The Dispensational Place of John
Part 3


No.3 Christ, the Image and the Word.

We have arrived at the conclusion that the Gospel according to John very specially meets the need and position of that great company of believers who, though called during this present time, do not seem to come under the dispensation of the mystery. Naturally our present findings will modify some statements made in earlier volumes. For this we feel there is no need to apologize, but rather give thanks for added light. However, it may be well to repeat, without detail or proof, the eight features found upon the surface of John's Gospel, which reveal the special fitness of his message for the time: -

1. The message must be world-wide in its scope.

2. It must give evidence that it is written for non-Jewish readers.

3. It must start with the fact that Christ came and was rejected.

4. It will omit the Lord's Supper.

5. It will give prominence to the ascension.

6. It will give a title to the Lord which is in some way parallel with "The Image" and the "Creator" of Col. 1.

7. It will convey the Lord's desire that, though rejected by "His own," the world may yet believe and know Him as the Sent One.

8. It will not use the word "miracle," but will substitute some other word in recognition of the fact that pentecostal conditions have passed.

We believe that the distinctive nature of these prominent features carry the matter beyond debate into the region of fact and faith. We therefore spend no time in "proofs" but proceed to the more edifying labours connected with exposition.

The Word

This Gospel opens with a wonderful revelation concerning Christ as the Word. Now there is a principle (found fairly constantly throughout the N.T.) that in harmony with the line of blessing which is to be developed in any one Gospel or Epistle, there will be found either in that Epistle or Gospel, or in a book connected therewith, some special aspect of the person and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. This must be so, for there are no blessings, promises, callings, or hopes apart from Him, and before we can be told of either earthly or heavenly hopes, we must first be assured and instructed as to the position of Him on Whom all our hopes must rest.

Ordinarily we should leave this statement unelaborated and pass on, but as we trust these studies will be useful to those who may be engaged in ministering the Word to the wider circle of which we speak, we will give one or two illustrations of the principle.

Matthew. - The opening chapter is occupied with the genealogy (Son of David, Son of Abraham, and Son of the Virgin), birth and work ("for He shall save His people from their sins"), of the Lord Jesus, which lays the foundation for all that is subsequently written in the Gospel.

Romans. - Here the Lord is the Seed of David according to the flesh, declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. The opening thought is the presentation of Christ as the risen One.

Ephesians. - In the opening chapter Christ is shown as the One in Whom all who form the Body were chosen before the foundation (or overthrow) of the world, and Who was not only raised, but seated at the right hand of God far above all. That revelation concerning Christ Himself made possible the associated revelation concerning the Church which is His Body.

Revelation. - The Lord said, "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen." Here in the vision of chapter 1, we have the great Priest-King after the order of Melchisedec.

The presentation of Christ by John, however, differs from that of the synoptic Gospels. Before He is presented as either Son of God, Son of man, Son of David, or Son of Abraham, he is revealed as "The Word." While the repeated use of the name "Word" by the Targumists (paraphrase of the Hebrew in Chaldee) could be adduced to illustrate the way in which this word had become generally recognized as a title of the Lord, the meaning is evident by a comparison of verses I and 18 of John 1:

a.In the beginning was the Word.
  b. The Word was with God.
     c. The Word was God.

     c. No man hath seen God.
  b. In the bosom of the Father.
a. He hath declared Him.

It is the function of a word to make manifest the inaudible thought, and this is plainly seen in the last clause, "He hath declared Him." Eregeomai means to lead or bring out, and is translated "declare" and "tell." There is a parallel here with the revelation of Col. 1: 15, but the latter is upon a higher plane. This we may set out as follows: -

John 1                            Colossians1

The Word.               The Image.

The Only Begotten.      The Firstborn.

All things made.      All things created.

His fulness -full               All fulness.
of grace and truth.

The Word made              The body of His flesh.
flesh.  

Preferred before             He is before all things.
was before.
            He has pre-eminence

First, let us observe that there is no such parallel as this discoverable in the other Gospels. Here John is evidently ministering truth that approximates to the dispensation of the Mystery, without actually touching it. Having observed the likeness we must also note the difference.

The Word and The Image. The Word deals with sound, the Image with light, and most know enough of elementary physics to understand the difference. Even when John writes: "No man hath seen God at any time," he does not continue: "The only Begotten Son hath made Him visible," but passing by the thought of invisibility, he adheres to the figure that belongs to the Word - "hath declared Him."

The Only Begotten and The Firstborn. Care must be exercised when dealing with these different titles. The one, "The Firstborn," goes back to "the beginning;" the other, "The Only Begotten," begins at Bethlehem.

Prototokes, "firstborn," occurs in Matt. 1:25; Rom. 8:29, Col. 1:15,18; Heb. 1:6; 11:28 and 12:23.

Monogenes, "Only Begotten," Occurs in Luke 7:12, 8:42; 9:38, John 1: 14, 18; 3:16,18; Heb: 11: 17, and I John 4:9.

Monogenes is limited to the flesh; Christ is never named "the only begotten Son" until it is declared that "the Word became flesh."

Prototokes is, however, used with wider significance. In Heb. 11:28 it has the meaning of the first-born after the manner of men, but it is readily seen that a fuller meaning attaches to it in Col. 1: 15,18. If "Firstborn" in verse 15 is to mean that Christ had no existence before He became the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation, how will this interpretation answer 'in verse 18? Had He no existence before resurrection? The assumption is impossible and reveals the folly of the argument. Let us adhere closely to the language of Scripture. Before Bethlehem, Christ is called "The word" and "The Image," but after, when He had become flesh, He is called "The Only Begotten Son," "The son of God," "The Son of man."

All things made and All things created. - There is a deeper significance in the word "create" of Col. 1 than in the word "made" in John 1. In John, moreover, nothing is specified: "He made all things", "The world was made by Him." That is all that the dispensational teaching of John necessitates. Colossians, however, is addressed to a people who have a high calling, so high that it goes far above principalities and powers into the highest heavens. Consequently Col. 1 gives a fuller enumeration concerning creation, and emphasizes the heavenly and invisible side, where John emphasizes the visible, earthly side: "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. "

The language of 2 Cor. 3: 10 seems almost necessary as we compare these two records.

His fulness and All the fulness. The fulness of John 1 is that fulness of grace and truth which was seen 'in Christ as the Only Begotten of the Father. John's usage of "true" and "truth" gives to the words "grace and truth" the thought of "real grace." See his usage in the expressions "the true light" (1:9), "the true bread" (6:32), and "the true vine" (15: 1). Shadow and typical grace had come through Moses, for the law had a shadow of good things to come, but not the very image or substance, so John says: "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth (i.e. real grace) came by Jesus Christ" (John 1: 17). This is the meaning of the expression, "grace for grace," where the word "for" is anti "in the room of," in the stead of." So: "Of His fulness have all we received" - real anti-typical grace in the room of the shadowy grace of the law.

This is indeed wonderful, but the fulness of Colossians transcends it. There it is "all the fulness," which is further enlarged in Col. 2:9,10 as: "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are filled to the full in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power." Fulness of grace, as opposed to types and shadows, is one thing - this is the message both of John and Paul (see Col. 2:16,17), but Paul's ministry goes deeper; all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, the church filled full in Him, and He, not only Head of the church, but also of principalities and powers - this is a revelation necessitated by the high glory of the dispensation of the mystery.

Preferred before and He is before. John the Baptist recognized something of the pre-eminence of the Lord, and there are several statements to this effect in the opening chapters of John's Gospel: -

"He was not that light" (1: 8),

"He is preferred before me, for He was before me " (1: 15).

"I am not the Christ…I am a voice " (1:20-23).

"He must increase, I must decrease..He that cometh from heaven is above all" (3:31).

Let us not miss the beauty of verse 23. Christ was The Word, John was but a voice. Christ was The Light, John was but a bright and shining lamp (John 5:35). John glimpsed something of the glory when he said: "He that cometh from heaven is above all," but, in the main, the position is that Christ is greater than John the Baptist. When we come to Ephesians and Colossians, however, the greatness of the Lord is beyond the flight of imagination. He is before all things; thrones, dominions, principalities, powers. He has pre-eminence over all. It will be seen that while John ministers things that are associated with Christ during His rejection by Israel, and reveals the Lord in a light quite different from that of the other Gospels, he by no means deals with the Mystery, neither does he speak of Christ in terms that compare with the revelation of Ephesians and Colossians. There is, however, sufficient likeness to enable us to see that the teaching found in John's Gospel fits the condition of many children of God today.

We do not pretend to have given an exposition of John 1: 1-18; the matters contained therein are too weighty for such slight treatment. There is perhaps need for one word on John 1: 1 before closing, and that is a reference to the translation sometimes suggested, "The Word was a god." The following are the occurrences in John 1: 1-18 of Theos = God, without the article "the," and we have but to adopt the translation "A god" to manifest its inaccuracy when used of John 1: 1: -

"The Word was A god" (v. 1).

"There was a man sent from A god" (v.6).

"Power to become children of A god" (v. 12).

"Which were born of A god" (v. 13).

"No man hath seen A god at any time " (v. 18).

It is also well to remember that some MSS., namely, Lm., Tr., WH., Rm., with the Syriac, read "God, only begotten" in John 1: 18: this is found, moreover, in the confession of the church of Antioch. While therefore much more should be considered were we purposing an exposition of John's Gospel, or of the doctrine of the deity of Christ, sufficient for our present purpose has been brought forward to establish the link and yet to manifest the difference between John's ministry and the prison ministry of the apostle Paul. Other phases of truth we must leave for future studies.


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