Scripture Reading: John 1:1-2, 14, 29, 32, 36, 42, 51
In this chapter we will cover a number of basic matters regarding John’s writings, the Gospel of John in particular. We will also speak further on the six matters that form the extract of chapter 1, which is a prologue of the entire book: the Word, the tabernacle, the Lamb of God, the dove upon the Lamb, the stone, and the house of God.
Throughout the centuries teachers and expositors have agreed that John’s writings were the last of the New Testament writings to be completed. All the Epistles of Paul and Peter were completed approximately A.D. 65. It was about a quarter of a century later, that is, approximately A.D. 90, that John composed three categories of writings: the Gospel, the Epistles, and the Revelation. The Gospel of John, the Epistles of John, and the book of Revelation were the last books of the Bible to be written.
John’s writings are not only supplementary but also consummating. The Gospel of John consummates the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John’s Epistles consummate all the other Epistles, and John’s Revelation consummates the entire New Testament, even the entire Bible. John’s writings, therefore, are both supplementary and consummating.
The Gospel of John supplements the synoptic Gospels with the view of Christ’s deity. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called synoptic Gospels. The word synoptic means “having one point of view.” The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written from the point of view of Christ’s humanity. Matthew reveals that Christ is the King; Mark, that He is the Servant of God; and Luke, that He is our Savior. The King, the Servant, and the Savior are all aspects of Christ in His humanity. But the Lord Jesus is God as well as man, divine as well as human. Therefore, there is the need of a supplement to the synoptic Gospels showing Christ’s deity. The Gospel of John is both supplementary and consummating, for it unveils the divine side of the wonderful person of Christ. In John’s writings we have a view of Christ’s deity.
The writings of John consummate the divine revelation with the divine person, the divine life, the divine nature, and the divine accomplishments of the Triune God. In John’s Gospel, Epistles, and Revelation we can see how much the divine Father has accomplished. Whatever He has accomplished is divine. In John’s writings we also see how much has been accomplished by the Son and the Holy Spirit. Whatever is accomplished by the Triune God is divine and mysterious.
Some theologians say that John’s writings are polemical or argumentative. The word polemical is derived from the Greek word for war and denotes a controversial argument, in particular, an argument against some opinion or doctrine. John’s writings are polemical in that he was fighting against the heresies regarding Christ’s person. However, his writings are not only polemical but also unveiling. They unveil the mysteries of the divine economy of the Triune God. In the writings of John one veil after another is taken away. The book of Revelation is a book of unveiling. (In Greek, the word revelation means “unveiling.”) Even now, God’s administration is being carried out in the universe. Unbelievers do not see God’s administration and do not have any knowledge of it. But because the veil has been taken away, we can see that Christ is on the throne in the heavens carrying out God’s administration. This is one of the mysteries of the divine economy of the Triune God. John’s writings are not merely polemical or argumentative, but even the more, they are unveiling.
John’s writings are not only conciliatory but also all-inclusive. The word conciliatory means “reconciling.” Some theologians say that John’s writings are conciliatory in reconciling doctrinal controversies concerning Christ’s person. One school of thought claimed that Christ was divine but not human. Of course, this is heretical. According to 1 John 4, some spirits do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is to deny the fact that Christ is human as well as divine. Another school of thought claimed that Christ was human and not divine, that He was merely a good man but not God. According to this heretical school, after His resurrection Christ became divine. John reconciles these matters when he says that the Word is God and that the Word became flesh (John 1:1, 14). The Word is divine, even God Himself. Flesh in John 1:14 denotes humanity. Therefore, in these verses John shows that Christ is both God and man, both divine and human.
We would prefer to say that John’s writings are not merely conciliatory but all-inclusive. The writings of John are all-inclusive in the truth of Christ being all in all. Those who do not see Christ’s all-inclusiveness can be compared to blind men touching different parts of an elephant. Some touch the trunk, and others touch the legs, the side, or the tail. But all think that they have a full understanding of what an elephant is. Instead of trying to reconcile the differences among these blind men, John speaks concerning the entire elephant. It is a kind of blindness to deny any aspect of Christ’s all-inclusiveness.
Christ is both God and man, both the Creator and a creature. Years ago, certain ones declared, “Our Christ is the Creator, but He is not a creature.” When I heard this, I said to myself, “It is foolish to say that Christ is not a creature but that He is only the Creator. If Christ were not a creature as well as the Creator, how could He be a man with a body of flesh, blood, and bones? Are these not the elements of a creature?” Because of the heretical teaching of Arius, who was condemned at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, some are not willing to say that Christ is a creature as well as the Creator. (Arius falsely taught that Christ was merely a created being, not the very God Himself.) According to the Bible, our Christ is all-inclusive. Because He is God, He is the Creator. But because He is also a man, He is a creature with a body made up of created elements.
If Christ were not a creature, how could He have had the blood to shed for our sins? The Divine Being does not have the blood required for our redemption. Because we are human beings, we need human blood to be shed for us. The redemption accomplished through the blood of Jesus gives us eternal salvation. This blood has eternal efficacy. First John 1:7 speaks of the blood of Jesus, the Son of God. The name Jesus denotes the Lord’s humanity; the title Son of God denotes His divinity. It is the blood of Jesus that redeems us, and it is the divinity of the Son of God that ensures the eternal efficacy of this redeeming blood. If Christ were only divine, He would not have had the blood to shed for us. But because He is both human and divine, both a creature and the Creator, He had the blood to shed for our redemption.
John’s writings reveal the truth of Christ being all in all. Christ is God, man, the Creator, the creature, and even our spiritual food, water, and air. Because we teach the all-inclusiveness of Christ revealed in the Gospel of John, others have falsely accused us of teaching pantheism, the heretical doctrine that everything in the universe is God. Those who condemn us falsely for teaching pantheism say, “Witness Lee teaches that grass, water, air, sunshine, and wind are all God. He claims that everything in creation is divine. Therefore, he is pantheistic in his teaching. We know that he came from the Orient and that Oriental people are pantheistic.” This is their accusation, but I strongly declare that I am not pantheistic. According to the Scriptures, I teach that Christ is all-inclusive. My Christ is God and man, the Creator and a creature. Christ is my Redeemer, my Savior, my Master, my Lord, and the life-giving Spirit. He is the real life, light, spiritual food, water, and air. Christ is even my spiritual clothing. Oh, He is everything to me! Is this pantheism? Certainly not! This is the truth of Christ’s all-inclusiveness revealed in the writings of the New Testament.
John’s writings are books of mysteries because his Gospel, his Epistles, and his Revelation all speak of divine things, and divine things are mysterious. Everything related to divinity is a mystery. God Himself is mysterious. It is extremely important that we see the mysteries in this universe. If we do not see these mysteries, we are blind. All the mysteries are related to divinity. In the Gospel of John, in particular, we see the mysteries of the divine person and the divine work of Christ.
In the Epistles of John we see the mystery of the divine life within the believers. The mystery of the divine life includes the fellowship of the divine life, the divine anointing, the divine birth, and the divine seed. As those who have received the divine life, we participate in the fellowship of the divine life. This fellowship is a mystery. We also have within us the divine anointing, the divine birth, and the divine seed. All these matters are mysterious.
In the book of Revelation we have the mysteries of Christ as the life supply to God’s children for His expression and as the center of the divine administration of the Triune God. In Revelation the veil is open so that we may have a view of the divine administration. In this book we can see the universal “White House.” Even now, Christ, the Lamb on the throne, is the mysterious Administrator, the mysterious center of God’s universal administration. At this very moment Christ is carrying out God’s administration.
The Gospel of John is a book of signs, not of miracles. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke we read of miracles, but in the Gospel of John the word miracle is not used. Instead, this Gospel speaks of signs. For example, the changing of water into wine is called the beginning of signs (2:11).
A sign is a symbol with a particular significance. All the figures in John’s Gospel are signs. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word.” The Word is a sign. Some teachers of the Bible would argue that the Lamb and the dove may be signs but that the Word is not a sign, because it is a title of Christ. Revelation 19:13 says that His name is called the Word of God. I would reply that every name is a sign. A street sign, for example, bears a name. Also, on the street we have signboards, and signboards bear names. Why are these boards not called name-boards instead of signboards? The reason is that a name is a sign. In John 1:42 the Lord Jesus told Simon that he would be called Peter, a name that means “a stone.” This indicates that the name Peter is a sign that Peter is a stone. The same is true in principle of the Word being a sign.
The Gospel of John is a book of signs signifying the divine person, divine things, and divine matters. It is rather easy to see how the signs are related to the divine person. However, the divine things in the Gospel of John may be somewhat puzzling. What are the divine things in this Gospel? The divine things include the divine life, divine light, divine grace, divine truth, divine glory, divine authority, divine children, divine food, divine water, divine breath, divine vine, divine oneness, and divine building. These are the divine things in this book.
What are the divine matters? One divine matter is divine enlightenment. Divine light is a thing, but divine enlightenment is a matter. Other divine matters are regeneration, resurrection, reproduction, sanctification, building up, and glorification. In the matter of divine reproduction, one grain of wheat produces many grains. Sanctification is a matter, whereas holiness is a thing. Building up is the procedure, the action, of the building work. Eventually, in John 17 we have both sanctification and glorification. In this chapter the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You” (v. 1). Therefore, in the Gospel of John we have the divine person, the divine things, and the divine matters.
Chapter 1 is the prologue of the Gospel of John. In this prologue we have the Word, the tabernacle, the Lamb of God, the dove upon the Lamb, the stone, and the house of God. The Word is the defined God (vv. 1-2). The tabernacle is the defined God mingled with humanity to be His own dwelling place among men (v. 14). The Lamb of God is the representation of all the offerings for the solving of the problem of sin between man and God so that man may enter into God, enter into the tabernacle (vv. 29, 36). The dove upon the Lamb is the Redeemer becoming the life-giving Spirit so that God may enter into man to be his life in order that man may be regenerated, transformed, and built up with the divine life to be the house of God (v. 32). The stone signifies the natural man as clay transformed into precious stone for the building of God’s house. The house of God is the building up of the transformed believers as stones to be the enlarged Christ as the house of God, the gate of heaven, a ladder that brings heaven to earth and joins earth to heaven (v. 51). All these signs are wonderful. With the Word, the tabernacle, the Lamb, the dove, the stone, and the house we have the extracts of chapter 1 of John’s Gospel. Hallelujah for the Word, the tabernacle, the Lamb, the dove, the stone, and the house!
