In the Beginning was the Word

John 1:1-5

What is a “word?”

Ironically, it can be hard to put into words.

A word is something intangible, yet whether spoken or written, a word holds the power to bring forth infinite ideas, thoughts, images, symbols, and connotations. A word is a powerful thing.

The Greek word for 'word’ used in this passage is transliterated to ‘logos.’ According to Strong’s Greek Concordance, ‘logos’ is “a word, uttered by a living voice” and “embodies a conception or idea.”

John opens his biography of Jesus by stating that there is a logos that was with God and was God Himself from the very beginning. If logos is something that “embodies,” John is making the claim that Jesus is the embodiment of God Himself. Yahweh, the God of the universe, has embodied his very essence into a logos - Jesus.

Jesus is the embodiment of the invisible God. And like a word, Jesus is powerful. Just like a word can bring forth infinite thoughts, so Jesus holds God’s boundless nature.

In Jesus is life, and life has the power to create.

Jesus is the light, and light has power over the darkness.

John uses these three symbols - word, life, and light to make the claim that the man written about in this biography is the all-powerful, creating and sustaining God.

Whether this is your first time or 100th time reading John 1, it is time to lean in. We are about to read the biography of Jesus - the all-powerful God who chose to reveal himself to humanity humbly as a human Himself.

Do you want to know the infinite God? Lean in. Do you want to know what it looks like when God becomes a human without omitting His deity? Lean in. Do you want to know how to receive power over darkness? Lean in.

As we walk verse by verse through the Gospel of John, I implore you to lean in. The same God who spoke the world into existence in the beginning, wants to speak to you through His gospel. The same Word that was with God in the beginning wants to show you who He is. Will you lean in?