A Study of John's Gospel

John 1:1-2: He Who Was in the Beginning

"Word" is translated from the Ancient Greek word "logos" and this was a word that held deep meaning in both Greek and Jewish thought. Jewish rabbis would even refer to God as the "Word of God". The pagan Greek philosophers used the "Word" or the "Logos" to describe the power that created the universe and holds it in place. For this reason the meaning of John's opening statement would have been clear to his contemporaries as being a reference to "The Word" Jewish rabbis and Greek philosophers had been thinking of and pontificating about for centuries. This word "logos" was well ingrained in the people's understanding of reality and John is essentially saying with this opening, "The 'Word' you have all been seeking knowledge of has come, and I will tell you who He is."

First, "the Word was with God, and the Word was God". While the other three gospels begin in Bethlehem, John begins his gospel account before the creation of the world. He presents to us a Being, the "Word" who both "was" God and "was with" God. This speaks of the perfect unity or "oneness" of Jesus, God the Son, and God the Father, and also of the distinct personhood of Jesus. Almighty God is One Being existing in three distinct, but perfectly unified Persons. He is the Triune God: God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. While we are each one being and one person, God is One Being existing in 3 Persons. Because we are beings who exist as one person this concept is complicated, but not illogical. And we should expect that God, the Infinite One, the Ancient of Days who has existed from eternity past might present us with some concepts that go beyond our finite understanding.

We need to be humble and accept that as finite beings we will not be able to fully comprehend our infinite God, but He has and will reveal to us what we need to know and He will also give us faith to trust Him. As we wrestle with these concepts, prayerfully study them, and discuss them with each other and consider the teaching of the Christians who have come before us and done the same, while we may not come to a complete understanding of the many complexities of God, we will grow in confidence in who He is, His nature, and His immutability.

With that said, John is telling the readers and hearers of this gospel that Jesus is God who has existed since before the beginning. Jesus is a distinct person within the Trinity. He is the "Word" and is distinct from the Father and the Holy Spirit, but is also equally God. God is also "One," which is why John says Jesus, or the Word, was both with God, was God, and "He was in the beginning with God." Jesus is not a created being. He always has been and always will be. This wording is critical.

"Jehovah's Witnesses" have a corrupted and completely inaccurate translation (we know it is inaccurate because again, we have early manuscripts dating to A.D. 150) which says "god" instead of "God" and writes "the word was 'a' god." Like the Mormons they do not believe Jesus and God the Father are One. This is a critical component of the Christian faith and to disbelieve this is to not believe in Jesus at all. If Jesus is not fully human then we have no acceptable substitute to stand in the place of all mankind for the punishment our sin requires. And if He is not fully God, then we have no infinite and perfect Being capable of perfectly fulfilling the righteous requirement of the Law on our behalf. Jesus is both fully God and fully man, and to strip away either aspect of His nature is to walk away from salvation entirely (1 John 2:22-27).

There is much more that could be said about the erroneous nature of the Jehovah's Witnesses (who are certainly no true witnesses of Jehovah) translation but to summarize for those interested I will leave a few quotes pertaining to their false gospel from experts on Ancient Greek compiled by David Guzik on enduringword.com:

"Real Greek scholars do not recognize the Jehovah's Witness translation of John 1:1-2.

· "A GROSSLY MISLEADING TRANSLATION. It is neither scholarly nor reasonable to translate John 1:1 'the Word was a god.' But of all the scholars in the world, so far as we know, none have translated this verse as Jehovah's Witnesses have done." (Dr. Julius R. Mantey)

· "Much is made by Arian amateur grammarians of the omission of the definite article with 'God' in the phrase 'And the Word was God.' Such an omission is common with nouns in a predicate construction. 'A god' would be totally indefensible." (Dr. F.F. Bruce)

· "I can assure you that the rendering which the Jehovah's Witnesses give John 1:1 is not held by any reputable Greek scholar." (Dr. Charles L. Feinberg)

· "The Jehovah's Witness people evidence an abysmal ignorance of the basic tenets of Greek grammar in their mistranslation of John 1:1." (Dr. Paul L. Kaufman)

· "The deliberate distortion of truth by this sect is seen in their New Testament translations. John 1:1 is translated: '...the Word was a god,' a translation which is grammatically impossible. It is abundantly clear that a sect which can translate the New Testament like that is intellectually dishonest." (Dr. William Barclay)"

(https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/john-1/)

I say none of this to lead anyone to despise Jehovah's Witnesses. I say this to alert us all to the grave error of their teaching and I hope this would cause us to have compassion for them as we pray for God to open their eyes to see the truth and receive the salvation freely offered to all by grace through faith in Jesus, the "Word" who was and is fully Almighty God.

Application (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

From this passage we learn "The Word" describes Jesus Christ, God the Son. He has coexisted as One with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit from eternity past. He has no beginning because He has existed before the beginning. True saving faith requires confession and belief in Jesus as He has been revealed to us on the pages of Scripture. There are many false gospels and presentations of Jesus out there, two very prominent ones being the "Jehovah's Witnesses" and the "Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons)" who present themselves as Jesus followers, but in fact preach a false gospel that is anti-Christ, just as John warned us of in 1 John 2:18, 22-23.

We must be aware of this error, but also compassionate and loving towards those who hold to this erroneous belief. We are called to be representatives of Jesus and to show His love to others. This means as we take action to share the truth with people such as these, we must share the truth graciously and respectfully. And in everything we need to pray for God to open their hearts to believe in Him. The power to save is God's. It is not by our clever words or arguments that a person can come to faith in Christ. We are the means God uses, but it is only by a miraculous work of God the Holy Spirit that anyone can be resurrected from death to life in Jesus Christ, the eternally existent Word who was "in the beginning with God."

Self Reflection:

Am I confident the Bible I have is an accurate translation as seen in the thousands of 1st-2nd century original papyri we have today? (https://www.josh.org/manuscript-validate-old-testament/)

How does my understanding that Jesus is God affect my daily life?

How does my understanding of Jesus' deity and nature affect how I pray for and witness to other people?

#thebeginning #JesusChrist #TheWord #JesusIsGod #truth