We  meet  no  new  thing,  then,  when  we  read  in
the  first  verse  of  John's  Gospel  a  crisp  declara
tion  that  Jesus  is  God.  But  we  do  meet  some
thing  new  in  the  manner  in  which  this  declaration
is  made.  It  would  not  be  quite  exact  to  say  that
it  is  new  that  John  begins  his  Gospel  with  a  dec
laration  of  the  deity  of  Jesus.  Mark  also  begins
his  Gospel  with  a  declaration  of  the  deity  of  Jesus;
if,  at  least,  the  reading  is  right  which  makes  him
use  the  term,  "the  Son  of  God,"  in  his  opening
sentence —  "The  beginning  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus
Christ,  the  Son  of  God."  It  can  hardly  be  main
tained  that  the  "Son  of  God"  is  not  to  be  under
stood  here  in  its  ontological  sense.  The  differ
ence  between  the  Synoptics  and  John  here  is  only
a  difference  in  what  we  may  call  their  mode  of
approach  to  the  common  theme.  It  would  not
be  misleadingly  expressed  if  we  said  that  in  the
Synoptics  the  divine  nature  of  the  man  Jesus  is
exhibited,  while  in  John  the  human  life  of  the


THE  GLORY  OF  THE  WORD  83

divine  Word  is  portrayed.  In  this  sense,  John
does  take  his  start  from  the  deity  of  our  Lord  as
the  Synoptics  do  not.  The  deity  of  our  Lord  is
made  by  John  his  point  of  departure  in  his  delinea
tion  of  this  divine  life  in  the  world,  while  the  Syn
optics  take  their  start  from  the  birth  of  Jesus,
or  the  opening  of  his  public  ministry.
