In the beginning was...(Or, John 1:1 is not about the Genesis Creation)

Notes for One God Report Podcast #17.  Exegesis of John 1, part 1 “In the beginning was…”

Bill Schlegel with Rivers O Feden

To hear the podcast click here. 

As we begin an exegesis of the Prologue to the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18), in this podcast we give more evidence (see this previous podcast) for why the Prologue should be understood as an introduction to the ministry of Jesus the Messiah, and not as a direct reference to the Genesis creation.

The topics discussed in the podcast include, but are not limited to the following:

1.       The phrase “In the beginning” and the word “word” of John 1:1 are best interpreted by comparing them first and foremost with other uses in the Gospel of John, in other Johannine literature, and then in other New and Old Testament literature. "In the beginning" occurs other times in the New Testament, and over 30 times in the Old Testament, none of which refer to the Genesis creation. When this comparison is made it can be seen that “In the beginning…” of John 1:1, while most likely being an allusion to Genesis 1:1, is not a direct reference to the Genesis creation account. In other words, John’s prologue does not begin with a commentary on the Genesis creation.

 2.       On the other hand, efforts to interpret words in John’s Prologue by imposing definitions from extra-biblical literature may be setting up a house of cards. Extra-biblical understandings of “logos/word” may be quite inappropriate for John’s use of "logos/word." Likewise, the Gospel of John does not compare “wisdom/sofia” to “word/logos”, so it would be presumptive to think that the Gospel of John is using logos as a synonym for sofia. 

3.       The structure of John’s prologue breaks down into three paragraphs:

1.          1:1-5

2.          1:6-13

3.          1:14-18

Past tense verbs dominate in the prologue, as the author describes events that happened in real time and place. The author is writing from the perspective of an eye witness who is familiar with the life of Jesus from the time of the testimony of John the Baptist to the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus to the Father (1:18, 20:1, 17). While past tense verbs dominate the author's testimony, in each of the three paragraphs of the Prologue, a present tense verb brings the scene into the present: 

1:5 – “the light shines in the darkness”

1:12 – “all…who believe in his name”

1:18 – “the unique son, who is in the bosom of the Father” 

These three present tense verbs which bring the narrative of each paragraph into the present are evidence that the prologue is concerned with the ministry of Jesus and how that ministry affects the reader, and not with the Genesis creation.

4.       John the Baptist plays a significant role in the prologue, especially from verse 6 (also v. 15, 19ff, and even v. 2 “this one” contrast with “this one” of v. 7). The concern of the author to define or clarify the relationship of the Baptist to Jesus is evidence that the word, light, and life mentioned in the prologue are metaphors used to describe the human person Jesus, and that the Prologue is not a commentary on Genesis 1. 

5.       A comparison of the grammar and syntax (word order) between the Prologue and Genesis 1 shows that John is not commenting on Genesis 1. 

    The words for “create” and “make” which occur in the Genesis creation (Hebrew and/or Greek equivalents) do not occur anywhere in John’s Prologue.

    Neither is the word “logos/word” found in the Genesis creation account. In fact, the singular "logos/word" does not occur anywhere in the Greek version of Genesis. Exegesis is a semantically loaded exercise. Since the word "logos" does not occur in the Genesis creation account, it is very unlikely that the author of the Gospel of John intended his readers to understand his opening statement as a commentary on Genesis creation.

    The Hebrew word "davar" is the equivalent for the Greek "logos". Neither does the Hebrew word "davar" occur in the Hebrew Genesis creation account.

    In addition to the non-existence in the Prologue of the Greek words for "create" and "make/made", much language that is in Genesis is missing from the Prologue, e.g., “heavens, earth, sun, moon, stars, plants, trees, animals” etc.

 “In the beginning” of John alludes to Genesis, but a comparison of the next words of Genesis are very different.

“In the beginning _ created _ God” (Genesis).
“In the beginning _ was _ the Word” (John).

The beginning of Genesis is very different from the beginning of John. Genesis prominently places the verb “created”. John’s Prologue has no “created” at all. A person familiar with the Genesis text should recognize that the grammar and syntax of Genesis 1 and John 1 are very different. Read through the first 18 verses of Genesis and judge if these verses are what the first 18 verses of John’s Gospel are describing. It is unwise to take the few words that allude to Genesis and declare that the Prologue is a commentary on the Genesis creation.

6.       All the language of the Prologue that alludes to Genesis is re-iterated later in the Gospel of John itself, and applied to the ministry of Jesus. Words like “beginning, darkness, light, life” are explicitly connected to the ministry of Jesus in the Gospel. The application of the same language of the Prologue to Jesus in the body of the Gospel of John is evidence that the Prologue is describing the human person Jesus.

7.       Allusions in the Prologue are not limited to the Genesis creation account. The Prologue also has allusions to the Abraham-Isaac narrative (Gen. 22, cf. John 1:14, 18) and to Moses and the Israelite exodus (1:5, 6, 11, 14, 17). This is evidence that the author is alluding to a wider array of Old Testament parallels, and once again, that the Prologue is not a commentary on the Genesis creation. 

8.       If “In the beginning” of John 1 is not a direct reference to the Genesis creation, “deity of Christ” and Trinitarian theological interpretation of the first chapter of John is wrong.