John 1:1,2

 

1)      Existed in the beginning

2)      Existed in close relation to God (as a separate person)

3)      Existed as God

 

Jesus is God

1)      1:1 in his pre-incarnate state

2)      1:18 in his incarnate state

3)      20:28 in his resurrected state

 

John 1:1

 en                   IN 

arch              BEGINNING              -The word means “beginning, origin, first cause.”

                                                            Since there is no article (“o” translated “the”) this can refer to any beginning.

 

·        “In the beginning” is obviously intended to cause the readers to recall the first line of the first book of the Bible: Genesis which means “IN THE BEGINNING”

·        This phrase was widely known and familiar

·        Other words John will use to connect with the first beginning: Life (1:4), Light (1:4), Darkness (1:5)

·        Genesis was the account of the first creation

·        This book is the account of the new creation; to be born again.

·        In Genesis “God said. . .” here “the Word” is going to become part of creation.

·        The two meanings of “beginning are itended by John such as:

o       the beginning of history 

o       the cause of the universe

 

·        There never was a time when the Word was not.

·        There never was a thing that did not depend on the word for existence.

 

hn                   WAS                           -Imperfect indicative active of  eimi.  Imperfect expresses continuous timeless existence. 

This is not the act of creation but to what was before creation.

·        “The Word eternally was.”

·        This states the eternal existence of the Word

·        “egeneto” is used in 1:3, 6, 14

·        John 8:58 is a good example of the difference between “hn” (eimi) and “egeneto” (ginomai)

·        This Word was not created

o                      THE                             Includes the article “o” to help indicate this is “the one, the  communicator par excellence”

 

logoV             WORD                        “word, expression, account, rational principle”

·        “Word” expresses that it is the very nature of God to reveal himself.

·        “The Word” was God’s thoughts, desires, person expressed in such a way that men could understand.

·        This Word is more than knowledge, it is life

·        John 17:3

·        Jesus was that rational expression, but we are not told that by John until 1:14.

kai                  AND

 

o                      THE

 

logoV             WORD

 

hn                   WAS                           -Imperfect indicative active of  eimi.  Imperfect expresses continuous timeless existence

 

proV               WITH                          -“toward, to”  Translated here as “with”.

Shows accompaniment and relationship.

·        pros means more than meta (with, in company) and para (from, of, by, with)

·        pros implies not merely existence alongside of but personal intercourse

·        This preposition “expresses nearness combined with the sense of movement towards.”

·        Robertson says, “the literal idea comes out well in ‘face to face with God’ ”

·        POINT: We are clearly talking about two persons here: The Logos and The God because the two are “with” (pros)

·        POINT:

 

ton                  (the)                             Has the article so is referring to The True God

                       

qeon                GOD   

                       

kai                  AND

 

qeoV                GOD                            No article as in 1 John 4:8, 16:

“o  qeoV GOD           agaph LOVE            estin IS”

                                                                                The lack of the article is emphasizing the qualities that are considered God.

 

hn                   WAS                           From eimi “to be, to exist”

                                                            Imperfect indicative active of  eimi.  Imperfect  expresses continuous timeless existence. 

This is not the act of creation but to what was before creation

 

o                      THE

 

logoV             WORD.

 

 

 

John 1:2

outoV             HE                               A demonstrative pronoun that means “this” and implies and emphasizes what has just been                                                                             described.  It is translated “he” because it is masculine in form and is referring to “the Word.”

hn                   WAS                           From eimi “to be, to exist”

                                                            Imperfect indicative active of  eimi.  Imperfect  expresses continuous timeless existence. 

This is   not the act of creation but to what was before creation

en                    IN  

 

arch              BEGINNING

 

proV               WITH

 

ton                  (the)

 

qeon                GOD

 

A nickname for Protagoras was “the word” because of his ability to speak and to communicate.  Protagoras - (prōtăg´symbolrsymbols) , c.490—c.421 , Greek philosopher of Abdera, one of the more distinguished Sophists. He taught for a time in Athens, where he was a friend of Pericles and knew Socrates, but was forced to flee because of his professed agnosticism. Protagoras was the author of the famous saying, "Man is the measure of all things." He held that each man is the standard of what is true to himself, that all truth is relative to the individual who holds it and can have no validity beyond him. Thus he denied the possibility of objective knowledge and refused to differentiate between sense and reason. None of his works have survived, but one of Plato's most famous dialogues bears his name.  He is remembered as:

(1) that man is the measure of all things (which is often interpreted as a sort of radical relativism)
(2) that he could make the "worse (or weaker) argument appear the better (or stronger)" and

(3) that one could not tell if the gods existed or not.