Text: John 1:1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
We will formally establish this later in the chapter (verses 6-8, 14-18) based on the relationship between the "Word" and the Gospels' account of Jesus's life. For right now, please simply roll with the fact that I am ascribing Jesus to being "the Word" referred to here. While we are on this point, the underlying Greek word, logos, occurs 40 times in this book of the Bible. It has generic uses, but most commonly in the Bible it refers to God's revelation. This could "refer to the Old Testament, or the words of Jesus, or to Jesus himself."1 The use of logos here is not just part of God's "word" but it is THE Word. Since we will establish that this is Jesus, we should understand that this indicates that He was the pinnacle and physical embodiment of God's revelation of Himself to mankind.
There are three important parts to verse 1. First, Jesus was in the beginning. God has no beginning, so this certainly refers to the beginning of time. When was that? At creation. In other texts, we will prove that Christ actually existed eternally before Creation, but this passage only proves He existed prior to Creation since He was the active Creator. Second, Jesus was with God. Jumping ahead for a moment to the third truth, how can Jesus be God and be with God? This is an indicator of two parts of the doctrine of the Trinity. The Trinity is impossible for us to perfectly communicate because nothing like it exists in our human context. There is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), and Christianity is not, as some would assert, polytheistic (i.e. worshiping more than one god). The "with God" phrase is indicative of a distinct person in one Divine Being. There is one God, but there are 3 distinct persons within God; that is called the Trinity. Third, Jesus was God. There is no clearer affirmation of Jesus actually being God in the Bible. There are many others, but it just can't get clearer than this one- Jesus was God. Some deny that Jesus was fully God, but to do so requires one to deny this clear teaching of Scripture. Some (notably, Jehovah's Witnesses) claim that Jesus was just "a" god; however, the Greek construction requires the definitive adjective "the."
Verse 2 is very mind boggling. I mean, the interpretation is clear, but it is hard to comprehend. Then again, it was previewed for us in verse 1. So, Jesus is the same as God, but He was with God. Again, the same substance and essence yet distinct as a person.
Verse 3 teaches us that Christ was the agent of Creation. Each part of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son- Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit) each played a role in Creation, but Jesus was actually the one who did it. This refutes, if one accepts the Bible, evolution (He created all species), the Big Bang (unless you call Jesus speaking and it coming into existence as a big bang), and any other theory that does not hold Jesus as the absolute, direct Creator. (See also Colossians 1:16-17.)
Jesus was essentially life, and as Creator He was the origin of physical life, per verse 4. Not only does He bring life, but He also brings light. Goodness, holiness, truth, and the revelation of God Himself- these are all things that Christ brought that are unfortunately rejected by the majority of humanity. Every person has a glimmer of God's light in them as they were created in His image and likeness by Jesus. Imagine a world where no one has a conscience or intuitively knows right from wrong!
Applications:
Worship Jesus Christ as Creator God! Thank Him for the beauty of Creation and how we are "fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)"
Remember when you study His life in the Bible, you are studying God. A great deal of our application here is proper theological understanding.
1. K. O. Gangel, (2000). Vol. 4: John. Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (21). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1.
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