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<\/a>Throughout my Christian life, the Gospel of John, which scholars also call \u201cthe Fourth Gospel, has been my favorite of the four New Testament gospels. When I played the regular PGA Tour, I often carried one or more pocket-sized booklets of the Gospel of John in my golf bag to give to people to whom I witnessed about my Christian Faith.<\/p>\nI believe the Gospel of John is the most well-crafted book I have ever read. Much of it\u2019s prologue, John 1.1-18, serves as sort of an outline of the book. And the book\u2019s first sentence, in John 1.1, represents a mini-prologue that does the same more succinctly. Eventually, I learned to connect items in these prologues with content in the text.<\/p>\n
For example, the second clause in the mini-prologue (in the NRSV and following), \u201cand the Word was with God\u201d (Jn 1.1b), connects to Jesus\u2019 sayings, \u201cAnd the one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone\u201d (Jn 8.29), and \u201cYet I am not alone because the Father is with me\u201d (Jn 16.32). Sometimes, one of these clauses in the mini-prologue connects with statements made about Jesus by other people.<\/p>\n
For example, early in the Fourth Gospel, Jesus encounters Nicodemus, a Torah teacher and member of the Sanhedrin. With an inquiring mind, Nicodemus came to Jesus privately at night to avoid ridicule from other Sanhedrin members. Right away he said to Jesus, \u201cRabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God\u201d (Jn 3.2). Most English Bibles translate the last two Greek words (met autou<\/em>) literally as God being \u201cwith him.\u201d<\/p>\nIt is the same with the third clause in John\u2019s mini-prologue, in John 1.1c. Now, it is traditionally translated \u201cand the Word was God;\u201d but it should be translated something like, \u201cwhat God was, the Word was,\u201d as in the NEB. This connects to Jesus\u2019 saying, \u201cwhoever has seen me has seen the Father\u201d (Jn 14.9). Jesus did not mean he is the Father or that he is God, which latter the traditional translation of Jn 1.1c says. Rather, Jesus said twice what he meant, about seeing the Father, by explaining, \u201cI am in the Father and the Father is in me\u201d (Jn 14.9-10). Scholars call this The Mutual Indwelling.<\/p>\n
This is the greatest revelation about Jesus Christ, that God was both with<\/em> Jesus and in<\/em> Jesus like no other. This is what made Jesus so unique. He was not so distinctive because of some nature peculiar to himself, as Christian orthodox theology determined long ago. Rather, Jesus was so unique because of what God, his Father, did with him.<\/p>\nBut then, God did all that with Jesus because Jesus was so accepting of what God had planned for him. For, when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, the Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus in the form of a dove and a voice from above was heard, \u201cThis is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased\u201d (Matthew 3.17 and parallels).<\/p>\n
Even the prominent Christological agency of the Fourth Gospel indicates that God was with<\/em> and in<\/em> Jesus. For this gospel says repeatedly that God sent Jesus<\/em>\u00a0and Jesus \u201ccame from God\u201d (e.g., Jn 16.30). God had sent others, for example, John the Baptist. Of him the larger Johannine prologue says, \u201cThere was a man sent from God, whose name was John\u201d (Jn 1.6). As Jesus\u2019 forerunner, he said of him, \u201cI am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal\u201d (Jn 1.27). It was because God was with<\/em> and in<\/em> Jesus like no other. And because of this, God is bringing, and will continue to bring, his salvation to humankind through Jesus, who will be the head of all of God\u2019s Creation.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout my Christian life, the Gospel of John, which scholars also call \u201cthe Fourth Gospel, has been my favorite of the four New Testament gospels. When I played the regular PGA Tour, I often carried one or more pocket-sized booklets of the Gospel of John in my golf bag to give to people to whom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1477,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[494],"tags":[3602,316],"class_list":["post-5858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jesus","tag-johns-prologue","tag-the-mutual-indwelling"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Utility of the Mini-Prologue In the Fourth Gospel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The mini-prologue of the Gospel of John, the Fourth Gospel in the Bible, says the Word existed in the beginning [of creation] and the Word was "with God," which is attested repeatedly in the text. 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He graduated from University of Houston w\/ BBA in 1963 and played on the PGA Tour full time from 1964-1982 and Senior\/Champions Tour in 1991-2001. Kermit co-founded the PGA Tour Bible Study in 1965 and was senior leader most of next 17 years. Kermit has three adult children and six grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/kermitzarley.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kermit.zarley\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/kermitzarleyblog\/author\/kermitzarleyblog\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Utility of the Mini-Prologue In the Fourth Gospel","description":"The mini-prologue of the Gospel of John, the Fourth Gospel in the Bible, says the Word existed in the beginning [of creation] and the Word was \"with God,\" which is attested repeatedly in the text. 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