John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. I. The ETERNITY of the Word. 1. By the phrase "in the beginning" is to be understood eternity. Had St. John said "before" the beginning, he would have presented eternity under the laws of time, a mistake as grave as to describe the Infinite under the conditions of the finite. But mounting up higher than time and space, he leads us to the calm where God dwelleth. 2. Four times he repeats the word "was"; which — (1) Joined with "beginning," makes the idea of eternity dawn upon the mind in all its awful grandeur. (2) Joined to "with God," involves a contrast with verse 3. The sun, moon, and stars in the beginning "were made"; the Word in the beginning "was." His existence and theirs consequently differ radically. (3) Joined to "God" contrasts with verse 14. "In the beginning was the Word"; in the fulness of time "the Word was made flesh." 3. Christ always existed as the Word. It was not in the course of history that He became the Word. In His pre-existence Jesus Christ is God speaking to Himself; in His post-existence God speaking to us. The same word He speaks to Himself and to us; therefore it has the same meaning on the Divine as on the human side. II. The PERSONALITY of the Word. 1. The Word was "with God" in respect of personality. Omnipotence is eternally in God; Jesus Christ is eternally with God — a mode of speech signifying distinct, but not separate, personal subsistence. God spent eternity in self-communion; but He so far transcends us in the power of thinking that His ideas become realities. His one thought becomes a Word consubstantial with Himself. 2. He was with God in respect of complacency. God took unspeakable delight in His Word, for in Him He beheld His own portraiture, without defect, fault, or flaw. God, as Father, infinitely, eternally, loves the Son. This intense love the Son cherishes towards the Father. He was not simply with, but "towards," God. He had His face, so to speak, turned fully towards Him, returning all the wealth of thought and affection poured upon Him. With the perfect thinker the perfect Word reflects back the perfect thought. A further idea still lurks here. The Word was "at home" with God. Christ in His preexistent state never felt restrained or ill at ease as an inferior with a superior, but as a loving child with an indulgent father (Proverbs 8:22-31); not as a subject in the presence of his monarch, or a creature in the presence of his Creator, but as an equal in the society of his friend. 3. He was with God in respect of counsel or purpose. (1) In respect of creative counsel. All things were gathered together in the pre-existent Christ (Revelation 3:4; Colossians 1:15, 16). (2) In respect of redemptive purpose. In the centre of the earth all the mountains meet. In the centre all terrestrial objects stand together. Similarly Christ is the centre of the plan of our salvation (Ephesians 1:3, 4). III. The proper DIVINITY of the Word. 1. "Was God" implies co-equality. Two persons may be in amicable fellowship, whilst in nature and standing the one may be inferior to the other. (1) As Mediator, indeed, in His state of humiliation, Christ was the Father's subordinate and servant; wherefore He says, "My Father is greater than I."(2) But as He is the Second Person in the Trinity, St. John teaches His equality with the Father. The idea of perfect sonship excludes that of subordination. The man of forty is as much a son as a child of four; the fact of sonship is undiminished, but subordination is gone. But Jesus Christ is from the first a perfect Son, and therefore on a footing of equality with the perfect Father. (3) The Son being thus equal with the Father, God will have no occasion to repeat His Word. The perfect revelation is summed up in one word — Jesus Christ. 2. "Was God" teaches consubstantiality. "The Word was with God"; there it is God with the article denoting the Father's person; here without the article indicating substance, being. The Son can never be the Father; but is of the same essence as.the Father — of the same, not of like; homo-ousia, not homoiousia. 3. Let us therefore hold fast the doctrine once delivered to the saints. Beware of running away with the notion that all the intellects are opposed to orthodoxy. The acute intellects may be, but the profound intellects, which see far and deep, are not. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.WEB: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. |
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