Thoughts on John 1

I've started re-reading the gospel of John and paying special attention to it from a fresh new perspective. I am noticing things in it that I've never seen before and want to show how clearly the doctrines of grace are spread through out this book.

The first few verses that really caught my eye were v: 11-13

It says that the Lord Jesus, "came to His own", He is God the Creator from whom all things "came into being" and He came in the flesh among His creation. However, "those who were His own did not receive Him". His own, mankind and the nation of Israel, did not recognize Him nor did they receive Him as Messiah as a whole.

"But as many as received Him", those who did "believe in His name" were given "the right to become children of God". Some DID believe in Him - notice the word 'many' which will come later in Mark's gospel rendition - "He came to give His life as a ransom for many." (Mk 10:45) These 'many' have believed and received Him.

Notice also that those who became the children of God, were not born:
1) "of blood" - not through family, nor of physical inheritance, not because the parents were believers, not because they belonged to the chosen people of God

2) "nor of the will of the flesh" - not because of anything in us that desired Him nor because we wanted to believe in Him, for "those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh" (Rom 8:5) and "those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom 8:8)

3) "nor of the will of man" - can it be more clear that it's not due to the 'free will' of man, that man has anything within his will that would freely and completely choose Him? Without God's intervention, our wills are incapable of choosing Him.

BUT OF GOD:
Man cannot and will not believe in God without a work of the Holy Spirit in his heart. Belief in Him, receiving Him, becoming a child of God - all are bestowed by God, by His grace alone and not because of anything found in man.

Praise Him for His marvelous grace!

Theology

We need to be reminded that studying theology is not about obtaining vast amounts of intellectual knowledge in order to puff oneself up. We don't study theology because we love it (we do!) or because we are captivated by it (we are) and because it's thrilling (it is) to study it. I love this quote by Sinclair B. Ferguson:

"The goal of theology is the worship of God. The posture of theology is on one's knees. The mode of theology is repentance."