In the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
Welcome to Coptic Orthodox Answers Deep Dive where we aim to dive deeper into certain specific subjects and we are tackling currently the Gospel of John. This is the 4 th video on the Gospel. We have done the introduction so far and two other videos explaining chapter 1, verses 1 to 13, where we have seen how St. John the beloved wants to make it a point to witness for Jesus Christ that He is the Son of God. He is the Messiah. He is co-creator and equal to the Father. And now, we are at verse 14 where He's about to discuss the incarnation. So, let's dig right into it.
So, verse 14 says:
'' 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.'' (John 1:14)
The word dwelt here, in Greek, is κεήνοου (keynoou), which means to pitch a tent or to tabernacle. St. John the beloved wants to bring us back at the time of the Old Testament where God made Himself manifest. He was present at the time of Moses in the tabernacle, guiding His people. He was manifest in a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. So, God, here, again, once more, He wants to make Himself manifest to the people, but now in the New Testament. But it's done in a different way.
So, this time around, the manifestation was different, because St. John says the Word, the Logos, became flesh. So, that person became flesh. In other words, not like the Old Testament appearances where an angel would come, right? This is not an incarnation, right? This was a manifestation, but not an incarnation. This time around, God became man. He became a human being. And through this, He pitched His tent. Through this humanity, He was able to guide the people and lead them to salvation.
So, let's go back to the verse. It says:
'' 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.'' (John 1:14)
It is very important for us to identify the difference between begetting and creating, because here, the Word, the Logos, is the only begotten of the Father. What does begotten mean? Begotten means when someone brings out of him another person of the same value. In other words, if I bring forth a child, I have begotten a child. So, I have two daughters. My two daughters
are humans in the same way I am a human. A cat can beget a cat, meaning the kitten, right?, is at the same level as the cat.
But I create a painting. I create an object. The object of my creation is of lower status than its creator. It's very different. So, when St. John says, here, that the Word, the Logos, He's the only begotten of the Father, he is indicating once more that the Son is equal to the Father.
Here, St. Cyril goes at length describing this holistic understanding of how God blew His Holy Spirit into Adam at the creation, but then when Adam sinned, the Holy Spirit was removed and God told him:
'' 19 (...) For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'' (Genesis 3:19) - [English Standard Version)]
And he's saying how part of... or one of the reasons of the incarnation is to restore this dust, this corrupted humanity. And this is precisely why God or Jesus received the Holy Spirit once again at His baptism. But I will put a link to the video of Apostolic Answers where we have described this in detail, in case you'd want to look at it.
Verse 15 says:
'' 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, ''This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.' '' (John 1:15)
The issue is Christ came, chronologically, after St. John the Baptist, right? So, people, in their perception, they saw that Christ or Jesus followed John. But here, St. John wants to proclaim a new idea. He wants to say: No, no, no... He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. He is everlasting. He from... He is from the beginning, right? So, he wants to clarify that Christ, actually, because He is the Son of God, He came before him.
At the same time, he is witnessing to Him. He wants to say that this man, Jesus Christ, is the Son of God, and therefore, He is superior to me. He's not inferior to me. To you, you might perceive Him as my disciple, but I'm telling you that He is God incarnate.
Then St. John says:
'' 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.'' (John 1:16)
So, St. Cyril says:
''From the fullness of the Son, as from a perennial fountain, the gift of the Divine graces springing forth comes to each soul that is found worthy to receive it.'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John 1:16)
So, anybody that is seeking Christ becomes worthy to receive these divine graces that are flowing from the source of life, from the source of love, from the source of virtues, right? God wants to grant us the fullness of life and we become worthy through seeking Him. And therefore, He gives us grace for grace or grace upon grace. And we are renewed in His image bit by bit, right?, and therefore, we are in the centre, in the midst of this source of grace Himself.
So, St. John continues and says:
'' 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.'' (John 1:17)
So, the law of the Old Testament came through Moses, but now, something superior, something higher, grace itself, truth itself came through Jesus Christ. And then, he explains throughout his Gospel who this truth is. So, St. John wants to direct us to the truth, so he says:
'' 18 No one has seen God at any time. [Nobody has seen the Father.] The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father [so, the Son is in the Father; they are two persons, but they're in each other, right?], He has declared Him.'' (John 1:18)
Now, we have access to the Father through the Son. Now, the Son came to witness to the Father and this Holy Trinity is the truth. He is the truth that we ought to follow. Now, this concludes the prologue or the introduction of the Gospel of John, verses 1 to 18, where he introduces who the Logos is and who Christ is. And now, he steps into this one week or the seven days of witnessing to Christ that He is the Son of God, which we said it was a parallel to Genesis 1, the seven days of Genesis 1 that serve the same purpose. And this starts in verse 19.
So, St. John starts this first day of witness by saying:
'' 19 Now this is the testimony of John [here, John the Baptist], when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ''Who are you?'' '' (John 1:19)
So, the Jews were asking John: Who are you? Based on what authority are you baptizing the people?, because, this was very abnormal at the time, which I'll get to in a second. But first, we have to understand the history of baptism itself. It all starts in Leviticus 14 where a leper, when he was healed, he went through this ceremonial cleansing, which involved water, right?, to proclaim that now, he has been purified from his leprosy. And his leprosy was a sign or a symbol of sin.
Now this idea of cleansing through water continues throughout the Old Testament. For example, we're seeing Naaman the Syrian, the man that was leprous and he came to Elisha the prophet. And then Elisha asked him to dip seven times in the water and he did. And then, he got out of the water and his skin was restored. So, this cleansing, this restoration happened through this ritual, right?, that involved water. And these were all pointing towards the New Testament fulfilment of baptism, which is, again, the restoration of God's image within us. But this, of course, is the baptism through the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, after the beginning of the Church.
For the time being, this is not what John is doing. John the Baptist, here, is baptizing a baptism of repentance. But he was doing something scandalous in the sense where at that time, Jews used to circumcise proselytes or the Gentiles that would come in and they want to be converted to Judaism. They would circumcise the males and after a certain period of healing, then they would baptize the entire family. So, at that time, the Jews were baptizing Gentiles.
But here, St. John is baptizing Jews. And that's why it's so scandalous, because what he's saying, in other words, is that Jews need salvation; they still need God's grace. And that's why they were so offended and they came and asked him who are you? In other words, based on what authority are you doing these things? Because what you're doing is scandalous. We can't believe that you're doing this.
So, St. John responds to this:
'' 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ''I am not the Christ.'' [You expect me to be the Christ? I'm telling you: I am not Him.] 21 And they asked him, ''What then? Are you Elijah?''...'' (John 1:20-21)
So, the Jews expected Elijah to come prior to the Messiah. That's a prophecy in Malachi, chapter 4, verse 5. So, St. John responds I am not Elijah, although Christ speaks about John the Baptist in Luke 1:17, saying that St. John the Baptist had a similar spirit to Elijah's. So, in that sense, the prophecy was fulfilled.
Are you the Prophet?, they responded. The Prophet, again, is another person that they expected to come prior to the Messiah. That is in... that's in Deuteronomy 18:15. And they didn't know who that Prophet was, so they asked or they called him the Prophet and they asked St. John the Baptist: Are you the Prophet? And he answered: No, I am not the Prophet.
So now, the Jews don't know really what to do, because they know that this man is proclaiming to be something, because he's baptizing Jews, but at the same time, he's not anyone of those that they expect, so they ask him.
'' 22 Then they said to him, ''Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?''
23 He said: ''I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ''Make straight the way of the Lord,'' ' as the prophet Isaiah said.'' (John 1:22-23)
So, Isaiah 40, chapter 40, verse 3 talks about this person that is a voice crying in the wilderness that prepares the hearts of the people. So, St. John the Baptist is declaring himself as this person, making the heart of the people ready for the coming of the Messiah.
So, as we will see from the text, there are potentially two options. The first one is that they did not understand what St. John the Baptist was telling them and the other option is a bit scarier, but let's see the text first. It says:
'' 24 Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, saying, ''Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?'' '' (John 1:24-25)
So, the second option is that they actually rejected what he was saying. Because if they understand or they believe that St. John the Baptist is that voice crying in the wilderness, then it has huge implications, because it implies that whoever St. John the Baptist points towards as the Messiah, then they also have to accept that Messiah. Again, if St. John is truly the voice crying in the wilderness, then whoever he points to, then this person is the Messiah and the Jews were not ready to make such a commitment.
So, to answer the Jews' question on why he is baptizing, John answers the following:
'' 26 (...) ''I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. 27 It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.'' (John 1: 26-27)
So again, he's making comparison between him as a prophet and between the Son of God the Messiah. And he's saying how he is unworthy to lose his sandal strap. There's such a huge difference between them.
'' 28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.'' (John 1:28)
Now, we can already see a clear distinction between the two types of baptisms. The first one, in verse 26, St. John says that he baptizes with water. But in verse 33, which we'll see shortly, it says that Christ baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And therefore, this is the first hint that the baptism of the New Testament is a sacrament. It's a mystery, because the Holy Spirit is involved. Then something beyond our senses must be happening, 'cause if not, why would the Holy Spirit be involved?
Then we see, in John 3:3, in John 3:5, in Corinthians 2:12, in Romans 6:4, etc., how we die with Christ and we are raised with Christ in baptism. Again, it's a restoration. And we can already see the hints of this in these passages.
So, day 1 of witness ends with St. John the Baptist proclaiming that the Messiah is one among them. And they are waiting for Him. So, he's witnessing that the Messiah is there. And then day 2 starts, in a sense:
'' 29 The next day [, which is day 2,] John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ''Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'' (John 1:29)
Notice two things. First, he's talking in the past. So, this is not the actual Day of Epiphany, but a commemoration of it. And, it's very obvious, he says: Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! So, he's declaring who the Messiah is.
'' 30 This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.'' 32 And John bore witness, saying, ''I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' '' (John 1:30-33)
So here, the text is clear where St. John the Baptist did not know who the Messiah was. St. John was in the wilderness and as he was in the wilderness, God told him to go baptizing with water. And He told him the person who you will see the Holy Spirit descending upon Him and remaining on Him, He is the Messiah.
Now, the problem is that there seems to be a contradiction between what St. John is saying in his Gospel and what St. Matthew said in his Gospel, because St. Matthew talks about when Christ came to be baptized by John, John tried to prevent Christ, right?, and he told Him: I am the one that ought to be baptized by You. And God said: Let it be, right? But here, there's no real contradiction, because St. John knew who Jesus was, being a righteous person, more righteous than himself, and therefore, he is the one that ought to be baptized by Jesus, because He is more righteous.
But St. John did not know that Jesus was the Messiah. He only knew He was the Messiah when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and remained on Him, like it says in the Gospel of John.
Remember:
Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.
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