The Word with God and the Word who is God (John 1:1–2)

Says Ἐν ἀρχῇ (en archē, "in the beginning") repeats the opening words of Gen 1:1 in the LXX, where the Hebrew has בְּרֵאשִׁית (bere'shit, "in the beginning"; note.language.John.1.1.bereshit-en-arche; xref.John.1.1.Gen.1.1.heb). Three clauses follow, each with ἦν (ēn, "was"): the Word existed in the beginning; the Word "was with God" (πρὸς τὸν θεόν, pros ton theon); and "the Word was God" (θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος, theos ēn ho logos). Verse 2 gathers the first two: οὗτος (houtos, "this one, he") was in the beginning with God.

Says After ἦν, πρός with a person means "with, in the company of" (note.language.John.1.1.pros-ton-theon). Implies The articular τὸν θεόν refers to the one the prologue later calls "the Father": the Word is "with" him and so distinct from him, and the prologue's close names the one with whom the Word is as the Father (παρὰ πατρός, 1:14; εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ πατρός, 1:18). Says In 1:1c ὁ λόγος is the subject and the anarthrous θεός is the predicate, placed first for emphasis. The rendering "a god" is excluded by John's monotheism and by his use of anarthrous θεός for the one God in this same prologue (note.language.John.1.1.theos-anarthrous).

Implies The Word did not come to be at the beginning; he already "was." Everything else "came to be" through him (1:3), so he stands on the Creator's side of the line between God and creation. The argument rests on the contrast between ἦν and ἐγένετο in context, not on the imperfect tense alone (note.language.John.1.1.en-vs-egeneto).

Implies Read together, 1:1b and 1:1c say that the Word is personally distinct from God the Father and yet is himself God. He has the full divine nature without being the whole of the Godhead. The prologue does not use the later vocabulary of Trinity and person, but it states the facts that the church's Trinitarian confession summarizes.

Implies An Old Testament reader would hear "word" first as God's creative and revealing speech: "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made" (Ps 33:6, BSB; LXX 32:6 τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ κυρίου; note.language.John.1.3.davar-yhwh-creative). Personified Wisdom "beside" God at creation (Prov 8:22–31) supplies a further pattern (note.language.John.1.1.prov-8-22-qanani; note.language.John.1.3.prov-8-30-amon). John goes beyond both. In Ps 33 the word is God's own speech, and in Prov 8 Wisdom is a poetic personification; John's Word is a person who is with God and is God. The Targumic מֵימְרָא (memra', "word") is a later, illustrative parallel, not a source (note.language.John.1.1.memra; note.historical.John.1.1-John.1.18.targum-memra). Greek and Philonic uses of λόγος (logos, "word") help explain why the term would catch a Greek reader's ear, but they supply neither the content nor, demonstrably, the source (note.language.John.1.1.logos; note.historical.John.1.1-John.1.18.greek-logos; note.historical.John.1.1-John.1.18.wisdom-philo).

Uncertain Whether the predicate θεός in 1:1c is purely qualitative (the Word has the full nature of God) or qualitative with a definite nuance. The team prefers the qualitative sense; neither option permits "a god" (note.language.John.1.1.theos-anarthrous).

Uncertain How far Prov 8:22 (קָנָנִי, qanani; LXX ἔκτισέν με, "created me") may be brought into John 1:1. The Hebrew verb is lexically open, and the LXX wording was pressed in the fourth-century Arian controversy. Many church fathers, Nicene defenders among them, read Prov 8:22–25 of the Son, and some Protestant interpreters have followed them (note.language.John.1.1.prov-8-22-qanani). This commentary reads Prov 8 as imagery of Wisdom present with God, not as a statement about the origin of a divine person, and does not use Prov 8:22–25 as support for the doctrine of eternal generation. John 1:1–3 never places the Word among things made.