Gospel of John Part 1: The Word Chapters 1-2

1. Gospel of John Part 1: The Word Chapters 1-2

2. S&H 502:22-4 Genesis I. 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning is employed to signify the only, (the only) – that is the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe. (Unity, all embracing, All-in-all) The creative Principle – Life, Truth, and Love – is God. There is but one creator and one creation. (Impulsion of days of creation, deals with the relationships with-in the all) This creation consists of the unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the infinite Mind and forever reflected. These ideas range from the infinitesimal to infinity, and the highest ideas are the sons and daughters of God. (Unfolding of ideas – law of creativity)

3. S&H 503:6-17 Genesis I. 2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (We see how the darkness is handled from 4 dimensions and the impulsion of 7 days story) The divine Principle and idea constitute spiritual harmony, – heaven and eternity. In the universe of Truth, matter is unknown. No supposition of error enters there. (Darkness, matter and evil is unknown. It cannot touch perfection.) Divine Science, the Word of God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, “God is All-in-all,” and the light of ever-present Love illumines the universe. (Darkness is addressed by showing that all is the light of Love, there is no room for darkness.) Hence the eternal wonder, – that infinite space is peoples with God’s ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms. (At this point darkness or ignorance is addressed, and seen as nothing, which prompts the 7 days story which destroys anything unlike God in it’s infinite detail.)

4. Law of Success: says I am the impelling force, impelling authority. I impel a true creation. I impel a perfect creation. MAN IS PROGRAMED FOR SUCCESS OR VICTORY This Law of Success corrects attitudes of: Can I make it? Life impels creation Do I know if what I am trying to create is correct? Truth makes a true creation Will I feel fulfilled with my life? Love has perfect fulfilled creations Examples: Job 23:14 For he performeth (Life) the thing (Truth) that is appointed for me(Love); Psm. 138: 8 The Lord will (Life) perfect (Truth) what concerneth me (Love): Phil. 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will (Life) ad to do (Truth) of his good pleasure (Love). Phil. 1:6 …,that he which hath begun (Life) a good work in you will perform it (Truth) until the day of Jesus Christ (Love)[day of Jesus Christ—day of perfection]

5. Ascending order 1. Light – MIND Creative ability; intelligence 1. Let there be light creates all in ideas 2. Light was good, divided from darkness ideas are only good – reality 3. Light was called Day, darkness was called Night record of ideas – must be willing to define both the real and unreal Law of success 1. Life impels the creative light of Mind 2. Truth makes light so factual that it can’t be mixed up with darkness 3. Love says that the light is completely fulfilled, it will never lack anything it needs to be perfect. Day is always Light

6. 2. Firmament – SPIRIT Understanding 1. Let there be a firmament to divide separates ideas from human conceptions 2. Firmament divided the waters reality brought to light 3. The firmament is called Heaven secures ordered progress Law of Success 1. Life demands a firmament—ordered development, strength, purity 2. Truth makes that firmament a fact 3. Love expresses complete fulfillment as Heaven in which no evil influence can intrude

7. 3. Dry Land – SOUL Identity 1. Let the water be gathered together; let the dry land appear ideas gather identity 2. Division of Earth and Sea is good identities have spiritual qualities 3. Let the earth bring forth grass, herb, fruit tree,— seed within itself identities are self-reproducing 4. Brought forth after its kind identities classified 5. Third Day: “resurrection” identities are immortal Law of Success 1. Life’s creative impulse gathers identities 2. Truth’s formations cannot be destroyed because because they have the seed within themselves. They can reproduce their own identity. 3. Love’s fulfillment is expressed in the earth bringing forth fruit

8. 4. Lights: sun, moon, stars – PRINCIPLE System of ideas 1. Let there be lights for signs, seasons, days, years basis: a system of ideas 2. Give light upon the earth reflects itself in demonstration 3. God made two great lights to rule, and the stars also the greater ruling the lesser: harmony 4. Ruling over day and night interprets divinely 5. “Marking periods of progress” brings progressive interpretation Law of Success 1. The impulsion of Life demands lights to create a Principled system 2. Truth brought that system into being 3. Love fulfilled that demand by placing the lights in the firmament (Heaven) and seeing the operation of that system

9. 5. Fish and fowl – LIFE Fullness 1. Let the waters bring forth abundantly moving creature that has life and fowl that fly above the earth Life is ideational 2. Waters brought forth abundantly every living creature and every winged fowl after their kind – great whales spiritual 3. God blessed them: be fruitful and multiply cognizant to spiritual sense 4. “Exalted beings” scientific Law of Success 1. Life impels the creation of fish and fowls 2. Truth made that impulse factual 3. Love fulfills that creative impulse with abundant fruitfulness and multiplication

10. 6. Animals and Man – TRUTH True manhood 1. Let the earth bring forth living creature, cattle, creeping thing, beast of the earth consists of ideas 2. It was good they are spiritual realities 3. Let us make man in our image after our likeness individual identity 4. Male and female created He them generic man as God’s ideal 5. Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth son of God has dominion 6. Man is given herb, and fruit-tree, beast is given green herb compound idea man 7. Everything is good perfect womanhood Law of success 1. Life’s says Let the earth bring forth 2. Truth says that Man as the image of God is a fact 3. Love’s fulfillment is abundant fruitfulness, multiplication and dominion over all the earth

11. P R I N C I P L E M I N D S P I R I T S O U L L I F E T R U T H L O V E Word Christ Christianity Science

12. Law of Success 1. Life impels creation of Heavens 2. Truth states the fact of Heaven is earthly practical 3. Love’s finished word is fulfilled 1. Life’s impulse is, that is enough 2. Truth states complete, true form 3. Love’s fulfilled poise and peace 7. Creation finished – LOVE Fulfillment 1. Heavens, earth, all the host of them finished all-inclusiveness 2. God ended His work and rested from all His work holiness

13. Events around the formation of the New Testament C. E. (the common era) 30-33 Jesus’ ministry 50-63 Paul’s letters: I Thessalonians, I, II Corinthians, Philippians, Philemon, Galatians, and Romans 66-70 Galilee and Judea revolt against Rome; Jerusalem and Temple are leveled 70s Gospel according to Mark 70-90 Additional letters written in Paul’s name: II Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians 80s Gospels according to Matthew, Luke, and Acts 95 Revelation 100 John, I, II, III John

14. Matthew wrote to the Jews to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah. There had been others to claim to be the Messiah and were proved to be false, the Jews were being careful not to be taken in again. He was showing Jesus fulfillment of Jewish history along the line of the Days of Creation Mark was with Peter in Rome and was impressed with the power of Rome. He wrote to the Gentiles and Romans and tried to show that the power of the Christ was greater than the Roman Empire. He showed the power of manifestation and translation all the way down to the human need. Luke was a Doctor, he loved mankind. He traveled with Paul all over the world and felt that the message of Jesus should be for all men. He showed that Jesus came to demonstrate the true nature of man as individual, collective, generic, manhood and womanhood. John wrote of Jesus expression of Gods nature. He felt that the nature of God should be understandable and applicable.

15. Contrasts between the Synoptic Gospels and John Synoptic Gospels John Human history – birth to Ascension History of God – God’s nature to mankind Jesus is doing the works-Master of Jesus is God in operation-Jesus is being every situation operated Jesus was Christ God is the impulsion behind message – God’s Christ Talked about the ideas Jesus was the idea Jesus – Son of Man Jesus – Son of God Taught in Parables One parable Jesus Prayed One prayer – he was divinely authorized Lots of demonstrations 8 signs of God’s power No explanations of works Discussed the principle behind works Many rituals No rituals 3 Gospels very similar 60% new information In the Book of John, Jesus is not baptized by John the Baptist. Why? The other Gospels recorded the event, John the Baptist used the descent of the dove and it’s abiding upon him as an identifying characteristic of the Son of God.

16. Prologue (1:1-5) 1a. In the beginning was the Word, – Resting within Principle was the Logos Logos – dynamic divine intelligence manifesting itself in understandable cosmic laws. God wants to be understood, but cannot be understood with the human mind so our starting point, which has the power to develop receptivity to the Mind of Christ is the seven days of creation story. b. and the Word was with God, – At the 5th day in our 7 day story, thought develops new Life, our concept of the 7 days develops into the Numerals of Infinity, they take on a definite identity and you start to be able to use them – they are with God, but are still separate. c. and the Word was God. – A further developmental step, in the 6th day, we see our symbols become rarefied and resolve into the Synonyms for God which are God’s nature and can never be separated from God. 2d. The same was I the beginning with God – All three previous standpoints belong to God, they are the periods of progress that enable us to see our true nature as Idea.

17. Prologue (1:1-5) cont. 2d. continued There was nothing before God, we must change our consciousness to recognize no beginning. It is human nature to want to find a source for our problems. If our origin was forever with God, we are not subject to the laws of heredity. The Gospel writers wanted to find a beginning for Jesus: Matthew traced Jesus down from Abraham. Mark explained Jesus beginning as the Son of God, but did not explain God. Luke traced Jesus ancestry back to Adam. John explained that Jesus never had a beginning, and we don’t either. (I am not a morning person and seem to be a slow starter, seeing that the Logos is forever active and never has to get going, I am seeing some real improvement. There are no new frightening new beginnings as an Idea of the one divine Mind.) 3. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. This Logos has a Christ. There are no beginnings, there is only Being, but this Being is forever being manifested (Christ). God is self-existent, self-expressed. (This truth handles all the beliefs of be unwanted, or unloved, not having a place or a purpose.)

18. Prologue (1:1-5) cont. 4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. Spiritual Life manifests itself to man as the Light or Mind of Christ. John could have said, “in him was Truth” or Love, but it would not have made sense at that time. Jesus proved everlasting Life. Mrs. Eddy showed the Spirit of Truth bringing everything to our remembrance. Jesus and Mrs. Eddy indicate a time of Love. 5. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. The light does not understand darkness, nor can darkness understand light. The word translated comprehend is better translated overpower. So if we have striven to be in line with this divine Logos or light, the darkness cannot overpower us either.

19. Truth Love RevealsFulfills Mind – True Light – Christ Spirit – Contrast Jesus/John the Baptist Soul – Jesus/John identified Principle – Gathers for success Life – New life Truth – New consciousness Love – New fulfillment

20. John 1:6-13 -John the Baptist: came to bear witness of the light -Mind of Christ: the true light -lighteth every man that cometh into the world -the world was made by him and knew him not (carnal mind is incapable of understanding the Christ) -as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God -which were born of God, – not of blood (bloods), nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (So often, the problem is this belief that man is born of a mixture of two families, two nationalities, two strata of society, two conflicting temperaments, and two of all sorts of things. Then the product, the little boy or the little girl, becomes a battleground for these false beliefs to work themselves out. There are even extreme cases when the blood types conflict, killing the child. We always have problems when we mix things.)

21. John 1:14-24 -the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us -the only begotten Son of the Father (Seems a contradiction to the previous section where we are all able to claim our divine sonship – it means that the only begotten is Christ and we can see our true identity as an individual expression of that Christ) -we beheld his glory, full of grace and truth -of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace (full reflection) (divine grace rather than a human sense of grace) -Moses gave the law; through Jesus Christ came grace and truth (Paul’s letters explain this in exhaustive detail, John only takes this on verse) -the only begotten Son has declared the Father (The Christ is always manifesting the Word) -John the Baptist: I am not the Christ I am not Elias I am not that prophet “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness” “Make straight the way of the Lord” (=order) (If you were working for the Lord, you had to have Biblical authority for doing it. Jesus correctly identifies him later as Elias)

22. John 1:25-34 -John the Baptist identifies himself: “I baptize with water” (=elements of thought) -Jesus is identified as the Son of God as the City four Square -Word: -he it is, who coming after me is preferred before me -Christ: -the Lamb of God (the spiritual idea of God) which taketh away the sin of the world (SIN – the belief that man was ever born into this existence) -Christianity: -a man who was before me -Science: -I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon him -he baptizeth with the Holy Ghost “Holy Ghost. Divine Science; the development of eternal Life, Truth, and Love” (S&H 588:7) -this is the Son of God

23. John 1:35-51 -Jesus gathers his first disciples (five) -two of John’s disciples heard Jesus speak, and they followed Jesus “Rabbi, where dwellestthou?” (Come and see is an invitation into the lab. Learn about my consciousness) (Then Jesus said, “Come and see,” it’s the Greek word eidon, —the highest sense of “see;” It means to comprehend. It indicates full perception when you really see the deep implication of what someone has said. Spiritual vision, really, isn’t it? That is “day.”) -Andrew to Simon: we have found the Messias, the Christ -Jesus to Philip: follow me -Philip to Nathanael: we have found him. -Jesus to Nathanael: before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee (under fig tree mothering the idea. He was an Israelite because he sat and accepted the spiritual) -Nathanael: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.” -Jesus: thou shalt see greater things than these -”Hereafter ye shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and decending upon the Son of man.”

24. John 2:1-11 -a marriage in Cana: turning water into wine -filling six waterpots with water -the water was made wine (inspiration) (one hundred thirty gallons of wine, became wine when it was drawn out or used)

25. John 2:12-22 -cleansing of the temple -Jesus made a scourge of small cords -drove out the merchants and money changers -make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise - “Temple. Body; the idea of Life, Substance, and intelligence; the superstructure of Truth; the shrine of Love…”(S&H 595:7) -the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up - “Zeal. The reflected animation of Life, Truth, and Love.” -destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up

26. John 2:23-25 -universal acceptance of the Christ-idea -many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did -but Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men -he knew what was in man

27. Gospel of John Part 2: The Christ Chapters 3-7 June 28th or July 5th TBA