The Word in the Beginning
Purposely, the opening lines of John 1 match those of Genesis 1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1)1 resembles “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him” (Joh 1:1-3). Writing Genesis, Moses continues, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness” (Gen 1:3-4). In parallel, John adds, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Joh 1:4-5). So both Moses and John unveil the glory of the eternal God whose spoken word powerfully makes the universe, creates light, overwhelms darkness, begets life, reveals truth, and transforms all it reaches.
Twice in his prologue John calls the Lord Jesus “the Word.” God is a relational Being who longs to bless His creatures by revealing Himself to them. He created language as the foremost means to transmit truth and build relationships. Through the medium of words, information passes from His mind to ours. So the Holy Spirit inspired John to name the Lord Jesus “the Word” because the Son of God communicates God’s mind and will to men. But the Word is not merely the Middleman who transfers truth from God to people; rather, He is the Truth (Joh 14:6). He is not only the Messenger but also the Message itself. Old Testament prophets were mere mouthpieces that reported snippets of divine truth to Israel, but in these last days God has spoken to us “in Son” – in a Son-revelation (Heb 1:2, literal translation). Thus, to hear the Word is to hear the voice of God Himself; to see and know the Son is to see and know His Father also (Joh 14:9). The Lord Jesus is the total Message – all that God can communicate to man, God’s last Word.
The Word and God
The “Word” is no abstract principle or impersonal force bridging the transcendent God and the material universe; He is a divine Person who existed before time, space and matter. In eternity, the Word was face to face with God, and yet the Word Himself was God. Scripture solves this paradox by proclaiming that God is a Trinity – three Persons with one Nature. The Word – the Son – eternally existed in loving fellowship with the Father and the Spirit. Like the Father and the Spirit, the Word is a distinct Person who speaks of Himself as “I” and to the Others as “You.” The Trinity is not one God appearing in three forms, but one God existing in three Persons, each fully God.
The Word and Creation
In Hebrew thinking, God’s Word was more than an intelligible sound; it was an independent entity, a bullet of energy capable of accomplishing whatever God intended: “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa 55:11). In Genesis 1, the 10 occurrences of the phrase “and God said” show God releasing His creative energy by mere speech. The psalmist wrote, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host. … For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” (Psa 33:6-9).
John clarifies that the Creator is the Word. Paul adds, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:16-17). “By him” shows that He is the omniscient Planner; “through him” that He is the omnipotent Producer; and “to him” that He is the glorious Purpose of all He made. The author of Hebrews further shows that the Son’s divine energy continues to operate as He “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb 1:3).
The Word Incarnate
In Genesis, God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (1:26). God created Adam as head of the first creation to foreshadow His intention to appoint a Man – His Son – as Head over the renewed creation. But while Adam became human by creation, the Lord Jesus became human by incarnation. The eternal Word stepped into the cosmos He had created. Remaining fully God, he became fully human by the miracle of the Virgin Birth (Isa 7:14; Mat 1:18-25; Luk 1:26-38). As the Son of God, He is one of three Persons sharing a single nature; as the Son of Mary, He is a single Person with two natures. John writes, “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” (Joh 1:14).
Although God’s glory once dwelt in the tent of meeting (Exo 40:34) and in the temple (1Ki 8:10-11), that glory had long since departed from disobedient Israel (Eze 9:3; 10:4,18; 11:22-23). “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman” (Gal 4:4) so that His glory – now in human form – might dwell with His people again. When the Word became Flesh, the transcendent God could be heard, seen and touched (1Jn 1:1). Recalling the image of Israel’s tent of meeting where Yahweh dwelt between the cherubim, John writes that the Word “tented” among us (Joh 1:14, literal translation). As the Shekinah – the visible manifestation of God’s special presence2 – filled the wilderness tent, so in the Lord Jesus “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 2:9). When Christ foretold His death for the first time, He said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Joh 2:19), showing that His temple-body was the Holy of Holies where God abode.
John draws us into his Gospel with this compelling prologue that glows with the glory of the Word. John begins by asserting “the Word was God” and ends by repeating this truth: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (Joh 1:18). The Word, now human, remains the unique One, Himself God, eternally in the bosom of His Father. John urges us to welcome the Word to dwell in our hearts as well. He gives those who believe in His Name the right to become children of God (v12), making His Father our Father and His God our God (20:17).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the ESV.
2 Shekinah derives from Hebrew shakan, “to reside.”
