November 29th, 2025

We are at the beginning of a new church year. The title for this Sunday is the First Sunday in Advent. If you have been reading the writings of this website for a while, you may have noticed that the last three years were spent looking at the entirety of the first three gospel accounts, namely, the Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Whereas the appointed readings for the Sundays select various parts of the appointed Gospel account for that year, and even the Gospel account could switch, for example, on Christmas Eve, and the second chapter of the Gospel according to Luke is the focus for a short while. The first Sunday in Advent, with the text being Matthew 21:1-11, also focuses on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, and this is not exactly a text that follows the chronology of Jesus’ life.
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With some readings jumping around and skipping some words, it has been the focus of these writings to lay out in sections in an orderly way the three similar accounts. It should be said very prominently that these texts were given in the form of an EXTREMELY literal translation, mainly in an effort to encourage the reader to study the text in a translation that he or she is more familiar with, having a bible nearby. (The point could be made at this time that the author is currently a pastor serving two small congregations, and since the two services are both on Sunday morning, I am not able to lead a Sunday morning bible study at either congregation, and this writing is meant to take the place of what is lacking at this time.)

Given that the three similar (sometimes called ‘synoptic’) gospel accounts have been laid out for the past three years in the way that was described above, taking a section and giving a unique translation, it was the decision of this writer to do much the same thing this year, but to look at the Gospel according to John.

It is this writer’s intention that the name of the Sunday will be given, along with the appointed Gospel Reading. That information may be helpful to the reader and may connect the reader even more strongly to the local congregation that focuses on the Word. Whatever the situation, it is hard to go wrong with the Word of God.

And speaking of the Word, that happens to be prominent at the start of the Gospel according to John. And certainly much could be written since this account is significantly different from the other three accounts. EXTREMELY much could be written! Perhaps it could be best stated most briefly in the following way:

The four gospel accounts, for many centuries, have been connected to the four living creatures of Yahweh’s throne. These creatures were given in the following order in the first chapter of Ezekiel: Man, lion, ox, and eagle. The first three are similar in that they are usually on the ground. The eagle, on the other hand, can fly high overhead. And often the perspective of the Gospel according to John is one with a much broader perspective.

With that in mind, it may be most helpful to have some of the first words of that special account, the Gospel according to John. Again, these words are a VERY literal translation of the text. If this is the first time with these writings, a couple things should be mentioned.

The hyphens below connect the words in English that are given in only one word in the language of the New Testament, ancient Greek. And the words are given in the order that they appear within the text. Generally either the verbs or the most important words are given first. Certainly exceptions occur. But it may be helpful to see the original order of the text. And other orderings are certainly allowed, so as to help the understanding in other languages.

One more thing to mention is that the so-called ‘historical presents’ will be noted by capital letters. These are verbs that have the expectation of a past tense, but they are given in the present. These verbs COULD be connected to the LIVING creature of the eagle. And a note could be made here that the New American Standard translation usually has an asterisk after the historical presents of the text, although the translation is still in the past.

So, as promised, what follows is a ‘special’ (starting-point) translation of John 1:1-18:

In  beginning  was  the  Word, and  the  Word  was  toward  the  God,  and  God  was  the  Word.  This-one  was  in  beginning  toward  the  God.  All-things  through  him  became,  and  without  him  became  not  one  which  has-become.  In  him  life  was,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of-the  humans.  And  the  light  in  the  darkness  shines,  and  the  darkness,  it  not  overtook. 

It-became  a-human,  having-been-sent-out  from  God,  name  to-him  John;  this-one  came  into  witness,  that  he-might-witness  concerning  the  light,  that  all  might-believe  through  him.  Not  he-was  that,  the  light,  but-on-the-contrary,  that  he-might-witness  concerning  the  light. 
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It-was  the  light,  the  true,  which  enlightens  every  human,  coming  into  the  world.  In  the  world  he-was,  and  the  world  through  him  it-became,  and  the  world,  him  not  it-knew.  Into  the  own-things  he-came,  and  the  own-ones,  him  not  they-received.  Now  as-many-as  received  him,  he  gave  to-them  authority,  children  of-God  to-become,  to-the-ones  believing  into  the  name  of-him,  who  not  out-of  bloods,  nor  out-of  will-of  flesh,  nor  out-of  will  of-a-man,  but-on-the-contrary,  out-of  God  they-were-born.
And  the  Word,  flesh  he-became,  and  he-tabernacled  in  us,  and  we-beheld  the  glory  of-him,  glory  as  of-an-only-begotten  from  Father,  full  of-grace  and  truth.  John  HE-WITNESSES  concerning  him,  and  he-has-cried-out  saying,  “This-one  he-was  of-whom  I-said,  ‘The-one  after  me,  coming  before  me  he-has-become,  because  first  of-me  he-was.’”  Because  out-of  the  fullness  of-him,  we  all,  we-received,  and  grace  anti  grace;  because  the  law  through  Moses  it-was-given,  the  grace  and  the  truth  through  Jesus  Christ  it-became.  God  no-one  has-viewed,  ever;  only-begotten  God,  the-one  being  into  the  bosom  of-the  Father,  that-one  exegeted.