“The Word” in the Prologue to John’s Gospel
“The Word” in the Prologue to John’s Gospel
In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by it,
and without it nothing was made.
In it was life…
John 1:1-3
Tyndale’s New Testament of 1534 (modern spelling)
and the word was with God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by it,
and without it nothing was made.
In it was life…
John 1:1-3
Tyndale’s New Testament of 1534 (modern spelling)
In the beginning was the logos.
This self-revelation of God was integral to Him,
and what God was, the self-revelation was.
This was integral to God in the beginning.
Everything came into existence through it
and without it nothing came into existence.
John 1:1-3
The New Kingdom of God Version 2021
Translation of John 1:1-4 and
Understanding Its Poetic Language
This self-revelation of God was integral to Him,
and what God was, the self-revelation was.
This was integral to God in the beginning.
Everything came into existence through it
and without it nothing came into existence.
John 1:1-3
The New Kingdom of God Version 2021
Translation of John 1:1-4 and
Understanding Its Poetic Language
Much of the problem that has caused misunderstanding of what “the word” is in John 1:1 has been three translation factors and a failure to recognize the poetic nature of the prologue. The translation factors are:
Capitalization of the first letter of “word” in most translations since the production of the King James Bible.
The use of the word “he” or “this one” rather than “this” when translating the Greek word outos in John 1:2
The use of the word “him” rather than “it” when translating the Greek word autos in John 1:3, 4.
However, unlike English which does not give gender to nouns, the Greek language does so as is the case with most other languages such as French, German, Spanish, and Russian. To illustrate this fact, the French speak of la table as a feminine item, but in conversation they would mean that “it” should, for example, be laid or be moved etc.
“THE WORD” IS NOT MASCULINE IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE BIBLES
The Elberfelder and Luther Bibles have Das Wort (Das being neuter and a capital letter being standard for all nouns in German). The French Segond version has La parole (feminine). In Spanish it is palabra (feminine) and in Russian it is slovo…en bylo (neuter). In fact, Tertullian (155-230 A.D.) translated logos as speech and states: “It is the simple use of our people to say [of John 1] that the word of revelation was with God.” This view survived in Spain and southern Gaul until at least the seventh century.
Why the Words “He” and “Him” Are Incorrect in
Verses 2-4 of the Standard Translations
Verses 2-4 of the Standard Translations
Although the word logos is grammatically masculine, it was never used in the Scriptures to refer to a person as shown above and is therefore a reference to something sexually neuter. Nevertheless, the popular versions of the New Testament render verse 2 to say: “He was in the beginning with God.” The Greek word here is houtos which means “this” or “this one” according to the context. Yet the context of the impersonal “word,” as throughout all of the Scriptures, excludes a rendering of “this one” in the sense of reference to a person. So houtos in the context of John 1:2 simply means “the same” as in most early translations right up to the 1890s, or “this” as is the case with all other references to impersonal things in the Scriptures. Also, the three occurrences of the Greek word autos in verses 3 and 4, usually rendered “him,” should be rendered impersonally as “it”—again because of the context. In particular John’s commentary on his Gospel prologue in 1 John 1 shows that the rendering “it” is correct.
Issues in the Earliest English Translations
In translating from the Roman Catholic Latin Vulgate of the day, John Wycliffe gave us the first translation of the Bible into English. It was called Wycliffe’s Bible and was completed in 1384. However, it didn’t remove the errors of the original Latin Vulgate completed in A.D. 384 by Jerome or the many errors that had accumulated in it over time. These errors included the use of the word “he” rather than “it” in John 1:3, 4. Then in 1534 William Tyndale translated the Bible into English from the original languages, rather than from the corrupted Latin Vulgate. He had studied at Oxford University and later at Cambridge. He was fluent in seven foreign languages including Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, and so was very well qualified for this task. In John 1:1 he used a small ‘w’ for “the word” and used the pronoun “it” for the Greek word auto.
The Impersonal “Word” in Translations
Prior to the KJV
Prior to the KJV
Prior to the 1611 KJV, eight major translations and one lesser translation used either a small ‘w’ for “word” or the pronoun “it” with reference to “the word” or both. These are: Tyndale (1534), Coverdale (1535), Matthew’s Bible (1537), The Great Bible (1539), Taverner’s NT (1540), Whittingham (1557), The Geneva Bible (1560), Bishop’s Bible (1568), and the Thomson NT (1607). Also, the note on John 1:3: “all things were made by IT” in the Campbell New Testament by Campbell, Macknight, and Doddridge (1826) states that:
Every English version before that of King James [some 13 versions], preferred IT to HE because of the laws of concord: WORD being in English NEUTER, the pronoun referring to it should be in the same gender. The Vulgate also uses HOC, the neuter gender, to agree with VERBUM, neuter. Luther, in like manner, prefers the neuter pronoun. In Italian, PAROLA (the word) is feminine, and so is the pronoun agreeing with it; so, too, in the French versions! Dr. Campbell justifies IT in a long note on this passage, and shows that the authors of the common version departed from their own rule in the fourth verse of the same chapter, where the term LIGHT is as clearly applied to the same person as the term WORD, and yet, in the fifth verse, they translate the pronoun agreeing with it, by the same pronoun IT,—‘and the darkness comprehendeth IT not.’ … The best reason, as it appears to us, for this preference, is that the antecedent to the word IT can only be the term WORD; but the antecedent to the term HIM may be more naturally concluded to be GOD, the nearest noun—which would materially change the sense of the passage.
NOTE: The first time the rendering ‘him’ in English was used came in 1582 with the Rheims version of the NT by Roman Catholic priest Gregory Martin.
The Impersonal “Word” in Translations
Since the KJV
Since the KJV
There are numerous translations since 1611 that reflect the fact that a second person is not being spoken about in John 1:1-3 e.g., LeClerc (1701), Wakefield (1791), Campbell (1826), B. Wilson’s Diaglott (1864), Concordant (1926), William Temple (1939), the 1985 translation by the Jewish historian Hugh J. Schonfield, The Unvarnished New Testament (1991), and the 1993 translation by Robert W. Funk. Examples of Modern English renderings are:
“In the beginning was the purpose, the purpose in the mind of God, the purpose which was God’s own being” G. B. Caird, New Testament Theology.
“In the beginning there was the divine word and wisdom. The divine word and wisdom were there with God. It was there with God from the beginning. Everything came to be by means of it”
Robert Funk.
“In the beginning was the Plan, God’s Plan, divine!! Everything took shape through it, nothing without it!! It brought life and light for all, shining in the dark, never overcome!! It entered the world it had planned, yet the world refused to know!! God’s own people refused!! But all who accepted, who trusted, could become God’s children, not born in a woman’s blood, not conceived by any man, but born of God!! ... And the Plan became flesh...” David L. Edwards (a Trinitarian).
The Prologue in John Is Primarily Poetic
For many decades now it has been recognized by most scholars that the prologue of John’s Gospel was a hymn in praise of God, the Father. For instance, the New American Bible displays the poetry and prose layout which makes up the prologue. A slightly different poetic form of the prologue is set out by Catholic theologian Raymond Brown as:
1st Strophe ..... verses 1 and 2 3rd Strophe ..... verses 10 to 12b
2nd Strophe ..... verses 3 to 5 4th Strophe ..... verses 14 and 16
Noteworthy, is the fact that the poem is arranged in what is called staircase parallelism form in which the last word of one phrase becomes the first word of the next and then finally rising to the climax in verse 14.
Personification Rather than Hypostatization
Because the poetic factor in John’s prologue was not recognized in earlier times, it was taken literally. This resulted in hypostatization of (to ascribe substance to) “the word” in verses 1-5 and so caused misunderstanding of John’s intent. When a literary piece is poetic it is generally given to metaphorical interpretation, which in this case is the figurative language of personification. So, Roger Haight a Jesuit scholar explains that:
Hypostatization means making an idea or a concept into a real thing...the symbols Wisdom, Word, and Spirit, which are found in the Jewish Scriptures and refer to God, are not hypostatizations but personifications...A major development occurred when a personification became transformed into hypostatization. Jesus Symbol of God, p. 257
The personification in John’s prologue is appropriate because his sources were Hebrew and Aramaic literature where personification was freely used. For instance, the Hebrew term dabar translated ‘word’ is often personified in the Hebrew Scriptures e.g., “With speed his word runs” (Psalm 147:15). Interestingly, the prologue shows striking parallels with Proverbs 8:22-30 where Lady Wisdom is personified, but never hypostatized. So, a personified impersonal logos was not a new idea to John or his readers. Also, to repeat the earlier point that logos, although grammatically of masculine gender in Greek, does not mean that it is actually sexually masculine when translated into English. This is just the same as when a French masculine or feminine noun is logically neuter when translated into English. From the above it is evident that God’s logos has been personified and therefore does not refer to any literal person. Furthermore, Professor James Dunn says concerning the prologue of John: “In the earlier stages of the poem we are still dealing with the Wisdom...not as a personal being, but as the wise utterance of God personified.” (Christology in the Making, p. 242). Furthermore, Roger Haight writes:
“One thing is certain, the Prologue of John does not represent direct descriptive knowledge of a divine entity or being called Word, who descended and became a human being. To read a metaphor as literal speech is misinterpretation...” Jesus Symbol of God, p. 210.
The Broad Range of Meanings of Logos
According to the Lexicons
According to the Lexicons
It is often stated by Greek linguists that “word” is really a rather inadequate translation of logos in John’s prologue. So as shown above some translators have rendered logos as “the purpose in the mind of God,” or “the divine word and wisdom” and many other impersonal renderings. This is because the term has a quite wide range of meanings so that Bauer’s Greek-English Lexicon states that logos variously refers to: A communication whereby the mind finds expression—of utterance, statement, question, proclamation, prophecy, command, instruction, message, revelation, the gospel, and declaration. Added to this list are definitions from other lexicons. These are: Decree, plan, expression of mind, creative thought, purpose, promise, wisdom, or reason.
The rather wieldy phrases: ‘God’s creative thoughts expressed into activity,’ ‘God’s expressed/declared/decreed/commanded purpose or plan or project’ or similar phrases more adequately reflect the full meaning of logos. Somewhat more encapsulated phrases might be: ‘God’s declared or decreed purpose’ or ‘the message of God’s purpose’ or ‘God’s self-revelation’ or ‘the expression of the creative project,’ so, in the book Did the First Christians Worship Jesus, p. 83, 4m James Dunn comments that: “The Logos is God in his self-manifestation in creation, in inspiration and in salvation… The Logos was the one God in his self-revelation.” So, the thought given by the term ‘logos’ is of ‘the message/revelation of God’s purpose,’ ‘the decreed divine project’ i.e., ‘the good news of the Kingdom.’ Indeed, from research, in recent decades a significant number of theologians have concluded and demonstrated that “the word” is, in fact, not a person—not Jesus Christ; but is to be interpreted in biblical Hebrew/Aramaic terms because the Gospel of John, although written in Greek, is a thoroughly Jewish book. These theologians also have demonstrated that John 1:1 speaks of only one person, namely, God who is the Father. From all of this information and following the recommended syntax of the NEB/REB I have rendered John 1:1-4 and 14 as:
“In the beginning was the logos. This self-revelation was integral to God, and what God was, the self-revelation was. 2This was integral to God in the beginning. 3Everything came into existence through it; not one created thing came into existence without it. 4By means of it was the real life, and the real life was the light of mankind. ... 14And the logos—the self-revelation of God became a human and made God’s presence at home among us. We gazed upon his glory—the glory as of a unique one from the Father, one full of divine favour and truth.”
§
Background to the Prologue to
John’s Gospel
Background to the Prologue to
John’s Gospel
Internal Details of the Prologue
Our understanding of the prologue is considerably helped when we examine its internal details. These give us clues as to how to understand its various parts. For instance, Raymond Brown shows that: the Greek word zoe (life) never means natural life in John’s writings and that the prologue is speaking of eternal life (The Gospel According to John 1-12 -The Anchor Bible), p. 7). So, by saying in John 1:4: “and the life was the light of men” John is speaking of “the eternal life” or “life of the age to come” so that this was the light of men. Also verse 18 shows that “No one has seen (got to know) God” and therefore God’s salvation plan or immortality plan is sent in the form of a man (verse 14) who will explain, reveal or declare Him (verse 18). According to verse 17 such revealing was only partially accomplished by the Law, but “grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”
First John 1:1-3 as Commentary on
John’s Gospel Prologue
John’s Gospel Prologue
A great help to our understanding of John 1:1-4 and the rest of the prologue is found in the prologue of John’s first letter which is a partial commentary on the prologue to his Gospel. From 1 John 1:1-3 we learn that, ‘the word’ is God’s promise of eternal life or immortality plan. So, this impersonal promise or declared purpose or revelation is:
“That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes…concerning the word of life—indeed life was made-known!”
Emeritus professor of Divinity James Dunn comments that:
The subject of which 1 John 1:1-3 speaks is not Christ…but ‘that which concerns the word of life (the relative pronouns are neuter not masculine); and what ‘was manifested’ is not Christ or the word, but life, ‘the eternal life which was with the Father’. In other words, it is clearly the content of the message which is in view, not the person as such.
The Setting of “In the Beginning” in John 1:1
John Chapter one begins with the words “En arche en ho logos”—“in the beginning was the logos.” The way the phrase “in the beginning” is used in the New Testament always refers to a point of time. Bauer’s Greek-English Lexicon defines arche as “a point of time at the beginning of a duration.” Examples are: “…just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses” (Luke 1:2 ESV), “Moses permitted you to divorce…But it was not like that from the beginning” (Matt. 19:8 CSB), “For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him” (John 6:64 NASB), “What was from the beginning, what we have heard…concerning the Word of Life” (1 John 1:1 NASB), “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (1 John 3:11 NASB). All of these instances indicate a point of time when something starts. With that in mind one must then determine from the context when the particular point of time was in the above cases. So, in those above examples the relevant “beginnings” were: when Adam and Eve were brought together, when Jesus began his ministry, and when he chose his disciples. So, for John 1:1 the point of time spoken of must be determined according to the overall context of the usage of the term “the word” in the Scriptures. In fact, these show that “the word” already existed prior to God’s arranging of the creation when He “said, ‘Let there be…”’ and whatever feature then came into existence was “the beginning.” Therefore, the earlier information on John 1:1 shows that “the word of revelation” or “the expression of God’s purpose” or “the self-revelation of God” already existed with Him before the material creation. Indeed, when, in John 1:14, “the word became a human” this is a stage further on from John 1:1 and so putting “the beginning” prior to that and so most likely at or prior to the material creation.
What Does “Was with God” (Gk pros ton theon) Mean?
According to Bauer’s Greek-English Lexicon the preposition pros with the accusative, as in John 1:1, 2, is a marker of movement or orientation toward someone/something: It variously can mean:
toward, towards, to,
near, at, during,
aiming at, striving toward,
against, for,
to indicate a connection by marking a point of reference, with reference to/regard to (about, because of, with respect to, which concerns, which belongs to, what makes for, in accordance with, in order to, for the purpose of),
in adverbial expressions (“tends toward” Jas. 5:4)
by, at, near.
To all of these meanings Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon adds the definition “pertaining to.” Also, various translations render pros with the accusative as: Concerning, as respects, pertaining to, of, even to. Furthermore, the Greek word generally rendered as ‘with’ is para and not pros. So, one wonders why almost all translations of John 1:1, 2 render pros ton theon as: “the Word was with God” when, in fact, the word ‘with’ is barely one of the lexical definitions. Such a practice would seem to be because of tradition. In contrast, for about seventy times, the LXX renders pros ton theon as “to God.” Also, there are eighteen further occurrences of pros ton theon in the New Testament Scriptures, the great majority of which are translated as: “to God,” “toward God,” “related to God” or “pertaining to God.” For example, a great number of translations render the phrase pros ton theon in Hebrews 5:2 as: “pertaining to God...” (NASB); “in relation to God...” (ESV); “related to God...” (NIV). (Similarly, in Heb. 2:17 and Rom. 15:17). The same or similar phrases are used in a number of other texts. Indeed, Bauer’s choice of phrase for Romans 15:17 is “that which concerns God” in its rendering of ta pros ton theon. Therefore, there is no grammatical or contextual reason why some of these and other definitions of pros ton theon are not appropriate for John 1:1. So combining this fact with the translation of logos as ‘the expression of divine purpose’ gives the following possible renderings:
“the expression (message) of the divine purpose was concerning (related to, integral to) God and what God was, the expression (message) of divine purpose was. This was in the beginning pertaining to (with respect to, integral to) God.”
NOTE: Please see Chapter 5 under the heading: Colwell’s Rule and the “Logos” in JOHN 1:1 concerning the fact that the second word theos in John 1:1 is anarthrous.
What Does the Phrase “And God Was the Logos” Prove?
The whole sentence is: “In the beginning was the logos and the logos was integral to God and God was the logos.” This linking of the second occurrence of the word “God” with “the God” by the word “and” shows that the passage is speaking of one and the same person, namely, God. There is no second person—either a so-called ‘God the Son’ or ‘a god’ in the form of a spirit being or an archangel.
What Does “The Word Became Flesh” Mean?
J.A.T. Robinson explains John 1:14 saying:
What I believe John is saying is that the Word, which was God in his self-revelation and expression, was embodied totally in and as a human being, became a person, was personalized not just personified. But that the Logos came into existence or expression as a person does not mean that it was a person before. In terms of the later distinction, it was not that the Logos was hypostatic (a person or hypostasis) and then assumed an impersonal human nature, but that the Logos was anhypostatic until the Word of God finally came to self-expression not merely in nature and in a people but in an individual historic person, and thus became hypostatic.
The Priority of John, pp. 380-381.
So rather than being a sentient person “the word” in John 1:1 was the complete index of God’s mind in action—his self-revelation. So, when John 1:1 speaks of “the word” it was not at that time “the Son” until John 1:14 when “the word became flesh.”
§
Understanding the Prologue to
John’s Gospel
Understanding the Prologue to
John’s Gospel
Occasionally the Bible writers wrote applying a double meaning to certain phrases—a double-entendre, which is a figure of speech called amphibologia, and is explained in the primary work Figures of Speech Used in the Bible by E.W. Bullinger. This was evidently the technique used by John in the beginning of his prologue, where he uses the Genesis ‘creation of order’ as a basis for a treatise on the good news of the New Creation. The following quotations of the Gospel of John are from The Kingdom of God Version:
God’s Self-Revelation
Brings Everything into Being
Brings Everything into Being
FIRST POETIC STROPHE - (verses 1-2)
Verses 1-2:
♦ “In the beginning was the logos. This self-revelation was integral to God, and what God was, the self-revelation was. 2This was integral to God in the beginning.”
SECOND POETIC STROPHE - (verses 3–5)
Verse 3:
♦ “Everything (of the Genesis and New creations) came to be through it [God’s self-revelation]; without it nothing came to be that has come to be.”
Although John is referring to the original creation in quoting the Genesis 1:1 phrase “in the beginning,” he is also using it as a way of introducing the fundamentals of the New Creation which becomes entirely the subject from verse 4 forward (also see vs. 13). However, as shown earlier, John himself and other New Testament writers used the word “beginning,” according to context, so that John’s prologue is also not primarily a treatise on the Genesis creation. Further examples of the usage of the word “beginning” are: “The beginning of the good-news of Jesus the Messiah, God’s Son” (Mark 1:1 DLNT), “.…you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:27 LEB), “As I started speaking, holy spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning” (Acts 11:15 KGV) i.e., at Pentecost, “Let what you heard from the beginning be abiding in you” (1 John 2:24 DLNT). Clearly, none of these texts are referring back to the beginning of the universe. So, although John is referencing the Genesis creation it is only as a basis to tell the same story as do the other Gospel and letter writers i.e., the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ from the first century. In fact, John states that the purpose of his Gospel is: “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God,” (John 20:31). Commenting on John 1:1 Professor F.F. Bruce stated that:
It is not by accident that the Gospel begins with the same phrase as the Book of Genesis. In Genesis 1:1, ‘In the beginning’ introduces the story of the old creation; here it introduces the story of the new creation. The Gospel and Epistles of John, p. 28.
NOTE: This use of logos is the same as the descriptions of God’s word as His agent in the Genesis creation (Gen. 1: 3; Ps. 33:6; Isa. 55:11; 2 Peter 3:5). It is also similar to the descriptions of spirit, power, and wisdom as His agents of creation (Job 33:4; Jer. 10:12), none of which are persons.
The Treatise Is Now Entirely About the New Creation
Verses 4-5
♦ “By means of it [God’s self-revelation] was the life [immortality of the coming age] and the life was the light of mankind. The light [God’s revealed truth] continues shining in the darkness [of lies from Satan in Eden], and the darkness did not overpower it” (KGV).
Commenting on John 1:4, 5, F.F. Bruce stated that:
In the first creation, ‘darkness was upon the face of the deep’ (Gen 1:2) until God called light into being, so the new creation (in which the Word of God is agent as effectively as in the earlier one) involves the banishing of spiritual darkness by the light which shines in the Word.
The Gospel and Epistles of John, p. 33.
The Revealing of Messiah Who Would
Embody the True Light
Embody the True Light
FIRST PROSE SECTION—(verses 6-9)
Verses 6 and 7: ♦: “A man by the Name of John came.…to bear witness about the light [to be embodied in Jesus]...”
Verse 8♦: “He himself was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light.” This light would be God’s self-revelation—the logos.
Verse 9♦: “This was the genuine light which enlightens everyone coming into the world” (See the structure in the Greek and the NKJV).
According to the Word Biblical Commentary the phrase “every man coming into the world” was “a common phrase among Jews.” Less likely is the common rendering of: “That was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” So, because John sets verses 6-9 as prose at this point, he has altered the sense of the remaining poetry which was about the expression of the divine purpose. He thereby gives the first hint that the climax will be about the expression of God’s self-expression becoming enfleshed, and which then gives out the true light. These statements about the true light begin leading toward the eventual embodiment of the logos and the light in Jesus (vs. 14)—a human. (Matt. 4:16; John 3:19, 8:12).
God’s Self-Revelation Now Embodied in Jesus
THIRD POETIC STROPHE - (verses 10-12b)
Verse 10:
♦ “He [Jesus as the light] was in the [alienated] world, (of humanity—Gk kosmos) and the world [in his time] came into existence through him, but the world didn’t acknowledge him.”
David J. Ellis comments on the phrase “the world came to be through him” in verse 10 when he says:
This applies to that part of creation (cf. v.v3) which is capable of making a sensible response. The world (Gk kosmos) is the world of people, especially those who, in this gospel, are confronted ________with the truth of Christ. New International Bible Commentary, p. 1233.
So, the phrase: “the world came to be through him,” concerns the world of humanity (Gk. kosmos), rather than the physical planet, according to the context. Because Jesus “was in the world” it was evidently the world of his own time and place that “came to be through him.” So, by his life of sacrifice Jesus gave that world the opportunity to be reconciled to God and become part of the new creation. However, most of that “world did not acknowledge him” i.e., it rejected him in about A.D. 33. This simply cannot be a jumping back to verse 1 and so interpreted to mean that Jesus was the agent of the creation of the physical universe because only Yahweh with no help whatsoever did that (Isa. 44:24)!
How the World “Came to Be Through Him”
Verses 11, 12a and b:
♦ “He [Jesus] came to what was his own, but his own [people] didn’t accept him. 12As many as [enlightened men], did accept him, He gave the right to become God’s children...”
This is the completing of creation when those who accepted Jesus became the first of the children of God—the new creation, so that they “came to be through him.”
THE SECOND PROSE SECTION – (verses 12c-13)
Verses 12 c and 13:
♦ “...—to those giving their allegiance to him 13who was fathered, not by natural generation nor by physical desire nor by a husband’s desire, but of God.”
Here there is a translation issue, so that, this verse actually takes note of the virgin birth of Jesus, rather than an out-of-context comment on the metaphorical birth of Christians. This harmonizes with Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels.
FORTH (LAST) POETIC STROPHE - (verses 14 and 16)
Verse 14:
♦ “And the logos—God’s self-revelation became a human and made God’s presence [as the new mode of God’s presence and the bearer of the New Torah] at home among us. We gazed upon his glory—the glory as of a unique one from the Father, one full of divine favour and truth.”
At this point in time “God’s self-revelation” became a human person—Jesus, so that his coming into existence was not described in verses 1-4. He was never that revelation (the word) before his being flesh. In Christology in the Making James Dunn notes that:
It is only with verse 14 that we can speak of the personal Logos. Prior to verse 14 we are in the same realm as pre-Christian talk of Wisdom and Logos...dealing with personifications rather than persons, personified actions of God rather than an individual divine being as such. p. 243.
Also, Kuschel notes that:
Only from v.10 on may one speak of the Logos ensarkos. But it is v.14 which first makes unmistakably clear in ‘Christian’ terms that ‘the word became flesh’ and thus identifies the Logos asarkos with a specific person… Born Before all Time? p.381.
Just as John, in verse 10, had shown that God’s light was now embodied in a human, he completes his thoughts concerning God’s self-revelation by showing that it, too, was now embodied in a human.
THE THIRD PROSE SECTION - (verse 15)
♦ “John bore witness to him and cried out, saying, ‘This was he of whom I said, “The one coming after me has advanced in front of me, because he ranks ahead of me.”
This is not a statement of pre-existence as appears in some versions, but of who is the more important person or who has the more important role—John the Baptist or Jesus.
Verse 16:
♦ “Indeed, we have all received from his fullness, one gracious gift in place of another.
Verse 17 shows God’s “gracious gift” to be truth through Jesus leading to the New Covenant which replaces God’s earlier “gracious gift” of the Mosaic Law i.e., the Old Torah which fades after it is fulfilled.
THE FINAL PROSE SECTION - (verses 17-18)
♦ “…because while the law [Old Torah] was given through Moses, gracious favour and truth [New Torah] came through Jesus the Messiah. 18No one has seen [fully known] God at any time. The Son who was uniquely fathered, and who is in the closest intimacy to the Father, he has explained Him.”
Conclusion
In his prologue John is demonstrating how God, through Jesus, completes his creation as the New Creation by Jesus becoming “God’s self-revelation”. This is similar to Jesus’ words of, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). However, perhaps the most helpful points are the understanding that the term “word” is inadequate to express the meaning of logos, but rather combines thought, expression and action and so refers to God’s “self-revelation.” Additionally, the larger part of the prologue is poetry which indicates a strong likelihood of a metaphorical interpretation of personification as in its parallel passage of Proverbs 8. Furthermore, Kuschel states that:
The prologue intrinsically has a dynamic movement and determines its own focal point. It begins universally and ends in a concrete way” Born Before all Time? p. 382.
This really makes it impossible to jump back to any earlier stage of the prologue. Such forward movement in the poem strongly indicates that Jesus is what “the word” [God’s self-revelation] became only from verse 14 and making it impossible for there to have been a literally pre-existent person in John 1:1 who then became Jesus.
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