Summary: The first two verses of the Gospel of John reveal Jesus Christ’s deity and that He is co-eternal, co-equal, and co-creator.

Who Is the Word

John 1:1-2

Introduction

If you have ever gone to see a play, many times they will start with an overture. This is where they introduce different musical themes that will be throughout the show. They are just snippets of the full musical score that you will be looking more in depth at later on.

The Prologue to John is much like that. John is laying out for us the major themes that he is going to develop in the rest of his Gospel. So let us not rush too quickly through this amazing overture of the Gospel of John

The Word

We see in John 1:14 "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," that the Word is Jesus Christ. John used the term “Word” or “Logos” in the Greek for many reasons. First, Jesus is the Word of God. He is the physical representation of what God was saying to us.

Jesus also proclaimed what His Father had to say. Remember one of the offices of Christ is prophet. So when you read the prologue of John and see the Word, you know it is speaking of Jesus Christ.

John understood that Jesus Christ was the cornerstone of the faith. And the attack that would be launched by Satan would be to distort who Christ is and what He has done for us. The first major point John wants to establish is Jesus Christ is fully God; He is one with God. John is giving showing us a glimpse into what the Trinity looks like. The second major point John wants to establish is that Jesus Christ is also fully man.

This morning we are going to focus on the first major point, Christ’s deity. And to understand Christ’s deity we must look to the Trinity. We cannot comprehend the Trinity, but we can apprehend some aspects. We look to the whole council of the Scriptures to get pictures of the Trinity.

This is the explanation found in the Westminster Confession of Faith. “In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, not proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.” (Chapter II,3)

We are going to see that the first verse of the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus Christ is of one substance, power, and eternity with God.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." (John 1:1-3, NKJV)

Co-Eternality of the Word

"In the beginning was the Word.” Does this scripture remind you of any other scripture? “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1, NKJV) John did this on purpose so that we would see the correlations of whom God is and who the Word is. Just by phrasing his first line this way, he was saying that the Word is God.

But before we get to far ahead, we are looking at the Word’s co-eternality. Look closely at the wording of this verse. At the beginning of time, was the Word. The Word existed before time existed, before any created thing existed. One of the attacks on Christ is that He was a created being by the Father. John is stating that before even time was created, the Word existed. We even see that the Word created time as well as everything in creation.

The question that some have is what was before God existed. Remember that the idea of time is a created thing and the Godhead is infinite. We as so stuck in the time space continuum that we cannot even comprehend a time before there was time. So the Word is co-eternal with the other to Persons of the Trinity. But that is not enough to be co-eternal. John is next going to state that the Word is co-equal.

Co-Equality of the Word

“and the Word was with God” The Greek word for with, “pros”, means more than proximity. It is a close personal face to face relationship. It tells us that the Word is not only with God the Father, but equal in power and might.

Even though Christ is co-equal with the Father, He chooses to submit the Father’s will. This is an example to us, even though we might be equals, husband and wife, boss and worker, child and parent, God has established an order of submission. This verse also helps us not to fall into Modalism or Oneness. This is the belief that God has different modes. Instead of three Persons in one Godhead, they believe one person with three modes or faces. This personal relationship of the Word and the Father as well as other places in the scriptures shows the three persons in one.

Deity and Unity of the Word w/ Father (One Substance)

“and the Word was God” The correct interpretation from the Greek is so important in seeing what this Gospel is saying. The Jehovah Witnesses version of the Bible, the NWT, translates this, “and the Word was a God.” This comes for a lack of understanding the Greek. In this passage, the Greek the word for God, “theos”, is not preceded by the Greek definite article “ho”. They claim that since it does not have the definite article, it should be translated, “and the Word was a God.” This shows their lack of understanding the Greek. Just because the definite article is not there does not necessarily mean that it is indefinite. I won’t bore you with Colwell’s Rule on interpretation; just suffice to say we have the correct interpretation, and the only one that lines up with the rest of the Bible.

Let us say for a moment that the Jehovah Witnesses were right and Jesus was a god. This would mean that there is more than one God and we would be polytheistic. The Bible is exceedingly clear that there is only one God. We find out in the New Testament that the one God has three Persons.

So how can there be three Persons, but only one God? Great question, I don’t know. Remember that God is infinite and we are finite. His ways are above our ways and we will never completely understand. But that is the wonderful thing. What is eternal life? "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3, NKJV)

Co-Creator

“All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." What have we done when we “make” something? We have taken things and rearranged something physically or chemically to produce something else. According to the conservation of matter and energy law, matter and energy are neither created nor destroyed, just changed from one form to another. We take the raw materials and “make” a final product. Our ability to “make” something is rather limited.

When we say that God “made” all things, what do we mean? God didn’t just take stuff and rearrange it. He spoke them into existence from nothing. Who is the only one that can speak things into existence? God.

What is the first thing that Genesis 1:1 says that God did? “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1, NKJV) So John has established that the Word is God. Now he is taking it to the rest of the verse, that not only is the Word God, but the Word was co-creator with God. Now let us go back to something we have just looked at.

How did God create everything? Did He wave His hand? Did He point? Did He think? What did He do? He spoke His Word. Nothing was made without His Word and all things were made through His Word. Isn’t that amazing? You never thought there was so much meat in just two verses.

Conclusion

John 1:1-2 ties directly back to Genesis 1:1. It shows that the Word is God as well as co-creator.

The Prologue establishes Christ’s relationship in the Trinity.

Co-eternal: In the beginning WAS the Word.

Co-equal: The Word was with God. Face to face relationship.

Deity: And the Word was God.

Co-Creator: All things made through God’s Word.