THE GOSPELS ORIGiN

WE MUST SEE JESUS CHRIST AS GOD

JOHN 1:1 

 (en arch). Arch is definite, though anarthrous like our at home, in town, and the similar Hebrew be reshith in Genesis 1:1. But Westcott notes that here John carries our thoughts beyond the beginning of creation in time to eternity. There is no argument here to prove the existence of God any more than in Genesis. It is simply assumed. Either God exists and is the Creator of the universe 

as scientists like Eddington and Jeans assume or matter is eternal or it has come out of nothing.

Was (hn). Three times in this sentence John uses this imperfect of eimi to be which conveys no idea of origin for God or for the Logos, simply continuous existence. Quite a different verb (egeneto, became) appears in verse Genesis 14 for the beginning of the Incarnation of the Logos.

 See the distinction sharply drawn in John 8:58 "before Abraham came (genesqai) I am" (egw eimi, timeless existence).

The Gospels are related to the Bible which was in existence at the beginning of N.T.  era. As you read them, put O.T. in the margin beside every citation or allusion, and then construct the story of the Messiah from these references: His Virgin Birth; descent from Abraham, through David; place of birth; forerunner; His mission, ill-treatment, death, burial, resurrection, ascension; together with His offices and titles.  r Psa. vii. 14 ;       2 Gen. xii. 7         3 2 Sam. vii. 12, 13            4 Mic.        v. 2        5 Isa.        xl. 3       5 Isa.        xl. 3           6 Isa. Ixi, I   7 Isa. 1. 6    8 Psa. xxii, 16   9 Isa. llii. 9      10 Psa. xvi. 10      II Psa. lxviii. 18    12 Psa.            ii. 7     13 Isa,         xlii, I  14 Num. xxiv. 17        IS Deut. xviii. 18     (See DIV. C, Section 3, 'Prophecies of the Messiah,' p. 479).

OBVIOUSLY SOME CRITICAL PARTS OF THE GOSPELS ARE     THE SPEECHES OR TEACHINGS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

" As our Lord commonly spoke Aramaic, and the Lord's Bible was the Old Testament. So the two quotation sources are the Hebrew O.T. and the Greek O.T. (the Septuagint (LXX).  The great majority of cases the quotations are from the LXX."  (Scroggie pp.96-97)

 John  , (certainly Jewish) demonstrates he wrote his Gospel in Greek.  He offers explanations in the translated Jewish words like "Rabbi,"and "Messiah" (John 1:40-41)