The Word
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1.
John begins his Gospel with “In the beginning,” perhaps referencing Genesis 1:1. The “old humankind” began with the first man, Adam. The “new humankind” began with the Second Man, Jesus Christ. Both the representative of the first humankind and the Representative of the New humankind come from God and are by God. Both were with God at the start of His creation of the world and of humankind. Therefore, both are sons of God (Luke 3:38; John 1:34).
The noun “Word” in John 1:1 does not refer to God’s spoken words but to His creative power. The entire Bible testifies to the “Word of God,” as seen in John 5:39. God spoke, and the universe came into existence, as shown in Genesis 1:1 and Hebrews 11:1. In Hebrews 11:1, Paul uses the Greek word “aionas,” meaning times and ages. Time is the beginning of the universe. The Greek noun “Logos,” or the Word, appears in various contexts in Greek philosophy and the Old Testament scriptures. However, in the Gospel of John, the Word clearly refers to God’s creative power. In the Greek New Testament, some passages do not capitalize the noun “Word,” while others do, reflecting ongoing debates among Christians about the true meaning of “Logos.” Does “Logos” refer to a unique divine being equal to God, or to the Creator Himself? Does it represent One God or the “Unified God”? This debate continues endlessly. The Greek phrase “and the Word was God” can also be translated as “and God was the Word,” emphasizing God’s creative power rather than merely His spoken words.
John’s introduction to his presentation of Jesus Christ is not to argue for the plurality of the Godhead but to affirm Jesus Christ’s divine origin. Humankind, as created in its representative Adam, was of divine origin. Consistent with their roots in an Earthly, temple-based religion, the apostles and first-century Christians worshiped only one God. As Paul emphasizes, Gentile Christians are “the wild olive branches grafted among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root” (Romans 11:17). John presents Jesus as the eternal Word of God because God, before creating humankind, determined to unite himself with fallen humankind in flesh and blood and redeem it from the kingdom of sin and darkness. The fall of humankind did not surprise God. God knew it before he began his creative work.
By presenting Jesus as the eternal Word of God, John emphasizes God’s love for humankind. Consequently, he portrays Jesus as the complete, final, and accurate revelation of God the Creator. Only Jesus, who was with God from the beginning, can truly reveal God to people. The Word is God the Father with us—Jesus Christ. “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9). The human spirit that God put in Jesus was with God before the creation. Jesus, as he was on earth, was the Son of God in his spirit; in flesh, however, He was the Son of Man.
The light. Read the next blog.