THE PRE-EXISTENT STATE OF CHRIST AND HIS INCARNATION
Sect. 2. IN HIS INTRODUCTION JOHN PICTURES CHRIST AS THE WORD (LOGOS)
John 1:1-18
1 In the beginning was the Word,[a] and the Word was with God, and
2 the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
3 things were made [1]by him; and without him [2]was not anything
4 made that hath been made. In him was life; and the life was the
5 light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the
6 darkness [3]apprehended it not. There came a man, sent from God,
7 whose name was John. The same came for witness, that he might bear
8 witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He was
not the light, but _came_ that he might bear witness of the light.
9 [4]There was the true light, _even the light_ which lighteth
10 [5]every man, coming into the world. He was in the world, and the
11 world was made [1]by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto
12 [6]his own, and they that were his own received him not. But as
many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children
13 of God, _even_ to them that believe on his name: which were
[7]born, not of [8]blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
14 will of man, but of God. And the Word[a] became flesh, and [9]dwelt
among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of [10]the only
15 begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth. John beareth
witness of him, and crieth, saying, [11]This was he of whom I said,
He that cometh after me is become before me: for he was [12]before
16 me. For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace. For
17 the law was given [1]by Moses; grace and truth came [1]by Jesus
18 Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; [13]the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared _him_.
[Footnote 1: Or, _through_.]
[Footnote 2: Or, _was not anything made. That which hath been made
was life in him; and the life &c._]
[Footnote 3: Or, _overcame_.]
[Footnote 4: Or, _The true light, which lighteth every man, was
coming_.]
[Footnote 5: Or, _every man as he cometh_.]
[Footnote 6: Gr. _his own things_.]
[Footnote 7: Or, _begotten_.]
[Footnote 8: Gr. _bloods_.]
[Footnote 9: Gr. _tabernacled_.]
[Footnote 10: Or, _an only begotten from a father_.]
[Footnote 11: Some ancient authorities read _this was he that
said_.]
[Footnote 12: Gr. _first in regard of me_.]
[Footnote 13: Many very ancient authorities read _God only
begotten_.]
[Footnote a: The Fourth Gospel makes no further use of the term Logos
(Word) for Christ. No other Gospel employs the term, but in 1 John 1:1 we
find "the Word of life" in this sense and in Rev. 19:14 we have: "and his
name is called the Word of God." The Greek word has a double sense
(reason and speech) and John seems to have both ideas in mind (1:18).
Christ is the Idea of God and the Expression of God. The Stoics followed
Plato in the philosophical use of Logos. Philo took it up and made it
familiar to Jewish readers who were already used to the Hebrew _Memra_
(Word) in a personal sense. But John carried the term further than any of
his predecessors and placed it on a par with Messiah, Son of God, Son of
Man, and other phrases that portray aspects of the Person of Christ. John
writes his Gospel to prove the deity of Jesus (John 20:31) against
Gnostics (Cerinthian) who denied it, as he wrote his First Epistle (1
John 1:1-4) to prove the humanity of Jesus against Docetic Gnostics who
disclaimed it. See note 3 at end of Harmony.]