John 1:1-5 - The Word Before Time - The Mysteries of God's Word

John starts his Gospel with a sentence that can rearrange your entire view of Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word.” We slow down and work through John 1:1–5 line by line, because the stakes are huge. If the “Word” is eternal, personal, and fully God, then Jesus isn’t just a teacher who shows up late in the story. He’s the Creator at the beginning of it. 

We also wrestle with the term Logos. It can sound abstract, even cold, like calling Jesus “logic.” But John is doing something brilliant and deeply pastoral: he takes a word loaded with meaning in Greek philosophy and Jewish Scripture and attaches it to a Person. The result is a clear picture of Jesus Christ as God’s living self-expression, eternally with the Father, sharing the same divine nature, within the reality of the Trinity. 

From there, we connect doctrine to daily life. If all things were made through Christ, then he isn’t only able to save, he’s able to give real life, including eternal life grounded in the cross and resurrection. John’s theme of light and darkness becomes more than imagery: it’s truth confronting sin, and a light the darkness cannot overcome. Subscribe for more Gospel of John Bible study, share this with someone who needs clarity about who Jesus is, and leave a review then tell us: what part of John 1 hit you the hardest?

Transcript

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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Over the past four months I've taken a break as I continue my search for a church to pastor.

ife Update And Pastoral Search

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I've been focused on my family, on study, and on applying at possible churches. My wife and I continue to pray that the Lord's will be done in our lives, and that God will guide us to the right church. Today we begin the book of John. John chapter one Honestly, part of my delay in beginning the book of John is because I really was a bit hesitant in

tarting John And Reading Verse One

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describing verse one of John. And let me tell you why. Let's read verse one of John chapter one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John chapter one verse one starts in the beginning. It parallels Genesis chapter one verse one. It says in the beginning, just like when God created the heavens and the earth. It's describing that the word being spoken of here existed from all of eternity. It was present before creation and during creation. Colossians one sixteen reads For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. This first verse continues, in the beginning was the word. Now this is what I was a little hesitant about. Because the word for word here seems impersonal to me. The word for word is logos. It's where we get the word logic

ogos In Greek And Jewish Thought

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from. And honestly, to describe Jesus as logic seemed very impersonal, and I didn't know how I was going to describe that to you. Logos touched both the Jewish and Greek cultures. To the Greeks, it was used to describe divine reason, divine wisdom, and they used it in their philosophical discussions. To the Jews at the time of Christ, it could have referred to the power of God's voice, or even the words of Scripture. For example, Psalm thirty three six says, By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their hosts. You see, John is taking this impersonal word, logos, that many understood as divine truth, and he's applying it to someone very personal, Jesus Christ. Jesus the Messiah is the divine expression of God's truth to mankind. John goes on, the word was with God. Now the way in which this is phrased in the Greek tells us that the word was with God prior to creation.

he Word With God And Is God

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It stands in contrast to how things are made in verse three, denoting the creation of the universe. The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, has been in an intimate relationship with the Father throughout all of eternity. Jesus himself said in John chapter seventeen verse five, and now Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. And finally in verse one we see the word was God. John uses the Greek language to emphasize that the word was God. Jesus the Messiah was fully God. He had the very divine nature that the Father has. Colossians one nineteen reads For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. You see, the Son of God did not cease to be fully God when he took upon human flesh. Rather, he emptied himself, in other words, he voluntarily refrained from using his abilities as God. He submitted fully to the will of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit while he was here. Continuing in verse two. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that's been made. In him

esus In Creation And The Trinity

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was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Verse two restates what verse one already said that the word the Son of God was in the beginning with God. The word is a person, described here as a pronoun he. He existed prior to creation. He was in an intimate relationship with the Father, and he was fully God in all of eternity. This is not describing two gods, but the triune God that has always existed in a loving relationship throughout all of eternity. In verse three, we see that while all three persons of the Trinity were active in their creation of the universe, the New Testament describes how the Son of God took a leading role in the creation of the universe. While the Father directed all things, the Son was the active agent by which through everything came into being. Everything was made for the Son of God. Its very existence dependent upon him, and everything in creation will eventually one day come to an end through him. In verse four, we see that the Son of God as the active agent in creation upholds all life by his word. When Jesus tells us that

ife And Light Against Darkness

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he has the power to grant eternal life, this is no figurative statement. The life that he gives is eternal. It begins by giving life to our dead spirit when we believe on his shed blood at Calvary and His resurrection from the dead. But it is also an eternal life to our dying bodies. He will one day resurrect us from the dead at his second coming. Jesus has the power of life. He is the light of men. In Scripture, light refers to God's truth as opposed to falsehood, error or darkness. Psalm one hundred nineteen five reads Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Jesus, who is the Word, is the light of men, and the darkness has not overcome the light. The darkness of sin and rebellion against God cannot overcome the light of life. Jesus says in John three hundred nineteen, This is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and the people loved darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. And in John's Epistle John, chapter one verse six, the apostle tells us If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in the darkness, we lie, and we do not practice the truth. We're going to pause right here today. We'll pick it up right here in verse six in our next session. God bless you this week.