Articles
In the Beginning
I know when we read these words, “In the beginning,” (John 1:1), we immediately think of Genesis 1:1 when God created the heavens and the earth. I’m not so convinced that’s what John is talking about here. For one thing, the literal reading is “In beginning”, not “in THE beginning.” I think that John is not talking about a particular moment, but assuming timeless eternity. In other words, he’s saying, “In beginning, when there wasn’t any beginning, the Word was there.”
Now, how do we explain that? How can we explain what we can’t even understand? We are too limited in space and time to try to perceive eternity. Who can understand, before beginnings ever began? But that is what John is saying. In fact, one translation says, “When the beginning began the Word was already there.” I think that’s what John is saying. Now, that’s easy to read, but it’s difficult to conceive.
Jesus is the word. The word “Word” denotes the essential word of God, i.e., the personal wisdom and power in union with God. His minister in creation and ruler of the universe, the cause of all the world’s life both physical and ethical, which for the procurement of man’s salvation put on human flesh. Jesus is the final and complete revelation of God.
Notice it does not say that the WORD came into being at the beginning but that the WORD was in the beginning as a pre-existent being. All things came into existence through Christ.
The point is that the WORD possessed all the characteristics and attributes of Deity. This does not say He was “a god” or that He was the Father; rather, the passage states He who existed from the beginning was not a lesser being, such as an angel, but Deity.
Jesus was the person of the Godhead that created the design of the Father.
Lord, You are more than we can comprehend. But it is by faith we see. You are Mighty and our Creator. You have been and are always there. You will never leave us.
Rickie Jenkins
