The Gospel of John: Mirror Study Bible (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780992230326)

None of the other disciples better captured our genesis in God, beyond our natural conception This is not about our blood lineage or whether we were a wanted- or unwanted-child; this is about our God-begotteness. John 1:13. We are his dream come true and not the invention of our parents. You are indeed the greatest idea that God has ever had

John has no desire to outwit the others in giving an even more accurate historic account of Christ The life that was manifest within his sacred gaze and now tangible embrace is a fellowship of the highest order He must write; he must extend this reality to his immediate audience as well as the next generations "I am writing this to complete your joy " 1 John 1:4

Unlike Matthew and Luke who wrote 30 years prior to him, John did not bother to locate Jesus in the setting of his natural lineage. Instead he declares, "In the beginning was the Word " Before history was ever recorded the Word was

Mankind pre-existed in the Logic of God He understands that the Word was both the eternal source and destiny of all things and that nothing could ever reduce or confine the Word to an isolated island experience, neither could the Word be trapped in human doctrine or tradition. No inferior translation or interpretation could compromise God's original intent. The authentic integrity of God's thought would forever be preserved and celebrated in the incarnation; human life would be the uninterrupted future of the Word.

In John 14:20 Jesus declares the conclusion of his mission where in his death and resurrection every possible definition of separation will be cancelled: "In that day you will know that we are in seamless union with one another I am in my Father, you are in me and I am in you " (The incarnation does not divide the Trinity; the incarnation celebrates the redeemed inclusion of humanity Picture four circles with the one fitting into the other - The outer circle is the Father, then Jesus in the Father, then us in Jesus and the Holy Spirit in us This spells inseparable, intimate oneness Note that it is not our knowing that positions Jesus in the Father or us in them or the Spirit of Christ in us Our knowing simply awakens us to the reality of our redeemed oneness Gold does not become gold when it is discovered but it certainly becomes currency )