In the beginning was the Word
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.[1]
We often read these words alongside the wider witness of scripture allowing the breadth of the biblical story to deepen our understanding; and rightly so. Today, however, I want us to linger with this passage itself, attending especially to what scripture means when it speaks of the “word.” I want to delve into what John was writing, and what message was he conveying.
The Greek λόγος (logos), translating simply as ‘word’ meaning a symphony, a sound or noise. In the Biblical context it is interpreted as the written word, the word of God, but this is tragically incomplete. Somehow when John wrote these words, he had a very different idea in mind, something more personal, intimate.
In Greek philosophy, logos meant, the rational principle ordering the cosmos, the deep logic beneath reality, the invisible action holding chaos at bay.
Heraclitus[2] spoke of the logos as the rhythm of the universe, an intelligence you could align with if you were wise enough and quiet enough. In Stoic thought, logos was the divine reason permeating all things, the spark of meaning in matter. Nothing personal, not relational, rather having more force than face.
In Hebrew, Dabar (word) is active, creative, performative. God speaks and things happen, creation is not engineered, it is spoken into being. ‘Let there be light’ is not a suggestion, it is a verbal act. John is bringing us back to Genesis 1, not as poetic nostalgia rather theological confrontation. He is saying before creation meaning already existed, before matter there was intent, and before time there was relationship.
“And the Logos Was with God” The phrase is pros ton Theon, literally “toward God.” It is orientation, face-to-face, relational, an eternal attentiveness. God has never been alone, communion precedes creation and relationship is not plan-b.
We could therefore read John 1:1 as “In the beginning before creation, meaning already existed, before matter there was intent, and before time there was relationship. And the word was toward God, face-to-face, relational, an eternal attentiveness. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Modern Christianity has often reduced logos to information, correct doctrine, right statements, clean syllogisms. John would call that a tragic misunderstanding. Logos is a life to be in habited and not sentence to be memorised. If the Logos is Christ, then truth is not something we possess, it is someone before whom we must remain perpetually responsive.
This verse speaks of Jesus, the logos. That in him all things were made, in him was life, and that light was the light of all humanity. This light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. This God, literally “toward God,” spoke the word, Christ, and all things came into being. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain,[3] and yet you made us with your word.
Shalom – Shalom,
Jim Varsos
[1] John 1:1-5 NIV
[2] Heraclitus (500 B.C.E.) A Greek philosopher of the late 6th century BCE, Heraclitus criticizes his predecessors and contemporaries for their failure to see the unity in experience. He claims to announce an everlasting Word (Logos) according to which all things are one, in some sense.
[3] Psalm 139:6 NIV