Beyond Sunday: The Word Was God

[Editor's note: Beyond Sunday is a Monday refresher to carry you through the week.]

Focus Verse of the Week

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

Classic Commentary

The first chapter asserts what He was before all things, and the different characters in which He is a blessing to man, being made flesh. He is, and He is the expression of, the whole mind that subsists in God, the Logos. In the beginning He was. If we go back as far as is possible to the mind of men, and even farther beyond all that has had a beginning, He is. This is the most perfect idea we can form historically, if I may use such an expression, of the existence of God or of eternity.

"In the beginning was the Word." Was there nothing beside Him? Impossible! Of what would He have been the Word? "The Word was with God." That is to say, a personal existence is ascribed to Him. But, lest it may be thought that He was something which eternity implies but which the Holy Ghost comes to reveal, it is said that He "was God." Also, in His existence eternal--in His nature divine--in His Person distinct, He might have been spoken of as an emanation in time, as though His personality were of time, although eternal in His nature. The Spirit therefore adds, "In the beginning he was with God." It is the revelation of the eternal Logos before all creation.

This Gospel therefore really begins before Genesis. The Book of Genesis gives us the history of the world in time: John gives us that of the Word, who existed in eternity before the world was; who--when man can speak of beginning--was; and, consequently, did not begin to exist. The language of the Gospel is as plain as possible, and, like the sword of paradise, turns every way, in opposition to the thoughts and reasonings of man, to defend the divinity and personality of the Son of God.  

(Adapted from John Darby's Synopsis of the New Testament.)

A Thought to Keep

The Incarnation is an utter miracle. Scripture tells us that the impossible is possible, that a little baby can also be the Creator of the world. This miracle boggles our limited minds, but John assures us that God has made the impossible, possible.