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NASB | John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 1:4 In Him was life [and the power to bestow life], and the life was the Light of men. |
Bible Question:
Thanks Doc, Probably I should have asked, What is the passage teaching?, rather than, what were the translators thinking? You comments are helpful. The NASB is my favorite translation, but many are helpful for study. Different translators makes sense. In all true translations I respect the labors greatly. A student, whom I know to be a serious Bible scholar, asked this question in our Sunday School class. In about a semester of investigation, I could not come up with a satisfactory explanation. Ultimately, she regretted asking the question because we felt frustrated. That is probably a function of my asking the wrong question. We examined Light in many passages. Justifying the capital was easy. It is not capitalizing the life that I couldn't solve. I want to connect the life in John 1:4 to the life in John 14:6. Based especially on Jesus' description of the Spirit in John 3, I want to connect it also to the breath of life in Genesis 2:7. But neither of these is capitalized either. The Amplified does capitalize in John 14:6, but not Genesis 2:7, even though they offer spirit as an alternative to breath. Checking potentially related passages in the NASB, 1 John 3:9 (seed) is not capitalized. 1 John 4:4 (He) and James 4:5 (Spirit) are capitalized. I worried that the notion was that the spirit God gave Adam was not Divine. Yet, referring to Jesus specifically, John 1:4 appears to teach that life equals Light. Jesus defines eternal life in John 17:3. I appreciate your pointing there. In Biblical times, males were thought the repository of all reproductive "will." (John 1:13) Today we would call that genetic material. Using the grain of wheat in John 12:24 as the teaching connection, I can get to eternal life from John 1:4. Then the desire expressed in James 4:5 makes perfect sense. I wondered whether that connection was too carnal for an intergenerational class, at least without being absolutely certain the connection was valid. Thanks again, Rick |
Bible Answer: Dear Rick, It might be interesting to connect the passage in Genesis and in John. I think you would want to exhaust all that you can from its use in John's gospel and his epistles; those connections are things you can make with far greater certainty. The central object here is not light or life, but the Lord Jesus Christ. These are all important metaphors that Christ used of Himself. However, because He is the life and He is the light, does not mean that life equals light. In other words, do not get fixated on the metaphors beyond what they say about Christ. That can lead to all kinds of exegetical problems. Keep in mind Hebrews 1:1-2 as you study the Word. What we want to know is Christ. You see, there's always a danger of forgetting Him. Maybe we should say, even a tendency to do that. Consequently, people end up wrestling around with those other things, being distracted from that which is most important: our Lord. Thus, contrary to saying something was "too carnal" I would say it was more beside the point. I would even say that it misses the point. Look how many times in John people missed the point. Check through each chapter and see what I mean. Let us, study the gospel with the key purpose that John intended (John 19:35). In Him, Doc |
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Questions and/or Subjects for John 1:4 | Author | ||
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exogrn | ||
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Hank | ||
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Schwenkie Rick | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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Schwenkie Rick | ||
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DocTrinsograce |