THE PROLOGUE: THE WORD OF GOD

John 1:1-18

In the Beginning

Verses 1-5: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome] it.

The first 18 verses of John are known as the Prologue. It is the only material that proceeds the launching of Jesus' ministry. The Prologue here is an introduction as well as a summary of the Gospel of John.

1 "In the beginning" refers to the beginning of the universe, the beginning of all things, as mentioned in Genesis 1:1. While echoing the opening words of the OT, John says three profound truths in this verse.

First, the Word was in the beginning. The Word already existed from the timeless beginning. John presents Christ as the embodiment of the Word (logos, Greek). He alone describes Christ as "the Word" and does that six times in his writings (John 1:1, 14; 1 John 1:1; Revelation 19:13). The English term "Word" is an inadequate translation of the Greek term logos. Logos means a collection of words or ideas. "Alternatively, logos can refer to outward expression, hence 'speech' or 'message', which is why 'Word' is still thought by many to be the most appropriate term." 1 It may also refer to the eternal principle of order in the universe.

Second, the Word was with God. This will be fully developed in verse 2. Third, the Word was God — God's own Self. The Word shared the nature and being of God. When all things began, the Word already existed. Jesus already existed before the earth and the heavens were created. Although Jesus became like us, He never ceased to be God.

2 The verse simply repeats part of verse 1. The Word was in the Father's presence. To be with God means that Jesus is distinct and separate. There is a relationship between them. The Word was with God in the timeless beginning. Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am" (8:58). He is eternal; He has neither a beginning nor an end. The false teachers (such as the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses) would have us believe that Jesus is not coequal, coeternal or coexistent with the Father.

3 Both positively and negatively, the verse insists that the Word served as God's Agent in the creation of all things; God is the Creator, while His Word is the agent. Positively, "Through him all things were made." Negatively, "without him nothing was made that has been made." All things were created by Christ and for Him. Without Him, nothing came to be.

4 Christ is described as life. The Son shares the self-existent life with the Father and is able to impart life to others. He not only has life and gives life, He is life. Christ is also light because He appears as such in His glory. In fact, life and light are essentially the same and cannot be separated. In the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, the glory of God is perfectly disclosed. There has never been any spiritual life or light enjoyed by men and woman, outside of Christ.

5 The light, referred to in the previous verse, shines in the darkness and darkness cannot overcome it. Where light goes, darkness disappears. This is true of ordinary light. A small electric lamp dispels a roomful of darkness. The spiritual illumination dispels darkness of sin and unbelief. Although light and darkness are opposites, they are not opposites of equal power. The Jews made futile attempts to extinguish the light, Jesus Christ. Jesus is light, while Satan is the power of darkness (Luke 22:53). Satan works hard to keep people in darkness because light means eternal life and heaven.

John the Baptist

Verses 6-8: There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

6 As a good illustration of a ray of light still shining in the darkness, the evangelist abruptly introduces John the Baptist. He follows the synoptic Gospels by beginning the public ministry of Jesus with the witness of John the Baptist. Jesus does not begin His ministry in a vacuum but in an environment created by his cousin, John.

John was a man "sent from God" to be the forerunner and herald of the Messiah. An angel of the Lord announced John's birth and public ministry to his father, Zacharias, and his mother, Elizabeth (Luke 1:8-17). John is regarded as a prophet (Matthew 21:26). He is known as the Baptist because his main purpose was to baptize people in preparation for the coming Messiah. Through this ministry, he bears witness to Jesus.

7 Although John the Baptist is an important figure, the greatest man who ever lived up this point (Matthew 11:11; Luke 7:28), he was a man with one mission — to testify about the light. A full account of John's witness is presented in verses 19 to 34 and later in 3:27-30. The main purpose of the witness is that through him all may believe. Witnesses such as John are agents of belief, while Christ Himself is the object of belief.

8 To dismiss any false exaltation of John, the evangelist says that John was not the light. He only came as a witness to the light. "He was the first in a line of witnesses that stretches through the centuries to this day." 2 Like John, Christian ministers and even lay believers are witnesses. Like Jesus, John was sent as a messenger, but the similarity ends there. Jesus later refers Himself as the light (3:19), while John is referred to as the lamp (5:35). John stands in the shadow of Christ; the former is a witness to the latter.

Rejected, but Also Received

Verses 9-13: The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not...