Lesson 10: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

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Text Under Consideration: John 1

Scriptural & Historical Context:

After His resurrection and before He was exalted to heaven, Jesus took time to explain the significance of all that had transpired: “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem’.” (Luke 24:44–47, ESV) The events of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection were no accident, but the fulfillment of God’s plan as revealed in the Old Testament. In our last lesson we noted how the theme of redemption is fulfilled in Christ. Now we turn our attention to how the themes of creation and life are also completed in Christ.

Key Verses & Events:

• Adam and Eve sin, starting the process by which all men sin… and thus all men die (4000+ B.C., Romans 5.12).
• God promises that the day would come when He cleanses His people with water and gives them a new spirit… His Spirit (~580 B.C., Ezekiel 36.25-27).
• Jesus declares that entrance into the Kingdom requires a new birth; a birth of water and the Spirit (~27 A.D., John 3.5).
• Paul states that baptism is both a death to the life of sin, and a rebirth into new life (~57 A.D., Romans 6.1-4). 

The Story:

1. Creation and the fall. God created humanity in His image, but sin entered the world through Satan’s temptation, bringing death as its consequence.
2. The first promise of hope. Even in the moment of the fall, God promised a Messiah who would ultimately defeat Satan — the first glimpse of the gospel (Genesis 3:15).
3. Jesus as the source of life. John presents Jesus as the eternal Word through whom all things were created, and in whom life itself resides — life that He offers to humanity.
4. What Jesus offers. Jesus provides living water, the bread of life, resurrection from death, abundant life as the Good Shepherd, and direct access to the Father — He is life in every sense.
5. New birth as the entry point. Receiving this life requires being “born again” — a spiritual rebirth of water and the Spirit, fulfilling God’s promise through Ezekiel long before Jesus spoke of it.
6. Baptism connects us to Christ’s death and resurrection. Like Adam, we all sin and die. Baptism is how believers die to sin and are raised into the new life Christ secured — uniting them with Him rather than with Adam.
7. The gift of the Spirit. New birth brings the promised gift of the Spirit, remaking us in the image of God.
8. New life comes with responsibility. Christians are called to actively put off the old self, renew their minds, and put on the new self — living lives shaped by the Spirit rather than by the flesh.
9. Walking by the Spirit is the ongoing mark of the Christian life. The fruit of the Spirit in a believer’s life is the evidence that they are being led and transformed by God.
10. The gospel is the story of life reclaimed. From the image of God in creation, through the ruin of sin, to new life in Christ through baptism and the Spirit — the entire biblical story is about God restoring what was lost.

The Bible begins with creation, culminating in God’s creation of man in His image (Genesis 1.26-27). Tragically, the story of life was quickly marred by sin and death when man and woman succumbed to Satan’s temptation (Genesis 3). However, God offered hope with the first promise of the Messiah: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”” (Genesis 3:15, ESV) Jesus fulfilled God’s promise to defeat Satan! “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” (Hebrews 2:14–15, ESV) But how could Jesus free man from the fear of death when all men die because of sin (Romans 6.23)?

In his account of the gospel, John presented Jesus as the Word who was with God in the beginning and through whom all things were created (John 1.1-3). Significantly, Jesus’ life-giving ability did not cease with creation, for John declared “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1.4). The rest of John’s gospel shows how real life is found in Jesus:

• Jesus offers true sustenance; He provides water that wells up to eternal life (John 4.14) and is the bread of life (John 6.35).
• Jesus is the Good Shepherd who provides care and protection for His sheep; He “came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10.10).
• Jesus is “the resurrection and the life” meaning that He provides life after death (John 11.25).
• Jesus provides access to the Father, thus He is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14.6). 

That Jesus offers life is apparent, but how does one receive life? He or she must be born into it! John states that anyone who “believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1.12-13). Jesus expounded on this when approached by Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5, ESV) Jesus was not introducing a new concept, but was speaking of the fulfillment of God’s promise through Ezekiel that He was going to cleanse His people with water and give them a new Spirit… His Spirit (Ezekiel 36.25-27). Significantly, when the apostles first preached the gospel following Jesus’ ascension to Heaven they told the people that they needed to be baptized (water) not only to have their sins forgiven, but to receive the promised Spirit (Acts 2.38). Ezekiel, Jesus and the apostles all declared that the new life promised by God would come through water and the Spirit.

The apostle Paul showed the connection between baptism and the new life promised to God’s people. In Romans 5 the apostle made a significant contrast between Adam and Christ. Adam committed sin (vs. 12) resulting in condemnation and death (vss. 12,16,18) and that extended to all men because all sin (vs. 12). By contrast Jesus obeyed the Father (vss. 18-19) resulting in justification and life (vss. 16-17) which also extends to all men (vs. 18). But how? If we all identify with Adam because of sin, how can we be with Christ in life? Through baptism (Romans 6.1-4). Baptism is both a death to the life of sin and a resurrection to new life; baptism is how we born again into the life God promised His people.

The new life is a reality for the Christian; we have been born again (John 3.3) resulting in a new life (Romans 6.4) characterized by a new Spirit (John 3.5; Ezekiel 36.25-27; Acts 2.38). We are “beholding the glory of the Lord… being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2Corinthians 3.18). But that new life comes with responsibilities. Paul described those responsibilities in Ephesians 4.22-24:

• We are to put off the old man, our former manner of living.
• We are to be renewed in our minds.
• We are to put on the new self… a new self in the image of God Himself.

Paul elaborated on this more in Galatians 5. There we read that God’s people are to “walk by the Spirit” (vs. 16), be “led by the Spirit”(vs. 18) and “live by the Spirit” (vs. 25). How can we know that we are doing that? By the fruit we present in our lives (vss. 19-23)! 

The gospel story is the story of life being reclaimed. We were created in God’s image (Genesis 1.26-27) but through sin we die and fall short of His glory (Romans 3.23; 6.23). But Jesus came so that we could “have life and have it abundantly” (John 10.10). We enter that new life through baptism (Romans 6.1-4) and commit to walking by His Spirit for the rest of our days (Galatians 5.16). 

For Further Consideration:

1. In Matthew 5.48 Jesus said that we are to be “perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Based on what we’ve studied in this lesson, how is that possible?