November 3, 2019 Bible Study — The Light Shines In the Darkness,and the Darkness Has Not Understood It

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on John 1-3

I prefer the NIV and KJV translation of John 1:1.  It is much more poetic. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…The Word was made flesh and made His dwelling among us.”  I added that latter bit from verse 14 because it makes clear the next point.  The Word was Jesus and Jesus was the Word.  By this means, John also tells us that Jesus was God.  The Greek word which translates as “The Word” is Logos.  Logos is the root from which we get the word logic.  So, John tells us that Jesus is God’s logic.  Further, John tells us that the Word is light shining in the darkness.  God’s logic illuminates the world, revealing things which many would prefer remain hidden.  Verse 5 reads:

The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.[b]”

Note that footnote reference to the translators’ notes.  The footnote tells us that the Greek literally means “the darkness has not understood it.”  In other words, the darkness cannot understand the logic of God.