The Prologue of the Gospel of John has often been misunderstood in Church History and among certain Christian thinkers such as the early Arians. Yet the passage clearly dispels any notions that Christ was not fully God. This debate regarding the nature of Christ has raged from earliest Christian periods.
Some thinkers sought to divorce the divine nature from the physical. Neo-Platonic thinkers attempted to demonstrate that if Christ was indeed God, his physical nature had to be deemphasized, affecting views of the resurrection. John’s Gospel, however, illustrates the fullness of the nature of Christ Jesus.
In the Beginning Was the Word…
This is how John’s Gospel begins. “In the beginning…” represents an element of time specific to mankind and creation in general. Charles Williams translates this passage as, “”In the beginning the Word existed.” The original Greek uses the term Logos as the “Word,” implying the divine nature of Christ. When read within the context of the Prologue, the Logos was “with God, and the Word was God.”
Seen in context, the passage supports Christian views of a triune God as well as dispelling any notions of dualism regarding Christ.
Verse two states that,“He was in the beginning with God.” To those who maintain that Christ, much like the archangels,was a created being at some early point prior to creation,
John states in verse three that “all things came into being through him.” This passage refers to Genesis and perhaps even before the act of human creation. Before there was a cosmos, there was the Word, and the Word was God. Throughout the various Gospels, God affirms this relationship such as at the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.
Verse four is perhaps one of the most crucial passages of the entire New Testament. John writes that “in him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Not only does life refer to creation, but it refers to regeneration. The “life” that emanated from Christ gave light to men.
Light and Darkness in John’s Prologue
The theme of light pervades both the Old and New Testaments. Jesus told his disciples, “I am the light of the world.”
In the parable of the virgins, those virgins who had used up their oil and had no more light could not see the approaching bridegroom. In contrast, darkness obscured truth and reality, much as it did in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Verse five declares that “the light shines in the darkness…” Unlike Plato’s allegory, in which the slaves emerged from darkness to light, John declares that the light has gone into the darkness. In essence, Jesus, the “light,” had come into a world of darkness.
John ends the passage with the words, “and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Williams translates the passage as, “…the darkness has never overpowered it.” William Beck’s “Good News” translation – in everyday language, states that “the darkness has not put it out.”
All in all, the various translations highlight the nature of the divine light. If indeed the world was characterized as darkness, devoid of an understanding and relationship with God, then nothing therein could diminish or “overpower” the light. In fact, as early Church History demonstrates, that “light” slowly penetrated the Ancient Roman world to emerge as a church triumphant.
John’s Prologue establishes who the divine logos was and his lordship over all creation. The “eternal Word became human” (Williams). This assertion has been a part of every Christian creed and belief.
Sources:
- The New Testament in the Language of the People, Charles B. Williams (Moody Press, 1963).
- The New Testament in the Language of Today, William F. Beck (Concordia Publishing House, 1964).
- New American Standard Bible, (Moody Press, 1973).
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