You mentioned John 1:1 Chris, may I ask you to break it down sir, what does beginning mean?
Lets begin at the very first part of verse in John 1:1a
In the beginning was the Word.
en arche en ho logos
εν αρχη ην ο λογος
the phrase "in the beginning" is "en arche". Now if you look in the Septuagint at Genesis 1:1 we find this:
εν αρχη εποιησεν ο θεος
Now the question we need to ask ourselves is what does in the beginning mean ? One must always remember that context always determines the meaning of words and phrases. If we compare Genesis with John which is exactly what John is doing in his opening to his gospel we can clearly see his point. Moses and John both are discussing the creation of "all things". That makes the passages parallel. Here a some parallels to consider:
1- in the beginning
2- Theos( God) appears in both opening verses
3- Both talk about the creation of all things
4- both use egeneto εγενετο, came into being or existence
5- both use and contrast light and darkness
εν αρχη refers to the beginning of time. Now if John didn't mean the beginning of time he could of easily used another word that he often used which would be the word from"apo" instead of en. He could of also used the phrase came into being(egeneto) to refer to the Word in 1a but he did not. John made it very clear that the Word in his gospel is equal to the God in Genesis.
Now lets look at the verb was"en". This is in the imperfect tense of eimi meaning continuous existence. By its very definition it has the meaning of eternal, without beginning. Therefor the Words existence transcends time and is eternal. From Robertsons Words from the GNT:
In the beginning (en arch). Arch is definite, though anarthrous like our at home, in town, and the similar Hebrew be reshith in Genesis 1:1 . But Westcott notes that here John carries our thoughts beyond the beginning of creation in time to eternity. There is no argument here to prove the existence of God any more than in Genesis. It is simply assumed.
From here we can now look to see who the Word is in John 1:1.
Now that we have established the meaning of the beginning in John 1:1a we can move on to the identity of the Word.
Whoever the Word is , He was alongside God (with Him) and was God. But how can the Word be with God and also be God? Lets examine 1b The Word was with God. John here is making a distinction between the Word and God. Though existing eternally with God the Word (logos)was in perfect fellowship with God. Pros with the accusative shows equality and intimacy, face to face with each other. This clearly reveals a relationship between the logos and theon in 1b. In (Moulton and Milligan
Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament)"the knowledge of our intimacy with one another" is used to speak of the relationship between the logos and God.
The Word was God- και θεος ην ο λογος . Theos here is without the article. It is predicative and describes the nature of the Word. The absence of the article indicates that the Word is God. Johns whole gospel comes forth from this verse. The Word is who his gospel is written about and as we will see the words and deeds of Jesus are the words and deeds of God.
John 1:14 and the Word became flesh- και ο λογος σαρξ εγενετο. Second aorist middle indicative of ginomai which means came into existence, He became flesh. The Word in one single event is history became man as opposed to “eimi” being or always existed. So we can clearly see the Word who is eternal came into existence in the flesh at a single point in time .
Now if we read further in John we can see that the Word dwelt among us (tabernacled).The Word entering a new mode of existence, became flesh, and lived in a tent (His physical body-a tabernacle) among us. And we beheld His glory. We must also remember YHWH declared numerous times in the O.T. that He would not share His glory with anyone.
This Word John the Baptist identifies as Jesus.
15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for
He existed before me.
John 1:29-31
29The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
30"This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I,
for He existed before me.
The revelation of God's glory is an important theme in Johns Gospel. Jesus revealed God's glory in His person, His works, and His words. Jesus works, words and deeds are Gods works, words and deeds. That is why He could say he who has seen me has seen the Father because they are one in essence. Jesus could say as well that before Abraham was “I Am” (the self existing One) and taking upon Himself the divine name that God gave to Moses. This is the same wording in the Septuagint for which the Pharisees tried to stone Him for in John 8:58.
Jesus warns us that unless you believe that “I Am” you will die in your sins. John 8:24. I have many more things to say on this topic but this should be enough to suffice for now. My favorite subject/doctrine in Scripture is the Deity of Christ. I'm most passionate about Jesus being God. YHWH alone is our Savior and there is none besides Him declares the Lord of Hosts. But in the N.T. we see Jesus alone is our Savior. He is our great God and Savior Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 1:11. He is the True God and Eternal Life 1 John 5:20 who was with the Father before creation, before the world came into existence when there was only God. John 17:5 sharing the same Glory together with the Father. There is no escaping the Deity of Christ/ Messiah from both testament's and I have many, many more scriptures to share on this topic. Scripture is full of them.
hope this helps !!!
