John 1:1, part 1

Some Thoughts regarding the First Seventeen Passages of the First Chapter of John

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

 What is meant here by “In the beginning?” Is it not as it is written in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” At this point, in the beginning of the revelation of God beginning with the creation of all things, the Word was with God and was God.

  The Word is not said to become with God or become God, but already was. Why do the scriptures state that the Word was with God and was God? Does this verse not teach that the Word is a union of two that was with God and that was God?

  How are we to understand the statement “and the Word was with God?” The Greek word πρὸς translated “with” carries with it a very specific and deep sense. Its meaning causes us to fully understand what the Apostle John under the inspiration of God is telling us.

  I quote here by permission from a dear preaching brother, who studied this word in preparation for a sermon on John 1:1, 2. “God gives you and me a Savior who is present with the Father. There is one little word in the second phrase of verse one that is a powerful little word. It gives us tremendous insight into our Savior, His Person, and His relation to God the Father. It is a little preposition that is translated “with.”

  You say, “Well preacher, I don’t get it. What’s the big deal about the word ‘with’? It just means that the Word was in the same place God was.”

  Well, yes. But there is much more. It tells us that our Savior interacts with the Father. The Greek word actually means “face to face.” It implies a very close, intimate fellowship, as one person speaking face to face with another person as they share with one other very private and personal things about themselves.

  That’s something of the picture this word would have produced in the hearts and minds of those who first read this gospel. The Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, before anything was created, was in intimate and perfect fellowship with God the Father.

  This little Greek word also tells us that our Savior has a distinct personality. He was no impersonal concept such as the Greeks had of “the Word.” O no! He is a person. Being face to face with the Father tells us that the Word has a distinct personality and relates to the Father as a unique individual, as a person….” (Emphases are mine.)

  When I first read his observation, my mind was immediately directed to Philippians 2:6 speaking of Christ Jesus: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”

  The Word is an unique individual that stood in a special relationship to God the Father, specifically, He stood in an intimate, distinct position as both God the Word and the only begotten Son of the Father. Here we are taught the precreative unique Being of our Lord Jesus Christ, God-man Mediator, Savior, King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Creator and Sustainer of all things seen and unseen.

  Consider a few scriptures to bear up our Lord Jesus Christ’s precreative existence: Ephesians 3:9-11 teaches us, “And to make all [men] see what [is] the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly [places] might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

  Let us consider two obvious truths that our Lord God has revealed to us in these three passages.

  First, we note that God (Father, Word, and Spirit) created all things by Jesus Christ. If God created all things by Jesus Christ, then Jesus Christ existed prior to creation.

  Second, God (Father, Word, and Spirit) had an eternal purpose that He purposed in Jesus Christ our Lord. This purpose was that both Jew and Gentile should be fellow (or joint) heirs, of the same body, and partakers of God the Father’s promise in Christ and (Eph 3:6.) God had a precreative purpose in Christ Jesus. Therefore, Jesus Christ existed prior to creation.

  This same truth can be read throughout the scriptures. Consider what we are taught in 1 Timothy 1:8, 9:
“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”

  God’s purpose and grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began; therefore, Christ Jesus existed before the world began. Lord willing, I will continue with my exposition of this verse.