‘The Word Was With & the Word Was’
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
Jesus, as the ultimate self-expression of God, existed before time and space began. Given this understanding, Christ is not part of the created order but existed before it. This puts him in a unique relationship with God; he was ‘with God’ and, in fact, ‘was God’ (Jn.1:1). The gospel story preexisted time, it was ‘In the beginning’ before the origination of anything. Christ always was! More precisely, he was ‘with God’ and he ‘was God’. Christ’s relationship with God the Father is defined by coexistence (he was with God), and it’s coeternal (‘In the beginning’) and coessential (he was God). This creates a dilemma that can only be unraveled by either rejecting the conviction that Jesus is God, or by embracing the doctrine of the Trinity; the idea that there is only one God, but that the one God is composed of three persons. In classic orthodox Christianity the trinitarian understanding is what has been embraced.
In the line of text, “...the Word was with God, and the Word was God (v.1)”, there are two phrases around which we can build our thinking. One suggests a plurality in the Christian understanding of God (“...the Word was with God…”), and the second phrase indicates singularity (“...the Word was God”). The distinguishing words in these two phrases are the preposition ‘with’ in the first phrase and the verb ‘was’ in the second. The preposition ‘with’ (pros) literally means ‘to’ or ‘toward’. However, in first century Greek it often carried the idea of ‘with’ when used in reference to a relationship between persons. What John is inferring is that the Word (logos) is a person, distinct from God the Father, but who enjoys an intimate relationship with him. This is an extraordinary thing, but not offensive and unacceptable to either Jews or Gentiles. This would put Jesus in the category of a prophet or an enlightened teacher. Many would classify Jesus in this way today and they certainly did in his day. The pressing question Jesus posed to his disciples makes this plain - “Who do people say that the Son of Man is (Matt.16:13)?” The disciples disclose the undercurrent of conversation - “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets (v.14).” The conversation hasn’t changed much even today. Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims accept Jesus as a prophet or an enlightened one.
Jesus is the Word
John pushes further and says, “...the Word was God.” This changes the complexion of things completely. It’s one thing to say that Jesus enjoyed intimate fellowship with God and it’s quite another thing to say that he is God. At this point in the Prologue John hasn’t directly identified Jesus as being the Word, but he says that the Word shares in the very ‘being’ of God. And based on what he says in verses 14-18, Jesus is the Word.
Some argue that the absence of the definite article ‘the’ before God in the phrase “...the Word was God” (in the Greek text) requires that we understand that the Word is a god, or a divine being, but not God with a capital ‘G’. The understanding then would be that the Word possessed qualities of ‘godness’ but wasn’t, in fact, God. However, it’s not uncommon for a noun to be used without a definite article and still be understood as definitive. There’s an example of this later in chapter 1. It’s verse 49 - “Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are [the] King of Israel!” In the Greek text the definite article, ‘the’, isn’t there, but it’s understood and supplied in the English translation. It’s not “...you are [a] king of Israel”, it’s “you are [the] King of Israel.” The same is true in verse 1; it’s not “the Word was [a] God”, it’s “the Word was [the] God.”
A Radicalized Gospel
It’s this understanding that radicalizes the gospel and makes Jesus unique among all the religious leaders in history. Dr. Edmund Clowney says that this statement can be properly understood as follows - “the Word was with God, (God’s eternal fellow); the Word was God, (God’s own self).” [1] This truth is central to the entire New Testament revelation. It’s this understanding that is developed and expressed in every piece of Apostolic writing: Jesus is the Word, Jesus is God. Here are just four Apostolic statements to this fact:
“To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen (Rom.9:5).”
“He is the image of the invisible God;...” - ”For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,...(Col.1:15, 19).”
“For in him (Christ) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,...(Col.2:9)”
This understanding has been at the core of orthodox Christian teaching from its beginning. Two examples; first, the Nicene Creed (4th century) - “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.” Second, The Belgic Confession (1561, Art. 10) - “We believe that Jesus Christ according to His divine nature is the only begotten Son of God, begotten from eternity, not made, nor created (for then He would be a creature), but co-essential and co-eternal with the Father, the very image of his substance and the effulgence of his glory, equal unto Him in all things.”
There are some who suggest that Jesus never claimed to be God but rather, that the claim of deity was imposed on him by the Apostles and the Church. Let’s let Jesus speak to this, and have the last word - “The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 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.” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple (Jn.8:48-59).” In light of this, how did the Jews understand what Jesus was saying? Were his claims to deity part of the initial controversy? John says it was - “The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God (Jn.10:31-33).”
Footnote:
Edmund Clowney, A Biblical Theology of Prayer, (Art., Teach Us to Pray: Prayer in the Bible and the World, D. A. Carson (ed.), Baker/Paternoster, 1990), 136-76, 336-38.