Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - John 1:1-51
Agnosticism, Positivism and Materialism John 1:1 John outstrips Genesis. He begins the record of the world anew, but starts from a deeper starting-point. In Genesis the history of the world arises out of the God of Creation. In John there is a deeper starting-point: history commences with the God of redemption. I. This, then, is the first assertion we have to consider Redemption is older than Creation. God the Saviour is a more fundamental fact than God the Creator. Redemption was not an... read more
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - John 1:2
(2) The same was.—This is a summary in one clause of the three assertions made in the first verse.The same, that is, the Word who was God, existed before any act of creation, and in that existence was a person distinct from God. Yet it is more than a re-statement. We have arrived at the thought that the Word was one in nature with God. From this higher point of view, the steps below us are more clearly seen. The Word was God; the eternal pre-existence and personality are included in the thought. read more