John 1: before Adam was born necessary goodness was

 Guide: CJB emphasis in bold (CJB online), text in green; NIV in magenta ; Nomads* discussion in yellow; and my comments in gray. I may use endnotes to cite outside literature or extensive comment.  

*Participative Sunday-school-class at UBC led by Ken Tipton. My continually improved statement about Genesis 1:26-28 is at the end of this. Today, I presented an initial study of Jewish sects in Yeshua’s time: Pharisees (pursuers to statutory justice), Sadducees (traditionalists), Essenes (strict interpreters), and Zealots (militant traditionalists and assassins). After Romans destroyed the 2^nd Temple in Jerusalem, Pharisees transitioned into Rabbinic Jews, which remains dominant today.  

John wrote approximately 40 to 70 years after Yeshua was executed. I perceive civic considerations to necessary goodness regarding the scripture that follows, below.

Continuing concerns from John 1

a.      V1 “In the beginning was the Word . . .” expresses mysterious mystery. Does “the Word” precede The God -- in time, by necessity, or other basis? Does an infant pursue necessary goodness before perceiving The God? Once necessary goodness is the intention, does mystery persist? See V38 comments, below.

b.     V3 “nothing . . . had being” suggests activation of what existed

c.      V9, light “to everyone entering the world”. If an infant is never informed about Yeshua, what light does he or she possess? The potential to choose necessary goodness?

d.      V12 I prefer “trust in his person and power” rather than believe in his name.

e.      V13 The God draws the person to the V12 trust [and commitment] yet the person must respond.

f.       V14 human being (noun) is more than flesh [and blood]. What if The God’s grace is humility and The God’s truth cannot be avoided or changed or resisted – is ineluctable? Can doctrine/canon stand the test of time?

g.     V15 and other details about 6 month older John the Baptizer seem trivial.

h.     V16 I prefer humility to necessary goodness. Can doctrine/canon stand the test of humility?

i.       V17 Yeshua, improving the Torah, said he came to fulfill the law. That implies that he was a Pharisee (pursuer to statutory justice) rather than a Sadducee (Torah-traditionalist). The Book of James presents the Messiah as ending erroneous living rather than saving believer’s souls.

j.       V18 Yeshua’s psychology, rather than his flesh and blood, images The God.

k.     V20 Yeshua’s contemporaries debated Messiah, a king anointed to unite the 12 tribes of Israel. Paul’s concept, salvation of the believer’s soul, did not exist.

l.       V23 projects John onto Isaiah-phrases while likewise juxtaposes Adonai as messenger to Yahweh and Yeshua messenger to The Trinity. Did a Jewish faction conclude that Yeshua was Adonai?

m.   V28 Maps locate Bethany west of the Dead Sea (and the Jordan, to the north).

n.     V29 to the world, provider of blood sacrifice, according to Hebrews 9.

o.     V31, why to Israel only; see V29.

p.     V34, why not The God incarnate as in Hebrews 9?

q.      V38, I prefer “What are you looking for?” I think human beings want to know how to practice necessary goodness: arrogance may be acquired and nourished. Genesis 1:26-28 prompts self-examination, “Do I want salvation of mysterious soul in my afterdeath or do I want to perfect civic behavior in living?” 

r.       V48 whether Pharisee or Sadducee or other, Nathaniel might have been studying the Torah in the shade and wind-break of a fig tree.

s.     V49-50. I doubt Yeshua, political philosopher to humankind, accepts demotion to “King of Israel”.

John 1 CJB text; necessary goodness always was

^1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [I imagine that “the Word” is “necessary goodness”, which The God knows and human beings may and can discover.]
²     He [necessary goodness personified] was with God in the beginning.

³ All things came to be through him, and without him nothing made had being was made that has been made.

⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.

⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not suppressed it. [V1-5 literally describes “the Word” as with God, The God, creator, activator, life, light, and overcoming dark. But what is “light”? Is it a metaphor for knowledge; goodness

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was Yochanan John. ⁷ He came to be a testimony, to bear witness concerning the light; so that through him, everyone might put his trust in God and be faithful to him. ⁸ He himself was not that light; no, he came to bear witness concerning the light. [Does the writer project John the Baptizer onto Isaiah 40:3-5 and Malachi 3:1?]

⁹ This was the true light, which gives light to everyone entering the world. [What does every newborn possess? Is it opportunity to think in self-reliance? Can their opportunity be constrained by the infant’s caretaker(s) and environment? If the caretaker imparts hate, can the infant discover and adopt appreciation then develop goodness? Is goodness so necessary that it attracts “everyone entering the world”? Does “die young” mean died before they appreciated necessary goodness?]

¹⁰ He was in the world — the world came to be through him — yet the world did not know him.

¹¹ He came to his own homeland, yet his own people did not receive him.

¹² But to as many as did receive him, to those who put their trust in his person and power believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ not because of bloodline, physical impulse or human intention, but because of God born of God.

¹⁴ The Word [necessary goodness?] became a human being flesh and lived with us, and we saw his Sh’khinah [presence] glory, the Sh’khinah of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ Yochanan witnessed concerning him when he cried out, “This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me has come to rank ahead of surpassed me, because he existed before me.’” [Chronologically, John was about 6 months older. What is the chronology of soul-mystery? If I have a soul rather than only a person, how old is my soul?]

¹⁶ We have all received from his fullness, yes, grace upon grace. Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. [Humility to necessary goodness.]

¹⁷ For the Torah was given through Moshe; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah.  [In Nomads class I learned that James thought Moses’ law and Yeshua’s influence were both critical to salvation in life and error invites death. In V 2:26, “the body without spirit is dead”. James does not use the word “soul”. I think Yeshua agreed with James. On the other hand, in Acts, Paul argued Christ saves elect souls in the afterdeath. And Hebrews 9 mystifies God, Christ, and blood. I doubt all of it, preferring necessary goodness in life through discussing Yeshua’s civic influence to the current generation.]

¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; but the only and unique Son, who is identical with God and is at the Father’s side — he has made him known.

¹⁹ Here is Yochanan’s John’s testimony: when the Judeans Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent cohanim priests and L’vi’im Levites from Yerushalayim to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ he was very straightforward and stated clearly, “I am not the Messiah.” [That is, the Baptizer is not the one sent to unite the 12 tribes. This is 3 years before they executed Yeshua, 6 years before Paul began what became Christianity, so it cannot refer to the cross: to hearers, it is about Israel, not about humankind. Fourteen years more, and Paul called the Council of Jerusalem to get for pagans relief from circumcision. The council to Paul was without  orthodox Jews who opposed Yeshua as Messiah and included elders and John supporting circumcision, James who promoted Yeshua’s return to unite the 12 tribes, and Peter, hoping to accommodate Jews and pagans. Neither Yeshua nor human-beings who want civic integrity accommodating personal religion were represented. Thus, borrowing applicable words, “read back into Paul’s letters and passages”, from Ron Perritt, the contemporary question, is the Baptizer the Messiah? applies to uniting Israel and is not germane to the cross.*] ²¹ “Then who are you?” they asked him. “Are you Eliyahu Elijah?” “No, I am not,” he said. “Are you ‘the prophet,’ the one we’re expecting?” “No,” he replied. ²² So they said to him, “Who are you? — so that we can give an answer to the people who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?” ²³ He answered in the words of Yesha‘yahu Isaiah the prophet, “I am The voice of someone crying out:
‘In the desert make the way of Adonai straight!’” ^{[Isaiah 40:3, CJB, “A voice cries out:}

^{“Clear a road through the desert for Adonai! Level a highway in the ‘Aravah [2024 Jordan Rift Valley.] for our God!”] [In the Old Testament, is Adonai an emissary for “our God”?]}

²⁴ Some of those who had been sent were P’rushim Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked him, “If you are neither the Messiah nor Eliyahu nor ‘the prophet,’ then why are you immersing baptizing people?” ²⁶ To them Yochanan replied, “I am immersing people in water, but among you is standing someone whom you don’t know. ²⁷ He is the one coming after me — I’m not good enough even to untie his sandal!” ²⁸ All this took place in Beit-Anyah Bethany, east of the Yarden Jordan, [maps locating Bethany have it west of the Dead Sea, south of the Joran and east or SE of Jerusalem] where Yochanan was immersing.

²⁹ The next day, Yochanan saw Yeshua coming toward him and said, “Look! God’s lamb! [Provider of blood for sacrifice per Hebrews 9.] The one who is taking away the sin of the world! [James has this as ending erroneous lives.] ³⁰ This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘After me is coming someone who has come to rank above me, because he existed before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know who he was, but the reason I came immersing with water was so that he might be made known to Isra’el.” [Why not to the world as in V29?] ³² Then Yochanan gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and remaining on him. ³³ I myself did not know who he was, but the one who sent me to immerse in water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining, this is the one who immerses in the Ruach HaKodesh Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

³⁵ The next day, Yochanan was again standing with two of his talmidim disciples. ³⁶ On seeing Yeshua walking by, he said, “Look! God’s lamb!”  [blood sacrifice per Hebrews 9] ³⁷ His two talmidim heard him speaking, and they followed Yeshua. ³⁸ Yeshua turned and saw them following him, and he asked them, “What are you looking for?” What do you want? [This Ken perceives is a key question in this chapter: It’s important to listen to God’s questions, then pursue the response you perceive to necessary goodness. My example is:  Do I want influence to perfect civic behavior in living or do I want salvation of a mysterious soul?] They said to him, “Rabbi!” (which means “Teacher!”) “Where are you staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and remained with him the rest of the day — it was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰ One of the two who had heard Yochanan and had followed Yeshua was Andrew the brother of Shim‘on Kefa Simon Peter.

⁴¹ The first thing he did was to find his brother Shim‘on and tell him, “We’ve found the Mashiach!” Messiah” (that is, the Christ) (The word means “one who has been anointed.”) ⁴² He took him to Yeshua. Looking at him, Yeshua said, “You are Shim‘on Bar-Yochanan son of John; you will be known as Kefa.” (The name means “rock.”) Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter)

⁴³ The next day, having decided to leave for the Galil Galilee, Yeshua found Philip and said, “Follow me!” ⁴⁴ Philip was from Beit-Tzaidah Bethsaida, the town where Andrew and Kefa lived. ⁴⁵ Philip found Natan’el and told him, “We’ve found the one that Moshe wrote about in the Torah, also the Prophets — it’s Yeshua Ben-Yosef from Natzeret!” ⁴⁶ Natan’el answered him, “Natzeret? Can anything good come from there?” [This could be as innocent as the village having only about 200 inhabitants, mostly Aramaic-speaking.] “Come and see,” Philip said to him. ⁴⁷ Yeshua saw Natan’el coming toward him and remarked about him, “Here’s a true son of Isra’el — nothing false in him!” ⁴⁸ Natan’el said to him, “How do you know me?” Yeshua answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Natan’el said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Isra’el!” ⁵⁰ Yeshua answered him, “you believe all this just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that!” ⁵¹ Then he said to him, “Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down ^{[Genesis 28:12, CJB, “He dreamt that there before him was a ladder resting on the ground with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of Adonai were going up and down on it.”]} on the Son of Man!” [I do not think either entity -- Yeshua or Jesus -- uttered this spurious promise. It was constructed by Bible writers and religions. It seems a typical projection of the person Yeshua onto the writer’s opinion about Old Testament opinion. I accept that I could be wrong and so judged by the God.]

*This is the first time in my Nomads-class-records that I have cited and refuted Bible-reporting about Yeshua. It seems intended to construct evidence that Yeshua fulfilled prophecy from Semitic-speaking peoples, only some of whom were ancestors to Israel. However, the Bible shows that Yeshua (whether student or God) affirmed Genesis 1:26-28:  Humankind is responsible, empowered, and authorized to pursue necessary goodness (order) to the earth. Primitive physics is affirmed by modern physics.

Yeshua was an actual person, who spoke Aramaic, a Semitic kin to Hebrew, Syriac, and Phoenician. Since Yeshua did not write, the only reports about him carry bias and cannot be verified as the ineluctable truth. In this case, the Baptizer perceived things about Yeshua which in the writer’s opinion, (John’s opinion), verified 700 year old prophecy by Isaiah regarding the mystery of the God. I neither accept nor promote acceptance of perception opined as prophecy about mystery. I promote physics and Yeshua’s civic influence.

We read John the apostle’s opinion about John the Baptizer’s speculation about Isaiah’s prophecy: a Messiah to unite the 12 tribes of Israel. I took about 300 years after Yeshua was executed and Paul developed a religion grounded in the cross for “Iesu Christi”, a name and a title to be promoted over Yeshua’s civic influence. Then, 1300 years later, “Iesu Christi” became “Jesus Christ” the savior of elected souls, rather than Yeshua, who was open-hearted and encouraged freedom from error to every human-being. It is a choice of entities rather than labels. I choose Yeshua’s civic influence to necessary goodness among humankind.

John 1 reminds me of evidence that affirms Yeshua’s sincerity in saying, “Before Abraham was born I am” (John 8:58). Perhaps Yeshua mysteriously revealed himself to Agathon, 500 years before Yeshua was born.

[I read to apply perhaps 5500 year old Sumerian political philosophy. It’s parochially expressed by Semite scholars of 3900 years ago in Genesis 1:26-28; in my paraphrase:  Female-and-male-human-being may and can choose to independently and together constrain political democracy on earth: on earth, humankind has the power and authority to pursue necessary goodness and constrain the bad. Civic citizens may use the rule of law to develop statutory justice. Yeshua* affirmed these ideas in each Matthew 18:18 (no peace-power above humankind), Matthew 19:3-8 (civic loyalty), Matthew 5:48 (pursue your perfection), and in other direct dialogue.
The next Bible canon could and should include the law codes of Sumer and competing civilizations. Resulting insights would take the heat off Judeo-Christianity, a Christ vs Messiah** vs the God competition.*** Personal and institutional competition egregiously deludes Yeshua’s civic influence to necessary goodness. The collaborative view could accelerate mutual pursuit of human being (verb) and lessen habitual baby killings, like those happening in Israel, in Ukraine, and in the U.S. in the year 2024.

*In 4 BC, Yosef and Myriam of Nazareth begot Yeshua. 250 years beforehand, Greek translation of the Torah provided Ἰησοῦς and χριστός, both of which competed with “Yeshua”, the former during Yeshua’s life and the latter in afterdeath. By the 16^th century CE, Christianity used “Jesus Christ” to repress Yeshua. 

The person, Yeshua, said, in my paraphrase: if people don’t speak my name they can neither consider my civic influence nor share my open-heartedness. Competitive monotheism hides Yeshua’s civic influence. Churches hide Yeshua. Churches claim the Holy Bible is the word of the God yet do everything they can to negate Genesis 1:26-28: humankind is responsible to rule to necessary goodness on earth.

The God is a mystery. However, civic citizens may, can, and do discern Yeshua’s civic influence. Accepting Genesis 1:26-28 helps yet does not exclude the open-minded and open-hearted fellow citizen who has not discovered Yeshua.

**Cyrus, 600 BC, is called a messiah in Isaiah 45:1.

***Competitive monotheism survives on war.]

[I think Genesis 1:26-28 informs humankind to flourish in necessary goodness rather than accommodate badness and allow evil:

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

Acceptance of the power, authority, and responsibility to rule on earth is human being (verb). Reliable human-beings pursue necessary-goodness to actual-reality.

The rest of the Bible discloses the chaos that ensues if most individuals choose wanton behavior -- neglect the laws of physics and progeny, e.g., biology and psychology.

The civic collective cannot rule if most fellow citizens practice/accommodate badness and allow evil.

Political and religious philosopher Yeshua affirmed Genesis 1:26-28, e.g. in Matt 5:48 (be as perfect as goodness); 18:18 (expect consequences rather than error-correction); and 19:4-6 (don’t divide/lessen goodness). 

Today there are more than 4,000 religions and 45,000 Christian sects on earth. Today is the time for individuals to accept the power, the authority, and the responsibility to practice civic integrity. “Ourselves” may either continue to leave reliable responsibility to “our Posterity”, referring to the preamble to the US Constitution, or practice necessary goodness.

Notes re modern perspective:

1.      Since monotheism is a human construct, I use the phrase, “The God, whatever it may be”, to express objection to any doctrinal God yet reserve humility.

a.      Blue highlight is to emphasize the pronoun usages, our and we.

b.     Perhaps the “we” infers the androgynous pair, like a married couple more than a mating couple

c.      It seems human choice may and can conform to the discovered laws of physics.

d.     Yet human inspiration and motivation are driven by goodness

e.      When goodness is uncertain, humility seems an option.

2.      Scholars understand that humankind in its present mutation is Homo sapiens (HS)

a.      Distinguished by brains with synapses and neurons continuously developing speed and capacity to handle exponential complexities

b.     Indeed HS is the dominant species on earth and its extensions

c.      Yet HS is challenged-to, perhaps will-not, control earth as much as possible

d.  Unfortunately, after 200,000 years, sexual-attraction rather than necessary goodness dominates society.

3.      The rest of the Holy Bible expresses the validity of Genesis 1:26-28:  Humankind may and can choose to rule on earth.

a.      Genesis 1 predates the existence of Israel by at least 1500 years.

b.     About 2000 years have passed since Yeshua lived.

c.      Yet war in the Middle East threatens humankind’s opportunity.

d.     It seems time to pay more attention to primitive thought – psychological and civic discovery during the period 8000 years ago to 4000 years ago.]