Around Christmas and Easter, the media often features a story asking, “Who was Jesus?” In the Western world—the world founded upon Christian teachings—somehow, people still do not know who Jesus was, is, and always will be. John, however, leaves no room for questioning his identity. Simply, John tells the world that Jesus—the Word—is God, and everything we have was made by and through Him, including our very lives.
Let’s look first at the passage:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. —John 1:1-51
While we work through this passage, I would suggest that the main idea is simply: the pre-existent Word, who is God, is the source of eternal life and spiritual illumination.
Finally, our key verse is John 1:4: “In him [the Word] was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Unveiling the Eternal Word
John opens his Gospel account with words and phrases that would draw the minds of his readers in the first century—and our minds—back to the beginning of all things, at the dawn of all Creation: “In the beginning was the Word.”
The Word's Eternal Pre-existence and Divine Relationship (vv. 1-2)
John’s phrasing is so striking because one expects to read something entirely different from what is there. With the Creation account in mind, one would expect, “In the beginning…God,” but here the reader is instead greeted by, “In the beginning…the Word.” The phrasing choice points, although implicitly, to the reader to the identity (and divinity) of the Word.2
As we proceed further through the verse, John moves from simple implication toward a more explicit revelation about the nature of the relationship between the Word and God. He says that the Word was with God, suggesting a distinction from God, but in the very next phrase, he confirms that the Word is God. How can this be? The answer is not explicitly stated within Scripture but is clearly found when surveying the whole of the Old and New Testaments: John holds to a trinitarian view of God.3 In short, John declares that the Word possesses the very nature and essence of God. He is not a god, but God Himself, co-eternal and co-equal with the Father.
The Word as the Agent of Creation (v. 3)
From His divine identity, John moves to His divine work in that it was by and through him that everything was made. The Word is the agent of creation. The entire cosmos, from the grandest galaxy to the smallest particle, was brought into existence through His power and design. This includes all things, both animate and inanimate.4 This establishes His absolute sovereignty over everything that exists. As the Apostle Paul would later affirm in Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created....”
The universe is not a random accident (i.e., the Big Bang Theory). It is the purposeful creation of the Word, Jesus Christ, and it was made for His glory.
The Word as Life and Undefeated Light
In the memories of all those alive today, most have likely heard of scientists attempting to discover the origins of life. What separates a clump of inanimate molecules from a bacterium? Life. But what is life? From where does it come?
The Word as the Inherent Source of Life (v. 4a)
John tells us plainly that the Word is the source of life because He is the Creator of all things. In short, the Greek word used here for life is zoe (ζωή), which signifies more than mere biological existence.5 It is divine life, spiritual and eternal life, that resides intrinsically within the Word. Life is not something He has; it is something He is.
Later in the Johannine Gospel, Jesus makes a statement that builds on this claim to be the source of life: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
That Life as the Guiding Light for Humanity (v. 4b)
John immediately connects life as the essence of the Word to our condition: "...and that life was the light of men."6 This divine life is the very source of spiritual illumination. This illuminating light should be understood as a gift from outside the human situation that directly confronts a world lost in spiritual darkness.7 It reveals the true nature of God and provides the one path out of death, which is eternal separation from Him.
The Unconquerable Light Shining in Darkness (v. 5)
This confrontation between light and darkness reaches its victorious climax in verse 5:
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The verb “shines” is in the present tense, indicating a continuous action that “embraces history and the present time.”8 The light shone in creation, it shone in the fallen world, it shone with blinding brilliance in the Incarnate Christ, and it shines on today.
The final phrase, “the darkness has not overcome it,” is packed with meaning. The Greek verb, katelaben (καταλαμβάνειν), can mean both “to comprehend” and “to conquer.”9 While the darkness certainly could not understand the light, the primary meaning here is one of conflict. The context of John's Gospel is a story of intense opposition, pointing toward a cosmic battle. The darkness threw its full force against the light, ultimately culminating in the cross. Yet, the past tense of “did not overcome” signifies a completed and failed action on the part of the darkness.10 Darkness has done its worst, but the resurrection is the final verdict: the light is unconquerable.
For the Ploughman
John’s opening declaration leaves no room for doubt. Jesus Christ is not a mere prophet or a wise teacher, as some other religions might suggest today. No, He is the eternal Word who was with God and is God. He is the divine agent through whom the entire universe was spoken into existence, and He is the one in whom true, spiritual life is found. This life shines as an unconquerable light into the darkness of our world, a light that was not understood, not received by many, but a light that could never be extinguished by the deepest darkness of sin and death. The cross was not a defeat, but the prelude to the victory of the empty tomb, where the light shone forth, triumphant and forever.
Acknowledge His Deity
We must move past seeing Jesus as merely a good man. To truly worship Him is to fall on our knees before Him as the pre-existent, divine Creator of all things.
How does confessing “the Word was God” transform your prayers, your trust, and your view of His authority over every part of your life?
Seek His Life
We spend our days chasing after things that we believe will bring us fulfillment—careers, relationships, possessions. But these are temporary. John tells us that true, eternal life is found only “in Him.”
Are you seeking life from the created world, or are you drawing it from the Creator Himself?
Walk in His Light
To walk in the light is a daily choice to align our lives with Christ's truth, allowing it to expose the darkness in our hearts and guide our steps.
In what specific area of your life do you need to intentionally let Christ's light shine today? How can you then reflect that light to a world in desperate need of it?
Stand Firm in Hope
The world often feels dark and overwhelming. But our hope is not in our own strength or in changing circumstances. Our hope is anchored in the reality that the light of Christ shines and that the darkness cannot overcome it. The victory is already won.
Until next time, keep your hand on the plow and break up the fallow ground!
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Excursus: The Logos (λόγος)
NOTE: The excursus section will take a brief academic look at an aspect of the passage. Therefore, future articles will eventually implement a paywall for this section.
In John’s use of the term Logos (“Word”), he selected a word with connotations for both Jews and non-Jews. In this excursus, I would like to help you appreciate the philosophical and theological currents behind the word.
The World of the Word
In the broader Greco-Roman world, thinkers such as Heraclitus and the Stoics employed it to describe an impersonal, divine principle of reason that governed the cosmos and gave it meaning. For many non-Jews, the logos was the rational force that held the universe together, a concept that provided a crucial point of contact for John’s message.11
More significant for John’s context, however, was the Hebrew concept of the “word of the Lord” (davar YHWH, יהוה־דָּבָר). In the Old Testament, God’s word is His means of powerful self-expression. By His word:
He creates the universe (Gen. 1:3)
He reveals His will to the prophets (Isa. 1:10)
He accomplishes salvation (Ps. 107:20)
While this word was sometimes personified—most notably as “Wisdom” in texts like Proverbs 8—it was not usually understood to be a distinct, divine person, separate from yet equal to God.12 John took this foundational concept a revolutionary step further.
John’s Radical Revelation
John takes the familiar concept of the Logos and radically redefines it in two crucial ways. First, the Logos is a Person, not a principle, who existed in an eternal, personal relationship with God.
Second, this personal Word is fully God. John immediately clarifies that the Word was not a lesser emanation or a created angelic being, but was God, “sharing His very essence”.13 With this, John moved the conventional understanding to confessing the “Word of God” as the divine Revealer Himself—the Messiah.
The Climax: The Word Made Flesh
All of this builds to the high-water mark of John’s prologue and, indeed, of all Logos Christology: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). This is the ultimate mystery of the Incarnation. The eternal, divine Person who created all things entered into His own creation and took on human nature.
This act solves the ultimate dilemma of how a transcendent, invisible God can be truly known by finite humanity. God did not just send another message. His very self-expression, the Logos, is the message. In Jesus Christ, the infinite and finite meet. God Himself becomes the bridge, a tangible reality who, as John would later write, could be seen, heard, and even touched (1 John 1:1).
Unless otherwise noted, all references to or quotations of Scripture come from the English Standard Version (ESV).
While the OT was originally written in Hebrew, it was translated into Greek (the Septuagint, or LXX) a few hundred years before Jesus. Greek was the lingua franca, like English is today, so John and his readers would likely have been more familiar with the Greek phrasing. That would make it all the more striking.
Some would argue against this, claiming it to be a perversion of Scripture, but this is the classically held belief by Christians from at least the fourth century AD, particularly since the Council of Nicea, 1700 years ago this year.
Murray J. Harris, John, Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament (B&H Academic, 2015), 22.
Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel according to John (I–XII), vol. 29, Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 7.
Gerald L. Borchert, John 1–11, vol. 25A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 108.
Ibid., 109.
George R. Beasley-Murray, John, vol. 36, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1999), 11.
Ibid.
Matt Carter and Josh Wredberg, Exalting Jesus in John (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 14.
Douglas Estes, “Logos,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
I should note that I do take a Christocentric reading of the Old Testament, meaning that I see Christ in the OT and believe that the people of the OT saw Him as well. I would qualify this by saying that though they may have seen Him (not visually, but intellectually), they would not have necessarily known Him as Jesus Christ as we know Him today.
Paul A. Rainbow, “Logos Christology,” in Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments, ed. Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), 665.
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