Sermons on John 1:3
The various sermons below converge on the critical affirmation that John 1:3 unequivocally establishes Jesus as the Creator, not a created being, using the verse’s Greek double negative construction as a key exegetical anchor. They collectively emphasize the redundancy in the phrase “without him was not anything made that was made” as a deliberate literary and theological device to exclude any notion of Christ’s createdness, directly countering Arian and Jehovah’s Witness claims. Each sermon highlights Jesus’ unique agency in creation, portraying Him as the divine Word through whom all things came into existence, thereby underscoring His full deity. A notable nuance is the way one sermon connects this creative identity to the plausibility and expectation of Jesus’ miracles, framing them not as arbitrary wonders but as natural extensions of the Creator’s authority over creation. Another sermon deepens the theological reflection by linking the eternal Sonship of Christ to the uncreated, eternal relationship within the Godhead, clarifying that “Son of God” language is about eternal identity rather than temporal generation or biological lineage.
In contrast, the sermons diverge in their primary theological emphases and apologetic strategies. One sermon foregrounds the supernatural dimension of Christian faith, insisting that recognizing Jesus as Creator demands a rejection of naturalistic presuppositions and an embrace of miracles as reasonable and necessary signs of divine identity. Another sermon adopts a more polemical tone, focusing on John 1:3 as a doctrinal safeguard against heresies like Arianism, emphasizing the verse’s grammatical construction as a divinely inspired apologetic tool. Meanwhile, a third sermon situates the creative role of the Son within the broader Trinitarian framework, highlighting the eternal relational dynamics between Father and Son as foundational to understanding both creation and incarnation. This last approach also ties the theological significance of the verse to the meaning of Christmas, framing the incarnation as the eternal Son’s self-revelation rather than a moment of origination or creation.
John 1:3 Interpretation:
Jesus: The Bread of Life and Spiritual Sustenance (Alistair Begg, Truth For Life) offers a unique interpretive angle on John 1:3 by connecting the verse’s declaration of Christ as Creator to the plausibility and expectation of miracles in the Gospels. Begg argues that if Jesus is indeed the one “through whom all things were made,” as John 1:3 states, then it is not only possible but reasonable to expect that He could multiply bread, walk on water, and otherwise act supernaturally within creation. This interpretation is further enriched by Begg’s use of the Greek structure of John 1:3, emphasizing the absolute nature of the statement—“without him was not anything made that has been made”—to underscore Christ’s total creative agency. He employs the analogy of the Creator “stepping down into our neighborhood,” suggesting that the one who authored the laws of nature is not bound by them and can intervene as He wills. This perspective moves beyond a mere affirmation of Christ’s divinity, using John 1:3 as a foundation for understanding the miraculous as a natural outworking of the Creator’s presence in the world.
Understanding Jesus: The Eternal Word and Creator (Desiring God) offers a detailed and unique interpretation of John 1:3 by emphasizing the double negative construction in the Greek—“without him was not anything made that was made”—to argue that Jesus is categorically excluded from the “made” category. The sermon highlights that John’s phrasing is intentionally redundant to rule out any possibility that Jesus himself is a created being, directly countering Arian and Jehovah’s Witness interpretations. The preacher also stresses that the Greek grammar does not allow for Jesus to be included among created things, and that the structure of the verse is a deliberate safeguard against heretical readings. This sermon also uses the analogy of agency, clarifying that while Jesus is the agent “through whom” all things are made, he is not a mere tool or angel but is himself God, and thus the Creator, not a creature.
Understanding the True Meaning of Christmas (Desiring God) provides a notable interpretive insight by focusing on the awkwardness and redundancy of John 1:3’s phrasing—“and without him was not anything made that was made”—as a purposeful literary device to exclude the Son from the category of created things. The sermon uses a logical analogy: if the Son made everything in the “made” category, he cannot have made himself, and thus cannot be created. This is presented as a direct refutation of the Jehovah’s Witness claim that Jesus is a created being. The preacher also connects the “Son of God” language to the context of John 1, arguing that “Son” is not a biological or created relationship but a statement of eternal divine relationship and identity, rooted in the pre-existence and deity of Christ.
John 1:3 Theological Themes:
Jesus: The Bread of Life and Spiritual Sustenance (Alistair Begg, Truth For Life) introduces a distinct theological theme by asserting that the supernatural acts of Jesus—His miracles—are not arbitrary displays of power but are deeply rooted in His identity as Creator, as established in John 1:3. Begg contends that Christianity is fundamentally a supernatural faith, and that to deny the miraculous is to undermine the very core of Christian doctrine, including the Incarnation and Resurrection. He further develops the theme that the miracles serve as “signs” pointing to Jesus’ divine identity, with John 1:3 providing the ontological basis for these signs. This theme is nuanced by Begg’s insistence that the Christian worldview is radically altered by the recognition of Christ as Creator, which in turn demands a re-evaluation of naturalistic presuppositions and an openness to the supernatural as both reasonable and necessary within the Christian faith.
Understanding Jesus: The Eternal Word and Creator (Desiring God) introduces a distinct theological theme by using John 1:3 as a polemic against Arianism and similar Christological heresies, arguing that the verse’s construction is a built-in doctrinal safeguard. The sermon adds a new facet by suggesting that the redundancy in the verse is not just stylistic but a divinely inspired apologetic tool, meant to make it impossible to claim that Jesus is a created being. This theme is further developed by connecting the verse to the doctrine of the Trinity, showing that the creative agency of the Son is inseparable from his full deity.
Understanding the True Meaning of Christmas (Desiring God) presents a fresh theological angle by linking the “Son of God” title in John 1:3 and 1:14 to the eternal, uncreated relationship within the Godhead, rather than to any act of creation or incarnation. The sermon emphasizes that the Son’s role as Creator is foundational to understanding his incarnation and the meaning of Christmas, and that the eternal Sonship is about the Father always having a perfect image and relationship within himself, not about temporal generation or creation.
John 1:3 Historical and Contextual Insights:
Jesus: The Bread of Life and Spiritual Sustenance (Alistair Begg, Truth For Life) provides historical context by referencing the cultural and religious expectations surrounding the Passover and the Exodus, which would have been in the minds of Jesus’ audience. Begg notes that the annual Passover celebration was a time when Jews recalled God’s miraculous provision of manna in the wilderness, and that this context would have heightened the significance of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. He also explains the first-century Jewish method of counting crowds (by men as heads of families), which gives a more accurate sense of the scale of the miracle and the cultural setting in which it occurred. This background helps illuminate why the crowd’s response to Jesus’ miracle was so charged with messianic expectation and why John’s prologue, including John 1:3, would resonate so powerfully with early Jewish and Gentile readers.
Understanding Jesus: The Eternal Word and Creator (Desiring God) provides historical context by referencing the Arian controversy of the fourth century, explaining how Arius taught that “there was when the Word was not,” and how Athanasius stood virtually alone in defending the full deity and uncreated nature of Christ. The sermon situates John 1:3 as a key text in the early church’s battle against Arianism, highlighting the verse’s role in shaping orthodox Christology and the doctrine of the Trinity.
Understanding the True Meaning of Christmas (Desiring God) offers contextual insight by addressing common misunderstandings among Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding the “Son of God” language. The sermon explains that, contrary to the misconception that Christians believe in a physical or created sonship (i.e., God plus Mary equals Jesus), the biblical context of John 1:3 and 1:14 demonstrates that the Son’s relationship to the Father is eternal and uncreated, predating all creation and incarnation.
John 1:3 Cross-References in the Bible:
Jesus: The Bread of Life and Spiritual Sustenance (Alistair Begg, Truth For Life) references several biblical passages to expand on John 1:3. He draws on John 1:1 (“In the beginning was the Word...”) to reinforce the identity of Jesus as Creator, and Ephesians 3 (“Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we could ask or even imagine”) to illustrate the limitless power of Christ. Begg also references the Old Testament Exodus narrative, particularly the provision of manna, to show the continuity between God’s creative and sustaining work in both testaments. Additionally, he cites Mark’s Gospel, where Jesus proclaims, “The kingdom of God is at hand,” linking the signs and miracles to the inauguration of God’s kingdom by the Creator Himself. The story of John the Baptist’s doubts and Jesus’ response (“the blind receive their sight... the poor have the good news preached to them”) is used to demonstrate that the miracles, grounded in Christ’s creative authority (John 1:3), are the evidence of the kingdom’s arrival.
Understanding Jesus: The Eternal Word and Creator (Desiring God) references several biblical passages to reinforce the interpretation of John 1:3. Genesis 1:1 is cited to show the intentional echo in John’s “in the beginning,” linking Jesus to the act of creation. Jude 1:25 and 2 Timothy 1:9 are used to support the idea that Jesus existed “before all time.” The sermon also references John 10:33 to highlight the charge of blasphemy against Jesus for claiming to be God, and 1 Corinthians 13:11-12 to illustrate the mystery of the Trinity. These cross-references are used to demonstrate both the pre-existence and full deity of Christ, as well as to show that the New Testament consistently presents Jesus as the uncreated Creator.
Understanding the True Meaning of Christmas (Desiring God) draws on John 1:14 to connect the incarnation to the creative work described in John 1:3, arguing that the one who became flesh is the same one who made all things. The sermon also references John 6:51 (“the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”) and John 2:19-21 (Jesus’ resurrection body) to show the continuity of Jesus’ divine and human natures. Philippians 3:20-21 is cited to affirm the future transformation of believers’ bodies to be like Christ’s glorious body, reinforcing the eternal significance of the incarnation.
John 1:3 Christian References outside the Bible:
Jesus: The Bread of Life and Spiritual Sustenance (Alistair Begg, Truth For Life) explicitly references C.S. Lewis, quoting from “God in the Dock” to support the argument that Christianity is, at its core, a faith built on the “one grand Miracle”—the Incarnation of the Creator into His creation. Begg uses Lewis’s assertion that if you remove the miraculous from Christianity, “there is nothing specifically Christian left,” to reinforce his interpretation of John 1:3 as foundational for understanding the supernatural in Christian doctrine. He also briefly mentions William Barclay, critiquing Barclay’s naturalistic approach to the miracles of Jesus as a departure from the biblical witness rooted in John 1:3.
John 1:3 Illustrations from Secular Sources:
Jesus: The Bread of Life and Spiritual Sustenance (Alistair Begg, Truth For Life) does not employ direct secular analogies for John 1:3 itself, but he does use a general analogy of a child’s skepticism about miracles and the naturalistic worldview, contrasting it with the Christian’s acceptance of the supernatural based on the identity of Christ as Creator. This is more of a philosophical illustration than a specific secular story or event.