LIFE THROUGH HIS NAME

LUKE. Luke goes back before the advent of Christ, to the birth of the

forerunner, John the Baptist. He begins with an explanatory

prologue, to Theophilus, and opens his Gospel with the words:

`There was in the days of Herod, the King of Jud -a, a certain

priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia' (1:5).

JOHN. John gives no genealogy, as Matthew does; he goes back to an

earlier beginning than that referred to by Mark; and he speaks

of a time and a sphere in which the Lord could have had no

forerunner. He begins with the words: `In the beginning was

the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God'

(1:1).

The first eighteen verses of this Gospel constitute a marvellous and

awe-inspiring prologue to the rest of the book.  The prologue

enunciates the theme, and the rest of the Gospel elaborates it and

demonstrates its truth. The central and largest section of the Gospel is

a golden chain of eight links, the eight `signs' selected by John about

which the whole Gospel narrative is woven. On either side of these

eight `signs' we have a reference to specially prepared witnesses. The

simplest possible analysis, therefore, of the Gospel according to John

is as follows:

A 1:1-18.

The PROLOGUE. The theme enunciated.

A 1:19 to 21:25.

The GOSPEL. The theme elaborated.

Taking the second member A, we can set it out in its simplest form

as follows:

B 1:19-51.

WITNESSES.

C 2:1 to 21:14.

SIGNS.

WITNESSES.

This simple structure naturally contains a wealth of detail and its

gradual unfolding will, we trust, be a joy and rejoicing of heart, as we

go forward in this labour of love. Each of the members denominated

`Witnesses' may be subdivided as follows:

B 1:19-51. WITNESSES.

a 1:19-34. The witness of John the Baptist. `This is the record

... I saw and bare record'.

b 1:35-51. Andrew, Simon the son of Jona, Philip,