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| Graphic from FLY:D on Unsplash |
The Gospel of John opens with the same three words that the book of Genesis opens with, "In the beginning".
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. – John 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ‒ Genesis 1:1
Genesis 1:1 says in the beginning, God. John 1:1 says in the beginning, the Word. John, in making this comparison, is simply saying that the Word, who was present at the creation, was God. The Word, a term that draws on the rich Jewish Wisdom literature, is God identified in a unique way as part of the godhead.
Therefore, the Word, as the Creator, is the one and same God of Genesis:
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
For us all, these important words to note:
In him was life, and that light was the light of men.
It's in the past tense because John is speaking of a historical figure, and John goes on to give us a clearer picture of this divine person referred to as the Word:
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14
We know that the Word who became flesh is Jesus Christ. He is God who took on human flesh or human form. He did that as a way to reveal the Father, which John mentions just a few verses later.
"No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known." – John 1:18
Older translations of the Bible render "one and only" as "only begotten", and in the Nicene Creed Jesus is "begotten not made". However, Jesus is "generated" by the Father, so that "begotten" means having a "unique" relationship with the Father.
In passing, for those who are already finding the doctrine of the Trinity ‒ Father , Son, and Holy Spirit as three divine persons who are the one God ‒ hard to take, here is one way of coming to terms with it all:
In God we see the Father—the “being one” [pure being] and first principle of life in the Godhead; the Son—the “knowing one”, who is the Word who proceeds from the Father; and the Holy Spirit—the “willing one”—the bond of love between the Father and Son who proceeds as love from the Father and Son. These “three” do not “equal” one if we are trying to say 3=1 mathematically. These three are distinct realities, relationally speaking, just as my own being, knowing, and willing are three distinct realities in me. Yet, in both God and man these three relationally distinct realities subsist in one being. (Source)
Relating this to the truth about the source of creation that the poetic account of Genesis conveys, if we put together Genesis 1:1-2 – "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth [...] and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" – and John 1:1 we see that God the Father was present, God the Son in the form of the Word, and also the Holy Spirit. God reveals who he is from the very beginning.
To narrow the focus again: The Word existed before creation and outside time, as the International Bible Commentary states, but most importantly for us to understand, the Word is God.
To say that it was "a god", divine but not equal to God, misrepresents what is said of the Word become flesh in the rest of John's gospel (cf. 20:28 - "Thomas said to him, 'My Lord and my God!'"). Further, "a major concern of John is to profess and establish faith in the divinity of Jesus as God's unique and uniquely beloved Son (v1:18)".
The Commentary goes on:
This notion of sonship draws attention to equality in nature, since a child is as truly human as are the parents. Jesus has the genes of God, so to speak, and is truly God (cf.10:33 –"We are not stoning you for any of these [miracles]," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.")
Finally, to stress the point highlighted in my introduction about our responsibility to ourselves to harken to the Word, we continue to John 1:4-5 – "In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness...":
In Genesis 1, light was the first of God's creatures, because the ancient world believed that light was the principle of life, which put to flight darkness or nonexistence. John 1:4 moves from creation into the sphere of the moral authority of the Word.
As God, the Word is life and source of life; the life of the Word that dwells in each person and becomes their "light" of life, enlightening their consciences to distinguish between good and evil (cf. Romans 1:18-25*), where Paul speaks of this as innate [in each person] knowledge of God.
Verse 5 speaks of the struggle between the light and the darkness, not in the cosmic sense but in the ethical sense. The light "shines" (present tense), but the darkness "did not overcome" it (past tense). This light that is God, the light of truth, may be ignored, even suppressed, but it can never be put out. Darkness is the absence of light; it ceases to exist when light appears.
John 20:30-31 states why this gospel was written:
... that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
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* Where God responds to "all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them", through the wonders of nature, our existence, and the sustaining of all that exists with laws that maintain cosmic order.
💢 For an explanation of the Trinity, go here
💢 For a discussion on the Word at the beginning, go here for a worthwhile article
💢 The International Bible Commentary, William R Farmer (ed), Liturgical Press, Collegeville,1998; on John's gospel: Teresa Okure.
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