PART II

THE PRE-EXISTENT STATE OF CHRIST AND HIS INCARNATION

Sect. 2. IN HIS INTRODUCTION JOHN PICTURES CHRIST AS THE WORD (LOGOS)

John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word,[a] and the Word was with God, and 2 the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All 3 things were made [1]by him; and without him [2]was not anything 4 made that hath been made. In him was life; and the life was the 5 light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the 6 darkness [3]apprehended it not. There came a man, sent from God, 7 whose name was John. The same came for witness, that he might bear 8 witness of the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but _came_ that he might bear witness of the light. 9 [4]There was the true light, _even the light_ which lighteth 10 [5]every man, coming into the world. He was in the world, and the 11 world was made [1]by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto 12 [6]his own, and they that were his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children 13 of God, _even_ to them that believe on his name: which were [7]born, not of [8]blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the 14 will of man, but of God. And the Word[a] became flesh, and [9]dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of [10]the only 15 begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth. John beareth witness of him, and crieth, saying, [11]This was he of whom I said, He that cometh after me is become before me: for he was [12]before 16 me. For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace. For 17 the law was given [1]by Moses; grace and truth came [1]by Jesus 18 Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; [13]the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared _him_.

[Footnote 1: Or, _through_.]

[Footnote 2: Or, _was not anything made. That which hath been made was life in him; and the life &c._]

[Footnote 3: Or, _overcame_.]

[Footnote 4: Or, _The true light, which lighteth every man, was coming_.]

[Footnote 5: Or, _every man as he cometh_.]

[Footnote 6: Gr. _his own things_.]

[Footnote 7: Or, _begotten_.]

[Footnote 8: Gr. _bloods_.]

[Footnote 9: Gr. _tabernacled_.]

[Footnote 10: Or, _an only begotten from a father_.]

[Footnote 11: Some ancient authorities read _this was he that said_.]

[Footnote 12: Gr. _first in regard of me_.]

[Footnote 13: Many very ancient authorities read _God only begotten_.]

[Footnote a: The Fourth Gospel makes no further use of the term Logos (Word) for Christ. No other Gospel employs the term, but in 1 John 1:1 we find "the Word of life" in this sense and in Rev. 19:14 we have: "and his name is called the Word of God." The Greek word has a double sense (reason and speech) and John seems to have both ideas in mind (1:18). Christ is the Idea of God and the Expression of God. The Stoics followed Plato in the philosophical use of Logos. Philo took it up and made it familiar to Jewish readers who were already used to the Hebrew _Memra_ (Word) in a personal sense. But John carried the term further than any of his predecessors and placed it on a par with Messiah, Son of God, Son of Man, and other phrases that portray aspects of the Person of Christ. John writes his Gospel to prove the deity of Jesus (John 20:31) against Gnostics (Cerinthian) who denied it, as he wrote his First Epistle (1 John 1:1-4) to prove the humanity of Jesus against Docetic Gnostics who disclaimed it. See note 3 at end of Harmony.]