4 What came to be through him, was life.
- Life’s the light of humanity. 5 Light shines in darkness, and darkness can’t get hold of it.
- 6 A person came who’d been sent by God, named John, 7
who came to testify. - When he testified about the light, everyone might believe because of him.
- 8 He wasn’t the light, but he’d testify about the light.
- 9 The actual light, who lights every person, was coming into the world.
- 10 He’s in the world, and the world came to be through him.
Yet the world doesn’t know him.- 11 He came to his own people, and his own people don’t accept him;
- 12 of those who do accept him, those who put faith in his name,
- he gives them power to become God’s children.
- 13 Not by blood, nor bodily will, nor a man’s will, but generated by God.
- 14 The word was made flesh. He encamped with us.
- We got a good look at his significance—
- the significance of a father’s only son—filled with grace and truth.
- 15 John testifies about him, saying
as he called out, “This is the one I spoke of! - ‘The one coming after me has got in front of me’—because he’s first.”
- 16 All of us received
things out of his fullness. Grace after grace: - 17 The Law which Moses gave; the grace and truth which Christ Jesus became.
- 18 Nobody’s ever seen God.
- The only Son, God who’s in the Father’s womb, he explains
God .
It’s deep, so I’ll analyze John’s intro in more detail another time.