SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JESUS AND JOHN THE BAPTIST IN JOHN'S PROLOGUE (JOHN 1:1-18)

I've been studying John's Prologue for a few months now, and I'm encouraged by the important differences I see in how Jesus and John the Baptist are described there.

For example, John 1:1 says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (ESV). Just like Matthew and Luke, who give genealogies of Jesus to show how he comes from the correct or chosen blood lines, John also starts his Gospel with an appeal to Jesus' source or origins. First, "In the beginning" is a reference to the very beginning of all things, to a time even before time, and following this John gives Jesus' divine origin or pedigree in very simple language (i.e., that he "was with God," meaning Jesus is distinct from God, and yet that he "was God," meaning Jesus is also divine). John then goes on to state that "All things were made through him," (John 1:3) and besides making all things, that "In him was life" (John 1:4). I find it interesting that although Jesus made all things, it doesn't say that he also made life. Rather, it says, "In him was life." These are the basic details of who Jesus is in the first 5 verses.

Next, in John 1:6, it says, "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John." Not earth-shattering, but notice that it says John was "a man." (By the way, this is John the Baptist, not John the apostle who is writing the Gospel.) Moving on, this statement about John's being "a man" is in direct contrast to who Jesus is, being both distinct from God and yet very God, or divine. From this contrast of being a man (and not divine), John also did not create all things, nor was life in him. Rather, it says, "he was sent from God" as a "witness" and "to bear witness about the light" (John 1:7). In other words, although he was only a man, his mission was an extremely important one: to be the unique prophet who would point people to the light of God. The following verse says this very thing: "that all might believe through him" (John 1:7). So, although John himself did not have the "life in him," nor was he "the light," he was to make sure that people knew where they could find this light and this life, "the true light, which gives light to everyone" (John 1:9).

Continuing, a little farther down in the Prologue at John 1:15, John makes this statement, "John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.' " Although this can sound a little confusing like double-talk, when the different parts are elaborated a little, it becomes clear John is saying the very same things that are mentioned in the verses above (cf. John 1:1-5, 6-13). For example, "This was he of whom I said, "He who comes after me (in chronological time, since Jesus was born after John) ranks before me (in importance, since Jesus has divine origins, but John is human), because he was before me (in ultimate time, because Jesus is the pre-existent Son of God)." Again, although John the Baptist was just a man, sent from God, his job or task was the most important of all the prophets because he was uniquely called to point people to the one who has life in himself, and he is the light of the world.

Finally, John ends the prologue with this theological statement: "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known (John 1:18). So, in a very real sense, it is Jesus who makes God known to us, but as the prologue has shown, it is John the Baptist who is sent to point to Jesus, and to make him known to us. In this way, John the Baptist is the greatest of all the prophets from the Old Testament era.