Musings on “The Word” in John 1:1-3

In my morning Bible reading the other day, as I read through John chapter 1, some simple, yet profound, thoughts occurred to me.  The subject of the chapter is the Lord Jesus Christ, the first three verses revealing the nature of His preincarnate being.  Prior to being “made flesh” in the womb of the virgin Mary through the power of God, whereby He became the Son of God, the Lord Jesus was the Word, the second person of the Trinity.

Joh 1:14 – And the Word was made 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.

Luk 1:35 – And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

1Jn 5:7 – For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

The following observations can be gleaned by a careful reading of this profound passage of scripture.

First, the Word is eternal: “In the beginning was the Word.”  In that the Word was in the beginning, He preceded the beginning, which means that He preceded time.  The text does not say “in the beginning appeared the Word,” but rather, “In the beginning was the Word.”

Second, the Word is distinct from God, in that “the Word was with God.”  That the Word was with God indicates that the Word and God are separate entities in some respect. This distinction between the Word and God is comprehended in the essence of the Trinity―the God of the Bible―who is one God in three divine persons: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost (1Jo 5:7).  The second person of the Godhead (the Word) was with the first person of the Godhead (the Father) in the beginning.

Third, the Word was and is God: “the Word was God.”  The Word was God, not “a god” as the Jehovah’s Witnesses blasphemously assert.  The second person of the Godhead, who was made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, is “God…manifest in the flesh” (1Ti 3:16).

Fourth, the Word was not created, but “was in the beginning with God.”  The Word was not the first work of God’s creation, as the Jehovah’s Witnesses allege, but rather was with Him in the beginning.  The Word had no origin because He was present in the beginning with God.

Fifth, the Word is the Creator: “All things were made by him.”  Further proof that the Word is God is the fact that He created all things: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1).  A comparison of Joh 1:1-3 with Gen 1:1 makes it clear that the Word is the Creator God.

Sixth, the Word is the only Creator: “without him was not any thing made that was made.”  The Word is not a creature whom God used to aid Him in the creation, but is rather the sole Creator of everything.

Seventh, the Word is a personal being, not an idea: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”  Him is a personal pronoun denoting an individual, not a concept.  Hence the reason the Word has been referred to as the second person of the Godhead.  The Word in Joh 1:1-3 is not God’s logic or revelation, but rather God Himself.

How much depth there is in but a few verses of scripture!  And this is but scratching the surface.

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Rom 11:33) 

Let us pray with the psalmist, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Psa 119:18) that we may probe further into the “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8).