What does it mean that the Word was in the beginning (John 1:1)?

Response

John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Gospel of John starts similarly to Genesis, known as the “book of beginnings.” The creation story in Genesis begins with the phrase “In the beginning «In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. », (Genesis 1:1),” which is translated from the Hebrew word bereshit. In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament), which shares the same language as the Gospel of John, the words used in Genesis 1:1a are the same as John 1:1a: en arche, or “in the beginning.”

“In the beginning was the Word” «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. », (John 1:1). To the audience receiving the gospel, John’s intentions in this statement would be clear—“the Word” is connected with the God of Israel, the Creator of all things. John further explains this idea two verses later in John 1:3, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (NASB). “The Word” is the sole means by which reality finds its existence—He is the Creator of all things, and without Him no created thing would exist. Before anything was created, “the Word” existed.

“The Word” is mentioned four times in the first chapter of John. Each occurrence provides context to

• describe the eternality of “the Word” (1:1a)

• describe the distinction of “the Word” from God (1:1b)

• describe the identity of “the Word” as God (1:1c)

• identify the person described by the phrase the Word (1:14)

Jesus Christ is “the Word” that was in the beginning . “Word” originates from the Greek term logos. Logos would have been a familiar concept for both the Jews «By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. », (Psalm 33:6) and the Greeks. The Jewish people would understand the word of God to signify the creative and communicative acts of their personal God. Greek philosophers used the concept to denote the reason, thinking, or mind of divine authority as words were used to articulate the thoughts of the one employing them. To both potential groups receiving John’s writing, the focus on the entity behind “the Word” was evident.

Interestingly, John employs Logos in the first verse of his prologue (John 1:1-18) while elucidating it in the final verse of the prologue. Similar to how Paul describes Jesus as revelatory (Hebrews 1:1-3;Colossians 1:15-20), John demonstrates that Jesus is the complete revelation of God when he states, “He [Jesus] has explained Him [the Father]” «No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. », (John 1:18, NASB).

“The Word” also has a connection with the Hebrew word dabar, which means “word, matter, word of God.” This Hebrew term, in conjunction with God’s name, Yahweh, appears 261 times in the Hebrew Old Testament and is most commonly translated as “the word of the Lord.” The frequent use of this phrase establishes a fundamental link between God and His personal engagement with His creation. Not only was everything created through the use of words «And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. », (Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26). However, God continues to interact with His creation through the use of words (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and the Word “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father except through me.'” , (John 14:6).

The statement “In the beginning was the Word” encapsulates the eternal nature of the Word, its creative power, and its revelatory aspect. As John later identifies the Word as Jesus (John 1:14-18), the purpose of the Gospel of John becomes evident – “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life through his name.”, (John 20:31). Jesus is the eternal Creator who reveals Himself – the focal point of a Christian’s faith. He is not merely a representation of God; He is God, and always has been: “In the beginning was the Word.” The subsequent chapters of the Gospel of John aim to validate this assertion.