One of the things I really love about breaking down the Sunday School scripture study is that it means I can really take the time to relish and pursue different avenues of exploration, rather than simply reading the lesson. When I have several days to read a few chapters or verses, I can involve myself in the footnotes and other resources that I might have available. The down side, of course, is that I only get through a handful of verses at a time, but hey, you can’t have everything.
Today, it took me pretty much my whole 30 minutes of scripture study to get through verses 5-8 in John 1. I also gave verse four a quick review, since it seems to be part of the sectional breakdown. As I leafed through the Old Testament Institute manual that I treasure and hold dear, I realized something else that made me pause. Have you ever looked at the JST of the title of the book of John? Rather than just being called “The Gospel According to St. John”, the JST translation refers to the book as “The Testimony of St. John.” A quick moment of leafing reveals that this is consistent with the other three ‘core’ books of the New Testament; they all have similar JST translations. A small thing, perhaps, but though you can’t tell a book by its cover, you certainly can tell a great deal about it by its title.
Anyway, that’s a side note I wanted to share, in case you missed it. Back to the core verses at hand.
First, take a moment to compare the KJV to the JST. The JST provides a bit more enlightenment (no pun intended) as to what, specifically, the definition of the light that ‘shineth in darkness’. That light is the gospel, which was in Christ (verse 4).
Verse 5 was my favorite verse today, because of what at first seemed to be textual inconsistencies (I told you, I’m a nerd; I should also mention I am an English major). In the JST, we were told that the light that shineth was the gospel, but in all three of the verses footnoted in 5a, Christ refers to himself as the light. Specifically, Christ reiterates in all three verses (D&C 6:21, D&C 34:2, and D&C 45:7) that “I am the light which shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”
Now, I should make another personal point here so you see where I am coming from. I have always been a very rational and logical person; believe it or not, what started my investigation of the church was that everything seemed to make logical sense. From that followed a strong spiritual testimony. This means that whenever something doesn’t quite seem to make sense, rather than throwing out the baby with the bathwater, I pursue it until it is clear to me. Sometimes I don’t find a clear answer, and those times, I fall back on my faith. Many times, I do. So when I saw that the JST referred to the gospel as the light and the D&C verses all referred to Christ as that light, I dug in.
What I wound up doing was going back to the ‘definition’ verse, verse 4. There I read again, “In him (him being Christ) was the gospel, and the gospel was the life, and the life was the light of men.” So here we have four things put together as a logical sequence: Christ, the gospel, life, and the light. The sequence of the last three are fairly straightforward: gospel = life = light. When I studied that verse further, and thought about the ramifications, I realized that in many ways, Christ was the gospel. He was – is – the good news. Without a Savior and Redeemer, there is no gospel, and we are eternally mired in sin and stagnation. Thus, the interchange made sense; while I already knew that Christ was the light in the world, the parallel was then strengthened in my mind.
The next part that I fixated on in the course of my scripture study was the end of verse 5. “The darkness comprehended (the light) not.” I really had a ball with the footnote referenced in 5c, of 1 Corinthians 2:10-14. Here, Paul describes why the darkness (the world) failed to understand Christ’s divine nature. Make sure you check out the JST in verse 11. Basically, Paul teaches us that things of the spirit cannot be understood by the natural man. They can only be recognized by the Spirit of God. The natural man either regards spiritual things as foolish, or simply cannot comprehend them.
Why did so many of the Jews of Jerusalem fail to recognize Christ’s divine nature? All of them were waiting for a Messiah, and it seems that Jesus was something that failed to fit their preconceptions. However, this was most likely true for all the Jews. Only those who had the Spirit of God in their hearts and learned of him were able to identify Christ was more than a man. They may not have fully understood what he was, but they knew he was no blasphamere, no mortal man.
The point was made in the New Testament Institute manual that the Jews anticipated the coming of the Savior but failed to recognize him when he arrived. What about us? We, too, await the coming of our Christ. When he comes to earth, will we be able to truly know him, or will we be among those deriding him? Do we have expectations that may not be fulfilled? Is it possible that we, like the Jews, are misunderstanding the scriptures?
The best way that we can be certain that we are one with Christ is to maintain the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, to develop a personal relationship with our Savior. Look at your life and ask yourself what you are doing to bring the Spirit into your life, and what you might be doing to push it away. Think about how you can draw the power of the Holy Ghost into your life more fully, and how you can grow closer to the Savior.
Other Sunday School Lessons This Week:
Gospel Doctrine: A Light to Darkness
Gospel Doctrine: Christ’s Eternal Mission