St. John's Gospel Explanation of the opening verse of St. John's gospel. In the beginning was The Word and The Word was with God and The Word was God The Greek text reads: The verse begins with (pronounced En) which literally means In. However can also be short for (pronounced Ena) which means the number 1. There is no doubt that John intended to start the gospel with but the number 1 is significant as in Greek 1 is the start of everything. Before 1 there is nothing and 1 therefore represents the starting point.

The next word (pronounced Ark Hee) is where we get the words Archaeology and Archaic from. In English translations of the Bible we literally translate as 'In the beginning'. However means so much more. The first syllable is 'Alpha' significant as it is the very first utterance a baby makes when it is born, it's the sound of the breath of life. John uses this in 'The Revelation of John' when he describes God as the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. The Omega being the final 'O' sound a person makes as he exhales for the final time at the point of death. The second syllable is significant as it is a common noun for 'land'. Greek's would have immediately understood what John was saying here as in Greek Mythology the Earth Goddess Gaia was born from Chaos, the great void of emptiness. So, although in English we say 'In the beginning' you can see the original Greek text is very rich in meaning.

The next word (pronounced In) simply means 'was'.

The next word (pronounced O Logos) is translated in English as The Word. The 'O' being the article, or 'The'. The article is spelt and pronounced differently depending on the characteristics of the noun that follows.

The word Logos is complicated and entire books have been written attempting to explain it. 'The Logos' is the term used to represent the nature of Our Lord Jesus Christ before he was born human, Son of God and Son of Man. He is the Word of God through which all things were created. John describes him in Chapter 1 Verse 14 ' And the Word was made 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 next word simply translates as 'And'.

The next significant phrase (pronounced O Logos In Pros Ton Theon) is translated into English as 'The Word was With The God'. The interesting word here is . It literally means 'Towards' and is still used today in modern Greek especially on road signs like, Pros Athena (towards Athens). Think of the word 'Towards' and how you would describe its meaning to a child. You would probably say 'The Way To'. This is interesting as John uses the same word in his Gospel when he records the words of Jesus saying, 'I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me'. So you could translate it as 'The Word was the Way To God' as well as 'The Word was With God'.

Finally we get the last phrase (pronounced 'Ke Theos In O Logos) which is the most important phrase as it describes the relationship between God and The Logos (Jesus prior to being born a human). It literally translates in to English as 'And God was The Word'. However in English we would more properly say, 'And The Word Was God'.

Virtually all translations of the original Greek texts into English have translated this important verse correctly. However, The Watchtower and Bible Tract Society (Jehovah's Witnesses) have mistranslated the last phrase to read, 'and The Word was a god'. They claim their translation is correct because of the lack of the article before Theos in . However, this is an incorrect argument. Note: there are two nouns in the last phrase, 'Theos' and 'Logos'. In Greek the subject of a sentence is always prefixed with the article to avoid any misunderstanding. In English we avoid such misunderstanding by placing the subject at the beginning of a sentence. Therefore, the direct, word-for-word translation, 'and God was The Word' is more properly written, 'and The Word was God'.

So, Why did St John use the term 'The Logos' ('The Word')?

After all, he is the only New Testament writer to use it. Well, the Apostle John obviously wanted to deal with the question, 'who, (or what) was Jesus both prior his birth and after his birth as a human? As a human he was often referred to as both 'Son of Man' and 'Son of God'.

He was 'Son of Man' because he was born of Mary and therefore a descendant of her family line. From the writings of the New Testament we read that he referred to himself as ' Son of Man' 88 times. The phrase 'Son of Man' is also found in the writings of the Profit Daniel Chapter 7:13-14 in which which says, 'In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.'

So, when Jesus referred to himself as 'Son of Man' he was assigning the prophecy of Daniel to himself. The Jewish leaders and people to whom he spoke would have been well versed in the scriptures and would have immediately understood the significance of the use of the term.

He was 'Son of God' because he was conceived through The Holy Spirit of God.

The angel announced to the Virgin Mary...'and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus'. Then said Mary unto the angel, 'How shall this be, seeing I know not a man'? And the angel answered and said unto her, 'The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee'.
Luke Chapter 1:Verse 30 onwards .

He therefore could rightly claim to be both. However:

'Who, or what was Jesus before he was born a human'?

Remember, according to St John, The Logos (or The Word) Was With God at the very beginning of all creation and that, 'The Logos Was God'. Incidentally, the use of the word 'Was' is not intended to be past tense, but rather to emphasise the fact that he was there at the very beginning.

Perhaps it is easier to think of him as the Executive, through whom God created all things and communicated with mankind.

Consider some of the writings of the Old Testament, in particular the following verses:

Also some New Testament verses:

The term 'Logos' was also used by stoic philosophers, beginning with Heraclitus, to name the rational principle by which the universe and everything in it exists.  Heraclitus, along with Parmenides, is probably the most significant philosopher of ancient Greece prior to Socrates and Plato. Heraclitus, like Parmenides, postulated a model of nature and the universe which created the foundation for all other speculation on physics and metaphysics. The ideas that the universe is in constant change and that there is an underlying order or reason to this change which he called The Logos of God.

The Apostle John knew that his reference to 'The Logos' in his Gospel would be understood by the people of his day from Greeks to Jews and the growing Christian community. With the statement, 'In the beginning was The Word and The Word was with God and The Word was God' the Apostle John made the case very clear for all to understand that The Word that became flesh Was God.