In the beginning was the Word.
John's opening rewrites Genesis — and tells you who Jesus actually is.
The episode in a glance.
- 01John echoes Genesis 1:1 on purpose — a new beginning.
- 02'Word' (logos) means God's self-expression, his reason and voice.
- 03The Word was with God and was God — distinct, yet one.
- 04Before Bethlehem, before time, Jesus already was.
Read along.
John doesn't start his Gospel with a manger or a genealogy. He starts at the beginning of everything: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'
Every Jewish reader caught the echo immediately. 'In the beginning' — that's Genesis 1:1. John is saying: I'm telling you a creation story too, and it's the same story, going deeper.
'The Word' translates the Greek logos. It meant more than vocabulary. It meant the reasoning, the self-expression, the very thought of God spoken out loud. When God created, he spoke. That speech, John says, was a someone.
'The Word was with God, and the Word was God.' Distinct enough to be 'with.' One enough to be 'was.' That tension is on purpose. John is laying the groundwork for everything Jesus will later say about himself.
And then verse 14 lands the punch: 'The Word became flesh.' The voice that spoke galaxies into being put on a body and moved into the neighborhood. That's who Jesus is. Not a wise teacher who got promoted to divine — God himself, stepping into his own story.