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Selected Verse: John 1:2 - World English
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Joh 1:2 |
World English |
The same was in the beginning with God. |
|
King James |
The same was in the beginning with 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 same, &c.--See what property of the Word the stress is laid upon--His eternal distinctness, in unity, from God--the Father (Joh 1:2). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
The same - The Word, or the λόγος Logos.
Was in the beginning with God - This seems to be a repetition of what was said in the first verse; but it is stated over again to "guard the doctrine," and to prevent the possibility of a mistake. John had said that he existed before the creation, and that he was "with God;" but he had not said in the first verse "that the union with God existed in the beginning." He now expresses that idea, and assures us that that union was not one which was commenced in time, and which might be, therefore, a mere union of feeling, or a compact, like that between any other beings, but was one which existed in eternity, and which was therefore a union of nature or essence. |
Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
The same (οὗτος)
Literally, this one; the one first named; the Word.
Was in the beginning with God
In Joh 1:1 the elements of this statement have been given separately: the Word, the eternal being of the Word, and his active communion with God. Here they are combined, and with new force. This same Word not only was coeternal with God in respect of being (ἦν, was), but was eternally in active communion with Him (in the beginning with God: προ,ς τὸν Θεὸν): "not simply the Word with God, but God with God" (Moulton). Notice that here Θεὸν has the article, as in the second proposition, where God is spoken of absolutely. In the third proposition, the Word was God, the article was omitted because Θεὸς described the nature of the Word and did not identify his person. Here, as in the second proposition, the Word is placed in personal relation to God.
This verse forms the transition point from the discussion of the personal being of the Word to His manifestation in creation. If it was this same Word, and no other, who was Himself God, and who, from all eternity, was in active communion with God, then the statement follows naturally that all things were created through Him, thus bringing the essential nature of the Word and His manifestation in creation into connection. As the idea of the Word involves knowledge and will, wisdom and force, the creative function is properly His. Hence His close relation to created things, especially to man, prepares the way for His incarnation and redeeming work. The connection between creation and redemption is closer than is commonly apprehended. It is intimated in the words of Isaiah (Isa 46:4), "I have made, and I will bear." Redemption, in a certain sense, grows out of creation. Because God created man in His own image, He would restore him to that image. Because God made man, He loves him, educates him, bears with him carries on the race on the line of His infinite patience, is burdened with its perverseness and blindness, and expresses and effectuates all this in the incarnation and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. God is under the stress of the parental instinct (humanly speaking) to redeem man. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
The same was in the beginning with God - This verse repeats and contracts into one the three points mentioned before. As if he had said, This Word, who was God, was in the beginning, and was with God. |
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
4 and even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.