Day 7, Read John 1:10-13

The true Light has come into the world (1:9), a world where the darkness did not overtake the light.  What happened when He, the Word, came into the world?

First, the “world” as indicated by the Greek kosmos is the ordered universe in which we live.  It is the world made by the Word Himself (v9).  The Word entered the world He had made (v14).  But the “world” (same term) did not know Him.  The soul of the “world” resides in mankind.  Man has been enlightened, having been the sole creature created in God’s image.  Thus when it says “the world did not know Him” it is referring to humans who willfully ignored, suppressed and rejected their Creator when He came to live among them.

Within that “ordered universe” was one nation of people who had been chosen by God to be the means by which He would make His entrance into the world.  They were a people treasured by God, the people of Israel.  The Word was born to a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; of the tribe of Judah; of the house of David; through a virgin named Mary.  Those people, as a whole, also rejected this Promised One.  While the world “did not know Him”, His own people “did not receive Him”.  They knew who He claimed to be and were given every indication that His claims were legitimate.  But they would not receive Him.

“But as many as received Him” were given authority to become children of God.  Those who received Him are indicated by the fact that they “believe in His name”.  In other words, as a whole the world and the special people Israel rejected the Word.  But there were exceptions, who by God’s grace believed in Him.  These gained a special relationship with God as members of His family.  The passage makes it clear that this relationship with God is spiritual and not physical (v13).  In John 3, in His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus will explain the need to be “born again” or “born from above”.

What is the difference between “the Son of God” and believers who are sons or children of God.  The term in v13 (children) is never used of Christ.  It stresses the child relationship with the Father through birth.  Jesus did not one day become God’s Son and grow up to adulthood.  In v18, when Jesus is called the “Son”, the term is used both of Jesus and of believers.  It stresses the character of the relationship, the likeness of Father and Son/son.  We have a likeness to God, spoken of as “sons” in Rom. 8:14.  Spiritually we have become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).  But the likeness of Jesus the Son is that He is the “express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3).   He always was and is and never ceased to be the Son of God.

One is not a “child of God” unless he has authority to be so.  That authority is granted to those who receive the Word, who believe in His name.  This is why He entered the world, that though the majority reject Him, those who believe can be born again.