The purpose of the gospel according to John, in John’s own words, is to enable us to “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God,” that, “believing, we might have life through his name.”

At the very outset of his gospel, then, he is at pains to place before us the absolute uniqueness and Divinity of this Son of God, so that those who do come to believe in His name may know Who He is and, therefore, may be able to comprehend something of what the Lord requires of them. The “description” of our Lord Jesus which the apostle John employs in his gospel is one that is almost exclusive to that apostle, in the fullest sense of the term, and it is this: “The Word” “in the beginning was the Word,” says John in the very first lines of his gospel. And although it’s a term that has meaning that probably only eternity itself will reveal in all its fullness, nevertheless, the immediate application to all our hearts is clear: Christ is the One who reveals the Father in heaven. Further down in the gospel we find the truth stated that “No man hath seen God at any time,” but, it goes on to say, “the only begotten Son, (Christ) which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” He has “proclaimed Him,” if you like – He has spoken Him forth. This He has done, because He is “The Word of God.” “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son.” In this immediate sense, Christ is “The Word” of God: He tells forth God.

However, it is not so much in the “Activity” of Christ, as the Word of God, that I want us to centre our thought for the moment but in the “Person” and the “Being” of our Lord Jesus Christ under that title. And John tells us three things about our Lord Jesus which form the very heart of the doctrine of the Deity and the Divinity of our Saviour. First of all, he tells us, when the Word was; then he tells us where the Word was; and finally, he informs us who the Word was.

“In the beginning was the Word,” says John. And to the questions, when was Christ? When did Christ begin to exist? John, by the Holy Spirit of God, supplies us with the answer: Christ never began to exist! And the reason for this is that he always existed. “In the beginning,” says the apostle. And take that beginning for whatever you like – the beginning of time – the beginning of the heavens – the beginning of creation. Whichever way you want to interpret “beginning” – whatever the beginning, or whenever it began – the Word of God was already there. The Holy Spirit doesn’t say, “From the beginning was the Word:” as though the beginning took place and from then on Christ appeared on the scene. No, no; He says, “In the beginning …” Whenever the beginning began, to accommodate it to our poor fallen minds, says the Lord the Holy Spirit, the Word was already there: “in the beginning …”

(1) He goes on to say, “In the beginning was the Word.” And that’s very important. You’ll see that this word “was” is used many times throughout this first chapter of John’s gospel; yet is used in two very different ways, because there are two very different words in the Greek language in which the New Testament was given by the Holy Spirit of God in the first place. In verse 6 we read these words; “There was a man sent from God whose name was John;” that is, John the Baptist. Again, in verse 14 we read, “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” But, the “was” of the first verse is very far different from the “was” of the sixth verse, or the fourteenth verse. The word that is translated “was” of in verse six and in verse fourteen is a Greek word pronounced “Egeneto”, and it means this; it means “began to be”, or “became” and it is absolutely straightforward in the case of this man John the Baptist – “there began to be a man sent from God whose name was John.” But, “Egeneto”, isn’t the word used in verse one where it says, “In the beginning was the word;” that’s an entirely different word; a word pronounced “En”, which means, not “began to be”, but, “already was.” The word of God already was in the beginning. Verse fourteen uses the same word that is used with regards to John; but (1)again, this is absolutely straightforward, “And the Word began to be flesh, and dwelt among us …” In God’s appointed time, “The Word was – egeneto (began to be) made flesh, and dwelt among us.” But, “In the beginning was – en (already was) the Word.”

Our Lord didn’t begin His existence at Bethlehem: “Before Abraham was, I am,” He said. Nor yet did He only appear at the creation of the world, for, says He to His Father, “Glorify thou me with the glory that I had with thee before the world was.” Nor even when the devil and his host rebelled in heaven, for, He says, “I beheld Satan fall as lightening from heaven.” Paul sums up the whole doctrine in the first chapter to the Colossians: “He was before all things, and by him all things consist.” When was the Word? The Word was always – “from everlasting to everlasting.”

(2 ) John also tells us – Where the Word was. “In the beginning was the Word,” he says, “and the Word was with God.” And in case we haven’t grasped that truth of the eternal co-existence of the Son with the Father, he repeats it for us in the next verse: “The same – this same Word – was in the beginning – this same beginning – with God.” That’s where our Lord is pointing us in that verse just mentioned when He speaks about “the glory” that He had with the Father “before the world was.” In heaven’s glory, He was worshipped with the Father long before the worlds were called into existence. They worked together – “Let Us make man in our image.” They governed the universe together, “Let Us go down …,” you remember at the tower of Babel. “The word was with God.” “Then was I with him, as one brought up with him,” says our Lord through the word of prophecy; and from the Father’s side, we have that great verse in Zecariah where the terms of our redemption are drawn up: “Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd,” says the father, “and against the man that is my fellow.” Literally, “against the man who is face to face with me.” When God drew up those plans of redemption and decreed that “without the shedding of blood” there would be no remission of sins, and when He declared that “There was none other good enough to pay the price of sin,” and not only delivered “the good shepherd” who would give His life for the sheep, but “bade His sword awake against that shepherd” – it was not only against the shepherd, but against “the man that is my fellow” – “the man that is with Me.” When was the Word? The Word was always – Christ was always: “In the beginning was the Word.“ Where was the Word? “The Word was with God … the same was in the beginning with God.”

(3) He tells us plainly, too, – Who the Word was. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word WAS God.” That’s the very heart of the gospel. “Whom do men say that I am?” Oh, say the cultists, John simply means that Jesus – the Word – was “a” god; “and the word was a god.” How futile this is; the apostle John was an orthodox Jew even before he was a Christian. Any thought of “another” God would have been unthinkable to him. He had learned the Shema; “The Lord thy God is one God …” But, even allowing the cults their interpretation, thy still have to answer, “What kind of a God, then, was this Word? For, it doesn’t say that “The Word was – egeneto (became a) God;” no, no; it says that “The Word was – en (already was) God.” If therefore, this Word is such a God that never had any creation, and, therefore, uncreated, then, surely, it is worthy to be called the only true God!

And, of course, it is the question of the creatorship of the Word of God that was from the beginning that much of the argument for His Godhood lies. That this Word is the creator is quite beyond argument. Verse three: “All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” And Who is it that “can create and can destroy?” The prophet Isaiah gives us the answer: “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?” Whatever creates, then, is “the everlasting God, the Lord …” And, says John, “All things were made by Him …” – The Word – Jesus. Who can create, but God?

And Who is eternal but God? Yet, we remember, “In the beginning was the word …” The Word then, is both eternal, and creator of all things. Remember the creation text: “Let us make man in our image.” And so “God created man in His own image.” What does it mean when it says “us”? It means that eternal power and Godhead existing in Three Divine Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – one God blest for ever. In simple theological terms, the Lord Jesus Christ – the Word, of Johns gospel – is co-eternal, co-existant, and co-equal with the Father in heaven.

“In the beginning was the Word” – His co-eternity
“And the Word was with God” – His co-existence
“And the Word was God” – His co-equality

“This, This is the God we adore.”

From The Wicket Gate Magazine, published in the UK, used with permission.