{"id":82416,"date":"2024-12-24T11:13:18","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T17:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=82416"},"modified":"2024-12-24T11:13:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T17:13:18","slug":"a-short-course-in-jesus-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-short-course-in-jesus-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"A Short Course in Jesus Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by David Gibson<\/p>\n<p>No chapter in the Bible probably includes more names and titles for Jesus than the first chapter of the Gospel of John. He is called the Word, God, the Light, the Lord, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, the Messiah\/Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, Rabbi, the King of Israel, and the Son of Man.<\/p>\n<h2>Great Truths Affirmed in Chapter One<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Jesus was with God in the beginning.<\/li>\n<li>He created all things.<\/li>\n<li>He brings light to every person.<\/li>\n<li>He enables us to become children of God.<\/li>\n<li>He was made flesh.<\/li>\n<li>He is full of grace and truth.<\/li>\n<li>He takes away the sin of the world.<\/li>\n<li>He is the One of whom Moses and the prophets wrote.<\/li>\n<li>He has supernatural insight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Responding to Him<\/h2>\n<p>In this chapter, John the Baptist gives his testimony regarding Jesus (John 1:6-8, 19-36), as does John the apostle who wrote the chapter, and God Himself (John 1:33).<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the first chapter of John is not simply for interesting reading or information. God wants us to respond personally to His Son, including believing in Him (John 1:7, 12).<\/p>\n<p>Jesus is the theme of this Gospel, and the word &#8220;believe&#8221; is the main keyword, used nearly a hundred times. Another response God wants us to make is to confess Him (John 1:29, 34, 40-41, 45, 49) and to bring others to Him, as did Andrew and Philip (John 1:35-50). In addition, this chapter alludes to the new birth (John 1:12-13), which Jesus will have more to say about in John 3:3-5.<\/p>\n<p>What a grand introduction Chapter One is for this marvelous Gospel! It packs a tremendous amount of truth in its 51 verses. It begins at the Beginning and carries us up to the inauguration of Jesus&#8217; ministry.<\/p>\n<p>Many themes introduced in this chapter are developed further in the rest of the book. Chapter One whets our appetite for what follows. And what follows enables us to catch a vision of glory!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by David Gibson No chapter in the Bible probably includes more names and titles for Jesus than the first chapter of the Gospel of John. He is called the Word, God, the Light, the Lord, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, the Messiah\/Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, Rabbi, the King of Israel, and the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[73,959],"class_list":["post-82416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-jesus","tag-john"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87319,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-logos-of-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":82416,"position":0},"title":"The Logos of Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dudley Ross Spears via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 1, 31 March 1991 The \"Logos\" is the Christ, the Son of the Most High God. John uses a term ordinarily meaning\" a word\" and applies it to the timeless and changeless Christ. There are a few cases where \"logos\" is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65055,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/before-jesus-was-born\/","url_meta":{"origin":82416,"position":1},"title":"Before Jesus Was Born","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer The Gospels of Matthew and Luke both speak to various details concerning the birth of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Mark says nothing about these details but rather jumps right into the work of John and then immediately to the baptism, temptations, and beginning of Jesus' public\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32795,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-plea-for-a-daysman\/","url_meta":{"origin":82416,"position":2},"title":"The Plea for a Daysman","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jarrod M. Jacobs Job chapter nine records one of the speeches Job made when defending himself against Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. This speech in chapter nine is somewhat different from the others. Job does not spend much of his speech responding directly to Bildad and what he said in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12713,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/rock-throwers-from-way-back\/","url_meta":{"origin":82416,"position":3},"title":"Rock Throwers from Way Back","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Warren Berkley If you watched the classic Andy Griffith TV Show, you remember Barney, Thelma Lou, Opie, and Goober. How about Earnest T. Bass? He appeared on several episodes, always in trouble for throwing rocks or bricks. \u201cBless his heart,\u201d Andy once said, \u201che\u2019s so ignorant, all he knows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/stones-300x247.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1412,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-jesus-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":82416,"position":4},"title":"Is Jesus God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 3, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is Jesus God? Answer: Many religions cast doubts on the deity of Jesus. For example, Jehovah's Witnesses claim that Jesus is the first creation of God. Muslims see Jesus as nothing more than a significant prophet, much like Moses. To answer this question, let us turn to the book\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55837,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-father-abandon-jesus-on-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":82416,"position":5},"title":"Did the Father Abandon Jesus on the Cross?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Maurice Barnett The theological doctrine that the Father abandoned Jesus while on the cross is based on the following: First, the\u00a0imputation theory\u00a0that all of man's sins were\u00a0transferred\u00a0to Jesus while He was on the Cross; God was so enraged against sin that when Jesus became sin-laden on the Cross, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/cross.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}