IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD:

A STUDY OF JOHN 1:1-18

By Ivan Maddox

Atlanta, GA

The first chapter of John should not be a difficult passage of scripture. We have made it difficult by what we have chosen to read into it. It is difficult for the reader today to separate what the text actually says from what people generally believe about the text.

Because of this, our study will take the following course. First, we will look at the usual interpretation of John 1. Next, we will look at some of the problems with this interpretation. Then we will look at what is meant by "the Word." Finally, we will look again at John 1 in light of what we have learned about the meaning of "the Word."

The Usual Interpretation of John 1

For most of us, reading our own theological beliefs into the first chapter of John has become almost second nature for us; so much so that we pay little attention to whether or not what we believe is what this passage is actually saying. Our minds are already made up as to what this passage SHOULD say before we even begin to read it, and we discover, to our surprise and delight, that it seems to say exactly what we expected it to say. We pay little attention to whether or not our interpretation agrees with the rest of scripture, or even to whether or not the passage makes sense in light of our interpretation of it.

We generally start with the presupposition that "the Word" in John 1 means "Jesus Christ." Since Jesus Christ has presumably not been born yet in the first few verses of John 1, we are forced to make a second presupposition: that "the Word" refers not to the man Jesus Christ, the Messiah, but to "the pre-incarnate Christ," that is, Christ as he allegedly existed before his birth.

Now there is no explicit teaching, anywhere in scripture, that Jesus Christ existed in any form whatsoever before his conception in the body of his mother, Mary. There are certain statements Jesus made which might certainly seem to support such an idea, and there are statements made in a handful of scriptural passages that might also seem to support this idea; but there is no clear teaching anywhere in scripture concerning what is commonly referred to as "the incarnation," that is, the idea that God, in some form or fashion, put aside His Godhood and became a mortal human being in the person of Jesus Christ. Yet this is the idea that is the foundation for the usual interpretation of John 1.

Starting with these two ideas -- that "the Word" in John 1 means "Jesus Christ," and that Jesus Christ existed in some heavenly form before his birth -- we read the first eighteen verses of John more or less like this:

Problems With the Usual Interpretation of John 1

There are some very serious problems with this interpretation.

The first, and possibly the greatest, is that it appears to introduce a couple of doctrines very different from what had been taught previously in the written Word of God: first, that Jesus Christ is God; and second, that all things were made by Jesus Christ. Even more remarkably, these two major doctrinal changes seem to be introduced without so much as a word of explanation, or any attempt to reconcile them with the prior scriptures with which they seem to disagree.

One thing we often forget when we study John's gospel is that John was, by background, a Jew. The ideas that a man might be God, or that a man was the creator of the world, are so alien to Jewish thinking that any introduction of ideas like this by a Jew would require extensive explanations and reconciliations with previous scriptures, and crystal clear and convincing proofs that such outrageous assertions are, in fact, the truth. Nothing of the sort is found in John's gospel. These radical doctrinal changes seem to be introduced casually, in clouded language, without a shred of proof and with no thought of reconciling them with the rest of scripture.

It is sometimes supposed that the reason for this is that John was writing to a Christian audience, who already knew the mysterious truths he was introducing. But this is not the testimony of John's gospel. In John 20 we are given an important clue as to the who the Gospel of John was written for.

According to John, his gospel was written for people who did not yet believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, or that Jesus is the Son of God. How could John possibly expect these same people to understand, without a word of explanation, some mysterious doctrine that even most Christians don't truly understand?

A second major problem has to do with the term "the Word." While it is presumed that in this chapter "the Word" means "Jesus Christ," not once is the term "the Word" used to mean Jesus Christ in the rest of the Gospel of John. It is never used in this way in any of the other gospels. It is never used in this way in any of Paul's epistles.

There are only three instances outside of the first chapter of John where the term "the Word" seems to refer to Christ. One of these is found in Revelation 19.

Clearly this passage is talking about Jesus Christ, just before his return to the earth to establish his kingdom on earth. At first glance this looks like a confirmation of our presumption that "the Word" in John 1 means "Jesus Christ." However, there are a couple of important differences that we need to take note of. First, in this passage "the Word of God" is not introduced to us as who or what Jesus is; rather, "the Word of God" is Jesus' name. Second, the name "the Word of God" as used here carries with it no idea either of godhood or of equality with God. The only thing this passage confirms is that the NAME "the Word of God" rightfully belongs to Jesus Christ.

The second passage where "the Word" seems to refer to Christ is found in I John 5.

On the surface, this passage looks like an incredible and conclusive confirmation of the usual interpretation of John 1. "The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost" are mentioned together, and "the Word" clearly refers to Christ. The words, "these three are one," seem to agree with John's assertion, "and the Word was God."

There's only one problem: a portion of this passage is a forgery. The words, "in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth;" are found in no Greek manuscript dated before 1500 A.D. This means that they first showed up in a Greek manuscript of John (under very suspicious circumstances) more than 1400 years after the rest of the book was written. Newer translations, recognizing this, delete these words from the text. Without these words, there is no reference in this passage to Jesus Christ as "the Word."

The third passage where "the Word" seems to refer to Jesus Christ is found at the beginning of I John.

This passage is of special interest to us in our study, and we will examine it in the next section of this study.

All the passages we have examined are irreconcileable with the usual interpretation of John 1 as described above. Either John 1 must be understood differently, or each of these passages must be understood to mean something different from what they seem to be clearly and explicitly saying.

A third problem is that while John 1 appears to introduce the idea that Jesus Christ is God, the rest of the Gospel of John carefully distinguishes between not just Jesus and his Father, but Jesus and God. This same careful distinction and separation is found throughout each of the other gospels, and throughout Paul's epistles, and throughout the rest of the New Testament.

But the New Testament goes much farther than merely distinguishing and separating the two. In John 17 Jesus, in prayer to his Father, refers to him as "the only true God" (John 17:3. In John 20:17 the resurrected Jesus refers to his Father as " my Father, and your Father; and... my God, and your God." In I Corinthians 8:6 the Apostle Paul says of Christians, " to us [there is but] one God, the Father..." In I Timothy 2:5 Paul states, "For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." In Ephesians 1:17 Paul refers to the Father as " the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory." And in Revelation 3:12 the resurrected and glorified Jesus says, "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, [which is] new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and [I will write upon him] my new name."

A fourth problem is that in the first two verses of John 1, the word "God" must be used in two very different senses in order for the usual interpretation of this verse to make any sense whatsoever.

If by "God" we mean "the Trinity," then these two verses must be understood as follows:

To most people, this passage makes no sense whatsoever when understood in this way, because it makes Jesus Christ the whole Trinity. If, on the other hand, by "God" we mean "the Father," the passage must be understood as follows:

The passage makes sense only if by "God" we mean alternately (1) "God the Father" or "God the Father and God the Holy Spirit," and (2) "God the Son." With this understanding, the passage is to be understood as follows:

In none of these instances can "God" be understood to mean "the Trinity." If it is, then our interpretation of this verse becomes nonsense. No one member of the Trinity can be with the Trinity (which would include Himself!), or BE the whole Trinity.

What is "the Word"?

In most passages of scripture in the New Testament, there is no question concerning what is meant by the term "the Word." Unless something in the immediate context clearly indicates otherwise, "the Word" or "the Word of God" refers to "that which God has said."

An example of this is found in Hebrews 4.

Here, even though the Word of God is personified, there is no question that what is meant is "what God said." This is the basic meaning of "the Word of God" or "the Word": "what God said."

We have already seen in Revelation 19 that one of the names of Jesus Christ is "the Word of God." Why is he called this? What possible relationship can there be between Jesus Christ and what God has said? Hebrews 1 provides a beautiful explanation of this.

God doesn’t always speak to man in the same way. In the past God spoke to us by the prophets, and even then He did it at various times and in different ways. Now, though, "in these last days," God has chosen to speak to us in a different way. Now he speaks to us by means of His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus, then, is God’s way of speaking to us in these last days. This is why Jesus is rightly called "the Word of God." He is God’s means of speaking to us.

The last clause in verse two reads, "by whom also he made the worlds." Some might be led to believe that this is a confirmation of the idea that it was Jesus Christ, and not God, created the world. However, the word translated "worlds" is the Greek word AION, from which we get our English word "eon." This word is translated "world" or "worlds" several times in the King James Version. In just about every case, including this one, a clearer and more accurate translation would be "ages."

Once we understand that Jesus is called "the Word of God" because he is God’s means of speaking to us, the passage we read in I John 1 becomes much clearer.

In verse one, John is speaking of something or someone "which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled…" This suggests that he is talking about the man, Jesus Christ. In verse two he states that he and others have seen eternal life manifested, and bear witness to it. This narrows things down even further. John is speaking of Jesus Christ in resurrection, for this is the only time that eternal life has been manifested to men in such a way that they could bear witness to others about it.

But in verse three, John makes it clar that he is declaring not only what he has seen, but what he has heard as well. "The Word of life" is not just the person Jesus Christ, but the message brought by Jesus Christ as well. Verse 5 brings out this point even more clearly.

The Word of life includes both "him," that is, Jesus Christ, and "the message which we have heard of him."

With this in mind, we are ready to read and understand John 1.

God’s Word in John 1:1-18.

If we read this passage with the understanding that "the Word" means "what God said,"we have the following:

Understood in this way, what at first appeared to be a mysterious and confusing passage of scripture becomes very clear and simple, and fits without a problem with countless other passages of scripture.

The subject of the beginning of this passage is not Jesus Christ. It is, instead, God’s Word, that is, what God said.

The first two verses make two very important points about God’s Word that many of us forget:

Verse 3 brings up the subject of the role of God’s Word in creation. "All things were made by what God said…" (In Greek, as in many other languages, nouns have a gender. Because of this, "the word," regardless of what is meant by it, is regarded as "he," just as "house" in Spanish (casa) is regarded as "she.") What was the role of God’s Word in creation? We need look no further than Genesis one to find out.

How did God create the heavens and the earth? He SPOKE. He did it by means of His Word. There is no need to invent a new explanation for the creation of the heaven and earth, or to presume that there is some error or omission in the Genesis record of the creation. God spoke, and it came to be.

What was "the light" that was given to men before the coming of Jesus Christ? Again, the answer is God’s Word.

It was God's Word, which He gave to man in sundry times and diverse ways, which was the light of men. It was God's Word that shined for centuries in the midst of the darkness of this world. It was God's Word that the darkness of this world failed to comprehend.

Did mankind as a whole accept God’s Word, or recognize it for what it was? Far from it. For the most part, man continued to walk in darkness, even though light was available. When God presented His creation with His Word -- the very same Word He had used to create the heavens and the earth -- the world failed to know it or recognize it for what it was. That very same failure to recognize God's Word for what it is, is all too evident in far too many places today.

It is not until verse 14 that we are introduced to Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ was God’s Word in the flesh. Everything that God said in His Word, Jesus Christ was. Jesus Christ was God's means of speaking to us, not only in the words that he said, but in the life that he lived, in his very character and heart. God’s Word so permeated him, and he so faithfully lived and reflected God’s Word, that he was able to say near the end of his ministry, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." (John 14:9.)

This is the message of the first chapter of John. Jesus Christ was God’s revelation to man, God’s Word, taken to a whole new level. He was not merely God’s messenger; he was God’s message as well. We may not be able to see God, but we can see Jesus, and we can understand him. And everything Jesus is, in character and in heart, God is. The love that we see shed forth in the life of Jesus is the very same love God sheds forth. The honesty we saw displayed in Jesus’ life is the very same honesty that God shows. The joy, the peace, the meekness, the patience — all the good qualities that we saw and appreciated in Jesus are faithful reflections of the character of God, so that we can honestly say that when we have seen Jesus, we have, for all practical purposes, seen God.

Jesus is God’s ultimate message to us. He did not speak his own words; he spoke the words of his Father. He did not do his own will; he did the will of his Father. In everything he said, and in everything he did, he showed forth faithfully the heart of his Father, God.

And just like Jesus reflected his Father, we are to reflect Jesus. As we walk in the spirit (Galatians 5:16-23), we begin to show forth more and more of the fruit of the spirit in our lives.

Each of these fruit is a characteristic of God that was manifested in the life of His Son, Jesus Christ. And as we walk by the spirit of God, that is, as we live our lives to do God’s will rather than our own will, we begin to take on the characteristics of God and Christ, so that those who look at us will see in our lives the character of Christ. God’s desire for us is that those who have seen us can say, in all honesty, that they have seen Christ.

As we walk by the spirit of God, as we walk by the light of God’s Word rather than by our own corrupt desires, God’s Word is being made flesh in us, just as God’s Word was made flesh in Christ.