Three Simple Truths from One Short Verse

In presenting an account the life of Jesus, each of the authors of the four Gospel accounts was inspired to begin with a different starting point: Matthew begins his account with Abraham; Mark begins with the ministry of John the Baptizer; Luke begins with John the Baptizer’s parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth. The apostle John, however, is unique in that his account begins even before the beginning of time. “In the beginning,” John says, “was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). No less than three truths about Jesus can be seen in this short but profound verse. The Word, whom John later identifies as being none other than Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 17) is a Person who is eternal and therefore Divine.

The Word is a Person – “And the Word was with God.” This may seem a bit silly, but bear with me: imagine someone said to you, “Please come with me to the store.” If you were to go, how many people would be going to the store? It doesn’t take a mathematician to know that the answer is two. The word “with” is a preposition that denotes a connection between two separate people or things. A person cannot be “with” himself any more than he can be above, behind, or below himself. Again, while all this might seem really simple, there are some faiths that simply miss the mark here. When John says, “The Word was with God,” he implies that the Word and God the Father were two separate entities. This means that Jesus is a Person, distinct and separate from the Father.

The Word is eternal – “In the beginning was the Word.” It’s hard for us to consider past events and people without doing so from the standpoint of time. However, John moves us beyond the scope of time with one powerful word: “was.” Again, you don’t have to be a scholar to know that “was” refers to something/someone that happened/existed before something/someone else. Time as we know began when, as the Bible records, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). By using the word “was” in connection with the beginning of time, John implies that Jesus existed before time. Whatever exists outside of time is eternal, which implies that Jesus is eternal.

The Word is Divine – “And the Word was God.” One of the great mysteries is how God can be one, as He is clearly said to be in the Bible (Deuteronomy 6:4), and at the same time be three, as He is also clearly said to be in the Bible, given that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all identified as God (e.g. Father – Galatians 1:3; Jesus – Philippians 2:5-6; the Spirit – Acts 5:3-4; cf. Matthew 28:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14). Perhaps to run from this seeming contradiction, some deny what John 1:1 teaches either by denying that Jesus was truly “with God” or by teaching Jesus and the Holy Spirit are only demigods or some other type of inferior being.^[1] These same individuals would probably not even blink if someone said that there is one mankind, even though there is clearly more than one member of humanity. As difficult as it may be to comprehend, when the Bible says there is one God, it does not demand that there is only one Being that comprises that one God. John says quite clearly, “The Word was God” after emphasizing His standing as a Person separate to God the Father, which reinforces the idea that Jesus is Divine.

When Thomas was finally able to see His resurrected Lord, there was no doubt in his mind as to whom he was seeing. He said without hesitation, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). To receive such a worshipful statement without being the one true God of the Bible would have been blasphemous on Jesus’ part; faithful men and angels rejected worship like this throughout the Bible (Acts 10:26, 14:14-15; Revelation 19:10, 22:9). Jesus Himself said, “You shall worship the Lord thy God, and Him only you shall serve” (Matthew 4:10). The reason Jesus did not reject worship is that even before He became the Christ, the anointed one of God, Jesus was the Word who was with and who was God. He is, was, and ever will be a Person who is eternal and therefore Divine (Hebrews 13:8).

-Patrick Swayne  
patrick@tftw.org