Grahame Walker

According to David Ford, the first eighteen verses of John’s Gospel are, “perhaps the most influential short passage in the history of Christian Theology”. Out of the sixty-six books of the Bible, and only the opening line of Genesis, the famous “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” is more well-known. Right at the beginning John offers us so much. He introduces key themes, images and categories for his Gospel. God, Word, creation, all things, all people, life, light, darkness, believing, the world, the name of Jesus, flesh, glory, father, only son, grace, truth, fullness, law, Moses, Jesus Christ, seeing and the intimacy between Jesus and his father. For John, these are all large containers into which more and more is poured as his Gospel progresses, deepening and expanding their meaning. All aimed an answering one essential question; who is Jesus?