John and His Prologue

by Oleg Kostyuk

Let us look at the introduction of John’s Gospel today.

“In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1a). The very first verse of the Gospel takes us to a world which was not even created yet and reveals the Word. John does not say clearly that the Word is Jesus but we know that he was writing about Him. Jesus in the prologue is primordial: He was before the created world. The author of the Gospel intentionally uses the same wording as Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created”. In John 1:1 there is no creation but there is existence of the Word. Jesus has always existed. The end of verse 1 brings us to the summit “and the Word was God.” There is a tremendous power in that very first verse. The Word is Jesus and Jesus is God.

In verse 3: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” Later on in John’s Gospel we will witness Jesus’ creating power when He will be healing people, when He will be resurrecting Lazarus (John 11:1-16, 38-44).

In verse 4, John states: ‘In Him [in Jesus] was a life, and the life was the light of the men.’ This statement brings us down from the upper dimension to the human world. Jesus descended to earth to give life to the entire humankind and fill the Earth with His light.

The following verse gives an explanation of the light: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it”. There is a well-known definition of the darkness: darkness is the absence of light or illumination. The light is stronger than darkness, because even a little candle can lighten a room full of darkness. Jesus was alone on the Cross but His light was able to enlighten the entire World.

Finally, in verse 14, John leads us to the culmination, the incarnation or the embodiment of the Word: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The phrase “dwelt among us” is of a particular interest to us; in Greek it is eskuneusen and literally means “tabernacled among us.” John intentionally uses this word emphasizing that Jesus “dwelled” among people, just as the tabernacle in the times of Moses and the Old Testament represented God’s presence. Jesus wants to dwell among us today.

After reading the passage carefully we can identify the powerful and encouraging message that John conveys through his introduction.

• Jesus was in the beginning.

• Jesus was always with God.

• Jesus is God.

• Jesus was participating in the creation.

• Jesus had life in Himself.

• Jesus had light in Himself.

• Jesus became flesh, and He dwelt among us.

Jesus knows what it is to live on this earth. He knows what it is to withstand the evil one. Jesus dwelt among us and He wants to establish a relationship with us today. He wants to dwell among us today. Jesus was always with God; He existed even before the creation of the world. He went down from heaven to dwell among us; He humiliated Himself because He loved the world. And now we can live.

Join our discussion on Cross Connection. Experience the Word of God come alive.