John 1:1

This chapter falls easily into five divisions: (1) the prologue, John 1:1-18; (2) the deputation from Jerusalem to John the Baptist, John 1:19-28; (3) the events of the next day after that deputation, John 1:29-34; (4) the events of the second day after the deputation, John 1:35-42; and (5) the events of the third day following the historic interview with John the Baptist, John 1:48-51. Thus, aside from the prologue, this chapter records the events of only four days of Jesus' ministry. Appropriately, it begins with the words, "In the beginning," for a number of important beginnings appear in it, such as:

The beginning of all things, John 1:3.

The beginning of the recognition of Jesus as the Son of God, John 1:34.

The beginning of Jesus' disciples, John 1:41.

The beginning of the apostleship, John 1:41f.

The beginning of the use of the title, Son of Man, John 1:51.

The beginning of Jesus' public ministry.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

The eternal existence of the Lord Jesus Christ and his absolute identification with God and as God are unequivocally stated in the first line of this gospel; and this may be considered the theme of the whole Gospel, every word and every event of the entire narrative having been skillfully chosen by the narrator for the purpose of proving the Godhead of Jesus Christ and of persuading people to believe in him. From this opening word to the end of the Gospel, there is not the slightest deviation from the sacred author's intention of presenting Jesus Christ as God come in the flesh for the purpose of human redemption, and to whom every person owes the uttermost worship and devotion.

In the beginning ... is like the opening words of Genesis; and, by such a choice of words, the apostle John evaluates the new creation through Jesus Christ in the same category of importance as the physical creation itself, and, in fact, being another creative act of the same Word which was active in the first. A bolder beginning cannot be imagined.

Was the Word ... The Greek word [logos] from which Word is translated was widely known in the world of John's day, being found some 1,300 times in the writings of Philo,[1] a Hellenistic Jew of Alexandria (30 B.C. to 40 A.D.). However, John owed nothing to Philo, who taught that "the absolute purity, perfection, and loftiness of God would be violated by direct contact with imperfect, impure, and finite things."[2] He even went so far as to say that "God could not be conceived of as actively concerned with the multiplicity of individual things."[3] Philo's [logos] had no hard identity of any kind, being called the "reason of God" in one view, and in another, "a distinct individual, or hypostasis, standing between God and man." Philo's [logos] did not create anything, for matter was viewed by him as eternal; and it is impossible to form any intelligent harmony out of Philo's writings on the [logos], described in the Encyclopedia Britannica as "self-contradictory." It was the inspired genius of the apostle John which seized upon this word, applied it to Christ, and gave it a meaning as far above anything that Philo ever dreamed as the heavens are above the Nile Delta where Philo lived. The Word, as applied to Jesus Christ, is found only four times in the New Testament, twice in this prologue (John 1:1,14), in 1 John 1:1, and in Revelation 19:13.

John's use of "Word" [Greek: logos] for Christ Jesus might have been suggested by Psalms 33:6, "By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made," a passage which, according to Hendriksen, represents the Word of God as a person.[4] Whatever the source of the thought that led John to so designate Christ, it was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit and perfectly appropriate. A word, in the primary meaning of the term, is a vessel for the conveyance of an idea; and Christ was the vessel which conveyed the true idea of God to humanity. As Jesus stated it. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).

And the Word was with God ... means that our Lord was intimately associated with the Father upon a parity and equality with him. Hendriksen's bold translation of this place is:

He himself was in the beginning, face to face with God. The fully divine Word, existing from all eternity as a distinct Person, was enjoying loving fellowship with the Father. Thus, the full deity of Christ, his eternity, and his distinct personal existence are confessed once more, in order that heretics may be refuted and the church may be established in the faith and love of God.[5]

And the Word was God ... This truth might have been deduced from either of the two preceding clauses, but the apostle left nothing to chance, categorically affirming in this third clause that the Word was indeed God, a truth reaffirmed at the end of the prologue (John 1:18), and again by the apostle Thomas (John 20:28). John's estimate of the deity of Christ does not exceed that of other New Testament writers. For a detailed study of ten New Testament passages that call Jesus "God," see my Commentary on Hebrews, John 1:8.

The apostle's doctrine of the [Greek: logos] is thus seen to differ from the [logos] of Greek philosophy in these particulars: (1) The New Testament [logos] is God; (2) is personal; (3) created all things, including matter; and (4) became flesh and dwelt among human beings. To presume that John got anything like that out of Philo's [logos] is like supposing that Thomas Jefferson got the Declaration of Independence out of McGuffy's Third Reader!

On the statement here that the "Word was God," Dummelow declared that this means that Christ was divine, and is therefore to be worshipped with the same worship as is due the Father.[6]

[1] William Hendriksen, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1961), p. 69.

[2] Encyclopedia Britannica (Chicago: William Benton, 1961), Vol. 17, p. 740.

[3] Ibid.

[4] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 70.

[5] Ibid., p. 71.

[6] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Whole Bible (New York: Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 774.