In the Beginning Was the Word: What John 1:1 Reveals About Jesus

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1

John begins his Gospel with the same phrase we find in the Greek version of Genesis: En archē, “In the beginning.” He begins this way on purpose. Just as the beginning of Genesis tells the story of creation, climaxing in the creation of humankind as God’s image-bearers (see Genesis 1:27), John intends to tell the story of new creation and humanity’s redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas Genesis tells the story of humans falling into sin and darkness, John 1 promises that there is a light in the darkness (see vv. 4–5), bringing life and hope into a hopeless world. That light is Jesus Christ. 

John 1:1 introduces Jesus as the “Word.” God spoke creation into being by the power of his word (see Genesis 1:3), and Jesus Christ is the living Word, the Word made flesh (see John 1:14). This means that Jesus is the true expression of God. Jesus is not merely a human prophet to whom God gave important messages and teachings. No, Jesus is the full Word of God in human form.

John 1:1 reminds us that the existence of God the Son did not begin when Jesus was born to Mary. In fact, the Word was always with God, right from the beginning: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John teaches that God the Son was involved in the work of creation. As John goes on to write in verse 3: “Through [the Word] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” 

Thus, from the opening words of his Gospel, John teaches that Jesus is nothing less than God himself. However, there is also a distinction between the Father and the Son in verse 1: “the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This is an early expression of the Christian understanding of the Trinity. We believe in one God who exists eternally as three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are co-eternal. This is a confusing doctrine for believers, but it is the way the Bible presents who God is. This means that God is a relational being. Therefore, part of being made in the image of God is that we are relational beings, and the most important relationship of our lives is our relationship with God. This is the relationship Christ came into the world to restore. Where sin separated us from God, the grace God offers through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ opens the way for us to have a right relationship with God once more (see Romans 5:1–2). No one can restore our relationship with God except through the grace offered in Christ. 

On our own, we cannot even mark the path that would restore us to God and to living fully as God created us to live. As the old hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy” says, “the eye made blind by sin thy glory cannot see.” This is why it was necessary for God to do the work of disclosing himself to us. God shows himself to us in the words of the Bible, and most fully of all in the Word, Jesus Christ the Son. Jesus shows us who God is and what God is like. When God took this initiative, new possibilities were born—and still are today. Divine power is released into our broken world, bringing new life to broken people. Transformation is not an inspired human work; it is a divine work through and through.

Jesus is no ordinary person, though many will claim he is. Jesus is the greatest person ever to walk the earth. God the Son existed eternally before creation. Jesus came as a man born to Mary to show a fallen world the love and grace of God, to go so far as to die for sinners so that we might find forgiveness and new life through him (see Romans 5:6–8). Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. John wrote his Gospel long ago so that people in all times and places would read his words, meet Christ, and come to believe and find life in Jesus. What a beautiful testimony of God’s grace, which still brings people from darkness to light, from despair to hope, from death to life today! 

Adapted from the study material from the NIV Application Bible based on the NIV Application Commentary series.