This passage echoes with a resounding reverberation from the Old Testament. It takes us back to the creation. But there is a difference. In the Old Testament, Genesis begins by placing the emphasis upon God’s work of creation. Here the emphasis here is not upon God CREATING, but rather upon His BEING.

1. The Designation of the Word.

John’s reference to "the Word" brought with it all sorts of connotations. We can see and understand these as we become familiar with the religious and philosophical uses of this term in that day.

a. The Greek concept of the Word.

Plato had made reference to the logoV as that supreme principle of logic that allowed man to make sense of and to understand his world. As such, the logoV was seen by the Greeks as an impersonal force.

b. The Hebrew concept of the Word.

In Hebrew, a "word" can describe both the verbal designation of an object as well as the moving energy of that object. As such, the word of God in the Old Testament is able to refer to more than merely the teachings and proclamations of deity. It refers to the active power and force of God Himself.

By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,

And by the breath of His mouth all their host. (Psalm 33:6).

The word of the Lord indicated a personification of the manifested power of God.

It is interesting to note that the Aramaic Targums (paraphrases of the Scriptures) often used the Aramaic word Memra ("word") in the place of God. For example, the Targums say that Moses led Israel to meet, not with God at Sinai, but with the Memra (Word) of God at Sinai.

Does John have the Greek concept or the Hebrew concept in mind when he speaks of the Word who was in the beginning? I believe he had BOTH in mind -- Jesus is the One who bridges the Greek and the Hebrew world. He is both the One who orders and makes sense of the world and He is also God’s communication to man. He is the manifestation of God, for He is the One who is God and yet who became flesh.

2. The Identity of the Word.

This One known as "the Word" is identified in two different ways. This does not mean that He is two separate persons, but merely that there are two separate aspects to His being.

The Word was God	The Word became Flesh
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1).	"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14).

It is evident from this second passage that "the Word" is a reference to Jesus of Nazareth. It is equally evident from the first passage that we are meant to regard the man Jesus as being God.

A "word" is the verbal expression of thought. In the same way, Jesus is the visible expression and manifestation of God.

3. The Pre-Existence of the Word.

John 1:1 does NOT say that "in the beginning the Word came into being." Instead, it tells us that at the time of the beginning, the Word ALREADY WAS. The Word pre-existed. This is seen in the three statements of John 1:1.

m The Word pre-existed.

m The Word pre-existed with God.

m The Word pre-existed as God.

When we come to verse 14 we will see a change. When we come to that verse, we will see something take place that had not previously taken place. Instead of what "was" we will read of something that "became."

4. The Significance of the Word.

1. The Word with God.

When John says that the word was with God, this refers to more than merely a physical proximity. The phrasing describes a plane of equality and intimacy. We could translate it to say: the word was face to face with God. John uses a similar construction in 1 John 2:1 when he describes Jesus being our advocate WITH the Father.

This is the language of fellowship. That is significant. It means there was fellowship and communication taking place between the different members of the Godhead BEFORE the creation. This same true is described elsewhere in the Scriptures.

And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. (John 17:5).

Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24).

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him (Ephesians 1:3-4).

There was existence before the creation and this existence was personal and not static. There was no boredom. There was active relationship. The Father was active with the word and with the Holy Spirit.

This has some very practical implications, not only in how we view the past, but also how we hope for the future. We Christians have done a terrible job of building up a hope for heaven. Ask most Christians what will eternity be like and you will get visions of singing and playing harps for eternity. Most of us have a hard time staying focused on worship for a mere hour and a half. If we are to be honest, we will admit that to say we will be doing the same thing for all eternity sounds more like hell than like heaven.

This passage teaches us something different. It teaches that there was vital relationship from eternity past. I believe there will also be dynamic and vital relationships in the future. Yes, there will be worship, but it will be worship in the context of coming to know the workings of the infinite God whom we will spend all eternity getting to know and whom we will never exhaust.

2. The Word that was God.

Both students as well as scholars have struggled with this phrasing. The Greek text is a bit unusual in that both the subject as well as the object of the verse is given in the nominative form. This is done in Greek when you want the subject takes an equalitive verb like "is." Thus, to say that "John is a man," the name "John" is the subject while "man" would be the predicate nominative. This same construction is found in verse 8 when we read of John the Baptist that "he was not that light."

It should be pointed out that the Greek language does not contain the indefinite article. It is for this reason that Jehovah’s Witnesses have attempted to translate this to say that "the word was A god." Such a translation might have been possible were it not for the Greek word order. The word QeoV is specifically moved to the front of the sentence for emphasis.

Greek Construction	English Translation	Would Signify
kai o logoV hn o Qeon	And the word was the God	Jesus is the Father (Sabellianism)
kai o logoV hn Qeon	And the word was a God	A denial of the deity of Christ (Arianism)
kai QeoV hn o logoV	And the word was God	Jesus is God (Orthodoxy)

It is this last construction that is found here in John 1:1. Note that the word order has been changed for the sake of emphasis. John wanted you to clearly get the point that the Word was God.

3. The All-Creating Word: All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:3).

1. The Bringer of Light and Life: In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:4).

Just as John took us back to the creation of the world in his first three versus, so now he continues to draw on the description of God’s creative work in Genesis 1. Following the initial act of creation, the next thing of which we read in Genesis 1 is the creation of light. John also moves to speak of Jesus and His relation to that light.

Jesus is the source of both life and light. But that is not all. There is also a relationship between these two qualities. One brings forth the other.

Life

º Brings forth º

Light

I would have been tempted to reverse these. It seems natural that when you come to the light and you see things as they really are, then you enter into life. But that is not the order that John uses. He says it the opposite way. He says that life brings forth light.

When you come to the One who gives life, you get life, but you also get something more. You get light. You get that which allows you to see in a dark place.

Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12).

Those who have not come to faith in Christ are in darkness. They cannot see where they are going. They have no ability to perceive the spiritual reality around them. They look at life the way a blind man looks at a beautiful painting. It is only when men partake of the life that is in Christ that they are able to see things in their true perspective.

The world says, "Let me see and then I will believe." The Lord tells us it is exactly the opposite: "Believe and then you will see."

Notice the use of the present tense. John does not say that the light was once shining in darkness. He tells us this is an ongoing process. The light shines in darkness (1:5). This indicates it is still happening. Light continues to shine in darkness.

This introduces what will be a continuing contrast throughout the Gospel of John. It is a contrast between light and darkness.

Light	Darkness
Symbolizes Jesus Christ (John 8:12).	Symbolizes unbelievers (John 3:20).
God’s truth.	Error.
God’s revelation.	Ignorance.
God’s eternal life.	Eternal death.
God’s righteousness.	Sin.

The world today continues to abide in darkness. In the midst of that darkness, a light continues to shine. It is the light of the gospel. It is the light of Christ. It shines forth from the people of God -- the church.

2. The Conflict against Light and Life: And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:5).

1. John was sent from God: There came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. (John 1:6).

This is a play on words, for the name John is a Hebrew name meaning, "Gift of Yahweh." John’s name pointed to the fact that John was a gift from God.

2. John was a witness of the Light: He came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the light (John 1:7).

John had a special purpose. He came to be a witness. He came to bear witness of the light. When I think of a witness, my mind naturally goes to a courtroom. A witness is one who bears testimony of what he has seen. He need not be highly educated. He simply has to have seen that of which he will bear witness.

We are called to a similar purpose. We are called to bear witness of what God has done in our lives. We need not be highly trained theologians or scholars or preachers or teachers. We simply need to have experienced the grace of God in our lives.

3. John’s purpose was that men might believe: He came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the light, that all might believe through him. (John 1:7).

John the Baptist’s purpose is mirrored by the purpose of the author of this gospel account. He will make reference to it at the end of his book.

Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31).

The book begins and ends with a call to believe. That is the purpose of this book. It is that you might hear the testimony of those who saw the signs and that you might believe.

4. John was not the Light: He was not the light, but came that he might bear witness of the light. (John 1:8).

1. The Word that Enlightens: There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. (John 1:9).

The author will return to the topic of John the Baptist and his witness in verse 15, but for now, he wants to speak of the light of which John bore witness. The writer wants us to know something about that true light -- it enlightens every man.

Does this mean that all men are saved? Does it mean that all men receive the same amount of light? No. But it does mean that all mankind is without excuse. No one will ever be able to plead ignorance before the throne of God, for all men have been enlightened by the coming of Christ.

N He has enlightened mankind through nature. Romans 1:20 says that the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. When a man looks at the world around him, he is seeing the evidence of the Creator.

He has enlightened men through miracles. This will be a major theme in the Gospel of John. A number of miracles will be cited as giving evidence to the authenticity of Jesus as the Son of God.

He has enlightened men through the apostles and prophets, men whom He sent as His spokesmen to the world.

He has enlightened men through the Scriptures which today have been translated into every language under the sun.

In seeking to understand the meaning of this phrase, it is helpful to list all of the POSSIBLE interpretations and then discuss their merits. 1. It means that all people everywhere are saved (I don't buy this, as there is an abundance of Scripture to show that it just isn't so). 2. It means that all people everywhere have been given some knowledge of salvation (again, I have difficulty with this because history seems to indicate that it hasn't been the case). 3. It means that the light of the gospel has been made known throughout the world so that men in general have the opportunity to hear (as opposed to only those in Israel as was so often the case before Christ). The problem with this is that unbelievers are here called simply, the darkness (v 5), and they are still very much in the dark by chapter three (3:19). 4. It is a reference to all of the elect (even though I am also a 5-point Calvinist, I don't buy this one as it seems to be reading too much into the text). 5. It means that all who believe show that they have been enlightened (this sounds like #4 but is a bit different). This would have support from the conext which goes on to speak of how the world did NOT know Him (therefore it cannot refer to everybody) and that even His own did not receive Him, BUT there were SOME who did receive Him and these were not only enlightened, but also became Children of God. What John is saying is that any light that is given is given by Christ, and anyone who believes can be enlightened. This is a very common understanding of such a phrase. If a person sees an advertisement on TV for a sale, and the voice-over says, "Come see the savings! Free hot dogs for everyone!" Surly it would be understood that the reference to everyone is restricted to only the people who take a hot-dog.

2. The Word Unknown: He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. (John 1:10).

In spite of the enlightenment described in the previous verse, the world in general remained willingly ignorant of the Light. Even those who were His own people -- the Jews -- did not receive that Light.

The story is told of a once-upon-a-time kingdom. It was known as the Kingdom of the Blind. One day, a man who was able to see came to this land. He began to tell these blind people about light and color and beauty that was around them but which they could not see.

The blind citizens did not believe him. The demanded that he stop his foolish teachings and they told him that he would be permitted to continue to live among them only if he agreed to have his eyelids sown shut by the local doctors. When he refused, he was arrested. After a public trial in which all of the evidence was examined, he was declared guilty of heresy and condemned to death.

The world today is blind to the spiritual world. When Jesus came to earth, it was to declare truth concerning the spiritual world to which men have been blinded. That truth has been rejected, but not by all. There are some who have received the word.

3. The Word Rejected: He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. (John 1:11).

Those who ought to have known and understood and accepted Jesus as the word of God were the Jews. They were guardians of the promises of God. They knew all about the promises of the coming Messiah.

N That he would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

N That he would be a descendant of David (Isaiah 11:1).

N That He would be preceded by a forerunner (Isaiah 40:3).

N That He would teach people the ways of the Lord (Isaiah 42:1-4).

N That He would be pierced for the sins of men (Isaiah 53:5-6).

N That He would redeem His people (Isaiah 59:20).

4. The Word Received: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13).

In verse 1, we identified the Word as being the one who was in the beginning with God and who, in the beginning, was God. Now we see the Word becoming flesh. As such, this verse becomes a pivotal point in the passage. It is the fulcrum that brings into line all that has been said up to now.

1. He Became Flesh that He might live among us: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (1:14).

The story is told of a little girl who cried out to her mother from her bedroom, "Mommy, I’m afraid to be in my dark room alone." Her mother replied, "It’s okay, Honey. The Lord is with you." She called back, "Yes, but I want someone with skin on." Jesus is God "with skin on." And He has come so that we never have to be afraid again.

In the Old Testament, God had manifested Himself in thunder and lightning, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He had approached men through a sacrificial system - by the blood of bulls and of goats. There was a mediator in the priesthood and a holy place in the Temple - and before that, the Tabernacle.

This passage says that "the Word dwelt among us." It reads literally, "He TABERNACLED among us." In the same way that people used to have to come to the Tabernacle and later to the Temple to meet God, it is now through Jesus that we must come to meet God.

Notice also that in becoming flesh, the Word did something He had not previously done. There is a dramatic difference between the verbs of verse 1 and verse 14.

Verse 1	Verse 14
In the beginning WAS the Word...	The Word BECAME flesh...
Imperfect tense indicates continuing action in the past.	Aorist tense indicates an action that took place in a point in time.
Language of continuing existence	Language of change as the Word became something that He previously was not

The Word took on flesh and, in doing so, brought about a change that will have eternal repercussions. The One who became God and man stayed that way. The One who was touched by a band of Galilean disciples is today worshiped by angels.

2. He became flesh that we might behold His glory: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father (John 1:14).

One of my favorite stories in the Old Testament is where Moses goes to the Lord and says, "Lord, I want to see your glory." God says to him, "Moses, you can’t do that, for to see me is to die. Here is what I will do. I will have you stand in a cleft of this rock and I will cover you with My hand and I will cause My goodness to pass by and then, after I have passed, I will remove My hand and you will see my afterglow."

The coming of Jesus is the answer to the prayer of Moses: "Show me your glory." For the disciples saw the glory of Jesus and recognized it for what it was - the glory of the only begotten from the Father.

3. He became flesh that we might know Grace and Truth: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14).

What is grace? It is related to the idea of a gift. It describes that which is given without expectation of reward or repayment. The Greek word is cariV.

Here lies the difference between the pagan use of cariV versus that which is used by Christians. The Greeks used it to describe the actions of an individual toward his friend. Grace was always directed toward someone who was a friend, never toward an enemy.

1. The Unseen God: No man has seen God at any time (1:18).

There were many manifestations of God in the Old Testament. He appeared in a flaming bush, in a still, small voice and, most commonly, as "the angel of the Lord." But in none of these cases were people actually seeing God. God is invisible. He is unseeable. He cannot be seen.

This is why it was considered a sin to try to make an image of God. To try such a thing was to try to make seen that which was unseeable. It was a denial of the invisible quality of God.

It is also why I don’t consider it a sin for artists or movie makers to attempt to portray an image of Jesus. He COULD be seen. He was the visible image of the invisible God.

2. The Only Begotten God (1:18).

When you examine the different Greek manuscripts that contain the Gospel of John, they are divided when it comes to this verse.

The Only Begotten God	The Only Begotten Son
monogenhV qeoV	o monogenhV uioV
Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi Rescriptus, Irenaeus, Clement, Origen	Alexandrinus and the Textus Receptus

Notice that the only difference is between two letters in the Greek that tend to look alike (qE with UI). Which reading is the correct one? I am not really certain. The truths taught by either one are doctrinally correct. Jesus is both the "only begotten God" as well as the "only begotten Son."

3. The Explanation of God: The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:18).

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