The Word Became Flesh

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John 1:1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 
 

GENESIS 1:1
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

In his opening verse, John is deliberately echoing the famous opening lines of the Bible. Why? Because from the outset he wants us to understand that Jesus was not simply an ordinary man, but was God Incarnate—God become human. The same God who made everything was the one who—as John will narrate nineteen chapters later—was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

Note that from the very beginning, John is telling us something interesting:

· The Word is God;
· The Word is distinct from God.

Later Christians would describe God’s identity using the Trinity: one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. Here, John does not use trinitarian language (that will come later, especially in chapter 17). Rather, he just makes the simple point that the Word is God and also distinct from God.

The Greek word logos is translated here as “word.” Logos means “word,” but it also means “rational, organizing idea” or “message” or “reason.” I like to say that it’s as if John is saying “the mind behind the universe,” as in...

In the beginning was the Mind-Behind-The-Universe,
and the Mind-Behind-The-Universe was with God,
and the Mind-Behind-The-Universe was God.

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What else is John trying to convey by beginning his Gospel in this way?

 

In The Beginning Was...

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John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

 
 

The first eighteen verses of John’s Gospel are breathtaking in their simplicity and power. Did you notice how John’s language is simple, almost childlike? Look at the basic words John uses:

· Word · God · Life
· Light · Darkness · World
· Witness · Blood · Son
· Father · Etc.

In fact, John’s Greek vocabulary is so simple that, as a first-year Greek student in seminary, I was given John’s prologue to translate on my final exam!

But it is precisely John’s simple language that makes his prologue one of the most influential paragraphs in all human history—the power of the prologue is the way John joins the words together to convey in very simple language the most important event in the history of the universe: the Incarnation, whereby the God who made everything became an ordinary human. Each word is like a little LEGO block, and when each block is connected and you stand back and look at the finished structure, there is profundity and beauty to the whole.

As we will see, all the major themes of the entire Gospel are first mentioned in the prologue, and, like a master weaver, John will weave them together as he tells the story of Jesus. Pay attention to these words as the reappear throughout the rest of the book.

We are going to take our time working through the prologue over the next several weeks. Today, on the first day of the year, I’d recommend turning off everything and just sitting and reading these eighteen verses. Of all the things John could have said, why does he begin his Gospel in this way? Is there anything that jumps out at you? Train your eyes to look for reoccurrences of some of the key words from the prologue—light, life, witness, blood, etc.—when they later appear in the narrative.

JANUARY CHALLENGE:
I am going to memorize John 1:1–18 (the prologue) in the month of January. I’ll add one verse at a time, culminating in knowing all eighteen verses on Friday, January 24. Who’s with me?