Children of God

In my last post, I looked at the first 5 verses of John's gospel. Here I'll be briefly running through the next 7 verses (6-13). This is a whistle-stop tour, but I think even skimming the surface you stumble over gold. So here we go:

A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him. But to all who have received him - those who believe in his name - he has given the right to become children of God - children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husbandʼs decision, but by God.

The beginning of this passage has shifted from speaking about God directly to one of his spokesmen. We saw in the previous passage that we receive life from the light of God, and I explained that 'light' refers to 'understanding'. When God appoints a spokesman (prophet, to use the proper term), he gives them this light to see and understand him (in part - nobody can understand God fully), and he provokes them to speak from it, and this is precisely what John does.

He testifies about the light. This is interesting. He doesn't testify the light itself, which is what you might expect if the light essentially refers to understanding. He said before the light was in the word, but now he speaks as if the light IS the word. So what's happened?

I think the understanding I've referred to comes from God. That is, it's contained in his mind, and he shares it with us. And the understanding of it is actually tied up with his sharing of it, so to receive the message is to receive the messenger. Sounds complicated, right? When you experience it, it isn't really, but I'll try to explain.

What's the best way to know mathematical information? To know maths. 2+2=4 might be true, and I can tell you that it's true, but you have to know maths for yourself before that information makes sense. Before you know maths, you might recognise 2+2=4 is symbols on a page, but after you know maths, you know how & why it's true. The message (equation) needs the messenger (maths).

In a sense, the equation is maths. It's not all of maths, in the same way as the light God gives us isn't all of God, but it's only sensible in Him.

Another example, pinched from Jonathan Edwards (one of my favourite theologians, not to be mistaken for any triple jumpers): how do you understand the message that honey is sweet? By tasting honey. The message makes no sense unless you've encountered it's messenger i.e. Honey. You can know about honey in theory without tasting it, but you can't really know about it properly without knowing it by encounter. The light cannot be experienced properly apart from the word, so the light essentially is the word. And he's coming.

Why? We all get his light, don't we? Surely we know him? You can't sever the light from the word, and the word went to everyone! You can't split the message from the messenger, and the message went to everyone!

Yes, yes. It's meant to be absurd. We've garbled and messed up the light (understanding) because we've distanced ourselves from the word (it's source). We get his light, but we don't even know what it's about because we deny it's source.

This is why people are walking contradictions. Atheists think that their arbitrary babies are beautiful. Muslims believe God's word is uncorruptable except for when it isn't. Relativists think they're right. Hedonists often despair of themselves. Nihilists frequently don't. We moan at others offences and excuse our own. The light was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him.

So what kind of hope do we have? He came, and the world didn't know him. More than that, his own people (the Jewish nation, whom he'd been speaking to for a couple of millenia beforehand) didn't receive him.

So what hope is there? How can there be anyone that believes in Him? God makes it plain. He does it, & will continue to do it. We are children of God, not because our parents are or by our own natural desires or a by our own decision, but by God. He won't give up on us. He can speak to our hearts (he does to everyone), and when we reject him, he'll overcome our resistance. It rests on him, not us. That is an enormous relief when you realise that you really are hopeless without him. You have rejected him, but he can win you back. Those who believe in him, he [already] has given the right to become children of God. How do we know if he has won us back? We believe, despite every inclination of our own, because he changes us so that we are not simply our own anymore. We believe, because he is merciful. Not only to know us. Not only to speak to us. Not only to come to us. But to change our hearts. To save us.

He is a good God.