Message by Doug Bunnell, recorded live May 11, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church of Bellingham.

Gospel Awe

John’s Prologue is a stunningly beautiful synopsis of the gospel, stand in awe and welcome the grace of this amazing passage.

• Read John 1:1-18. What strikes you about this incredible text?
• What is the connection between life and light in these verses?
• How do these two elements—life and light—manifest in the life of a believer?
• How does this "true Light" differ from other sources of light? What does this light represent for humanity?
• What do you think it means when it says, "He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him"?

• How does this verse highlight the mystery and significance of the incarnation of Christ?
• What impact does the Word becoming flesh have on our relationship with God?
• How does the fullness of grace and truth in Jesus compare to the law given through Moses?
• How does the understanding of Jesus as the Word becoming flesh shape your personal faith?

John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.