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Examination of John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." KJV The Purpose
To begin, we must first understand the purpose of John's writing. To know why he wrote this Gospel, we simply need to turn to John 20:30-31 which says, "And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you might have life through his name." KJV The gospel of John is an account of Jesus' life and ministry. The purpose in writing it is so that mankind may know about Him, and receive eternal life. The Terminology Used In verse 1 the phrase, "In the beginning was the Word" refers to the beginning of the account of Jesus Christ. But what is meant by the phrase, "In the beginning?" The phrase is very similar to what is used in Genesis 1 to describe creation. What is meant in this passage, is also similar to Genesis 1. Not that there was a specific time when God began to exist, but rather, what is meant by this is before mankind existed. In the infinite past God existed. Before our Earth or timeline of history as we know it, God existed. Next, the question must be asked of what is meant by, "the Word." By looking down at verse 4, we know that John was teaching that the Word was none other than Jesus Christ. It is true that the Greek phrase used in this passage for Word is the term "logos." Most students of Greek know that this normally means word. But, this is an oversimplification of the true definition. A better understanding of the term logos, would be to say that it means a "Divine Expression." Colossians 1:15 tells us that Jesus is, "the image of the invisible God." What is meant in John 1 is that, "In the beginning, before our world was ever created by God, was the Divine Expression." John is using the term logos, which is translated Word in our Bibles, to refer to Jesus Christ. Looking further at the Greek structure of this passage confirms this. So the Apostle John is conveying that Jesus Christ has always been. Then following in the next two parts of the verse, John says that the Word, again referring to Christ, was with God and the Word was God. Unfortunately our Bibles don't communicate as well as the original languages with what is being said in the phrase, "the Word was with God and the Word was God." The idea behind this, is not that Jesus was just merely with God the Father. A better understanding would be to say that Jesus was abiding with God the Father, as the Second Person of the Trinity. The Meaning To fully grasp what John meant, we must put this into historical context. The Jews of the day thought that the logos was the expression of God. For the Greeks, the logos was the principle reason or immanent order of the universe. John's opening statement in his gospel served to reach out to those two groups of people. To the Jews, John was telling them that the Divine Expression of God is none other than the person of Jesus Christ. To the Greeks he was saying, that the universal reason that controls the universe that they believed in did exist, but it existed in the person of Jesus Christ. John's goal in verse 1 of Chapter 1 is not a commentary on our written Word of God that we have today called the Bible. Rather, it is instead a statement to the world, that Jesus Christ is God! We hope this helps you in your faith! |
