If you didn’t know this yet, one of Billy’s favorite verses, if not his favorite verse in the entire Bible, is John 1.1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Billy loves to preach on this verse especially during Christmas time, and if I were to take a guess, he is about to do it again in a few months. I love John 1.1 too. I think it is one of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture.
But have you ever wondered to yourself why the word, “Word” in John 1.1? Most Christians think it refers to Jesus. I won’t disagree. The Word is referring to Jesus. The Word is Jesus. But what I meant to ask is if the Word is Jesus, why didn’t John get straight to the point, and say that? Why didn’t he just say, “In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God?”
The English word, “Word”, in John 1.1 is not a bad, or even a poor, translation in our English Bibles. When John wrote the word in the original Greek text, he wrote the Greek word, “Logos”, and “word” is the proper translation for Logos. The English Bible translators could not have chosen a better word (no pun intended) in the English language to show us what is that word that John wrote. John couldn’t have written the word by mistake either, because he used it not once, not twice, but three times in one verse. But why Logos? What does it even mean in this context? From where did John even get the idea to use this word, as opposed to another?
When you see the English word, “Word”, what comes to your mind? When I think of the word, my mind brings me back to the time when I was in elementary school, and I learned that “word” refers to that common element of speech or writing we use every day. We sometimes use one word by itself, but if we put many of them together, they form to create an intelligible sentence we wish to say. Words are the words we write down. Words are the words that come out of our mouths. For this reason, when John wrote the “Word” in John 1.1, some Christians think the Word was God’s spoken word or words, for example, in creation. In Genesis 1.3, God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light. Therefore, when John wrote John 1.1, “In the beginning was the Word”, he was saying, “In the beginning were the words God spoke.” God spoke, and the heavens and the earth came into being. This is not my view.
What makes this interpretation difficult is not with John 1.1a really, but with what comes after that. After he said, “In the beginning was the Word”, he also said, “and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” If the Word refers to God’s spoken words coming out of his mouth in creation, then we must also say that God’s spoken words was with God, and God’s spoken words was God. Later in John 1.14, when the Bible says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us”, we must also say that God’s spoken words came in the flesh, and God’s spoken words lived among us!
If the Word does not refer to God’s spoken words out of his mouth, then what does it mean?