Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 1:2
The same was in the beginning with God.
2. The same ] More literally, He or This (Word), with emphasis (comp. Joh 7:18). This verse takes up the first two clauses and combines them. Such recapitulations are characteristic of S. John.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The same – The Word, or the Logos.
Was in the beginning with God – This seems to be a repetition of what was said in the first verse; but it is stated over again to guard the doctrine, and to prevent the possibility of a mistake. John had said that he existed before the creation, and that he was with God; but he had not said in the first verse that the union with God existed in the beginning. He now expresses that idea, and assures us that that union was not one which was commenced in time, and which might be, therefore, a mere union of feeling, or a compact, like that between any other beings, but was one which existed in eternity, and which was therefore a union of nature or essence.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 1:2
The same was in the beginning with God.
This repetition teaches
I. HOW LITTLE ABLE WE ARE TO COMPREHEND THIS GREAT MYSTERY, which we can but take in by little and little, and must put that together, as children do letters, syllables, and words, till we attain a more full understanding thereof, for our comfort and salvation.
II. HOW MUCH AND OFTEN IT IS TO BE INCULCATED UPON BELIEVERS to study again and again, as having more in it than will be seen at first view; and when they have found most in it, yet there is infinitely more to be found in that inexhaustible fountain.
III. That believers may read ALL THAT TENDER-HEARTEDNESS, compassion, mercifulness, and sympathy which is in Him, TO BE NOT A MANS ONLY, and in our kinsman, but in Him who is also the eternal God, whose thoughts and purposes are eternal and immutable, like Himself.
IV. That believers may see THE WISDOM AND LOVE OF GOD, who has found a way of reconciliation of lost man BY THE SAME IN NATURE AND ESSENCE, WHO IS THE PARTY OFFENDED. (G. Hutcheson.)
The Word which was in the beginning a testimony
I. To the ETERNAL PERSONALITY, as the ground of all things.
II. To the ETERNAL SPIRIT–Light–as the law of all things.
III. To the ETERNAL LOVE, as the kernel of all things.
IV. To the ETERNAL LIFE, as the life of all things. (Lange.)
The Word in His exaltation over time
He
I. IN THE BEGINNING founded all things.
II. IN THE MIDDLE executed all things; that He may,
III. IN THE END, judge all things. (Lange.)
The eternity of Christ an argument for His oneness with the Father
Does the radiance of the sun proceed from the substance itself of the sun or from some other source? Any one not deprived of his senses must needs confess that it proceeds from the substance itself. Yet, although the radiance proceeds from the sun itself, we cannot say that it is later in point of time than the subsistence of that body, since the sun has never appeared without its rays. It is for this reason that St. Paul calls Him Brightness Heb 1:3), setting forth thereby His being from God and His eternity. (Chrysostom.)
The value of Scripture repetitions
Repetitions have divers uses in Scripture. In prayer they argue affection. In prophecy they note celerity and certainty. In threatenings they note unavoidableness and suddenness. In precepts they note a necessity of performing them. In truths, like that before us, they serve to show the necessity of believing and knowing them. (Arrowsmith.)
With God
These words express the co-existence, but at the same time the distinction of person. They imply relation with, intercourse with. (Comp. the in the bosom of the Father of Joh 1:18, and Let us make man of Gen 1:26 Throned face to face with God, the gaze ever directed towards God, have been given as paraphrases, and the full sense cannot be expressed in fewer words. The with represents motion towards. The Being whose existence is asserted in the was is regarded as distinct, but not alone, as ever going forth in communion with God. (Comp. the use of the same word with in Mat 13:56; Mat 26:15; Mar 6:3; Mar 9:19; 1Co 16:6-7; Gal 1:18; Gal 4:18.) (H. W.Watkins, D. D.)
Christ and the Creation
The old Gnostic Christians held that the world was not created by the Great God, but by Demiurgus, a spirit descending from the AEons, which were themselves derived from the Deity. Johns statement stands in direct antagonism to this. From this we infer
I. THAT CHRIST IS OLDER THAN THE UNIVERSE. The worker must be older than his productions.
II. THAT CHRIST IS GREATER THAN THE UNIVERSE. As the architect is greater than his building, the author than his work, the artist than his productions, Christ is greater than the universe.
1. Greater in extent. But Christs being extends beyond the limits of the universe.
2. Greater in force.
3. Greater in beauty.
III. THAT CHRIST IS OWNER OF THE UNIVERSE. Production gives the highest right to possession. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
These words of the evangelist are a further confirmation and explication of what the evangelist had said before; asserting the eternity of the Son, and his relation to the Father, and oneness of essence with the Father. Whether the evangelist, forewarned by the Spirit of God, did add this repetition to forearm Christians against those errors which did afterward trouble the church, I cannot say; but certain it is, that these words do effectually confute the Eunomians, who distinguished between the Word which in the beginning was with God, and that Word by which all things were made; and the Arians, who make the Father to have existed before the Son; as also the Anomians, who would make the Father and the Son diverse both in nature and will. Some others make this verse a transition to Joh 1:4, and the sense to be, This same was not manifest to the world from the beginning of the world, but was with God until he came to be manifested in the flesh: thus, 1Jo 1:2, it is said, he was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. He was manifested in the flesh, 1Ti 3:16.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. The same, &c.See whatproperty of the Word the stress is laid uponHis eternaldistinctness, in unity, from Godthe Father (Joh1:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The same was in the beginning with God. This is a repetition of what is before said, and is made to show the importance of the truths before delivered; namely, the eternity of Christ, his distinct personality, and proper deity; and that the phrase, in the beginning, is to be joined to each of the above sentences; and so proves, not only his eternal existence, but his eternal existence with the Father, and also his eternal deity; and is also made to carry on the thread of the discourse, concerning the word, and not God the Father; and to express, not only his co-existence in nature, but his co-operation in the works of creation next mentioned.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The same (). “This one,” the Logos of verse 1, repeated for clarity, characteristic of John’s style. He links together into one phrase two of the ideas already stated separately, “in the beginning he was with God,” “afterwards in time he came to be with man” (Marcus Dods). Thus John clearly states of the Logos Pre-existence before Incarnation, Personality, Deity.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The same [] . Literally, this one; the one first named; the Word. Was in the beginning with God. In ver. 1 the elements of this statement have been given separately : the Word, the eternal being of the Word, and his active communion with God. Here they are combined, and with new force. This same Word not only was coeternal with God in respect of being [, ] , but was eternally in active communion with Him (in the beginning with God : pro, v ton Qeon) : “not simply the Word with God, but God with God” [] . Notice that here Qeon has the article, as in the second proposition, where God is spoken of absolutely. In the third proposition, the Word was God, the article was omitted because Qeov described the nature of the Word and did not identify his person. Here, as in the second proposition, the Word is placed in personal relation to God. This verse forms the transition point from the discussion of the personal being of the Word to His manifestation in creation. If it was this same Word, and no other, who was Himself God, and who, from all eternity, was in active communion with God, then the statement follows naturally that all things were created through Him, thus bringing the essential nature of the Word and His manifestation in creation into connection. As the idea of the Word involves knowledge and will, wisdom and force, the creative function is properly His. Hence His close relation to created things, especially to man, prepares the way for His incarnation and redeeming work. The connection between creation and redemption is closer than is commonly apprehended. It is intimated in the words of Isaiah (xlvi. 4), “I have made, and I will bear.” Redemption, in a certain sense, grows out of creation. Because God created man in His own image, He would restore him to that image. Because God made man, He loves him, educates him, bears with him carries on the race on the line of His infinite patience, is burdened with its perverseness and blindness, and expresses and effectuates all this in the incarnation and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. God is under the stress of the parental instinct (humanly speaking) to redeem man.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “The same was in the beginning,” (houtos en arche) “This one was (existed) in the beginning,” or in the origin of time and in eternity. John introduces Jesus as existing before time and history originated (in His Gospel) and concludes His Revelation by describing what shall be when time shall no more exist, Rev 10:6; Rev 21:1-27; Rev 22:1-21.
2) “With God.” (pros ton theon) “With God,” in company or association, as Deity, in the Trinity with God, with the “elohim” or the “theos,” trinitarian God, Gen 1:11; Heb 1:1-3; Joh 17:5. He was with God, as person to person.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
2. He was in the beginning. In order to impress more deeply on our minds what had been already said, the Evangelist condenses the two preceding clauses into a brief summary, that the Speech always was, and that he was with God; so that it may be understood that the beginning was before all time.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) The same was.This is a summary in one clause of the three assertions made in the first verse.
The same, that is, the Word who was God, existed before any act of creation, and in that existence was a person distinct from God. Yet it is more than a re-statement. We have arrived at the thought that the Word was one in nature with God. From this higher point of view, the steps below us are more clearly seen. The Word was God; the eternal pre-existence and personality are included in the thought.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And the Word was with God.’ ‘With God’ in the Greek is ‘pros ton theon’ i.e. ‘towards God’, signifying close relationship. It reflects more than just being ‘with God’. We might translate ‘face to face with God in close relationship’. There was between the Word and God an inter-personal relationship so close that the One blended into the Other.
‘And the Word was God’ (Gk. theos en ho logos). Here the unique nature of the Word is made clear. Note the growth in movement from ‘existing in the beginning’ — to — ‘being face to face with God in close relation’ — to — ‘being of the very nature of God’.
We must translate this as, ‘The Word was essentially of the very nature of God’. Some try to lessen the impact of the verse by saying that there is no definite article before theos and that it therefore simply means ‘divine’, and then they try to water down the meaning of divine to suit their purposes (ignoring the fact that theos must in context be correlated with the previous use of theos). So while it is true that it means divine, it must also be stressed that in context it means fully divine. It means being of the very essence of what God is.
To have put a definite article in would have meant the words meant ‘God and the Word were absolutely synonymous, the Word was the whole of the Godhead’ and this was clearly not what John meant. But ‘theos’ here is an adjectival noun (which the lack of article demonstrates), and theos has already been used in the verse to mean God in His essence (pros ton theon). Here ‘theos’ immediately follows that statement in close connection, a connection as close as it could be (‘theon kai theos’), for it is made the first word in the phrase for the purpose of emphasis. Thus he is saying ‘He was face to face with God and of that very God-nature was the Word’. This can only mean full divinity. There was no other way John could have said this so concisely. We might translate as ‘what God was, the Word was’ (NEB).
Joh 1:2 ‘He was in the beginning with God.’
This repetition of the opening clause is intended to stress what has been said already, thereby giving twofold witness. It is stressing that ‘in the beginning, before anything was created, God and His Logos (Word) were there together, already eternally existent.’ This was something both Jew and Greek could agree on. Where they would have differed was concerning what the Word consisted of. John tells both that it consisted of Jesus as the full expression of God, as the eternal Reason, as the powerful saving word of God through Whom He acts.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 1:2. The same was in the beginning with God. The Socinians, who have laboured hard to subvert the authority of this stubborn portion of scripture, most perversely understand this passage of Christ’s being taken up into heaven after his baptism, in order to be instructed in the will of God; for which they think they have Christ’s own testimony, Joh 3:13. But they mistake the meaning of that passage (see the note). Besides, the evangelist is here describing the existence of the Word before he was made flesh, Joh 1:14 and therefore he cannot be understood as speaking of any thing which happened after his incarnation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 1:2 again emphatically combines the first and second clauses of Joh 1:1 , in order to connect with them the work of creation, which was wrought by the . [75] In this way, however, the subject also of the third clause of Joh 1:1 is included in and expressed by . On this to which, then, standing at the beginning of Joh 1:3 significantly corresponds lies the emphasis in the continuation of the discourse. In Joh 1:2 is given the necessary premiss to Joh 1:3 ; for if it was this same Logos , and no other than He, who Himself was God, who lived in the beginning in fellowship with God, and consequently when creation began, the whole creation, nothing excepted , must have come into existence through Him . Thus it is assumed, as a self-evident middle term, that God created the world not immediately, but, according to Gen 1 , through the medium of the Word.
[75] Who accordingly now worked as .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
The same was in the beginning with God, (3) All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.
These words throw a further light upon the verse before, and considered in conjunction with it, very blessedly explain the whole, as far as a subject of such mystery is capable of being explained to our present unripe faculties. This Word, this Logos, was not only in himself essentially God, but together with the other persons of the Godhead, was in all the council, will, and purpose of Jehovah. So that when Jehovah went forth in acts of creation, in his threefold character of person, he was engaged in the same Almighty agency. To this grand point the Holy Ghost by the Apostle bears testimony, when he saith, God created all things by Jesus Christ. Eph 3:9 .
And in farther confirmation of this unquestionable truth, we learn from the same authority, that, by Him were all things created that art in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible; whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Col 1:15-19 . Here we have ascribed to the Lord Jesus the works of all creation, comprehending from the highest created being to the lowest. And not only created by him, but for him; and not only giving him the precedency of being before all things, but declaring that as he is the Creator, so he is the upholder and preserver of all things; for their consistency, or very being, is in him and by him. And that these things are spoken of the Son of God, not as God only, but as the Word here described, subsisting in the Son of God, as God, in consequence of those ancient decrees between the persons of the Godhead before all worlds, in relation to the Church, is evident from hence, that it is in this very character, as the Head of his Church, he is here considered, and who, hereafter, in the fulness of time, was openly to tabernacle in our nature. See Rev 5:6-10 . explained by Psa 2:7 .
I must not detain the Reader. But I cannot dismiss the subject opened to us by those verses, before that 1 have first desired of him to consider what is said in the passage just quoted, of the Image of the Invisible God. Not surely an image, or resemblance, of what is invisible. For the Reader need not be told that God is invisible. 1Ti 1:17 . and 1Ti 6:16 . But the Holy Ghost hath explained the sense of it in this very chapter, (Joh 1:18 .) No man hath seen God, (that is, hath seen him in his essence and glory as God; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,) at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him; that is, the Son, in this begotten character, set up in the infinite mind of Jehovah as making manifest all the purposes of God concerning the Church, he hath laid open the mind of God, and as such is the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person. Heb 1:1-3 . See my further observations on this subject in the Poor Man’s Commentary, on Col 1:15 . And is it not in this sense (I only ask, not determine the question,) we are to understand that Scripture at the creation, when the first earthly man was to be formed; Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Gen 1:26 . Was not this likeness to be in reference to Christ, as Christ, subsisting in covenant engagements? How, otherwise, can it be said, that in all things he might have the pre-eminence? Col 1:18 . And is it not in the same sense, (I again ask the question, but do not decide,) that scripture hath respect, when it is said, Behold! the man is become as one of us! Gen 3:22 . Who was thus become? Not Adam, surely! For, by transgression, he had lost all knowledge of God, and was spiritually dead in trespasses and sin. And the whole passage that follows with his expulsion from Eden proves it, But I must trespass no further,
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Ver. 2. The same was in the beginning ] In the instant of creation, as Gen 1:1 , therefore also before the creation, therefore from eternity, Eph 1:4 ; 1Pe 1:10 ; Pro 8:22-23 . a “The Lord possessed me” (saith Christ, the essential Wisdom of God there) “in the beginning of his way.” Arius corrupted the Greek text, reading it thus, b “The Lord created me in the beginning,” &c.; and therehence blasphemously inferred that Christ was no more than a creature. But he was “set up from everlasting from the beginning, or ever the earth was,” Pro 8:23 ; Psa 45:6 . c Hence he is called the “Ancient of days,” Dan 7:9 . And Thales, one of the seven Sages of Greece, styleth him, “The most ancient of anything that hath being,” .
With God ] Being alius another from his Father, not aliud; a distinct person, yet co-essential and co-eternal; for he was with him in the beginning of “the creature which God created,” as himself speaketh, Mar 13:19 .
a Hinc Iohannes augustum illud et magnificum Evangelis sui initium assumpsit. Mercer in loc.
b For in place of .
c Uncta sum in reginam et dominatricem oleo loetitiae. Psa 45:6 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2. ] In order to direct the mind to the difference (in unity) between this and , John recalls the reader’s attention to the two first clauses of Joh 1:1 , which he now combines, in order to pass on to the creative work , which distinctly belongs to the . Thus also this verse fixes the reference of in Joh 1:3 , which might otherwise, after the mention of , have seemed ambiguous.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 1:2 . . Not a mere repetition of what has been said in Joh 1:1 . There John has said that the Word was in the beginning and also that He was with God: here he indicates that these two characteristics existed contemporaneously. “He was in the beginning with God.” He wishes also to emphasise this in view of what he is about to tell. In the beginning He was with God, afterwards, in time, He came to be with man. His pristine condition must first be grasped, if the grace of what succeeds is to be understood.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
The same = This [Word], or He.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2.] In order to direct the mind to the difference (in unity) between this and , John recalls the readers attention to the two first clauses of Joh 1:1, which he now combines, in order to pass on to the creative work, which distinctly belongs to the . Thus also this verse fixes the reference of in Joh 1:3, which might otherwise, after the mention of , have seemed ambiguous.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 1:2. , He) He alone. The He comprises [includes in its application] the whole of the verse immediately preceding it, as He, in the 7th verse, comprises the 6th verse.- , with God) This, being repeated [from Joh 1:1], is now put in antithesis to His subsequent mission to men. The three weighty truths, put dividedly in the preceding verse, are repeated and brought together in one in this verse. He, the Logos, who was God, was in the beginning, and was with God. A remarkable antithesis, comp. Joh 1:14, as also 1Jn 2:1 [which contain the same antithetic contrast.]
the word
Was in the beginning God:
Was made flesh,
With God: And dwelt among us.
Moreover the very congeries of this second verse manifestly supports this antithesis, the appellation of Logos being intermitted between Joh 1:2; Joh 1:14.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 1:2
Joh 1:2
The same was in the beginning with God.-He was one of us when matter was originally created. Let us make man in our image. (Gen 1:26). The Godhead is represented as composed of God, the originator and provider of all things; the Word, the creative agent of the Godhead; and the Holy Spirit, who, when the work of creation was completed by the Word, brooded upon the face of the matter, organized it, gave laws in accordance with which the work of procreation would proceed, and in and through which the Spirit took up his abode to guide the matter forward to its predestined end.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Reciprocal: Pro 8:22 – General Isa 7:14 – Immanuel Isa 9:6 – The mighty God Isa 43:13 – before Jer 20:9 – I will Zec 13:7 – the man Joh 1:1 – the beginning Joh 1:15 – he was Joh 8:58 – Before Joh 10:30 – General Phi 2:6 – in 1Ti 3:16 – God 1Jo 1:1 – That which 1Jo 1:2 – which was
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2
This verse does not change the meaning of the preceding one, but it is a significant passage, showing that while the term “God” applies to each of the Beings considered, yet they are to be understood as two separate personalities, else one of them could not be “with” the other.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 1:2. The same was in the Beginning with God. The sameHe who has just been spoken of as Godwas in the beginning with God: i.e., He of whom I have spoken as God, was in the beginning in active, eternal communion with God,not simply the Word with God, but God with God. The elements of the thought have been given in Joh 1:1, but in their combination they acquire new force. The special object of these words seems to be to prepare for the next verse; it is only when we have been taught concerning God with God that we are prepared to hear of the creation of all things through the Divine Word. He with whom the Divine Word was in the beginning created all through Him.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
[See also the “General Considerations on the Prologue” in the comments of Joh 1:18.]
Vv. 2. This Word was in the beginning with God.
With this Logos which John has in a manner just discovered in eternity, he takes his place at that beginning of time (Joh 1:1) from which he went backward even to what was before time, and now he comes down the course of the ages, to the end of showing the Logos operating in the history of the world as the organ of God, before the moment when He is Himself to appear on the earth. The pronoun , this Logos, reproduces more particularly the idea of the third proposition of Joh 1:1 : this Word-God;but the apostle joins with it that of the first two, in such a way as to resume in this verse the substance of the three propositions of Joh 1:1, and thus to explain the part of Creator which he is about to ascribe to the Logos in Joh 1:3. There is, therefore, no contrast in the pronoun to any other being whatever, as Meyer supposes, and as the translation of Rilliet would indicate: It is he who was… The allusion to the account in Genesis in the words: with God, is no less evident here than in Joh 1:1; comp. Gen 1:26 (let us make,…our image,… our likeness).
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
The Word was in the beginning with God. This statement clarifies further that Jesus was with God before the creation of the universe. It is a further assertion of Jesus’ deity. He did not come into existence. He always existed. Moreover Jesus did not become deity. He always was deity. Joh 1:2 clarifies the revelation of Joh 1:1 that is so concise and profound (cf. Gen 1:1-2). [Note: See David J. MacLeod, "The Eternality and Deity of the Word: John 1:1-2," Bibliotheca Sacra 160:637 (January-March 2003):48-64.]