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.
The first 18 verses of John’s gospel is actually a prologue to the narrative or the story which John tells beginning in verse 19. In these opening verses he introduces to us the central character of his gospel, who, of course, is Jesus Christ, the divine Creator who became flesh. John then briefly mentions several themes that he will expand upon later, when he writes about life, light versus darkness, witness, rejection versus acceptance, new birth in Christ, and grace and truth.
During this series we’ll be looking at all of these concepts in greater detail, but for today our focus is on what theologians call the pre-existence of Christ, which John emphasises in the first 5 verses. Jesus is the eternal God of creation, and this is a truth we need to keep at the forefront of our minds as we work our way through the gospel of John (or any other book of the Bible for that matter). Jesus is not merely a New Testament character. He is God, He is eternal, and in the opening 5 verses, John highlights both the pre-existence of Christ, and the fact that He is God, the second person of the Trinity.
In verse 1 he writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” You’ll notice that Word is capitalised here, and John does this for a very good reason. He wrote this gospel in Greek, and the word “word” in Greek is logos. In ancient Greek philosophy, logos was used to describe reason or logic. It referred to knowledge, but in Greek philosophy, logos was an abstract, impersonal force, so by describing Jesus as the Word or Logos, John personalised reason, logic and knowledge. In other words, he gave truth and knowledge a name.
So John’s response to the question, where does all truth and knowledge come from, is an emphatic “God.” He makes it very clear in his opening statement that the Word is God. Not only that, but he stresses that the Word existed before the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word.” Past tense. Only God is eternal. Everything else has a beginning point in history, so when John writes that the Word was there before the beginning, was with God and was God, he is talking about not only the pre-existence of Jesus, but also the deity of Jesus. Jesus is not the first created being, as the Jehovah’s Witness cult teaches. He is the eternal, pre-existent God.
This is an important detail, because the very first verse of John’s gospel sets the scene for the next 21 chapters. Everything that Jesus said, taught and did, was for the purpose of revealing His true identity, and how lost sinners can be saved from the eternal punishment we deserve. This is Immanuel, God with us, God Himself in human flesh, who came into our world in order to die the death we deserve in order to make it possible for sinners to be saved by grace.
That Jesus existed before the beginning, long before that night in Bethlehem when He was born a human being, is not an incidental or a minor detail.
It is a vital cornerstone of the Christian faith, and is one of the many doctrines which sets Christianity poles apart from any other belief system. This idea that all religions are basically the same, apart from a few minor differences here and there could not be further from the truth.
In Christ, the eternal God entered our world at a particular time and point in history. And He came for the specific purpose of dying for the sins of His elect, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:4-5. “He (God the Father) chose us in Him (God the Son) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.”
J Vernon McGee wrote in his commentary on the pre-existence of Christ, “He already was. He comes out of eternity to meet us. He did not begin. ‘In the beginning was the Word.’ He was already there when the beginning was. ‘Well,’ somebody says, ‘there has to be a beginning somewhere.’ All right, wherever you begin, He is there to meet you, He is already past tense. ‘In the beginning was the Word.’”
It’s also important to note that John is not alone in proclaiming the pre-existence of Jesus. His pre-existence, or eternal nature was foretold by the Old Testament prophets. Micah 5:2 says, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” Jesus’ birth, the Incarnation, has to do with His humanity. He clothed Himself in humanity when He came to Bethlehem, but His existence was from of old, from ancient days - before His physical, human birth.
The words of Isaiah 9 are often quoted at Christmas each year: “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) Note that Isaiah, inspired by the Holy Spirit, names Jesus as Mighty God and Everlasting Father.
Jesus Himself also confirmed His eternal nature and deity on many occasions. Anyone who has ever said that that Jesus never claimed to be God is just wrong, and has probably never read the words of Jesus properly.
In John 8 Jesus has one of His many run-ins with the Jewish authorities. “‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.’ So the Jews said to Him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” (John 8:56-58)
In His high priestly prayer just before His arrest, Jesus prayed, “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:4-5,24)
And of course, in the final chapter of the Bible where the apostle John was given a vision of what was to come, Jesus said to him, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13)
The eternal nature and the deity of Jesus was also central to the teachings of the apostles in the early years of the Christian Church. 1 John 2:14 says, “I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning.” Paul stressed this doctrine throughout his letters to the Churches. “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:1-4). “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8). “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. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16-17)
And so the message here is very clear. Jesus is the eternal God of creation, and it is no coincidence that John 1:1 echoes Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” John makes a deliberate connection between the creation and the eternal nature of Jesus the Son. He is the pre-existent God of creation.
But what does all of this mean, and why is it important?
If we consider the nature of Jesus’ pre-existence, that He is the the eternal “I Am,” who was with God and was God for all of eternity, then we can only come to one conclusion: As God Himself, Jesus is worthy of our worship, our love and adoration. He is infinitely more than a wise teacher who lived some 2000 years ago. He is infinitely more than just a prophet and nothing more, as some claim. He is the God to whom we owe our very existence, and this is why He deserves our praise.
Thomas had it right. “He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ Thomas answered Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:27-28)
“My Lord and my God.” This was an astounding confession to make, remembering that as a Jew, Thomas had been raised in a monotheistic religion. In other words, there is only one God, and for Jesus to have claimed that He and the Father were one was the main reason the authorities had Him executed. For a mere man to claim that He was equal to God Himself was blasphemy, which was the charge laid against Jesus.
But now, Thomas’ eyes were opened to the the truth of who Jesus really was, and he makes his confession. “My Lord and my God.” We tend to focus on Thomas’ initial scepticism, and we have even adopted the phrase “doubting Thomas” into our vocabulary today, but the most significant part of this narrative is Thomas’ confession, not his initial unbelief, because the words used in the original text are important. This is how the Reformation Study Bible puts it: “This is probably the clearest and simplest confession of the deity of Christ to be found in the New Testament. The two highest words for deity that are found in Scripture, “Lord” (used in the Septuagint for the divine covenant name “Yahweh”) and “God” are used together and addressed to Jesus in recognition of His divine glory. Jesus accepts this worship without hesitation.” The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible. So what this commentary is saying is that Thomas used the same titles for Jesus as were reserved for Lord and God (Adonai and Yahweh) in the Old Testament.
This is why He is deserving of our worship, but not only that. Because Jesus is the God of creation, it means that He is the source of life itself.
We looked at Colossians 1:16-17 earlier. “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. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”
John 20:31 says, “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” We need to connect this verse with 1:4 says, “In Him was life.” This doesn’t simply mean that Jesus possessed life, but that He was and is the source of life. The word life here includes both physical and spiritual life. When we were born, we received physical life. When we are born again, we receive spiritual life. Both come from Him.
We will get into this in more detail when we look at Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in chapter 3, and His claim to be the resurrection and the life in chapter 11, just before He rose Lazarus back to life.
The reality is this. Without Christ there is no true life in this world. When we live our lives without hope and without God in this world, as Paul writes in Ephesians 2, there is nothing to live for. We might fool ourselves into thinking the opposite, but there is no true life outside of Jesus Christ, and there is no hope outside of Him. Living life here and now without Christ is empty and meaningless, and He is also the only means we have of living in glory for all of eternity. He gives us resurrection life because as the eternal, pre-existent God, He is the resurrection and the life.
John continues in verses 4 and 5, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Jesus gives us guidance and direction for our lives. It is one thing to exist, but quite another to know how to live, to know the true purpose of life, and to know the way to heaven.
Jesus is not only life, but He is light. Just in case you haven’t read a newspaper or watched the evening news recently, we live in a world of darkness. It’s a world where despite all our technology and ingenuity, those who reject salvation in Jesus Christ are quite literally stumbling around in darkness and ignorance, and the reason is that they have been taken captive by the lies of the devil. They’re in darkness, but they don’t know it, until God draws them to Himself and reveals the light of Christ to them.
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:4-6, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Let light shine out of darkness. There again, is a reference to the creation and the eternal nature of Jesus.
Paul also writes in Ephesians 4:18-19, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”
Now, more than ever, as the world becomes increasingly darker, the lost need to hear of the hope that is to be found in Christ and in Christ alone. What we must remember is that non-believers are not our enemy. Satan is. Those who are walking in darkness are not the enemy. They are victims of the lies of the devil, and they are captives. Think of non-Christians as POW’s who need to hear the Gospel message. Pray for them, and pray for yourself as you share the message of hope with them. The lost need to hear about this hope.
John 1:5 in the ESV says of the light of Christ, “The darkness has not overcome it.” The NIV says the darkness has not understood it, and the NKJV translates it as the darkness has not overcome it. John is writing here knowing how the events of Jesus’ life would unfold, and he is writing here about how those whom He came to save didn’t understand Jesus when He came into the world. They didn’t realise who He really was, or why He came. But we do know how the story ends. We know that despite the rejection of Jesus, His light continues to shine and that He will return for Hs bride, the Church. That is the hope we have, and it is the same hope the lost need to hear too.
Much like a single candle can overcome a room filled with darkness, the powers of darkness are overcome by the person and work of Jesus Christ through His death on the cross.
Jesus is no mere man whose life began in a stable in Bethlehem some 2000 years ago. He is the pre-existent, eternal Christ, the Saviour of the world, the One “whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” (Micah5:2)
Homegroup Study Notes
What is your understanding of the doctrine of the pre-existence of Christ, and is it important or not?
Read John 1:1-5 and Genesis 1:1-5
Discuss the similarities we see in these two passages.
How do they point us to the pre-existence or the eternal nature of Jesus?
How do the verses we have looked at help us to understand what the apostle Paul teaches in Colossians 1:16-17?
It is impossible for finite minds like ours to fully understand the incarnation (that God Himself came into our world in human form), yet it remains a cornerstone of the Christian faith.
How would you explain the incarnation to someone who is genuinely seeking an answer? (As opposed to those who are merely trying to break down your faith)
Read Philippians 2:6-8
Another important doctrine of the faith is that Jesus, while on earth, was both fully God and fully man.
What does this mean, and why does it matter?