John 1:1 through 16; The Gift of Light to Everyone

It's all about presuppositions. When you approach the Bible with the mainline belief that God will only save those few who have ever lived that got the formula right for "salvation" then that's what you will find. Of course that belief is what I was told from the pulpit for decades, so I have to really work to push that mindset back and really seek to hear the Truth of God. I am examining what happens when I approach the Bible with the hope that God might actually accomplish through Jesus what He set out to do---which was to bring the whole world into a loving relationship with God and each other. Yes, I know there seems to be a conflict, yet both thoughts are fully there. I want to choose to believe that God is bigger and more gracious than I can ever hope or dream. I want to believe God has already set the world right in the heavenlies and that the world is in the process of becoming "on earth as it is in heaven."

I am doing a study of the Gospel of John with the presupposition that through the gift of His son, God set into motion the redemption of all. Today I will focus on verses from John 1:1-16 which witness to this concept. All Bible quotes are from the NIV unless otherwise noted.

3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. When God pronounced in Genesis 1 that He looked over all his creation, and it was good, was God suddenly confined to the restraints of time? Was it good only for a minute and then went to hell the second Adam ate some bad fruit? I don't believe it. God stands outside of time and pronounces His creation Good in the beginning, good in the middle and good in the end. Do you live in a good house? Is it perfect? Do you have a good child? Is he/she perfect? Good is an attitude, a hope, that what is is in the process of becoming good. Good means the glass is half full. What God pronounces as good is good! Note ALL is good. Then, now, and forever!

4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Here is the set up. The redemption of ALL people is in Jesus. I choose to believe that the mystery, the magic, and the majesty of Jesus is that through Him ALL are restored to right relationship with the creator. Verse 5 answers Verse 4: indeed, darkness is within men (men always includes all people), yet it is proclaimed here that darkness will not prevail. Glory to God!

7 He [John the Baptist] came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. Here's that pesky word ALL again. Those with a presupposition that most people who've ever lived will go to hell focus here on the word might. To them that means not all will believe, but they might, which means they could, yet won't. However that is not the clear context of this verse or the passage. Here, ALL means ALL. All will believe.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. Here, the true light, who is Jesus, gives---a perfect gift---to everyone. This is a gift, not a contract. There is no "I'll give you this IF you do that." Perfect light is the unconditional gift to everyone from the True Light.

10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The light is there. The gift is there. Not all will see it or receive it immediately, yet it is there. All will see it some day; for those who see it and embrace it now, nestling into the bosom of God is available immediately.

16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. Those reading with the most go to hell mindset relegate all here to mean just those who believe. We will talk about that a lot. There is no qualifier here. The word we here could, and I believe does, mean we in the collective we of us all, just as all here means all. Grace did exist before Christ---that was grace already given, yet with the advent of God on earth, a better grace---the fullness of grace is received by us all.

I had intended to put a commentary of one full chapter in each post, yet I am going to have to break it up. Please go back and read the whole chapter in context. My highlighting certain verses does not mean I am neglecting the others or that they conflict with my presupposition. If they conflict we will deal with them. Blessings to all.