Who Is the Word?

Who is the Word? John 1:1-18 Since the early centuries after Christ, Christian doctrine in many instances has taught that Jesus was co-existent with God—Jesus either in spirit or in some other form was with God from the beginning. The doctrines which hold or have held this idea that God is Jesus and Jesus is God substantiate their beliefs by isolating bits of Biblical texts. Genesis 1:26 is their initial point of departure where God says, “Let us make man in our image. . . .” “Us” and “our” are interpreted to mean God and Jesus Christ. This Scripture is no proof of Jesus’ existence in the beginning. The first person plural pronouns, “us” and “our,” are used to indicate the magnitude of the incident to which God related Himself. A monarch often uses the plural pronoun when speaking of himself in his official position. For example, to this very day Elizabeth II uses the expression “we” when speaking of herself. Elizabeth is not a “we” but yet she speaks of herself in her official position in the plural. In this same grammatical sense God employs the plural pronouns. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . .” The Bible teaches that there is only one true God, that God was in Christ,* that God is Spirit,† and that God is eternal whereas Jesus was born. Matthew 1:18 says, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. . . .” The word for “birth” is gennēsis , genō meaning “beginning” and nēsos meaning “island, or something separate from the main body.”** The first chapter of the Gospel of John has been misread and interpreted as follows: “In the beginning was Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ was with God, and Jesus Christ was God.” This is not what the verse says. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The question of John 1:1 is: Who is “the Word” or what is “the Word.” Genesis 1:1 plainly states, “In the beginning God. . . .” God alone was from the beginning, therefore, it is God who is “the Word” of Joh