John 1:6-7

John 1:6-7 says, 'There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.'

The John being referred to here is John the Baptist and not John the disciple. There isn't a lot that I am able to pull out of v. 6 outside of the facts that are presented. John was sent from God, but to do what?

v. 7 'He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.'

The word for witness in the first part of the verse is 'marturia' is greek. It means to testify as when one testifies in front of a judge, but it also means to testify the way a prophet testifies about future evetns.

The phrase 'to bear witness' is a different word or phrase in greek. This word is 'martureo' and it means 'to be a witness'. It is the act of being a witness or to be seen or heard.

So what is John supposed to testify about? the light or the 'phos' which we saw in v. 5 and v. 4 of John.

John is supposed to tell other people about the light, which is the light of all people and is the light that overcomes all darkness.

In Malachi 3:1 it says that John is to be the one to prepare the way for the Lord.

Isn't every christian a John? Aren't we sent from God to testify or give account about the light that is for everyone?

I find it interesting in the beginning of the verse that it says John came as a witness, to bear witness. What I get out of this is that God sent him as a witness, but he has to BE a witness. Likewise God has sent us to be a witness, but we must make sure we are witnessing. We can't just say, 'Hey I am a witness from God', which is what it means when you tell someone that you are a christian. We must BE a witness from God. We must speak up and we must be seen and we must be heard. Claiming to be something, but not actually doing it is extremely destructive to whatever you claim to be. That's called that hypocrisy.

So back to the end of v. 7. John is called to bear witness about the light, so that all might believe through him. I would first underline the word ALL. God shows no favoritism and neither should we or the church. If everyone in our church looks the same, there is a problem with that. We need to be reaching all different types of people, because all people need light in their lives, not just white middle class America.

Back to v. 7 - all might believe through him. The him is referring to the light just like in v. 3.

all things were made through him. 3
all might believe through him v.7

I like the parallel here. The word 'through' is the same greek work, 'dia'. In v. 3 I described God pushing all creation through the filter of 'the Word' and now we see people going back through the filter of 'the Word' to find God on the other side.

Often times on tracts you see Jesus used as a bridge to get people from one side to the other, but that's kind of weird for me. I like the idea of a filter. The idea that we must believe that the filter is the only thing that we can go through to get to God. The filter is also the only thing that God pushed creation through. This says to me that everything, everywhere hinges on the filter. If you are into science fiction I guess you could say the Word is the portal to which we pass through to enter God. The key to be able to pass through though is not based on an obect or buying a ticket through the portal, but on what you believe about the portal.

Anyway, I am starting to ramble.

John was sent by God to bear witness about the light, so that all might believe through him.
Christians are sent by God to bear witness about the light, so that all might believe through him.