I. HOW LITTLE ABLE WE ARE TO COMPREHEND THIS GREAT MYSTERY, which we can but take in by little and little, and must put that together, as children do letters, syllables, and words, till we attain a more full understanding thereof, for our comfort and salvation.
II. HOW MUCH AND OFTEN IT IS TO BE INCULCATED UPON BELIEVERS to study again and again, as having more in it than will be seen at first view; and when they have found most in it, yet there is infinitely more to be found in that inexhaustible fountain.
III. That believers may read ALL THAT TENDER-HEARTEDNESS, compassion, mercifulness, and sympathy which is in Him, TO BE NOT A MAN’S ONLY, and in our kinsman, but in Him who is also the eternal God, whose thoughts and purposes are eternal and immutable, like Himself.
IV. That believers may see THE WISDOM AND LOVE OF GOD, who has found a way of reconciliation of lost man BY THE SAME IN NATURE AND ESSENCE, WHO IS THE PARTY OFFENDED. (G. Hutcheson.)
The Word which was in the beginning a testimony
I. To the ETERNAL PERSONALITY, as the ground of all things.
II. To the ETERNAL SPIRIT--Light--as the law of all things.
III. To the ETERNAL LOVE, as the kernel of all things.
IV. To the ETERNAL LIFE, as the life of all things. (Lange.)
The Word in His exaltation over time
He
I. IN THE BEGINNING founded all things.
II. IN THE MIDDLE executed all things; that He may,
III. IN THE END, judge all things. (Lange.)
The eternity of Christ an argument for His oneness with the Father
Does the radiance of the sun proceed from the substance itself of the sun or from some other source? Any one not deprived of his senses must needs confess that it proceeds from the substance itself. Yet, although the radiance proceeds from the sun itself, we cannot say that it is later in point of time than the subsistence of that body, since the sun has never appeared without its rays. It is for this reason that St. Paul calls Him “Brightness” Heb_1:3), setting forth thereby His being from God and His eternity. (Chrysostom.)
The value of Scripture repetitions
Repetitions have divers uses in Scripture. In prayer they argue affection. In prophecy they note celerity and certainty. In threatenings they note unavoidableness and suddenness. In precepts they note a necessity of performing them. In truths, like that before us, they serve to show the necessity of believing and knowing them. (Arrowsmith.)
“With God”
These words express the co-existence, but at the same time the distinction of person. They imply relation with, intercourse with. (Comp. the “in the bosom of the Father” of Joh_1:18, and “Let us make man” of Gen_1:26 “Throned face to face with God,” “the gaze ever directed towards God,” have been given as paraphrases, and the full sense cannot be expressed in fewer words. The “with” represents “motion towards.” The Being whose existence is asserted in the “was” is regarded as distinct, but not alone, as ever going forth in communion with God. (Comp. the use of the same word “with” in Mat_13:56; Mat_26:15; Mar_6:3; Mar_9:19; 1Co_16:6-7; Gal_1:18; Gal_4:18.) (H. W.Watkins, D. D.)
Christ and the Creation
The old Gnostic Christians held that the world was not created by the Great God, “but by Demiurgus, a spirit descending from the AEons, which were themselves derived from the Deity.” John’s statement stands in direct antagonism to this. From this we infer
I. THAT CHRIST IS OLDER THAN THE UNIVERSE. The worker must be older than his productions.
II. THAT CHRIST IS GREATER THAN THE UNIVERSE. As the architect is greater than his building, the author than his work, the artist than his productions, Christ is greater than the universe.
1. Greater in extent. But Christ’s being extends beyond the limits of the universe.
2. Greater in force.
3. Greater in beauty.
III. THAT CHRIST IS OWNER OF THE UNIVERSE. Production gives the highest right to possession. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
