The following outline and discussion questions have been prepared to accompany the Advent sermon on December 2/3, “The Word Was God” (John 1:1–5). The questions can be used for discussion in small groups or for personal reflection.

Sermon Outline

1. Who He Is (vv. 1–2)
2. What He Did (vv. 3–5)

Main Point of John 1:1–18: The Word is the Supreme Revelation of God (vv. 1, 18).

Discussion Questions

• What does John mean by the word “Word” in John 1:1–5? How does the Old Testament background help establish the meaning?
• What does John mean when he says that the “Word was with God” and “was God”? How do you explain that he was “with God” and “was God?” How can John affirm both things about the Word?
• What do verses 2–5 tell us about the Word’s work in this world? How does this give us the categories to understand the work of redemption that the Word will do as a new creation work?

Application Questions

• Are you a worshipper of Jesus? What do your “worship wars” look like as you fight to keep making him supreme and central?
• Do you believe that Jesus is the only or exclusive way to God and supreme revelation of God? How can you defend this belief in a world that denies it?
• Do you believe in the sufficiency of Jesus’ work—that his work of redemption is sufficient so that we don’t add to it, we only receive it? Do you ever struggle to believe it? How do you fight to keep resting in the finished work of Christ?

Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to believe and receive all that this passage says about Jesus and to rest in it.