VINCENT'S WORD STUDIES - JOHN 1
This shows Jesus was in the beginning before any creation.
CHAPTER I 1. In the beginning was (en arch hn). With evident allusion to the first word of Genesis. But John elevates the phrase from its reference to a point of time, the beginning of creation, to the time of absolute pre-existence before any creation, which is not mentioned until ver. 3. This beginning had no beginning (compare ver. 3; x
vii. 5; 1 Ep. i. 1; Ephesians i. 4; Prov. viii. 23; Ps. xc. 2). This heightening of the conception, however, appears not so much in ajrch, beginning, which simply leaves room for it, as in the use of hn, was, denoting absolute existence (compare eijmi, I am, John viii. 58) instead of ejgeneto, came into being, or began to be, which is used in vv. 3, 14, of the coming into being of creation and of the Word becoming flesh. Note also the contrast between ajrch, in the beginning, and the expression ajp' ajrchv, from the beginning, which is common in John's writings (viii. 44; 1 Ep. ii. 7, 24; iii. 8) and which leaves no room for the idea of eternal pre-existence. "In Gen. i. 1, the sacred historian starts from the beginning and comes downward, thus keeping us in the course of time. Here he starts from the same point, but goes upward, thus taking us into the eternity preceding time" (Milligan and Moulton). See on Col. i. 15. This notion of "beginning" is still further heightened by the subsequent statement of the relation of the Logos to the eternal God. The ajrch must refer to the creation - the primal beginning
of things; but if, in this beginning, the Logos already was, then he belonged to the order of eternity. "The Logos was not merely existent, however, in the beginning, but was also the efficient principle, the beginning of the beginning. The ajrch (beginning), in itself and in its operation dark, chaotic, was, in its idea and its principle, comprised in one single luminous word, which was the Logos. And when it is said the Logos was in this beginning, His eternal existence is already expressed, and His eternal position in the Godhead already indicated thereby" (Lange). "Eight times in the narrative of creation (in Genesis) there occur, like the refrain of a hymn, the words, And God said. John gathers up all those sayings of God into a single saying, living and endowed with activity and intelligence, from which all divine orders emanate: he finds as the basis of all spoken words, the speaking Word" (Godet). The Word (o logov): Logos. This expression is the keynote and theme of the entire gospel. Logov is from the root leg, appearing in legw, the primitive meaning of which is to lay: then, to pick out, gather, pick up: hence to gather or put words together, and so, to speak. Hence logov is, first of all, a collecting or collection both of things in the mind, and of words by which they are expressed. It therefore signifies both the outward form by which the inward thought is expressed, and the inward thought itself, the Latin oratio and ratio: compare the Italian ragionare, "to think" and "to speak." As signifying the outward form it is never used in the merely grammatical sense, as simply the name of a thing or act (epov, onoma, rJhma), but means a word as the thing referred to: the material, not the formal part: a word as embodying a conception or idea. See, for instance, Matthew xxii. 46; 1 Cor. xiv. 9, 19. Hence it signifies a saying, of God, or of man (Matt. xix. 21, 22; Mark v. 35, 36): a decree, a precept (Romans ix. 28; Mark vii. 13). The ten commandments are called in the Septuagint, oiJ deka logoi, "the ten words" (Exod. xxxiv. 28), and hence the familiar term decalogue. It is further used of discourse: either of the act of speaking (Acts xiv. 12), of skill and practice in speaking (Acts xviii. 15; 2 Timothy iv. 15), specifically the doctrine of salvation through Christ (Matthew xiii. 20-23; Philip. i. 14); of narrative, both the relation and the thing related (Acts i. 1; John xxi. 23; Mark i. 45); of matter under discussion, an affair, a
case in law (Acts xv. 6; xix. 38). As signifying the inward thought, it denotes the faculty of thinking and reasoning (Heb. iv. 12); regard or consideration (Acts xx. 24); reckoning, account (Philip. iv. 15, 17; Heb. iv. 13); cause or reason (Acts x. 29). John uses the word in a peculiar sense, here
