John 1:1 Commentary and Bible Study

In the first verse we are introduced to Christ as the Word – ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ The beginning clearly refers to the Creation, but what the apostle John is telling us is that Christ was of course already there – ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ Indeed, through him, he is going to say, Creation came about. It is his way of telling us about the pre-existence of Christ, who is God, eternally, and always was.Our translators stick to ‘Word’, and so do most translators, but Calvin preferred ‘speech’, which certainly makes the point very forcefully, that Christ, second person of the Trinity, equal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, equally divine, sharing all the attributes of God, was the member of the Godhead who reveals, who communicates in plain terms. ‘In the beginning was the Word’, or the speech. Nobody knows what you are thinking if you do not put it into words. It is shut up within your head. It’s your secret, nobody knows. It is by formulating a word or words that what is in your head may be known to others about you. And this is the sense in which ‘Word’ is used. ‘Word’ expresses the unseen thought, or the unseen person. Who could know God? Who could know his character or his will? Who could know how to approach him? Nobody, unless he speaks, and the Word is Christ, the member of the Godhead whose office is to communicate to the human race, to the created order, the Being of God, the character of God, and the plan of God.The words ‘with God’ could be translated as ‘face to face with God’. They speak of the closeness of intimacy between Father and Son and of course the Holy Spirit, because they are one divine essence, one God, and the three mysterious persons of the Godhead must share the very closest identity and communion in all respects.‘And the Word was God.’ There is a lot of repetition in John, very important repetition. He frequently, even in these verses, says things twice to emphasise them and for the sake of clarity to show us the importance of understanding them literally. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ It could not be put more clearly.