One of the most profound statements in all the Bible begins John’s Gospel account: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Holy Spirit through John designed this statement, no doubt, to both draw our minds back to creation in Genesis 1:1 (“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”) and to enhance our limited understanding of it. This scripture ties together many thoughts and passages throughout the Old Testament and the New to give us deeper insight into the nature of our God.

John reveals that Jesus is the Word, the Logos. In general, words express ideas, they convey meaning. I am trying to convey certain ideas through the use of words as I write this entry. As the Word, Jesus reveals to us the truths that God wants us to know. Jesus said, “As My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things” (John 8:28). Again, “I speak that which I have seen with My Father” (John 8:38). Once more, “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (John 12:49). As the Word, Jesus faithfully represents to us what the Father would have us to know and understand.

The use of the term “word” or “logos” also ties together creation and revelation. God created the world by speaking it into existence. Eight times in Genesis chapter one the expression “and God said” is found as it relates to the act of creation. This fact is revealed over and over again in scripture. “He commanded, and they were created” (Psalm 148:5). “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth…He spoke, and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:6,9). God brought this world into existence through the use of the Word.

In the New Testament, Jesus is identified as the Creator. John writes, “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). Paul declares of Jesus “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17). The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that God “made the worlds” by His Son and that He now continues to uphold all things by the Word of His power (Heb. 1:2,3).

We further know from John’s opening declaration that the relationship which the Word sustained to God was intimate and sublime. Just as Genesis 1:1 tells us that God was already present in the beginning before creation, we learn this also of the Word. The Word simply “was.” Not only was the Word in the beginning, but He was both with God and He was God. He was God. Not just a god. Not a part of God. He was fully God and yet He was also distinct from God the Father so that He could be said to be “with” Him. This is why in the creation we hear God say “let Us make man in Our image” (Gen. 1:26).

But the most profound idea found in these opening verses of John’s account is found in verse 14: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” The eternal Word became flesh. God became man. Why do this? “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. . .Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:10,14).

Paul stated that Jesus “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6-11).

This is how John began his account of the life of Christ. Matthew wrote to show the Jews that Jesus fulfilled the prophesies of the Old Testament as the Messiah. Mark wrote to show that Jesus was the Son of God. Luke wrote to demonstrate the humanity of Jesus. But John wrote to show us that Jesus was God and man. In his epistle, John wrote, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (I John 1:1). John touched and handled the Word of Life.

Eric L. Padgett