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Selected Verse: John 1:1 - Basic English
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Joh 1:1 |
Basic English |
From the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God. |
| |
King James |
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
THE WORD MADE FLESH. (Joh 1:1-14)
In the beginning--of all time and created existence, for this Word gave it being (Joh 1:3, Joh 1:10); therefore, "before the world was" (Joh 17:5, Joh 17:24); or, from all eternity.
was the Word--He who is to God what man's word is to himself, the manifestation or expression of himself to those without him. (See on Joh 1:18). On the origin of this most lofty and now for ever consecrated title of Christ, this is not the place to speak. It occurs only in the writings of this seraphic apostle.
was with God--having a conscious personal existence distinct from God (as one is from the person he is "with"), but inseparable from Him and associated with Him (Joh 1:18; Joh 17:5; Jo1 1:2), where "THE FATHER" is used in the same sense as "GOD" here.
was God--in substance and essence GOD; or was possessed of essential or proper divinity. Thus, each of these brief but pregnant statements is the complement of the other, correcting any misapprehensions which the others might occasion. Was the Word eternal? It was not the eternity of "the Father," but of a conscious personal existence distinct from Him and associated with Him. Was the Word thus "with God?" It was not the distinctness and the fellowship of another being, as if there were more Gods than one, but of One who was Himself God--in such sense that the absolute unity of the God head, the great principle of all religion, is only transferred from the region of shadowy abstraction to the region of essential life and love. But why all this definition? Not to give us any abstract information about certain mysterious distinctions in the Godhead, but solely to let the reader know who it was that in the fulness of time "was made flesh." After each verse, then, the reader must say, "It was He who is thus, and thus, and thus described, who was made flesh." |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
In the beginning - This expression is used also in Gen 1:1. John evidently has allusion here to that place, and he means to apply to "the Word" an expression which is there applied "to God." In both places it clearly means before creation, before the world was made, when as yet there was nothing. The meaning is: that the "Word" had an existence before the world was created. This is not spoken of the man Jesus, but of that which "became" a man, or was incarnate, Joh 1:14. The Hebrews, by expressions like this, commonly denoted eternity. Thus. the eternity of God is described Psa 90:2; "Before the mountains were brought forth, etc.;" and eternity is commonly expressed by the phrase, before the foundation of the world." Whatever is meant by the term "Word," it is clear that it had an existence before "creation." It is not, then, a "creature" or created being, and must be, therefore, uncreated and eternal. There is only one Being that is uncreated, and Jesus must be therefore divine. Compare the Saviour's own declarations respecting himself in the following places: Joh 8:58; Joh 17:5; Joh 6:62; Joh 3:13; Joh 6:46; Joh 8:14; Joh 16:28.
Was the Word - Greek, "was the λόγος Logos." This name is given to him who afterward became "flesh," or was incarnate (Joh 1:14 - that is, to the Messiah. Whatever is meant by it, therefore, is applicable to the Lord Jesus Christ. There have been many opinions about the reason why this name was given to the Son of God. It is unnecessary to repeat those opinions. The opinion which seems most plausible may be expressed as follows:
1. A "word" is that by which we communicate our will; by which we convey our thoughts; or by which we issue commands the medium of communication with others.
2. The Son of God may be called "the Word," because he is the medium by which God promulgates His will and issues His commandments. See Heb 1:1-3.
3. This term was in use before the time of John.
(a) It was used in the Aramaic translation of the Old Testament, as, "e. g.," Isa 45:12; "I have made the earth, and created man upon it." In the Aramaic it is, "I, 'by my word,' have made," etc. Isa 48:13; "mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth." In the Aramaic, "'By my word' I have founded the earth." And so in many other places.
(b) This term was used by the Jews as applicable to the Messiah. In their writings he was commonly known by the term "Mimra" - that is, "Word;" and no small part of the interpositions of God in defense of the Jewish nation were declared to be by "the Word of God." Thus, in their Targum on Deu 26:17-18, it is said, "Ye have appointed the word of God a king over you this day, that he may be your God."
(c) The term was used by the Jews who were scattered among the Gentiles, and especially those who were conversant with the Greek philosophy.
(d) The term was used by the followers of Plato among the Greeks, to denote the Second Person of the Trinity. The Greek term νοῦς nous or "mind," was commonly given to this second person, but it was said that this nous was "the word" or "reason" of the First Person of the Trinity. The term was therefore extensively in use among the Jews and Gentiles before John wrote his Gospel, and it was certain that it would be applied to the Second Person of the Trinity by Christians. whether converted from Judaism or Paganism. It was important, therefore, that the meaning of the term should be settled by an inspired man, and accordingly John, in the commencement of his Gospel, is at much pains to state clearly what is the true doctrine respecting the λόγος Logos, or Word. It is possible, also, that the doctrines of the Gnostics had begun to spread in the time of John. They were an Oriental sect, and held that the λόγος Logos or "Word" was one of the "Aeones" that had been created, and that this one had been united to the man Jesus. If that doctrine had begun then to prevail, it was of the more importance for John to settle the truth in regard to the rank of the Logos or Word. This he has done in such a way that there need be no doubt about its meaning.
Was with God - This expression denotes friendship or intimacy. Compare Mar 9:19. John affirms that he was "with God" in the beginning - that is, before the world was made. It implies, therefore, that he was partaker of the divine glory; that he was blessed and happy with God. It proves that he was intimately united with the Father, so as to partake of his glory and to be appropriately called by the name God. He has himself explained it. See Joh 17:5; "And now, O Father, glorify thou we with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was." See also Joh 1:18; "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." See also Joh 3:13; "The Son of man, which is in heaven." Compare Phi 2:6-7.
Was God - In the previous phrase John had said that the Word was "with God." Lest it should be supposed that he was a different and inferior being, here John states that "he was God." There is no more unequivocal declaration in the Bible than this, and there could be no stronger proof that the sacred writer meant to affirm that the Son of God was equal with the Father; because:
1. There is no doubt that by the λόγος Logos is meant Jesus Christ.
2. This is not an "attribute" or quality of God, but is a real subsistence, for it is said that the λόγος Logos was made flesh σάρξ sarx - that is, became a human being.
3. There is no variation here in the manuscripts, and critics have observed that the Greek will bear no other construction than what is expressed in our translation - that the Word "was God."
4. There is no evidence that John intended to use the word "God" in an inferior sense. It is not "the Word was a god," or "the Word was 'like God,'" but the Word "was God." He had just used the word "God" as evidently applicable to Yahweh, the true God; and it is absurd to suppose that he would in the same verse, and without any indication that he was using the word in an inferior sense, employ it to denote a being altogether inferior to the true God.
5. The name "God" is elsewhere given to him, showing that he is the supreme God. See Rom 9:5; Heb 1:8, Heb 1:10, Heb 1:12; Jo1 5:20; Joh 20:28.
The meaning of this important verse may then be thus summed up:
1. The name λόγος Logos, or Word, is given to Christ in reference to his becoming the Teacher or Instructor of mankind; the medium of communication between God and man.
2. The name was in use at the time of John, and it was his design to state the correct doctrine respecting the λόγος Logos.
3. The "Word," or λόγος Logos, existed "before creation" - of course was not a "creature," and must have been, therefore, from eternity.
4. He was "with God" - that is, he was united to him in a most intimate and close union before the creation; and, as it could not be said that God was "with himself," it follows that the λόγος Logos was in some sense distinct from God, or that there was a distinction between the Father and the Son. When we say that one is "with another," we imply that there is some sort of distinction between them.
5. Yet, lest it should be supposed that he was a "different" and "inferior" being - a creature - he affirms that he was God - that is, was equal with the Father.
This is the foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity:
1. that the second person is in some sense "distinct" from the first.
2. that he is intimately united with the first person in essence, so that there are not two or more Gods.
3. that the second person may be called by the same name; has the same attributes; performs the same works; and is entitled to the same honors with the first, and that therefore he is "the same in substance, and equal in power and glory," with God. |
| The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917] |
Word
(Greek, "logos"); (Aramaic, "Memra," used in the Targums, or Hebrew, paraphrases, for "God"). The Greek term means,
(1) a thought or concept;
(2) the expression or utterance of that thought. As a designation of Christ, therefore, Logos is peculiarly felicitous because,
(1) in Him are embodied all the treasures of the divine wisdom, the collective "thought" of God (Co1 1:24); (Eph 3:11); (Col 2:2); (Col 2:3) and,
(2) He is from eternity, but especially in His incarnation, the utterance or expression of the Person, and "thought" of Deity (Joh 1:3-5); (Joh 1:9); (Joh 1:14-18); (Joh 14:9-11); (Col 2:9).
In the Being, Person, and work of Christ, Deity is told out. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
In the beginning was (ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν)
With evident allusion to the first word of Genesis. But John elevates the phrase from its reference to a point of time, the beginning of creation, to the time of absolute pre-existence before any creation, which is not mentioned until Joh 1:3. This beginning had no beginning (compare Joh 1:3; Joh 17:5; Jo1 1:1; Eph 1:4; Pro 8:23; Psa 90:2). This heightening of the conception, however, appears not so much in ἀρχή, beginning, which simply leaves room for it, as in the use of ἦν, was, denoting absolute existence (compare εἰμί, I am, Joh 8:58) instead of ἐγένετο, came into being, or began to be, which is used in Joh 1:3, Joh 1:14, of the coming into being of creation and of the Word becoming flesh. Note also the contrast between ἀρχή, in the beginning, and the expression ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, from the beginning, which is common in John's writings (Joh 8:44; Jo1 2:7, Jo1 2:24; Jo1 3:8) and which leaves no room for the idea of eternal pre-existence. "In Gen 1:1, the sacred historian starts from the beginning and comes downward, thus keeping us in the course of time. Here he starts from the same point, but goes upward, thus taking us into the eternity preceding time" (Milligan and Moulton). See on Col 1:15. This notion of "beginning" is still further heightened by the subsequent statement of the relation of the Logos to the eternal God. The ἀρχή must refer to the creation - the primal beginning of things; but if, in this beginning, the Logos already was, then he belonged to the order of eternity. "The Logos was not merely existent, however, in the beginning, but was also the efficient principle, the beginning of the beginning. The ἀρχή (beginning), in itself and in its operation dark, chaotic, was, in its idea and its principle, comprised in one single luminous word, which was the Logos. And when it is said the Logos was in this beginning, His eternal existence is already expressed, and His eternal position in the Godhead already indicated thereby" (Lange). "Eight times in the narrative of creation (in Genesis) there occur, like the refrain of a hymn, the words, And God said. John gathers up all those sayings of God into a single saying, living and endowed with activity and intelligence, from which all divine orders emanate: he finds as the basis of all spoken words, the speaking Word" (Godet).
The Word (ὁ λόγος)
Logos. This expression is the keynote and theme of the entire gospel. Λόγος is from the root λεγ, appearing in λέγω, the primitive meaning of which is to lay: then, to pick out, gather, pick up: hence to gather or put words together, and so, to speak. Hence λόγος is, first of all, a collecting or collection both of things in the mind, and of words by which they are expressed. It therefore signifies both the outward form by which the inward thought is expressed, and the inward thought itself, the Latin oratio and ratio: compare the Italian ragionare, "to think" and "to speak."
As signifying the outward form it is never used in the merely grammatical sense, as simply the name of a thing or act (ἔπος, ὄνομα, ῥῆμα), but means a word as the thing referred to: the material, not the formal part: a word as embodying a conception or idea. See, for instance, Mat 22:46; Co1 14:9, Co1 14:19. Hence it signifies a saying, of God, or of man (Mat 19:21, Mat 19:22; Mar 5:35, Mar 5:36): a decree, a precept (Rom 9:28; Mar 7:13). The ten commandments are called in the Septuagint, οἱ δέκα λόγοι, "the ten words" (Exo 34:28), and hence the familiar term decalogue. It is further used of discourse: either of the act of speaking (Act 14:12), of skill and practice in speaking (Act 18:15; Ti2 4:15), specifically the doctrine of salvation through Christ (Mat 13:20-23; Phi 1:14); of narrative, both the relation and the thing related (Act 1:1; Joh 21:23; Mar 1:45); of matter under discussion, an affair, a case in law (Act 15:6; Act 19:38).
As signifying the inward thought, it denotes the faculty of thinking and reasoning (Heb 4:12); regard or consideration (Act 20:24); reckoning, account (Phi 4:15, Phi 4:17; Heb 4:13); cause or reason (Act 10:29).
John uses the word in a peculiar sense, here, and in Joh 1:14; and, in this sense, in these two passages only. The nearest approach to it is in Rev 19:13, where the conqueror is called the Word of God; and it is recalled in the phrases Word of Life, and the Life was manifested (Jo1 1:1, Jo1 1:2). Compare Heb 4:12. It was a familiar and current theological term when John wrote, and therefore he uses it without explanation.
Old Testament Usage of the Term
The word here points directly to Genesis 1, where the act of creation is effected by God speaking (compare Psa 33:6). The idea of God, who is in his own nature hidden, revealing himself in creation, is the root of the Logos-idea, in contrast with all materialistic or pantheistic conceptions of creation. This idea develops itself in the Old Testament on three lines. (1) The Word, as embodying the divine will, is personified in Hebrew poetry. Consequently divine attributes are predicated of it as being the continuous revelation of God in law and prophecy (Psa 3:4; Isa 40:8; Psa 119:105). The Word is a healer in Psa 107:20; a messenger in Psa 147:15; the agent of the divine decrees in Isa 55:11.
(2) The personified wisdom (Job 28:12 sq.; Proverbs 8, 9). Here also is the idea of the revelation of that which is hidden. For wisdom is concealed from man: "he knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air" (Job 28). Even Death, which unlocks so many secrets, and the underworld, know it only as a rumor (Job 28:22). It is only God who knows its way and its place (Job 28:23). He made the world, made the winds and the waters, made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder (Job 28:25, Job 28:26). He who possessed wisdom in the beginning of his way, before His works of old, before the earth with its depths and springs and mountains, with whom was wisdom as one brought up with Him (Pro 8:26-31), declared it. "It became, as it were, objective, so that He beheld it" (Job 28:27) and embodied it in His creative work. This personification, therefore, is based on the thought that wisdom is not shut up at rest in God, but is active and manifest in the world. "She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors" (Pro 8:2, Pro 8:3). She builds a palace and prepares a banquet, and issues a general invitation to the simple and to him that wanteth understanding (Pro 9:1-6). It is viewed as the one guide to salvation, comprehending all revelations of God, and as an attribute embracing and combining all His other attributes.
(3) The Angel of Jehovah. The messenger of God who serves as His agent in the world of sense, and is sometimes distinguished from Jehovah and sometimes identical with him (Gen 16:7-13; Gen 32:24-28; Hos 12:4, Hos 12:5; Exo 23:20, Exo 23:21; Mal 3:1).
Apocryphal Usage
In the Apocryphal writings this mediative element is more distinctly apprehended, but with a tendency to pantheism. In the Wisdom of Solomon (at least 100 b.c.), where wisdom seems to be viewed as another name for the whole divine nature, while nowhere connected with the Messiah, it is described as a being of light, proceeding essentially from God; a true image of God, co-occupant of the divine throne; a real and independent principle, revealing God in the world and mediating between it and Him, after having created it as his organ - in association with a spirit which is called μονογενές, only begotten (7:22). "She is the breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty; therefore can no defiled thing fall into her. For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness" (see chapter 7, throughout). Again: "Wisdom reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth she order all things. In that she is conversant with God, she magnifieth her nobility: yea, the Lord of all things Himself loved her. For she is privy to the mysteries of the knowledge of God, and a lover of His works. Moreover, by the means of her I shall obtain immortality, and leave behind me an everlasting memorial to them that come after me" (chapter 9). In 16:12, it is said, "Thy word, O Lord, healeth all things" (compare Psa 107:20); and in 18:15, 16, "Thine almighty word leaped from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction, and brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and, standing up, filled all things with death; and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth." See also Wisdom of Sirach, chapters 1, 24, and Baruch 3, 4:1-4.
Later Jewish Usage
After the Babylonish captivity the Jewish doctors combined into one view the theophanies, prophetic revelations and manifestations of Jehovah generally, and united them in one single conception, that of a permanent agent of Jehovah in the sensible world, whom they designated by the name Memra (word, λόγος) of Jehovah. The learned Jews introduced the idea into the Targurns, or Aramaean paraphrases of the Old Testament, which were publicly read in the synagogues, substituting the name the word of Jehovah for that of Jehovah, each time that God manifested himself. Thus in Gen 39:21, they paraphrase, "The Memra was with Joseph in prison." In Psa 110:1-7 Jehovah addresses the first verse to the Memra. The Memra is the angel that destroyed the first-born of Egypt, and it was the Memra that led the Israelites in the cloudy pillar.
Usage in the Judaeo-Alexandrine Philosophy
From the time of Ptolemy I: (323-285 b.c.), there were Jews in great numbers in Egypt. Philo (a.d. 50) estimates them at a million in his time. Alexandria was their headquarters. They had their own senate and magistrates, and possessed the same privileges as the Greeks. The Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek (b.c. 280-150) was the beginning of a literary movement among them, the key-note of which was the reconciliation of Western culture and Judaism, the establishment of a connection between the Old Testament faith and the Greek philosophy. Hence they interpreted the facts of sacred history allegorically, and made them symbols of certain speculative principles, alleging that the Greek philosophers had borrowed their wisdom from Moses. Aristobulus (about 150 b.c.) asserted the existence of a previous and much older translation of the law, and dedicated to Ptolemy VI an allegorical exposition of the Pentateuch, in which he tried to show that the doctrines of the Peripatetic or Aristotelian school were derived from the Old Testament. Most of the schools of Greek philosophy were represented among the Alexandrian Jews, but the favorite one was the Platonic. The effort at reconciliation culminated in Philo, a contemporary of Christ. Philo was intimately acquainted with the Platonic philosophy, and made it the fundamental feature of his own doctrines, while availing himself likewise of ideas belonging to the Peripatetic and Stoic schools. Unable to discern the difference in the points of view from which these different doctrines severally proceeded, he jumbled together not merely discordant doctrines of the Greek schools, but also those of the East, regarding the wisdom of the Greeks as having originated in the legislation and writings of Moses. He gathered together from East and West every element that could help to shape his conception of a vicegerent of God, "a mediator between the eternal and the ephemeral. His Logos reflects light from countless facets."
According to Philo, God is the absolute Being. He calls God "that which is:" "the One and the All." God alone exists for himself, without multiplicity and without mixture. No name can properly be ascribed to Him: He simply is. Hence, in His nature, He is unknowable.
Outside of God there exists eternal matter, without form and void, and essentially evil; but the perfect Being could not come into direct contact with the senseless and corruptible; so that the world could not have been created by His direct agency. Hence the doctrine of a mediating principle between God and matter - the divine Reason, the Logos, in whom are comprised all the ideas of finite things, and who created the sensible world by causing these ideas to penetrate into matter.
The absolute God is surrounded by his powers (δυνάμεις) as a king by his servants. These powers are, in Platonic language, ideas; in Jewish, angels; but all are essentially one, and their unity, as they exist in God, as they emanate from him, as they are disseminated in the world, is expressed by Logos. Hence the Logos appears under a twofold aspect: (1) As the immanent reason of God, containing within itself the world-ideal, which, while not outwardly existing, is like the immanent reason in man. This is styled Λόγος ἐνδιάθετος, i.e., the Logos conceived and residing in the mind. This was the aspect emphasized by the Alexandrians, and which tended to the recognition of a twofold personality in the divine essence. (2) As the outspoken word, proceeding from God and manifest in the world. This, when it has issued from God in creating the world, is the Λόγος προφορικός, i.e., the Logos uttered, even as in man the spoken word is the manifestation of thought. This aspect prevailed in Palestine, where the Word appears like the angel of the Pentateuch, as the medium of the outward communication of God with men, and tends toward the recognition of a divine person subordinate to God. Under the former aspect, the Logos is, really, one with God's hidden being: the latter comprehends all the workings and revelations of God in the world; affords from itself the ideas and energies by which the world was framed and is upheld; and, filling all things with divine light and life, rules them in wisdom, love, and righteousness. It is the beginning of creation, not inaugurated, like God, nor made, like the world; but the eldest son of the eternal Father (the world being the younger); God's image; the mediator between God and the world; the highest angel; the second God.
Philo's conception of the Logos, therefore, is: the sum-total and free exercise of the divine energies; so that God, so far as he reveals himself, is called Logos; while the Logos, so far as he reveals God, is called God.
John's doctrine and terms are colored by these preceding influences. During his residence at Ephesus he must have become familiar with the forms and terms of the Alexandrian theology. Nor is it improbable that he used the term Logos with an intent to facilitate the passage from the current theories of his time to the pure gospel which he proclaimed. "To those Hellenists and Hellenistic Jews, on the one hand, who were vainly philosophizing on the relations of the finite and infinite; to those investigators of the letter of the Scriptures, on the other, who speculated about the theocratic revelations, John said, by giving this name Logos to Jesus: 'The unknown Mediator between God and the world, the knowledge of whom you are striving after, we have seen, heard, and touched. Your philosophical speculations and your scriptural subtleties will never raise you to Him. Believe as we do in Jesus, and you will possess in Him that divine Revealer who engages your thoughts'" (Godet).
But John's doctrine is not Philo's, and does not depend upon it. The differences between the two are pronounced. Though both use the term Logos, they use it with utterly different meanings. In John it signifies word, as in Holy Scripture generally; in Philo, reason; and that so distinctly that when Philo wishes to give it the meaning of word, he adds to it by way of explanation, the term ῥῆμα, word.
The nature of the being described by Logos is conceived by each in an entirely different spirit. John's Logos is a person, with a consciousness of personal distinction; Philo's is impersonal. His notion is indeterminate and fluctuating, shaped by the influence which happens to be operating at the time. Under the influence of Jewish documents he styles the Logos an "archangel;" under the influence of Plato, "the Idea of Ideas;" of the Stoics, "the impersonal Reason." It is doubtful whether Philo ever meant to represent the Logos formally as a person. All the titles he gives it may be explained by supposing it to mean the ideal world on which the actual is modeled.
In Philo, moreover, the function of the Logos is confined to the creation and preservation of the universe. He does not identify or connect him with the Messiah. His doctrine was, to a great degree, a philosophical substitute for Messianic hopes. He may have conceived of the Word as acting through the Messiah, but not as one with him. He is a universal principle. In John the Messiah is the Logos himself, uniting himself with humanity, and clothing himself with a body in order to save the world.
The two notions differ as to origin. The impersonal God of Philo cannot pass to the finite creation without contamination of his divine essence. Hence an inferior agent must be interposed. John's God, on the other hand, is personal, and a loving personality. He is a Father (Joh 1:18); His essence is love (Joh 3:16; Jo1 4:8, Jo1 4:16). He is in direct relation with the world which He desires to save, and the Logos is He Himself, manifest in the flesh. According to Philo, the Logos is not coexistent with the eternal God. Eternal matter is before him in time. According to John, the Logos is essentially with the Father from all eternity (Joh 1:2), and it is He who creates all things, matter included (Joh 1:3).
Philo misses the moral energy of the Hebrew religion as expressed in its emphasis upon the holiness of Jehovah, and therefore fails to perceive the necessity of a divine teacher and Savior. He forgets the wide distinction between God and the world, and declares that, were the universe to end, God would die of loneliness and inactivity.
The Meaning of Logos in John
As Logos has the double meaning of thought and speech, so Christ is related to God as the word to the idea, the word being not merely a name for the idea, but the idea itself expressed. The thought is the inward word (Dr. Schaff compares the Hebrew expression "I speak in my heart" for "I think").
The Logos of John is the real, personal God (Joh 1:1), the Word, who was originally before the creation with God. and was God, one in essence and nature, yet personally distinct (Joh 1:1, Joh 1:18); the revealer and interpreter of the hidden being of God; the reflection and visible image of God, and the organ of all His manifestations to the world. Compare Heb 1:3. He made all things, proceeding personally from God for the accomplishment of the act of creation (Heb 1:3), and became man in the person of Jesus Christ, accomplishing the redemption of the world. Compare Phi 2:6.
The following is from William Austin, "Meditation for Christmas Day," cited by Ford on John:
"The name Word is most excellently given to our Savior; for it expresses His nature in one, more than in any others. Therefore St. John, when he names the Person in the Trinity (Jo1 5:7), chooses rather to call Him Word than Son; for word is a phrase more communicable than son. Son hath only reference to the Father that begot Him; but word may refer to him that conceives it; to him that speaks it; to that which is spoken by it; to the voice that it is clad in; and to the effects it raises in him that hears it. So Christ, as He is the Word, not only refers to His Father that begot Him, and from whom He comes forth, but to all the creatures that were made by Him; to the flesh that He took to clothe Him; and to the doctrine He brought and taught, and, which lives yet in the hearts of all them that obediently do hear it. He it is that is this Word; and any other, prophet or preacher, he is but a voice (Luk 3:4). Word is an inward conception of the mind; and voice is but a sign of intention. St. John was but a sign, a voice; not worthy to untie the shoe-latchet of this Word. Christ is the inner conception 'in the bosom of His Father;' and that is properly the Word. And yet the Word is the intention uttered forth, as well as conceived within; for Christ was no less the Word in the womb of the Virgin, or in the cradle of the manger, or on the altar of the cross, than he was in the beginning, 'in the bosom of his Father.' For as the intention departs not from the mind when the word is uttered, so Christ, proceeding from the Father by eternal generation, and after here by birth and incarnation, remains still in Him and with Him in essence; as the intention, which is conceived and born in the mind, remains still with it and in it, though the word be spoken. He is therefore rightly called the Word, both by His coming from, and yet remaining still in, the Father."
And the Word
A repetition of the great subject, with solemn emphasis.
Was with God (ἦν πὸς τὸν Θεὸν)
Anglo-Saxon vers., mid Gode. Wyc., at God. With (πρός) does not convey the full meaning, that there is no single English word which will give it better. The preposition πρός, which, with the accusative case, denotes motion towards, or direction, is also often used in the New Testament in the sense of with; and that not merely as being near or beside, but as a living union and communion; implying the active notion of intercourse. Thus: "Are not his sisters here with us" (πρὸς ἡμᾶς), i.e., in social relations with us (Mar 6:3; Mat 13:56). "How long shall I be with you" (πρὸς ὑμᾶς, Mar 9:16). "I sat daily with you" (Mat 26:55). "To be present with the Lord" (πρὸς τὸν Κύριον, Co2 5:8). "Abide and winter with you" (Co1 16:6). "The eternal life which was with the Father" (πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, Jo1 1:2). Thus John's statement is that the divine Word not only abode with the Father from all eternity, but was in the living, active relation of communion with Him.
And the Word was God (καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος)
In the Greek order, and God was the Word, which is followed by Anglo-Saxon, Wyc., and Tynd. But θεὸς, God, is the predicate and not the subject of the proposition. The subject must be the Word; for John is not trying to show who is God, but who is the Word. Notice that Θεὸς is without the article, which could not have been omitted if he had meant to designate the word as God; because, in that event, Θεὸς would have been ambiguous; perhaps a God. Moreover, if he had said God was the Word, he would have contradicted his previous statement by which he had distinguished (hypostatically) God from the word, and λόγος (Logos) would, further, have signified only an attribute of God. The predicate is emphatically placed in the proposition before the subject, because of the progress of the thought; this being the third and highest statement respecting the Word - the climax of the two preceding propositions. The word God, used attributively, maintains the personal distinction between God and the Word, but makes the unity of essence and nature to follow the distinction of person, and ascribes to the Word all the attributes of the divine essence. "There is something majestic in the way in which the description of the Logos, in the three brief but great propositions of Joh 1:1, is unfolded with increasing fullness" (Meyer). |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| In the beginning - (Referring to Gen 1:1, and Pro 8:23.) When all things began to be made by the Word: in the beginning of heaven and earth, and this whole frame of created beings, the Word existed, without any beginning. He was when all things began to be, whatsoever had a beginning. The Word - So termed Psa 33:6, and frequently by the seventy, and in the Chaldee paraphrase. So that St. John did not borrow this expression from Philo, or any heathen writer. He was not yet named Jesus, or Christ. He is the Word whom the Father begat or spoke from eternity; by whom the Father speaking, maketh all things; who speaketh the Father to us. We have, in Joh 1:18, both a real description of the Word, and the reason why he is so called. He is the only begotten Son of the Father, who is in the bosom of the Father, and hath declared him. And the Word was with God - Therefore distinct from God the Father. The word rendered with, denotes a perpetual tendency as it were of the Son to the Father, in unity of essence. He was with God alone; because nothing beside God had then any being. And the Word was God - Supreme, eternal, independent. There was no creature, in respect of which he could be styled God in a relative sense. Therefore he is styled so in the absolute sense. The Godhead of the Messiah being clearly revealed in the Old Testament, (Jer 23:7; Hos 1:6; Psa 23:1,) the other evangelists aim at this, to prove that Jesus, a true man, was the Messiah. But when, at length, some from hence began to doubt of his Godhead, then St. John expressly asserted it, and wrote in this book as it were a supplement to the Gospels, as in the Revelation to the prophets. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
In the beginning - That is, before any thing was formed - ere God began the great work of creation. This is the meaning of the word in Gen 1:1, to which the evangelist evidently alludes. This phrase fully proves, in the mouth of an inspired writer, that Jesus Christ was no part of the creation, as he existed when no part of that existed; and that consequently he is no creature, as all created nature was formed by him: for without him was nothing made that is made, Joh 1:3. Now, as what was before creation must be eternal, and as what gave being to all things, could not have borrowed or derived its being from any thing, therefore Jesus, who was before all things and who made all things, must necessarily be the Eternal God.
Was the Word - Or, existed the Logos. This term should be left untranslated, for the very same reason why the names Jesus and Christ are left untranslated. The first I consider as proper an apellative of the Savior of the world as I do either of the two last. And as it would be highly improper to say, the Deliverer, the Anointed, instead of Jesus Christ, so I deem it improper to say, the Word, instead of the Logos. But as every appellative of the Savior of the world was descriptive of some excellence in his person, nature, or work, so the epithet Λογος, Logos, which signifies a word spoken, speech, eloquence, doctrine, reason, or the faculty of reasoning, is very properly applied to him, who is the true light which lighteth every man who cometh into the world, Joh 1:9; who is the fountain of all wisdom; who giveth being, life, light, knowledge, and reason, to all men; who is the grand Source of revelation, who has declared God unto mankind; who spake by the prophets, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, Rev 19:10; who has illustrated life and immortality by his Gospel, Ti2 1:10; and who has fully made manifest the deep mysteries which lay hidden in the bosom of the invisible God from all eternity, Joh 1:18.
The apostle does not borrow this mode of speech from the writings of Plato, as some have imagined: he took it from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and from the subsequent style of the ancient Jews. It is true the Platonists make mention of the Logos in this way: - καθ' ὁν, αει οντα, τα γενομενα εγενετο - by whom, eternally existing, all things were made. But as Plato, Pythagoras, Zeno, and others, traveled among the Jews, and conversed with them, it is reasonable to suppose that they borrowed this, with many others of their most important notions and doctrines, from them.
And the Word was God - Or, God was the Logos: therefore no subordinate being, no second to the Most High, but the supreme eternal Jehovah. |
2 (And the life was made clear to us, and we have seen it and are witnessing to it and giving you word of that eternal life which was with the Father and was seen by us);
5 And now, Father, let me have glory with you, even that glory which I had with you before the world was.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
24 Father, it is my desire that these whom you have given to me may be by my side where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given to me, because you had love for me before the world came into being.
5 And now, Father, let me have glory with you, even that glory which I had with you before the world was.
10 He was in the world, the world which came into being through him, but the world had no knowledge of him.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
1 From the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God.
2 This Word was from the first in relation with God.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
4 What came into existence in him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light goes on shining in the dark; it is not overcome by the dark.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 He came for witness, to give witness about the light, so that all men might have faith through him.
8 He himself was not the light: he was sent to give witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to every man, was then coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, the world which came into being through him, but the world had no knowledge of him.
11 He came to the things which were his and his people did not take him to their hearts.
12 To all those who did so take him, however, he gave the right of becoming children of God--that is, to those who had faith in his name:
13 Whose birth was from God and not from blood, or from an impulse of the flesh and man's desire.
14 And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
28 And Thomas said in answer, My Lord and my God!
20 And we are certain that the Son of God has come, and has given us a clear vision, so that we may see him who is true, and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
12 They will be rolled up like a cloth, even like a robe, and they will be changed: but you are the same and your years will have no end.
10 You, Lord, at the first did put the earth on its base, and the heavens are the works of your hands:
8 But of the Son he says, Your seat of power, O God, is for ever and ever; and the rod of your kingdom is a rod of righteousness.
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom came Christ in the flesh, who is over all, God, to whom be blessing for ever. So be it.
6 To whom, though himself in the form of God, it did not seem that to take for oneself was to be like God;
7 But he made himself as nothing, taking the form of a servant, being made like men;
13 And no one has ever gone up to heaven but he who came down from heaven, the Son of man.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
5 And now, Father, let me have glory with you, even that glory which I had with you before the world was.
19 And he said to them in answer, O generation without faith, how long will I have to be with you? how long will I put up with you? let him come to me.
17 Today you have given witness that the Lord is your God, and that you will go in his ways and keep his laws and his orders and his decisions and give ear to his voice:
18 And the Lord has made it clear this day that you are a special people to him, as he gave you his word; and that you are to keep all his orders;
13 Yes, by my hand was the earth placed on its base, and by my right hand the heavens were stretched out; at my word they take up their places.
12 I have made the earth, forming man on it: by my hands the heavens have been stretched out, and all the stars put in their ordered places.
1 In times past the word of God came to our fathers through the prophets, in different parts and in different ways;
2 But now, at the end of these days, it has come to us through his Son, to whom he has given all things for a heritage, and through whom he made the order of the generations;
3 Who, being the outshining of his glory, the true image of his substance, supporting all things by the word of his power, having given himself as an offering making clean from sins, took his seat at the right hand of God in heaven;
14 And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
28 I came out from the Father and have come into the world: again, I go away from the world and go to the Father.
14 Jesus said in answer, Even if I give witness about myself, my witness is true, because I have knowledge of where I came from and where I am going; but you have no knowledge of where I come from or of where I am going.
46 Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only he who is from God, he has seen the Father.
13 And no one has ever gone up to heaven but he who came down from heaven, the Son of man.
62 What then will you say if you see the Son of man going up to where he was before?
5 And now, Father, let me have glory with you, even that glory which I had with you before the world was.
58 Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, Before Abraham came into being, I am.
2 Before the mountains were made, before you had given birth to the earth and the world, before time was, and for ever, you are God.
14 And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
9 For in him all the wealth of God's being has a living form,
9 Jesus said to him, Philip, have I been with you all this time, and still you have no knowledge of me? He who has seen me has seen the Father. Why do you say, Let us see the Father?
10 Have you not faith that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words which I say to you, I say not from myself: but the Father who is in me all the time does his works.
11 Have faith that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me: at least, have faith in me because of what I do.
14 And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
15 John gave witness about him, crying, This is he of whom I said, He who is coming after me is put over me because he was in existence before me.
16 From his full measure we have all been given grace on grace.
17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and the true way of life are ours through Jesus Christ.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
9 The true light, which gives light to every man, was then coming into the world.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
4 What came into existence in him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light goes on shining in the dark; it is not overcome by the dark.
3 In whom are all the secret stores of wisdom and knowledge.
2 So that their hearts may be comforted, and that being joined together in love, they may come to the full wealth of the certain knowledge of the secret of God, even Christ,
11 Which is seen in his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord:
24 But to those of God's selection, Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power and the wisdom of God.
1 From the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God.
2 (And the life was made clear to us, and we have seen it and are witnessing to it and giving you word of that eternal life which was with the Father and was seen by us);
6 But I may be with you for a time, or even for the winter, so that you may see me on my way, wherever I go.
8 We are without fear, desiring to be free from the body, and to be with the Lord.
55 In that hour Jesus said to the people, Have you come out as against a thief with swords and sticks to take me? I was teaching every day in the Temple and you took me not.
16 And he said, What are you questioning them about?
56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? from where, then, has he all these things?
3 Is not this the woodworker, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were bitter against him.
4 As it says in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his roads straight.
7 And the Spirit is the witness, because the Spirit is true.
6 To whom, though himself in the form of God, it did not seem that to take for oneself was to be like God;
3 Who, being the outshining of his glory, the true image of his substance, supporting all things by the word of his power, having given himself as an offering making clean from sins, took his seat at the right hand of God in heaven;
3 Who, being the outshining of his glory, the true image of his substance, supporting all things by the word of his power, having given himself as an offering making clean from sins, took his seat at the right hand of God in heaven;
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
1 From the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God.
1 From the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
2 This Word was from the first in relation with God.
16 And we have seen and had faith in the love which God has for us. God is love, and everyone who has love is in God, and God is in him.
8 He who has no love has no knowledge of God, because God is love.
16 For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
1 A Psalm. Of David. The Lord said to my lord, Be seated at my right hand, till I put all those who are against you under your feet.
2 The Lord will send out the rod of your strength from Zion; be king over your haters.
3 Your people give themselves gladly in the day of your power; like the dew of the morning on the holy mountains is the army of your young men.
4 The Lord has made an oath, and will not take it back. You are a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek.
5 In the day of his wrath kings will be wounded by the Lord at your right hand.
6 He will be judge among the nations, the valleys will be full of dead bodies; the head over a great country will be wounded by him.
7 He will take of the stream by the way; so his head will be lifted up.
21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and was good to him, and made the keeper of the prison his friend.
20 He sent his word and made them well, and kept them safe from the underworld.
1 See, I am sending my servant, and he will make ready the way before me; and the Lord, whom you are looking for, will suddenly come to his Temple; and the angel of the agreement, in whom you have delight, see, he is coming, says the Lord of armies.
21 Give attention to him and give ear to his voice; do not go against him; for your wrongdoing will not be overlooked by him, because my name is in him.
20 See, I am sending an angel before you, to keep you on your way and to be your guide into the place which I have made ready for you.
5 Even the Lord, the God of armies; the Lord is his name.
4 He had a fight with the angel and overcame him; he made request for grace to him with weeping; he came face to face with him in Beth-el and there his words came to him;
24 Then Jacob was by himself; and a man was fighting with him till dawn.
25 But when the man saw that he was not able to overcome Jacob, he gave him a blow in the hollow part of his leg, so that his leg was damaged.
26 And he said to him, Let me go now, for the dawn is near. But Jacob said, I will not let you go till you have given me your blessing.
27 Then he said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.
7 And an angel of the Lord came to her by a fountain of water in the waste land, by the fountain on the way to Shur.
8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from and where are you going? And she said, I am running away from Sarai, my master's wife.
9 And the angel said to her, Go back, and put yourself under her authority.
10 And the angel of the Lord said, Your seed will be greatly increased so that it may not be numbered.
11 And the angel of the Lord said, See, you are with child and will give birth to a son, to whom you will give the name Ishmael, because the ears of the Lord were open to your sorrow.
12 And he will be like a mountain ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him, and he will keep his place against all his brothers.
13 And to the Lord who was talking with her she gave this name, You are a God who is seen; for she said, Have I not even here in the waste land had a vision of God and am still living?
1 Wisdom has made her house, putting up her seven pillars.
2 She has put her fat beasts to death; her wine is mixed, her table is ready.
3 She has sent out her women-servants; her voice goes out to the highest places of the town, saying,
4 Whoever is simple, let him come in here; and to him who has no sense, she says:
5 Come, take of my bread, and of my wine which is mixed.
6 Give up the simple ones and have life, and go in the way of knowledge.
3 Where the roads go into the town her cry goes out, at the doorways her voice is loud:
2 At the top of the highways, at the meeting of the roads, she takes her place;
27 Then he saw it, and put it on record; he gave it its fixed form, searching it out completely.
26 When he had not made the earth or the fields or the dust of the world.
27 When he made ready the heavens I was there: when he put an arch over the face of the deep:
28 When he made strong the skies overhead: when the fountains of the deep were fixed:
29 When he put a limit to the sea, so that the waters might not go against his word: when he put in position the bases of the earth:
30 Then I was by his side, as a master workman: and I was his delight from day to day, playing before him at all times;
31 Playing in his earth; and my delight was with the sons of men.
26 When he made a law for the rain, and a way for the thunder-flames;
25 When he made a weight for the wind, measuring out the waters;
23 God has knowledge of the way to it, and of its resting-place;
22 Destruction and Death say, We have only had word of it with our ears.
12 But where may wisdom be seen? and where is the resting-place of knowledge?
11 So will my word be which goes out of my mouth: it will not come back to me with nothing done, but it will give effect to my purpose, and do that for which I have sent it.
15 He sends out his orders to the earth; his word goes out quickly.
20 He sent his word and made them well, and kept them safe from the underworld.
105 NUN Your word is a light for my feet, ever shining on my way.
8 The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.
4 I send up a cry to the Lord with my voice, and he gives me an answer from his holy hill. (Selah.)
6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the army of heaven by the breath of his mouth.
12 For the word of God is living and full of power, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through and making a division even of the soul and the spirit, the bones and the muscles, and quick to see the thoughts and purposes of the heart.
2 (And the life was made clear to us, and we have seen it and are witnessing to it and giving you word of that eternal life which was with the Father and was seen by us);
1 That which was from the first, which has come to our ears, and which we have seen with our eyes, looking on it and touching it with our hands, about the Word of life
13 And he is clothed in a robe washed with blood: and his name is The Word of God.
14 And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
29 And so I came without question, when I was sent for. What then is your purpose in sending for me?
13 And there is nothing made which is not completely clear to him; there is nothing covered, but all things are open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
17 Not that I am looking for an offering, but for fruit which may be put to your credit.
15 And you have knowledge, Philippians, that when the good news first came to you, when I went away from Macedonia, no church took part with me in the business of giving to the saints, but you only;
24 But I put no value on my life, if only at the end of it I may see the work complete which was given to me by the Lord Jesus, to be a witness of the good news of the grace of God.
12 For the word of God is living and full of power, and is sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through and making a division even of the soul and the spirit, the bones and the muscles, and quick to see the thoughts and purposes of the heart.
38 If, then, Demetrius and the workmen who are with him have a protest to make against any man, the law is open to them, and there are judges; let them put up a cause at law against one another.
6 And the Apostles and the rulers of the church came together and gave thought to the question.
45 But he went out, and made it public, giving an account of it everywhere, so that Jesus was no longer able to go openly into a town, but was outside in the waste land; and they came to him from every part.
23 So this saying went about among the brothers that this disciple would not undergo death: Jesus, however, did not say that he would not undergo death, but, If it is my desire for him to be here till I come back, what is that to you?
1 I have given an earlier account, O Theophilus, of all the things which Jesus did, and of his teaching from the first,
14 And most of the brothers in the Lord, taking heart because of my chains, are all the stronger to give the word of God without fear.
20 And that which went on the stones, this is he who, hearing the word, straight away takes it with joy;
21 But having no root in himself, he goes on for a time; and when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, he quickly becomes full of doubts.
22 And that which was dropped among the thorns, this is he who has the word; and the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, put a stop to the growth of the word and it gives no fruit.
23 And the seed which was put in good earth, this is he who gives ear to the word, and gets the sense of it; who gives fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much.
15 But be on the watch for him, for he was violent in his attacks on our teaching.
15 But if it is a question of words or names or of your law, see to it yourselves; I will not be a judge of such things.
12 And they gave the name of Jupiter to Barnabas, and to Paul that of Mercury, because he was the chief talker.
28 And for forty days and forty nights Moses was there with the Lord, and in that time he had no food or drink. And he put in writing on the stones the words of the agreement, the ten rules of the law.
13 Making the word of God of no effect by your rule, which you have given: and a number of other such things you do.
28 For the Lord will give effect to his word on the earth, putting an end to it and cutting it short.
36 But Jesus, giving no attention to their words, said to the ruler of the Synagogue, Have no fear, only have faith.
35 And while he was still talking, they came from the ruler of the Synagogue's house, saying, Your daughter is dead: why are you still troubling the Master?
22 But hearing these words the young man went away sorrowing: for he had much property.
21 Jesus said to him, If you have a desire to be complete, go, get money for your property, and give it to the poor, and you will have wealth in heaven: and come after me.
19 But in the church it would be better for me to make use of five words of which the sense was clear, so that others might have profit, than ten thousand words in a strange tongue.
9 So if you, in using a strange tongue, say words which have no sense, how will anyone take in what you are saying? for you will be talking to the air.
46 And no one was able to give him an answer, and so great was their fear of him, that from that day no one put any more questions to him.
15 Who is the image of the unseen God coming into existence before all living things;
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
8 The sinner is a child of the Evil One; for the Evil One has been a sinner from the first. And the Son of God was seen on earth so that he might put an end to the works of the Evil One.
24 But as for you, keep in your hearts the things which were made clear to you from the first. If you keep these things in your hearts you will be kept in the Father and the Son.
7 My loved ones, I do not give you a new law, but an old law which you had from the first; this old law is the word which came to your ears.
44 You are the children of your father the Evil One and it is your pleasure to do his desires. From the first he was a taker of life; and he did not go in the true way because there is no true thing in him. When he says what is false, it is natural to him, for he is false and the father of what is false.
14 And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory--such glory as is given to an only son by his father--saw it to be true and full of grace.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
58 Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, Before Abraham came into being, I am.
2 Before the mountains were made, before you had given birth to the earth and the world, before time was, and for ever, you are God.
23 From eternal days I was given my place, from the birth of time, before the earth was.
4 Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love:
1 That which was from the first, which has come to our ears, and which we have seen with our eyes, looking on it and touching it with our hands, about the Word of life
5 And now, Father, let me have glory with you, even that glory which I had with you before the world was.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
1 A Psalm. Of David. The Lord takes care of me as his sheep; I will not be without any good thing.
6 And after that she gave birth to a daughter. And the Lord said, Give her the name Lo-ruhamah; for I will not again have mercy on Israel, to give them forgiveness.
7 And so, truly, the days are coming when they will say no longer, By the living Lord, who took the children of Israel up out of the land of Egypt;
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the army of heaven by the breath of his mouth.
23 From eternal days I was given my place, from the birth of time, before the earth was.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.
18 No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
10 But has now been made clear by the revelation of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who put an end to death and made life unending come to light through the good news,
10 And I went on my face before his feet to give him worship. And he said to me, See you do it not: I am a brother-servant with you and with your brothers who keep the witness of Jesus: give worship to God: for the witness of Jesus is the spirit of the prophet's word.
9 The true light, which gives light to every man, was then coming into the world.
3 All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.
1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.