Beeson Podcast, Episode #662
Dr. Carl Beckwith
Date

>>Announcer: 

Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your host, Doug Sweeney. 


>>Doug Sweeney:

Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I’m your host, Doug Sweeney. Today we are featuring a sermon preached by Dr. Carl Beckwith during our spring chapel series in 2022. Dr. Beckwith has just recently accepted a faculty position at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We are sad to see him go, and hope you’ll join us in praying for him and his family during this transition.

But we are also deeply grateful for Dr. Beckwith’s many years of faithful instruction here at Beeson. For years Dr. Beckwith has skillfully instructed our students in our history and doctrine sequence. Among his outstanding lectures in many areas of doctrine, one of Dr. Beckwith’s strengths was teaching our students to relate the language of scripture and tradition with respect to the doctrine of the Trinity. This sermon, taken from John 1:1-23 does just that and is entitled, “Joy.” 

In this sermon, Dr. Beckwith preaches on the relationship between the incarnation and the proclamation of the gospel. Dr. Beckwith proposes that the prologue of the Gospel of John is a confession of the doctrine of the incarnation and that the confession of this doctrine informs and shapes everything we do as believers. We hope this sermon encourages your faith and your eagerness to proclaim Jesus the Word made flesh.


>>Reader:

A reading from the first epistle of St. John, beginning in the first chapter, with the first verse. 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

Oh, Lord, have mercy upon us.
Thanks be to God.

A reading from the gospel according to St. John beginning with the first chapter and the first verse:


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 4 In him was life,[a] and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Oh Lord, have mercy upon us. 
Thanks be to God.

Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly set in the heavens. 
[inaudible 00:05:20]
Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
[inaudible 00:05:27]
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
[inaudible 00:05:39]


Beckwith:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I have to admit something. I think the prologue to the Gospel of John is rather poorly written. Now, I believe this was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, don’t get me wrong. But it’s an odd text. If I were to ask most people, “What is the prologue to the Gospel of John about?” They’re going to talk about the great mystery of the incarnation. This incredible doctrine that informs the heart of our faith. And it’s about that. But then we’re constantly being told about John the Baptist. He’s interrupting this majestic doctrine that John is presenting in his first chapter. 

Now, those of you that have had class with me know that I talk a lot about the church year. And so when I was first given this text I immediately thought. “Well, how strange it’s going to be to preach on Christmas during Lent.” And yet it’s because we are in Lent, and for me when I think of Lent it is the wilderness journey that we are all on, it’s because we are in Lent that I think I better understand what John is doing in this first chapter of his gospel.

And let me put it this way. I’m going to tell you what I think this is about and then I’m going to show you how I see what John is doing. In that epistle lesson, I take the first few verses from John’s epistle to be a summary of his gospel. And especially of the prologue that we are reading. Did you note the words that he keeps using? He talks about how we have heard, we have seen with our own eyes, and we have touched with our hands ... he’s talking about the word of life. But then he switches and he says, “This is what we testified to you. This is what we proclaimed to you. This is we are preaching and proclaiming to you.” Why? “That our joy and your joy may be complete.” 

And then he immediately begins, “This then is the message that we have heard.” Think about it this way. If the prologue to the gospel of John is about the mystery of the incarnation and we know it actually is about that, and I’ll get to that in just a minute, that doctrine informs and shapes everything that we do as believers. In other words, it’s not enough as we see here in the prologue or in this first epistle, it’s not enough to confess who Jesus is and recognize what scripture has said, that confession compels us to proclaim it. To bear witness about it. To practice, in a sense, the doctrine that we have. And the doctrine that we see here presented in the first chapter of John’s gospel. 

Now, the beauty of the Gospel of John is that we don’t have to ask what any of this is about. Right? John has taken care of that for us. He’s written all of this. And we could say all of scripture is really for this. That we would confess as Peter confessed and Martha confessed – that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. That’s why he has written this. We would make that confession and we would believe in his name and have life. But what about this first chapter of John? And I know you saw that I extended the prologue. And I did this on purpose, but the prologue, what is it about? It’s about the Word made flesh. 

Faith can see this very clearly. And yet, which may also be an article of faith for you, Richard Bacham loves to highlight how reason can actually know what the prologue to the Gospel of John is about. It’s the strangest thing, but did you know that the prologue has 496 syllables? You can work that out later, if you don’t believe me. And then Bacham shows us that the epilogue has 496 words. 

Now, I’m not a mathematician, so I see 496 and it means nothing to me other than 496, but this is apparently a rather unique number. It’s a triangular number and a perfect number. And apparently John likes these triangular numbers. The number of fish caught by the disciples – 153 in the epilogue, another triangular number. A triangular and a perfect number. 496. Guess what word in the prologue adds up to 496? [inaudible 00:11:03] The Son, the only Son, the unique Son, the only begotten of the Father. That little word is the same number as the number of syllables in the prologue, and apparently the same number of words in the epilogue. 

So, here both faith and reason, if your reason is good enough at math, can key in on what is the actual point of the prologue. It’s about Jesus but it’s about Jesus as he relates to a whole host of things. This word [inaudible 00:11:44], which the church has always appealed to and used to confess that eternal relation of the Father to the Son that the Son is the only begotten of the Father, that this is what distinguishes the Son from the Father as the Son. And yet the Father is God and the Son is God and the Spirit is God and they are God indivisibly in their unity and in their oneness. And yet they’re irreducibly who they are as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the Son is only begotten of the Father.

Now, the Church Fathers, they love this sort of thing. And they tell us what? That as we think of the Son our mind is immediately taken to the Father. You cannot think of the Son without the Father. You cannot think of the Father without the Son, and this you know by the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son. The very Spirit that they have promised to send you and me to bear witness about them to others.

So, the prologue to the gospel of John is undeniably about Jesus. It’s about the Word made flesh and it’s very specifically keyed in on this unique word [inaudible 00:13:00] expressing the eternal relation of Father to Son. And yet, it’s also about John. And in my reading, because it’s about John and what he’s doing, it’s actually about you and me. I can’t actually think of a better text than for a divinity audience. We are here that we could better know who Jesus is as the very Son of God, who has purchased for us eternal life and that we could take that wonderful gospel and that wonderful news out to the world bearing witness about him, pointing to him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Well, that’s what the prologue is about. And it shows us what that entails. So, with this idea in mind, that it’s about who Jesus is and how he relates, look, to these very familiar words that we have in the prologue. In the beginning ... now John, you saw, in his letter – he says “from the beginning” but here he says, “in the beginning.” Because this is what scripture is always doing. It’s driving us back to scripture. We are to immediately think of Genesis. We are to immediately think of the creation itself. But here we have “In the beginning was the Word.” Well, if I had issues with how the prologue was put together I’ve got some issues here, too. 

In the beginning “was?” You mean there’s a before, before there was a before? How could that be? Well, the answer is, “Yes, there was.” And that “was” belongs to our God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But if this is also about bearing witness, friends, look at what we learn already from this opening of the prologue that we stammer to confess the truth and the mystery of our God and his work. That our words are limited. Our words point to The Word who has a history before there was a history, who was in the beginning. Our words which are confined to who we are in terms of time and space, these are words that can speak forth marvelous truths. These are words that can be used to speak and to share the words of eternal life. And can point to the eternal identity of our God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

“In the beginning was the Word,” points us back to Genesis. But it also puts us in our place. It reminds us that we are limited. And if my words are limited and indeed my thoughts are even more limited than my words, if I’m to bear witness what do I need? I need the Word. I need the Word that my faith clings to and I need that Word that I could sing it forth bearing witness and pointing people to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God.” And there goes [inaudible 00:16:23] and his modern friends, because here we have a distinction between the Son and the Father. The one who eternally was in the beginning, the one who has a before, before there’s a before is with the Father. Son and Father, eternally distinct from one another and the Word was God. And there goes Arias. So [Sebelius 00:16:48] confuses the persons, Arias divides the substance, John confesses in boldness one verse that both are wrong.

He was in the beginning with God. The opening of the prologue expresses very clearly to us the one that we are confessing and pointing to. That this Son is eternally the Son of the Father. It expresses his eternal relation with the Father. That what the Son does he does as God. He is God. As the Father is God and the Spirit is God. And so indeed as we glimpse into the manger or upon the cross, it is God that we see. And he is there for you and for me. 

Well, the first thing that I think we see from the beginning here is again the Son or the Word’s relation to the Father. And then we learn about his relation to the world. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. He makes, you were made. Everything that you see was made by God. Now this is actually quite comforting. This means that all of creation itself made by our God depends upon our God. That our being which needs him to be and to remain in being is by his creative power and his gift. 

One of my favorite lines from Augustine is that God is closer to us than we are to ourselves. Let’s try that. Take a deep breath. That breath is from our God. That breath is from the God who made you and created you. We’ve been emphasizing this in class today. And I can’t help but think of it. It’s never enough to say that God created the heavens and the earth and he created all of you. You need to know that he created you, too. That what he did, he did for you. The breath that you have, he put in you. He cares for you and he sustains you and all that you do. This is the kind of thing you’re going to need to know when you bear witness as John bears witness. 

From the world we now go to believers. So, here John opening this prologue, describes the relation of the Son to the Father; describes the relation of the Son to all of creation, and now he’s going to tell us how he relates to believers. In Him, in the One who is in the beginning, the One before there was a before, the One who created all things – in Him was life. And that life was the light of men. He is your life, he is your light. He is your salvation. Apart from Him, scripture says, we are darkened in our understanding. Apart from Him, our hearts are hardened. Apart from him we pursue our own dreams and our own idols and all the while distort the very things that God has made in the pursuit of those sins. But in Him there is life. And that light is abundant. 

There is light. Think about that. There is light. When we are in darkness we stumble, we’re fearful, we don’t know which way to go. But by the light of Christ we see all things clearly. We just had this in our lectionary a few Sundays ago, right before we entered into Lent. You have the reading of Jesus entering into Jericho. And right before he goes into Jericho where he meets a blind man, he tells the disciples once again what he has to do and going to Jerusalem, suffering and dying, and rising again. And they don’t understand. They’re walking with him, they see, but they don’t see.

And then he comes into Jericho. And there’s a blind man. And the blind man says, “Who is this?” And they say it’s Jesus. And the blind man calls out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” The blind man who cannot see has the light of Christ. And he sees as clearly as the noonday sun that this Jesus brings mercy and life. He sees though he cannot actually see. And do you know what happens to him? He’s rebuked. He’s told to be quiet. “Leave Jesus alone.” Same thing said to the Canaanite woman. She saw him, she understood who he was. “Lord, have mercy on me. Son of David, have mercy.” And she was rebuked, too. She was told to go away and be quiet. But she saw. And when you see you persist. Because by the light of Christ you have life and you can do no other.

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Incredible. In just a few verses John has done what? He has laid out for us who this only begotten Son of the Father is in relation to the Father, in relation to all of creation, in relation to you – the believer. 

And then we get this interruption. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light. God sends his own to go forth as a witness, as a martyr, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. John was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 

You saw in the extra part that I had read after this prologue, we begin to see an example of what it means to preach Jesus, to point to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And what does John say? He says, “I am not the light.” But he puts it even more concisely. “I am not Christ.” That’s what it means to bear witness. To say, “I am not Christ.” I am not the light that enlightens the world. He is my light and He is my life. Why? Because as John puts it later on, He is the Way and the Truth and the Life. There is no Way apart from Him. There is no Truth apart from Him. There’s no Life outside of Him.

When we go forth as a witness, we go forth pointing to Jesus; pointing to the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And when you do that, when you bear witness, people will not receive you well. You will be a witness as you bear witness. 

After we have this brief interlude with John, showing us that we are to go forth taking this doctrine putting it into practice and pointing people to Christ, we immediately see the difficulty with that. Because this difficulty came to Jesus and it will come to you as well. And so now we return to the one who is the light, the true light, which gives light to everyone – was coming into the world. This is the Word made flesh. And then John briefly summarizes his life and ministry. He was in the world, the world was made through him, and yet the world did not know him. He is the creator of heaven and earth. Whether people believe it or not. It doesn’t change the fact that he is. He is the one that continues to put breath in the very mouth that blasphemes him. And he does this why?

That they would come to know. And how will they come to know? YOU. ME. Bearing witness as a witness to the light. Well, he came to his own. His own people. And they did not receive him. They did not receive him. What will happen when you go forth and bear witness of the one that they refused to receive? Well, you discover just as it was with Jesus, some believe and some don’t. And so we persist. We continue to bear witness. We bear witness that all might come to believe. And what does it mean to believe? 

Well, here John tell us this, too. To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. The power to be children of God and how can you be a child of God? Not because you were born that way, not by blood, not by the will of the flesh, the will of man, but of God. Why does John, why do you bear witness about this Jesus, this Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world? Why do you do that?

You do that, that they might come to know Him, being born of God, for as you go forth and you share and you speak that Word, the Spirit uses that Word to bring people to faith. That they could delight in the very thing that you delight in as you go forth bearing witness to Jesus. 

Well, I actually think that now that we arrive at verse 14 we just begin to re-state things. This is the part that most people gravitate to when they think of the prologue. It’s beautiful. It’s majestic. It’s an incredible confession of who our Lord is and what he has done. And yet it’s just re-stating what we’ve already seen. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word, the One who created all things entered into His creation. And as He entered into His creation, becoming flesh, he sanctifies that creation, he shows to us all the goodness and the beauty of all creation; of our bodies, of all things that he has made, and that he uses to convey his gifts and blessing to us. And we have seen his glory, the glories of the only begotten Son, from the Father, full of grace and truth.

And then another interruption. John bore witness about him and he says what? He who comes after me ranks before me. Because he was before me. Pointing always to Christ in the witness that he gives. John says in his first epistle that what he saw, what he touched, what he heard – this is what he’s testifying about. This is what he is proclaiming to all of us. He is a witness to these things that you could come to know this Jesus and your joy and his joy would be complete. 

Let me end with one thing here. For me, it’s the question that I ask after I go through something like that prologue. How can I say, as John did, that I am not the Christ? How can I point people to Christ as the Way, and the Truth, and the Life? How can I do any of these things that you’re showing me that John did who became a witness? I think this is what Jesus tells us at the very end of John 15. He says at the end of John 15, “When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about me.” That the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth points us to the Truth. The very Spirit, always bearing witness of Jesus. 

And then Jesus says, “And you also will bear witness.” The Spirit of Truth points us to Jesus. The very Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And Jesus says, “This Spirit of Truth, this Spirit that points people to Me will make you witnesses as well.” What would that look like? Here’s the hard part. Jesus keeps going, he could have stopped, but he didn’t. We’re thankful he didn’t. There’s a lot of comfort in what he says. But he says, “I’ve said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hours comes you may remember that I told them to you.” 

Friends, we’re to go forth as John the Baptist went forth, bearing witness to Jesus, pointing to the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. You can’t do this on your own. You’re not that clever, and you’re not that strong. But the Spirit of Truth can do this through you. It is the Spirit that will make you a witness. A martyr. And that can come with lots of pain and disappointment and hardship. But empowered by the Spirit, you go forth just as John went forth, and you bear witness pointing people to Christ. You know what happened to John. And we know that could happen to anyone. And it does happen still this day. Fortunately not happening here in our midst in that way. 

But dear friends, you’re at divinity school. And the good news is you get to go forth and be a witness, bearing witness to Jesus. Pointing people to his cross and the victory of that cross, and the eternal life that they have in him, saying, “He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” He is the One who takes away your sins and makes them no more. He is the One who comes again and will gather you into his eternal kingdom. It’s an awesome thing that our Lord entrusts us to do. But he also gives us the grace and the power to do it. 

And for me, that’s what the prologue to the Gospel of John is about. Amen.


>>Rob Willis:

You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast; coming to you from the campus of Samford University. Our theme music is by Advent Birmingham. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our engineer is Rob Willis. And our show host is Doug Sweeney. For more episodes and to subscribe, visit www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast. You can also find the Beeson Podcast on iTunes and Spotify.