In the beginning was the Word.
John's cosmic opening — and why he calls Jesus 'the Word.'
The episode in a glance.
- 01John starts where Genesis starts: 'In the beginning.'
- 02'The Word' (Greek: Logos) means God's self-expression.
- 03Jesus existed before creation, not just before Bethlehem.
- 04To meet Jesus is to meet God speaking.
Read along.
John 1:1: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' John deliberately echoes Genesis 1:1. He's telling us Jesus was there before anything was made.
'The Word' translates the Greek Logos. To Greeks it meant the rational principle holding the universe together. To Jews it recalled how God created — by speaking.
John fuses both ideas: Jesus is God's eternal self-expression, the one through whom everything was made and in whom everything holds together.
'The Word was with God, and the Word was God.' Distinct from the Father, yet fully God. The Trinity in one sentence.
This matters because it means when you look at Jesus, you're looking at God himself. Not a copy. Not a representative. God in person.