In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God

 

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.  

 

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.   This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came into His own, and His own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  

 

And 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 bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"  And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  No one has seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. 

 

- John 1:1–18 

 

On December 20, 2025, we read Christ's parable of Judgment, the last reading given to us before the lectionary readings for the Christmas season began.  Jesus taught, "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.  And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:  for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me a drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'  Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'  And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'  Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:  for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'  Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?'  Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'  And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."  

 

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  This beginning of the Gospel of John, also understood as its Prologue, begins with a parallel to the creation story of Genesis.  In the beginning, however, is meant to convey here the reality of the Creator.   My study Bible comments that Genesis spoke of the first creation, but in today's reading the new creation in Christ is revealed.  Was the Word (in Greek, Λογος/Logos):  The Word is the eternal Son of God, also understood to be the Second Person of the Trinity.  My study Bible tells us that "Was" indicates existence without reference to a starting point.  It's an emphasis on the Word's eternal existence without beginning.  Logos, moreover, can mean "wisdom," "reason," and "action as well as "word," which are all attributes of the Son of God.  The Word was With God:  "With" expresses that the Word, the Son of God, is a distinct Person.  He is also in eternal communion with the Father.  The Word was God:  The Word, the Son of God, is, in the words of my study Bible, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father.  He is Himself God with the same divinity as the Father.  

 

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.  Here my study Bible comments that the Word is the co-Creator with the Father and the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1; Psalm 33:6, 9; Hebrews 1:2) and not simply an instrument or servant used by God the Father.  Will, operation, and power are one, it notes, in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  So, the heavens and the earth are the works of the One who made them, while the Son was not made (He is not a creature) but is eternally begotten of the Father.  

 

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  Only God has life in Himself, notes my study Bible. So, therefore, the Word, being God, is the source of life, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  The life was the light of men:  Here John is introducing humankind as receiver of the divine light.  As we participate in the life of the Son, my study Bible comments, so believers themselves become children of the light (John 12:36; Ephesians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:5).  Some examples given by my study Bible:  Moses saw the divine light in the burning bush; the whole nation saw it at the Red Sea; Isaiah saw it in his heavenly vision; and three apostles saw it at the Transfiguration (Exodus 3:2; Exodus 13:21; Isaiah 6:1-5; Matthew 17:1-5).   

 

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. My study Bible comments that darkness indicates both spiritual ignorance and satanic opposition to the light.  It notes that those who hate truth prefer ignorance for themselves and strive to keep others ignorant as well (John 3:19).  The word which is translated as comprehend means both to "understand" and to "overcome."  So, therefore, darkness can never overpower the light of Christ, and neither can it understand the way of love. 

 

 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.   This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.  That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.   He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.  He came into His own, and His own did not receive Him.   Here the Gospel refers to John the Baptist (not the author of the Gospel).  As indicated by the previous verses, the true Light is Christ.  Christ offers light to every person, my study Bible says, but the world and even many of His own refuse to receive Him; so they can neither know nor recognize Him.  Those who accept Him have His light, my study Bible comments.  In the Liturgy of the Orthodox Church, after hearing the Gospel and receiving communion, a hymn declares, "We have seen the true light, we have received the heavenly Spirit."  

 

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.  My study Bible comments that right also means "authority," and that this indicates a gift from God, not an inalienable right.  Those who receive Christ become children of God by adoption (Galatians 4:4-7), it notes, and by grace inherit everything Christ is by nature.  To believe in His name means to believe and trust in Him who in His humanity took the name Jesus as Word, Son, Messiah, and Savior.  To be adopted as a child of God, my study Bible explains, is not a matter of ethnic descent (of blood); nor are we children of God by natural birth (the will of the flesh), nor by our own decision (the will of man).  To become a child of God occurs through a spiritual birth by grace, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit.  This is accomplished and manifested in the sacrament of Holy Baptism (John 3:5-8; see Titus 3:4-7). 

 

 And 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.  My study Bible comments that the Word became flesh is a clarification of the way in which the Son and Word of God came to God's people (verses 9-11), and it points specifically to Christ's Incarnation.  The Word became fully human without ceasing to be fully God.  Christ assumed complete human nature, my study Bible says:  body, soul, will, emotion, and even mortality -- everything that pertains to humanity except sin.  As God and Man in one Person, Christ pours divinity into all of human nature, for anything not assumed by Christ would not have been healed.  Dwelt among us:  In the Old Testament, God's presence dwelt ("tabernacled" or "tented" literally in the Greek) in the ark of the covenant and later in the temple.  Here, the eternal Word comes to dwell in and among humanity itself.  His glory refers both to Christ's divine power shown by the signs and wonders of His ministry (John 2:11; 11:4, 40), and to Christ's humble service to human beings, shown most perfectly on the Cross (John 12:23-32; 13:31).  In each way, Christ reveals that He is the One sent from the Father.  Only begotten of the Father:  My study Bible explains that the Son has no beginning, but has the Father as His source from eternity.  Christ is called "only" begotten because there is none other born fro the Father.  (The Holy Spirit exists eternally from the Father through another mystery which is called "procession"; see John 15:26).  Full of grace and truth:  My study Bible indicates that this phrase qualifies both "the Word" and "His glory."  Grace, it says, is Christ's uncreated energy given to us through His love and mercy.  Truth includes Christ's faithfulness to His promises and covenants and to the reality of His words and gifts.  

 

 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"  And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.  For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  In saying that we have all received of His fullness, my study Bible explains, the Scriptures confirm that God's grace can fill human nature to the extent of actually deifying it.  In Christ, God's children become gods by grace (see John 10:34-35) without ceasing to be human.  There is an ancient patristic commentary, describing an image of this process as akin to shaping metal in fire.  Metal thrust into fire takes on the properties of fire (such as heat and light), but it does not cease to be metal.  In the same way, human nature permeated by God takes on properties of the divine nature.  Grace for grace is a Semitic expression which signifies an overabundance of grace.  

 

No one has seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.  My study Bible says that no one has seen God at any time means no one can see the nature, or essence, of God, for to see God is to die (Exodus 33:20).  Only One who is Himself divine can see God, and so therefore, the Son is the only One who can declare God to us.  This revelation of God's energies can be received by the faithful.  Moses saw the "back" of God (Exodus 33:21-23); Isaiah saw God's glory (see Isaiah 6:1; John 12:41).  

 

Today's reading, and the notes from my study Bible, make it clear to us that our faith often depends upon a particular way of seeing Scripture.  I write "seeing" Scripture in the sense that words act like icons, particularly in Scripture.  The importance of each word emphasizes what we are told about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Second Person of the Holy Trinity.  We are told, for example, that Jesus is the Word, the Logos (Λογος in Greek).   But this word (meaning Word), Logos, has several meanings in Greek.  The thing that may be hard for us to take in (for we in the West are used to thinking in ways that ask for precise or limited meaning), is that Logos can mean all of these things at once, and that they are all true of Christ (as my study Bible noted).  This is true of several words simply in today's Prologue to John's Gospel, such as the word translated as "comprehend" (in the darkness did not comprehend it).  The word in the Greek text can mean both to understand and to take in, or overcome.  Both are true, and fortunately in this case, the English word "comprehend" substitutes nicely, as it also can indicate both.  What we may need to get used to, if we are to think in terms of symbol or icon as applied to words in Scripture, is that all meanings may be true at once, and without contradiction.  Simply taking the first verse, or first sentence, of John's Gospel, teaches us about reading words as symbols or icons, full of meanings.   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God asks us to consider many things, including what "the beginning" can mean when it applies to God and precedes time, which was itself created by God.  We also need to consider what it means that "in the beginning" the Word was with God, as my study Bible also explained in its notes mentioned above.  Before time, before all ages,  before creation, the Son was with God, equally divine, of the same essence.  And, finally, the Word was God.  Father, Son, and Spirit are God the Holy Trinity, three Divine Persons, indivisible -- for where One is, there are the Others also.  These things imply a depth hard to understand, and beyond our own capacity to know in the depth that God knows who God is.  But the words -- used as icons in Scripture -- imply this depth for us, give us a sense of who God is, and of course, who Christ is (which is the purpose of this Prologue to the Gospel).  Words as symbol or icon convey much more in the mind of the Church, and the understanding of Scripture, than the word "symbol" as commonly used means to us today.  In the Greek historic understanding of "symbol" is contained much more than simply a label or image without substance in an d of itself.  Like the icons of saints we might encounter in an Orthodox Church, or a symbol such as a flag or an official badge indicating rank or office (like a police officer's badge), these symbols or icons open a door to more meaning, to a substance we perceive and may behold, and within which we act in accordance to that meaning and relationship to the object we behold.  For example, a flag of a country might mean certain things in one context, but to observe someone burning that flag might mean we experience a visceral sense of destructive intent to our country.  The flag, as symbol, is much more than simply a label.  The Word is so much more than simply a name for Christ, but an indicator of the One who co-created with God the Father, speaking all things into existence (as in the commands of God which created all the cosmos which we find in Genesis 1, such as "Let there be light" in Genesis 1:3).  The Word itself conveys the idea that it is Christ who gives all things meaning, that He is the substance behind all things, and come into the world to assume human life in order to heal all things, to set right, and to open the door to us to dwell in His Kingdom in righteousness, even as Christ is also the Judge.  All of these things combine in this divine Name, the Word, the Logos, to teach us who Christ is whom we revere and worship, who shows us the way, and who loves us and teaches us what love is and how to live it.  Christ the Word is also more than our Creator, but also our Savior, giving us meaning and life, and ultimate purpose for our own lives.  This Prologue to John's Gospel gives us a perspective that orients us to the deeply spiritual understanding that pervades this particular Gospel (and other writings ascribed to St. John), and what is called a Johannine perspective, essential to Orthodox theology.  As we read through the Gospel according to St. John, we will have more occasion to view the story of Jesus Christ through this particular lens.