12/19/10 John 1:1,2 The Word as God but separate

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

(Star Field Hubble Telescope)

Thoughts: This passage goes along with what Jesus said, “Before Abraham was- I am” (Jn. 8:58; cf. Ex. 3:14). He was in the beginning- He is eternal. He is the Word of God- that is, just as God speaks His word and that word comes into sure being- so God emanates from Himself (as the sun's light is part of the sun but emanates from it). Our words do not create- they are not as powerful, they are not as true. But the more powerful the king, the more powerful his word. God, as all powerful, is also all true and reliable. Jesus is the Word, and you can substitute his name for “Word.” Thus you get, “In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. He was with God in the beginning.” Thus the divinity of Jesus- yet separation from the Father is expressed.

Prayer: Thank you Jesus, for being with the Father, yet coming down to earth for us.



John Calvin abridged: Here John speaks of the eternal speech of God that became flesh (1 Tim. 4:16). The design is to show that the restoration of human beings must be by the Son of God who had originally breathed life into every creature. So we do not withdraw from the only God when we worship Christ, and life is restored by the one who issued it in the first place. God was never without his eternal wisdom and speech and so the Father was never without His Son. Justly Augustine says that this “beginning” has no beginning. Here we have eternal generation. Here it is mentioned that the Son has a distinct personality from the Father in that he mentions that the Speech was always with God, if he did not have some distinction from the Father. When John says the “Speech was God” it eliminates all right to say that the Son did not have eternal essence.