John 1:1 and the Deity of Christ
by Jeremy W. Barrier
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). While this verse at the beginning of the Gospel of John may be brief, it is clearly one of the most distinctive verses in all of the New Testament. This verse demonstrates an uncomplicated, direct claim by John that Jesus of Nazareth was clearly the very Divine Being who created the heavens and the earth!
In seeing Jesus as one with the Father, John is making an important point about Jesus (John 17:21–26). In fact, if one reads through the entirety of the book of John, the importance of believing that Jesus is one with the Father becomes an essential part of a process, a process that leads to salvation. The reasoning is as follows. First, John points out that the Word was with God and that the Word was God. The next detail is that the Word “became flesh” and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). In other words, The Word became a human, and we, as humans, were able to behold the Divine! This is then followed by the acknowledgment that this Word which had become flesh had a name, Jesus, and he bore a specific title already addressed above, “Christ” (1:17). It is not simply knowing and understanding that Jesus is the Christ, the Word, and is one with the glorified Father, but John encourages us to place our trust in Jesus. In other words, to “believe” Him. This is not just a remote, abstract idea. This fact has real consequences for the reader.
John is making it clear that the Father’s sending of Jesus is an overt and transparent statement of God’s overwhelming love and compassion for a suffering and hurting humanity that is in desperate need of salvation (John 3:16). John’s point is that Jesus, as a representative of the Divine Father and Creator is here to offer a way for humanity to be redeemed. The critical step, of course, is making the decision to believe on him (John 3:16–17). In fact, this is made abundantly clear when Jesus states, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” and that no one may come to the Father but by Jesus (John 14:6). Furthermore, John reasserts the importance of this claim in the final section of the book, when John notes that “many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:30–31).
In conclusion, as we read John 1:1, my hope is that we will see a tremendous and beautiful idea being unfolded before us in our mind’s eye. It is an idea that demonstrates the significance and stature of Jesus, an idea that shows us the overwhelming level of love and compassion of our Creator for us as his creation, and an idea that will make it clear that God desires for humanity to be saved, if we will place our trust in Him. Ultimately, an idea that makes clear that Jesus is the perfect representation of God that finally allowed us to behold the glory of God and all of the grace and truth of God that follows in His train. An amazing idea and an amazing verse indeed!
The above painting by Simone Cantarini shows John the Evangelist in meditation.
