Comments on John 1:1-3

From John: The book about Life, by Matthew R. Freije

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

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The Word refers to Jesus the Christ. This is clarified in verse 14:

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John referred to Jesus as the "Word" in two other Bible books that he wrote:

1 John 1:1,2 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life-- 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--

Rev 19:13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

Word is an expression of deity. To the Jews of John’s day, Word summed up all the Old Testament law and prophets. To the Greeks, Word expressed deity in symbolizing that Jesus revealed God the Father to mankind. As words express the thoughts of a person, Jesus, the Word, expressed the nature of God. God revealed Himself through Jesus Christ:

John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Heb 1:1-3 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.

John writes that Jesus was with God before the earth was created, indicating that Jesus was not just a wise or good man, but God. Jesus is indirectly mentioned in the first book of the Bible:

Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

In Gen 1:26, "Us" is the triune God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. John 1:1 also speaks of the Trinity in stating that the Word (Christ) was with God and was God.

Jesus Himself said that He was in heaven before coming to earth:

John 6:38 "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

When praying to the Father, just before He was crucified, Jesus mentioned His existence and glory with the Father even before the world was created:

John 17:4,5 "I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

John again declares the deity of Jesus by stating in verse 3 (and verse 10) that He created all things. Only God can create something from nothing; only God can produce life from nothing. The Apostle Paul also wrote that Jesus created all things:

Col 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him.

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