In The Beginning...

John 1:1-5   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 apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The Apostle John, the disciple ‘whom Jesus loved’, gives to us the reality of the person of Jesus Christ in such a magnificent way. John makes an assertion here, without discussion or apology, that Jesus Christ is none other than the God of Genesis 1-2. The truth of this foundational reality is so very evident by John’s prologue that it actually may be hard to miss without considering a few key factors about the text.

The beginning of the passage is a clear marker of John’s intentions. Unmistakably, he begins his book the same way that Moses began his book of origins, “In the beginning”. It seems to me that it is not only important to understand what this is saying but also what this indicates about the rest of the passage, verses 2-5. John tells us that the Word was in the beginning. The questions that come up, or should come up, are: the beginning of what? What is the Word? Why did he write ‘Word’ in reference to the Person who was in the beginning? What does this mean to John and thus indicate what he is trying to teach his audience?

To answer the first question, ‘in the beginning’ is a watershed statement that includes all things that began. That is, everything has a beginning and whenever that was, the Word existed then. To a faithful Jew like John, this would no doubt refer to Genesis 1:1 where Moses also wrote ‘in the beginning’. This is the beginning of creation. This is the beginning of the existence of time. This is the beginning, even, of the redemption plan of God (Ephesians 3:8-10). It is primarily the reality of the beginning of the created universe that is in view here and that takes care of the rest. Moses wrote, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ John tells us that in that ‘beginning’ the Word was present. This teaches us that the Word, personified (v.2a), was existent prior to the beginning. However, this does not indicate that He was created at the same time as the universe. Also, John seems to call Jesus the ‘Word’ in reference to the speaking that God the Father did in creation. That is, God spoke and things came into being, i.e. existence. Thus, Jesus is that Word that was spoken and was the agent of creation. This is seen in v.3 that ‘all things came into being through Him’. It seems that John is giving an explanation of creation in light of the person of Jesus Christ.  This same Jesus Christ, who is the topic of his gospel, is the same Son of God who existed in eternity past and was the instrument, agent, of creation. Jesus Christ, John is asserting, is God. This is absolute divine revelation given to John. It coincides with Genesis and gives further purpose and direction to the rest of the book as John continues to prove Jesus’ deity via signs. But the prologue of his book is a statement without explanation and without apology, about the eternal nature and divine origin of Jesus Christ. The reader should think to himself, “How is this possible?!” John starts at the highest of truths and never comes down from there throughout his entire book.