The Eternal Word

INTRODUCTION

As we enter the Christmas season, we’re beginning a new series in the Gospel of John called “The Word Revealed.” 

Throughout this month, we’ll look at four key truths about Jesus:

Today, we’ll see that Jesus is the Eternal Word (vv. 1–5).

Next week, we’ll see that Jesus is the One Witnessed throughout the World (vv. 6–13).

In the third week, we’ll see that Jesus is the Word Made Flesh (v. 14).

And in the final week, we’ll see that Jesus is Full of Grace (vv. 15–18).

My prayer as we celebrate Christmas is that we would make the Word—our Lord Jesus Christ—known to the world, to our neighbors, our friends, and especially to our families.

Listen to John 1:1-5 as I read it:

John 1:1–5 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”

John opens his Gospel by referring to Jesus as the “Word”

This is the Greek term logos, translated “Word” three times in verse 1.​

It appears about 1,239 times in the Septuagint and 330 times in the New Testament.​

In general, the term means “a word, message, or saying” (Vine), but in this context John applies it to a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ.​

When he later wrote to believers in Asia Minor, he again used this term for Jesus, saying in 1 John 5:7, “For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.”​

When describing the Rider on the white horse in Revelation 19:13, he identifies Him as the Word of God, saying, “He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.”​

John alone gives Jesus this specific designation “the Word”.

No other New Testament writer uses this title for Him in the same way.​

Wayne Grudem explains that, when this term is used of Jesus, it gathers up the Old Testament idea of God’s powerful, creative word together with the Greek philosophical concept of the rational, organizing, and unifying principle of the universe.​

Put differently, by calling Jesus “the Word,” God is revealing Himself to humanity in the Person of the Lord Jesus and declaring, “If you desire to know the Word by which all things came into being, here He is in a human body—the Lord Jesus Christ.”​

To the Greeks, John is effectively saying, “If you want to know the true ‘organizing and unifying principle of the universe,’ look to the Lord Jesus Christ.”​

The writer of Hebrews reflects this same idea in Hebrews 1:1–2, stating that the God who formerly spoke in many ways through the prophets has now spoken in these last days by His Son, through whom He also made the worlds.​

Thus, Jesus is both the “word of the Lord” so prominent in the Old Testament and the “organizing and unifying principle of the universe” to which Greek thought pointed (MacArthur).​

In these first five verses John begins his Gospel by setting before us three great truths about the divine Word, the Lord Jesus Christ.​

The first of these truths concerns His preexistence.​

Notice in verse 1 how John stresses the preexistence of the Word.​’

He does that by showing us that Jesus is…

The Eternal Word (vv.1–2)

John opens, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.… He was in the beginning with God.”

Jesus existed before time and creation (v.1a)

The phrase “in the beginning” deliberately echoes Genesis 1:1 but reaches back before creation itself, showing that when the universe began, the Word already existed—He did not begin at the beginning.

J. C. Ryle captures this when he says that Christ “had no beginning, that He was before all things, and that there never was a moment when He was not,” underlining His eternal preexistence.​

The Greek term for “beginning” is arche and can mean “source” or “ruler,” fitting for Christ who is both the origin and sovereign of the universe, yet here it points especially to the period before anything was made.

John uses the imperfect verb “was” to stress continuous existence in the past: at the point when everything else came into being, the Word already “was.”

Jesus Himself prays, “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5), affirming that He shared the Father’s glory in eternity past.​

Jesus was with God (v.1b)

John also tells us that “the Word was with God,” a phrase that pictures the Son in a face‑to‑face relationship with the Father in eternal, personal fellowship.

From all eternity, as the second Person of the Trinity, He was “with the Father,” enjoying deep communion and love, as Jesus speaks of being loved “before the foundation of the world” in John 17:24.

Jesus is God (vv.1b-2)

John reaches the high point: “and the Word was God,” a statement which, as Herbert Lockyer notes, is so plain that “if these four words do not clearly teach that Christ is truly God, then language has ceased to have meaning.”​

Christ’s deity is confirmed throughout Scripture.

He is called “God with us” (Matthew 1:23), “our God and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1), and “the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).

Thomas bows before Him and confesses, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28), and Hebrews 1:8 records the Father Himself addressing the Son as “God.”

John Calvin observed that since there is only one God, John’s statement that the Word “was God” means Christ shares the very same divine essence with the Father, while remaining distinct in person.​

The Creative and Sustaining Word (v.3)

John continues, “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”

Positively, everything that exists came into being through the agency of the Son; negatively, not even a single created thing came into existence apart from Him.

Charles Swindoll puts it this way: “The Father was the architect but Jesus was the primary agent of creation,” highlighting that the Son is the One through whom the Father brought the universe into being.​

Jesus created everything (v.3a)

Other Scriptures agree. Paul writes, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible… All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16), and adds, “in Him all things consist,” or “hold together.”

Colossians also calls Jesus “the image of the invisible God,” meaning He perfectly reveals and represents the Father, and “the firstborn over all creation,” a term that speaks of rank and preeminence rather than Him being a created being.

As Warren Wiersbe explains, “Firstborn… does not refer to time, but to place or status… Firstborn of all creation means ‘prior to all creation’… Jesus Christ is not a created being. He is eternal God.”​

John’s wording in verse 3 implies a definite creative act, not a slow process: things “came into being” through Him.

Genesis 1 underscores that God created by His word—“Then God said”—and Psalm 33:6 declares, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth,” tying God’s powerful speech to the creative work of the Son, the Word.

Exodus 20:11 says that “in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,” rooting creation in God’s own authoritative act, not in blind process.​

Nothing existed apart from Jesus (v.3b)

John’s negative clause—“without Him nothing was made that was made”—rules out any exceptions.

The sense is, “Apart from Him, not one single thing came into being,” which means creation “is not a partnership work, it is the product of One Being,” as David Thomas observes.

Hebrews 1:3 extends this further: the Son is “upholding all things by the word of His power,” and the word used there suggests not only carrying but sustaining and directing all things toward their appointed goal.

John MacArthur notes that if Christ were to suspend even for a moment His sustaining power, the delicate balance of the universe would collapse; everything—from the distance of the sun to the tilt of the earth and the thickness of the atmosphere—depends on His constant care.​​

He says, “Everything in the universe is sustained right now by Jesus Christ. We base our entire lives on the continuance, the constancy, of laws. When something such as an earthquake comes along and disrupts the normal condition or operation of things even a little, the consequences are often disastrous. Can you imagine what would happen if Jesus Christ relinquished His sustaining power over the laws of the universe? We would go out of existence. If He suspended the law of gravity only for a brief moment, we would all perish, in unimaginable ways.

If the physical laws varied, we would have an unbelievable mess. We could not exist. What we ate could turn to poison. We could not stay on the earth; we would drift out into space. We would get flooded by the oceans periodically. Countless other horrible things would happen, many of which we could not even guess.

Consider, for example, what instant destruction would happen if the earth’s rotation slowed down just a little. The sun has a surface temperature of 12,000 degrees Fahrenheit. If it were any closer to us we would burn up; if it were any farther away we would freeze. Our globe is tilted on an exact angle of 23 degrees, providing us with four seasons. If it were not so tilted, vapors from the oceans would move north and south and develop into monstrous continents of ice. If the moon did not retain its exact distance from the earth the ocean tides would inundate the land completely, twice a day. After the first flooding, of course, the others would not matter as far as we would be concerned. If the ocean floors were merely a few feet deeper than they are, the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance of the earth’s atmosphere would be completely upset, and no animal or plant life could exist. If the atmosphere did not remain at its present density, but thinned out even a little, many of the meteors which now harmlessly burn up when they hit the atmosphere would constantly bombard us. We would have to live underground or in meteor-proof buildings.

Illustration: Think of the electrical panel in a house. Every room, every appliance, every light depends on the steady flow of power from that panel. You rarely think about it—until the power goes out. In a far greater and more mysterious way, every atom in the universe is “plugged into” Christ. If He were to “flip the switch,” everything would vanish. He not only created all things; He keeps them existing moment by moment.​

The Self‑Existent, Life‑Giving Word (vv.4–5)

John then shifts from creation to life: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

Jesus has life in Himself (v.4a)

The New Testament uses bios for physical life and zoe for life as opposed to death, and especially for spiritual or eternal life;

John uses zoe for the life found in Christ. To say that “in Him was life” means that Jesus has life in Himself—He is self‑existent, like the Father who “has life in Himself”—and that He is the source of all true life for others.

He is the “Prince of life” (Acts 3:15), the One who raises the dead and gives life to whom He will (John 5:21).​

Jesus is the source of life (v.4b)

John uses “life” about 36 times in his Gospel, often in connection with eternal life: those who believe in Him “have eternal life” (John 3:16, 36), He gives water that becomes “a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14), and He declares, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).

John 17:3 defines this life as knowing “the only true God, and Jesus Christ,” so eternal life is not merely endless existence but a living relationship with God through His Son.​

Jesus gives life to humanity (vv.4b-5)

John adds, “and the life was the light of men.”

Life and light cannot be separated; the life that is in Christ shines as light into human hearts, revealing God, truth, and holiness.

In Scripture, “light” pictures good works, knowledge, glory, holiness, and truth, and John especially uses it to describe the saving revelation of God in Christ.

G. Campbell Morgan notes that in humanity, “life became light”—unlike the rest of creation, human beings were made with the capacity to know God and stand before Him in understanding, bearing His image in a unique way.​

John then says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not did not overtake it”.

“Darkness” here is the realm of sin, ignorance, and rebellion against God, and it has resisted the light but has never conquered it.

MacArthur comments that “the brilliant, glorious Light of the Lord Jesus Christ will utterly destroy Satan’s realm of darkness,” and that the thrust of the verse is not that darkness failed to understand the light but that it has been unable to overpower it.​​

Illustration: Imagine a completely dark room. Strike a single match, and immediately the darkness retreats. Add a few candles, and the entire space changes. You never see darkness “pushing back” the flame; it always works the other way around. Light is active; darkness is simply its absence. John is saying that in a world full of spiritual darkness, Christ is the Light that entered, and the darkness—however loud or threatening—cannot put Him out.​

CONCLUSION

As John opens his Gospel, he holds before us one great question: Who is this Jesus?

He has shown Him to us as the eternal Word who “was in the beginning,” as the One who was face‑to‑face with God, and as the One who “was God.”

He has set Him before us as the Creator “through” whom all things came into being, the One who even now upholds all things by the word of His power, and as the self‑existent source of “life” and “light” in a world of darkness.​

Jesus Himself presses that question home when He asks, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15).

Peter answers for every true disciple: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v.16), and Jesus says that such a confession is the gift of the Father, not the product of human insight (v.17).

John tells us his purpose in writing: “these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).​

So the conclusion of this passage is not merely that you understand a doctrine, but that you respond to a Person.

Jesus has said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).

To follow Him means to turn from your sin and trust Him as the eternal Word, the true Light, the only Savior.

Thomas Watson wrote, “In Adam we all suffered shipwreck, and repentance is the only plank left us after shipwreck to swim to heaven,” reminding us that without Christ we are lost, but in turning to Him in faith and repentance there is a sure way home.​

If you already know Him, then remember that He now calls you “the light of the world” and sends you out to shine in this dark season, that others “may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14–16).

And if you do not yet know Him, hear John’s invitation today: believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing, receive life in His name.

Let’s pray.