Light and darkness: אוֹר and חֹשֶׁךְ

Says In Gen 1:2, darkness, וְחֹשֶׁךְ (vekhoshekh), lies over the deep before God speaks. The first spoken word brings אוֹר (or, "light"). In 1:4 God "separates," וַיַּבְדֵּל (vayyavdel), בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ ("between the light and the darkness"), and in 1:5 he names both. Light is the first creature, and it exists by God's word. Darkness is bounded and named, not a rival power.

Says The LXX uses σκότος (skotos) for חֹשֶׁךְ (Gen 1:2, 4–5). John 1:5 uses a different word for darkness, σκοτίᾳ (skotia), alongside φῶς (τὸ φῶς). The light vocabulary is shared, but the darkness vocabulary is not.

Implies Coming right after "in the beginning" (1:1) and "all things came into being through him" (1:3), the light shining in darkness (1:5) recalls the first creative act. The Word who created is also the source of light.

Uncertain It is uncertain how far John intends a full "new creation" scheme here. In John the darkness is chiefly moral and spiritual (cf. 1:10–11; 3:19), which is not true of the darkness in Gen 1. The team's view is that Gen 1:3–5 supplies the imagery and order (darkness, then the word, then light), and that John's own context determines what the darkness means. That question belongs to the Exegete.