John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1

Who is this "Word" that John is referring to here?  Well, I know and have been taught that it's Jesus.  However, how would we know this from just the text?  Or rather, how did those people who taught me know that?  Well, there's a lot here, but perhaps we can take a quick look at a few of them.  Well, this light is who John bears witness about.  John came to bear witness about Jesus, as we read from the gospel accounts that speak about John.  Not only that, but this is he who became flesh and dwelt among us.  Jesus came down from heaven and lived among us.  However, his own people did not receive him.  It's not as if the Jews were championing Jesus and supporting him.  No, they shouted "crucify him".  The "Word" is Jesus and that's who John is talking about.  I guess even looking again at the purpose of the book, it might've been an easy guess to say that John was talking about Jesus here.

There's a lot said about Jesus in just the first verse.  First of all, he was there in the beginning.  AMP takes liberties to translate it as "In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ)" and NLT also says something similar, "In the beginning the Word already existed".  So, Jesus was there before all time and in fact already existed.  This is in contrast to those who believe that Jesus was created in the beginning.  Perhaps what John continues to say will negate that possibility.  If, in verse 3, all things were made through him, how could he be created if all things were made through him?  I guess you could argue that the verse is obviously excluding the creation of Jesus, but I don't think the argument is very strong.  If that's the case, why would the verse go on to say "and without him was not anything made that was made".  What's the point in adding that last bit?  Well, if nothing was made without him, then how was Jesus made?  The answer is that he wasn't made.  Jesus was there in the beginning.

The next two points are very interesting.  Not only was Jesus with God, but it also says that Jesus was God.  How can Jesus be both with God and be God?  This is the mystery of the Godhead.  I know that many people deny that Jesus is God, but I don't know how you can say that with this verse as clear as day.  Yes, I recognize that one way is to interpret this verse to say that Jesus was "a god".  However, I think that has worse implications that don't really make sense.  How can Jesus be "a god"?  Does he still deserve worship as the angels worship him as is mentioned in Hebrews?  Is he not the one who all things were created through, which is referred to as God in Genesis 1?  In the story of the healing of the paralytic, does he forgive sins as the Pharisees rightly ascribe only to God?  What about Jesus' reaction to people calling him God in contrast to the apostles in the same situation in the book of acts?  Though there are points that people will point to that seemingly point away from Jesus being God, to do so will deny other scripture.  So what do you do?  Do we pick and choose one and not the other?  I believe whatever view we pick should be one that respects and holds up every verse of the bible instead of ignoring some and not others.  I feel that when people deny that Jesus is God, they are ignoring some scriptures in favor of others.

I remember going through the book of John carefully reading each and every verse in hopes to determine what the bible said about whether or not Jesus was God.  There were a lot of verses that seemed to point to Jesus not being God, and there were a few (like here in John 1) that pointed to Jesus being God.  When I tried to begin with the verses seemingly denying that Jesus was God, I could find no way to reconcile it with verses clearly saying that Jesus was God.  However, when I began with verses about how Jesus was God, I was able to somehow (though not easy) reconcile verses that seemed to say that Jesus was not God.  In other words, if I say Jesus is not God, I cannot reconcile John 1:1, "and the Word was God".  However, if I did not deny that Jesus was God, I was able to say that Jesus was both God and things like how Jesus can do nothing of his own accord.  How is that possible?  Jesus is both God and he is also human.  I cannot deny either one of these.  I know I do not have a full and well rounded understanding of Christ and the scriptures, but that is on the basis of my own personal study and reading thus far.

Jesus is God.  It says so in the bible.  It may be hard to reconcile that with other verses of the bible.  However, let my understanding submit to scripture instead of scripture submitting to my understanding.