Gnosticism – chris cribari blog

John: Let There Be Light | 4-12-26

May 18, 2026Posted in SermonsTagged 1 John 1:1-5, A New Testament Theology, A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters, A.W. Tozer, Against Heresies, Andreas J. Köstenberger, Bible, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, Cosmic dualism, Craig L. Blomberg, Dune: Part Two, Enfleshment, Essenes, Genesis 1:1-5, Gnosticism, God, Great Fire of Rome, Greco-Roman, Irenaeus, Jesus, Jewish-Roman War, Johannine, John 1:1-5, John 20:30-31, John 21:20, John 21:24, John 8:12, Judaism, Koine Greek, Lazarus, Logos, Luke 1:1-4, Nero, Orthodox Study Bible, Peter A. Gillquist, Prochorus, Psalm 36:9, Qumran War Scroll, Second Temple, Sermon, Sirach 24:8-9, Sirach 4:12, Stoicism, Synoptics, The Lord of the Rings, The World’s End, Tim Mackie, Trinity, UP, Wisdom of Solomon 7:22-30, Wisdom of Solomon 8:5, Wisdom of Solomon 9:1-9, yetzer hara, Yetzer HatovLeave a comment

Photo Cred: (1) | Updated: 5/18/2026

Sermon Prep

This message I delivered the day before my short term medical leave started. Felt incredibly prepared and consider it one of my best. One of these days I’ll do my best sermons as a separate blogpost, but that’s for another day. I also treated this as an overview of John, as well as a sermon on John 1:1-5 so played double-duty here too. For now, here’s the YouTube recording and my notes below.

Sermon Notes

Opening Prayer

Father God, lead us this morning as we search the scriptures. Thank you for your Son whose sacrifice is our salvation. Dwell with us, Holy Spirit, as you teach us today. Amen.

Intro

Famous film prologues = Dune: Part Two, The Lord of the Rings, The World’s End, and UP.
- A prologue is like an abstract or movie trailer that hints at a greater story.

Main Point

John wrote to comfort others by reaffirming the personal union of Christ (enfleshment).
- That he’s an earthly human and God eternal, not just a teacher. → Why comfort?

Context of John’s Gospel

Background: Written in Ephesus, Asia Minor around 90 CE to the Greco-Roman world.
Who: John w/ Prochorus (Tradition) vs John w/ Johannine collaboration (Scholarship).

“Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper… This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true.” (John 21:20a, 24)

“John, the disciple of our Lord, who also had leaned upon his breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.” – Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses [Against Heresies], 3.1.1. Discipled by Polycarp who was discipled by John.

John was the eyewitness at the least and at most the author, yet he had additional help.
Before John’s Gospel, others attempted to write down the Apostles’ testimony of Jesus.

“Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I, too, decided, as one having a grasp of everything from the start, to write a well-ordered account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may have a firm grasp of the words in which you have been instructed.” (Luke 1:1-4)

→ Show Timeline Slide

Nero persecuted the early church causing communal disruption and martyrdom.
- Great Fire (Rome), Jewish-Roman War (Syria); Second Temple (Jerusalem).
  - Disruptions inspired Christians to write Synoptics before Apostles all died.
When John wrote his Gospel, he was the last Apostle with Christians looking to him now.
- Most likely written to comfort Diaspora Christians and Jews post-Second Temple.
  - With heresy rising and Christians/Jews heartbroken, they needed hope.

Structure of John’s Gospel

Themes: 7 “I am” statements, belief, witness, Jerusalem, life/light, love, and the signs.
- Structured by 3 Passovers, so 3 years of Jesus’ ministry (John 1-5, 6-10; 11-21).
- The midpoint of John’s Gospel is the resurrection of Lazarus, the greatest sign.
John’s Gospel shares 8-10% with the Synoptic Gospels, making it independent by design.

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30-31)

John is meant to be read meditatively multiple times, not fully understood in one sitting.

“What John wants you to do is not gain the maximum amount of info about Jesus. What he wants you to do is sit with these handful of carefully crafted portraits of Jesus.” – Tim Mackie

Let There Be Light | John 1:1-5 (NRSVue)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”

There’s a lot of influences in John’s Gospel, but Genesis stands out most in John 1:1-5.
- “In the beginning” (Dynamic) vs “When God began to create” (Formal).
- Genesis 1:1-5 (creation), John 1:1-5 (creator); 1 John 1:1-5 (created in Christ).
The Word in Koine Greek is logos, which was a well-known term in gnosticism/Stoicism.

“commonly used as an expression for the way God or the gods self-disclosed and communicated with humanity… But it was nevertheless an unprecedented step forward to equate the logos (or any other key background concept such as Wisdom or Torah) with a God-man.” – Craig L. Blomberg, A New Testament Theology (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2018), 585. See Sirach 4:12, 24:8-9 and Wisdom of Solomon 7:22-30, 8:5, 9:1-9 for more on how Jesus dwells among us as Torah/Wisdom.

The Word is Jesus the Son and he is with the Father and Spirit in a tri-unity (John 1:1-2).
- God the Son shares the same essence with God the Father and God the Spirit.
- These three persons are one God who have intimate belonging to each other.
- Yet God the Son is personally distinct from God the Father and God the Spirit.
John argues Jesus is our covenant mediator since he’s the creator of all things (John 1:3).

“John views creation as the first, inaugural act of salvation history and bases his account of Jesus’ coming into the world on this primal act… everything was made through the Word, and, conversely, that nothing was made apart from the Word.” – Andreas J. Köstenberger, A Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters: The Word, the Christ, the Son of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 179–80.

For Christians/Jews post-Second Temple, knowing Jesus as creator is comforting.

Some Bibles put “eternal life” instead of “life” by itself, given it’s implied (John 1:4).
Darkness and light motif alludes to the Qumran War Scroll from the Essenes (John 1:5).
- Cosmic dualism (darkness vs light) is the ANE concept of two spirits theology.
  - Judaism has yetzer hara and yetzer hatov (i.e. evil and good impulse).
    - This concept is radically changed subverting expectations.

“The word translated comprehend [or “overtake”] means both “understand” and “overcome.” Thus, darkness can never overpower the light of Christ, nor can it understand the way of love.” – The Orthodox Study Bible, ed. Peter A. Gillquist (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 1421.

Why It Matters

What kind of story are we entering? A comforting story for people who need Christ.
- A.W. Tozer describes John’s Gospel as mystical and personal, yet not theological.
  - Like the initial audience, we too need a comforting story in today’s chaos.

Power Text

“For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:9)

Jesus doesn’t just illuminate lives causing shadows to shrink, but he is the light of life.

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”” (John 8:12)

Outro

In your darkest night, let there be light. Find comfort in Jesus Christ and his eternal life.

Final Thoughts

Very engaging, yet fun message. Used the new pulpit for the first time because Joseph Morrison broke the old one. The new sound system Nate set-up in school worked great for the first time outside of one funny burst of noise. Very well received overall, but I did feel like I stuttered more than normal. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.

Footnotes

https://denverseminary.edu/giving/focused-giving/dr-craig-l-blomberg-endowed-chair-of-new-testament/

1 Corinthians: A Resurrection Hope Part 1 | 5-25-2025

May 1, 2026May 4, 2026Posted in SermonsTagged 1 Corinthians 15:1-34, 1 Peter 3:15-17, Bible, Cerinthus, Chris Cribari, Chris Cribari Blog, Christianity, Corinthian Creed, Exodus 23:16, Gnosticism, God, God’s Not Dead, Jesus, Marcion, Menander the Poet, Philippians 1:21, Romans 8:19-23, Romans 8:32-39, Sermon, ThaisLeave a comment

Updated: 5/1/2026

Sermon Prep

May 2025 was much more chill compared to April 2025. We had moved and been in our new place for a few weeks unpacking. We were out of our in-laws house on our own and my new role at my company was exciting to be doing something different. Life just made a lot more sense a year ago when we were freshly past the new changes on our plate. Above is a picture with two of my brothers who stopped by to see the new place shortly after the move.

Back to the message, it’s rare but does happen when doing sermon prep that a text necessitates a clean multi-part split. 1 Corinthians 15 is one of those texts that more than deserves space to learn from it and our leadership time decided just that. It’s different than when you’re preaching through a series and there’s overlap between chapters because in this case the content is the same. Both halves of this multi-parter are only about one thing: resurrection. The reason it justifies being a multi-parter is that there’s just so much to this text to cover adequately and that can’t be done well in one sermon. Heck, I could even see a church deciding to make this a 3 or 4 part mini series if they truly wanted to take their time. There’s just that much found within this extensive text.

Given life slowed down drastically after all the changes, I had most of May to navigate this 2-part teaching and didn’t feel any pressure to get it done in a timely manner. One of the few and far between opportunities where time was on my side. Like previous messages, my writing for my book and this 2-part sermon series had crossover so I felt even more prepared than normal to cover it too. Also, around this time we had difficulty with message recordings and this one just wasn’t recorded. Regardless, here’s the notes:

Sermon Notes

Opening Line

Why are you so happy and hopeful?

Intro

Story of presenting on the reliability of the Bible in college versus God’s Not Dead.

Main Point

1 Corinthians 15 is the crescendo of Ch. 7-14 just as 1 Corinthians 6 was for chapters 1-5.
There’s many things to hope for in life, but we have a resurrection hope in death.

A Resurrection Hope Part 1 | 1 Corinthians 15:1-34 (NRSVue)

“[1] Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, [2] through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. [3] For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures [4] and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures [5] and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6] Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. [8] Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. [9] For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. [10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me. [11] Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed. [12] Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? [13] If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised, [14] and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain and your faith is in vain. [15] We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. [16] For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. [17] If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins. [18] Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. [19] If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. [20] But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. [21] For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human, [22] for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. [23] But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. [24] Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. [25] For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. [26] The last enemy to be destroyed is death. [27] For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. [28] When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all. [29] Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? [30] And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? [31] I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. [32] If I fought with wild animals at Ephesus with a merely human perspective, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” [33] Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” [34] Sober up, as you rightly ought to, and sin no more, for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.”

Paul received the good news, which he then taught the Corinthians and they kept it.
- “To receive” indicates this was an oral tradition passed down to believers.
- That tradition is the Corinthian Creed (1 Corinthians 15:3-5), dated to the 30s AD.
In the Greek “one untimely born” means an abortion, miscarriage, and/or premature birth. So Paul is using this potential insult as a metaphor for his abnormal apostolic call.
Paul’s resurrection argument is in contrast to misconceptions about Jesus and the Trinity.
- Scripture Argument (1 Corinthian 15:3-4)
- Apostolic Argument (1 Corinthians 15:5-7)
- Logic Argument (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)
In the Old Testament, “the first fruits” were offered to God as foreshadows of future fruits (Exodus 23:16). Likewise, Jesus’ Resurrection is the first fruit of the resurrection of all believers (1 Corinthians 15:23).
“The end is the consummation of the Kingdom when Christ’s lordship over all will be fulfilled and He will offer creation up to God the Father (see Rom 8:19-23, 32-39). Although the Son (Verse 28) shares the same divine nature and dignity as the Father, He is subject to the Father because only the Father is the source of divinity. God being all in all refers to the common lordship of the Trinity over all things” – Orthodox Study Bible
In regards to “baptism on behalf of the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:29), what’s most likely is:
- The Corinthians were influenced by gnostics like Cerinthus or Marcion heretics.
- There were unbaptised dead believers, so Corinthians got baptised for them.
Paul quotes Menander the Poet’s Thais (i.e. Pride & Prejudice BC) | 1 Corinthians 15:33
- Great example of Paul using culture and scripture together to make a point.
Chapter 15 is like a mountain, in that it peaks at verse 34 and both sides build up to it.

Why It Matters

If there’s no resurrection, your faith in Jesus is hopeless yet we have a faith full of hope.

Power Text

Read 1 Peter 3:15b-17 (NRSVue)

“[15b] Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, [16] yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. [17] For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.”

Be confident in the hope within you and live in the reality of Christ’s resurrection power.

Outro

Our hope is in the living and risen Jesus, so for us “living is Christ and dying is gain.” – Philippians 1:21 (NRSVue)

Final Thoughts

The reception to the message was warm, but nothing noteworthy. In fact, I thought I bombed when three new people walked out before Table Talks during my prayer ending the sermon. So it was encouraging when I got to those group discussions that everyone else seemed to like it. Looking back I still feel good about this one.

What was a standout moment was right before I got up to preach, my former disciple (and my favorite son in the faith) Josh visited by surprise. It was so cool to catch up and see that he now is a youth leader helping run the youth group at LifeGate Denver where I used to be serve as a youth leader in their youth group. Love that dude and really proud of him. God is going to continue to do great things in his life. With that, Godspeed and Jesus bless.