The verse means that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, already existed with God in the beginning before anything was created and did not begin to exist at Bethlehem. He was distinct from the Father yet himself fully God, one with the Father in nature, character, and purpose. All things were made by and through him as God's co-worker in creation, and in him is original, unborrowed, underived life that is the light of men. That Word voluntarily became flesh and dwelt among men, veiling his divine glory in humanity to reveal God's character and give his life to save the fallen race. That life is received only through him by believing in him as personal Saviour, and those who receive him are given power to become the children of God.
Identity as Eternal Word
The Word in the verse is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten Son of the infinite God. He is the Word of life made flesh, who became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth and was beheld in the glory of the only begotten of the Father. He is the one who came into the world as the humble Man of Nazareth, though men knew him not in his true character as divine. He was not separate from God or a later addition, but is distinct from God yet himself God. Through him as the divine Son all things were made, and he came to reveal God and to visit a guilty world as the source of life and the Light of the world.
The verse means he already was with God in the beginning and did not begin to exist when he came into the world. He did not begin to exist at his birth in Bethlehem. His existence is eternal and he is not a created being, but was in union and oneness with the Father from eternity. His life existed before the worlds were made and was not temporary, given physical life that each individual receives and that is taken again without human control, but immortality, original, unborrowed, underived life that belongs exclusively to God. This life in him is the light of men and the open fountain of life for the world, which is not inherent in man and cannot be earned.
His being with God in the beginning was before he created all things and came into the world. It was before humans or angels were created. It was before the worlds were made and before the account of creation. It was before creation and his advent to this world, when as the Son he was with God, equal with the Father and sharing his authority, standing at God's right hand with loving, unquestioned authority.
Oneness and Distinction with God
The same who was in the beginning with God is Christ the Word, distinct from God the Father yet himself God and fully divine. He already existed with God before creation and before coming to earth, and as the eternal Word he is the Maker of all things, the source of life and the Light of the world. He is the truth come down from heaven in person, the true Light lighting every man, whose life is the light of men shining in darkness that does not understand it. He came to visit a guilty world and to the world he had made, was made flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth, and was beheld in the glory of the only begotten of the Father, yet the world knew him not and his own received him not. From his fullness all receive grace, and those who receive and believe in him are given power to become God's children, for he is the one Mediator between God and humanity. His coming revealed the Father's glory, grace and truth, and his incarnation and sinless life belong to his work of redemption in bearing human sins so that people might live in righteousness and be reconciled to God.
He was one with the eternal Father in nature, character and purpose, and the only being able to enter fully into God's counsels and purposes. Though he stood forth as a distinct person, he was in perfect oneness with God, so his voice carried God's authority. He was equal with the Father in dignity, glory and blessedness, and in authority, and as God's co-worker in creation he held supremacy over the angels. Existing with God from the beginning, he gave his life to redeem a people from everything earthly and to renew them in God's image.
He stands to the invisible Father as speech stands to thought, as the manifestation of the Father sent into the world. He is the image of the Father and the express image of the invisible God, and God is in Christ; the One who is the beginning and the end came as a man. He alone, having been in the Father's presence before taking humanity, could reveal God's character to humanity, making known in his words, character, power and majesty the nature and attributes of God. With divinity clothed with humanity and flashing through humanity in softening, subduing light, he came so that man might bear the image of the invisible God, and he is the embodiment of the law of God as the transcript of God's character. His true presentation is given in John's words for the mind, not in described person or painted likeness or art of man, which can never truly represent God or heaven or Christ; no external representation of his person is needed, for the renewed heart beholds him by faith through this inspired description while the Holy Spirit keeps his most attractive excellencies before the mind's eye.
Though in human form he spoke with the authority of true greatness from his commission from the Excellent Glory and called for submissive attention to his words. His word was to be obeyed as the Father's, and wherever he was present it was as though the Father himself were present. God summons the world to listen while he speaks and to receive every word he utters as law and life, full of grace and truth. In creating the earth and its living things he would work in union with the Father, carrying out the Father's will and purposes and not acting independently, and all things were made through him as definite truth about Christ.
Creator Life and Light
The same who was in the beginning with God is the one through whom all things were made, and the making of the world and of humanity was accomplished through Christ as God's co-worker in creation. He is not a being who appeared later in time but already existed in the beginning with God, distinct yet divine, existing before creation and before coming to earth. The Word who was with God was God, became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth, was beheld in the glory of the only begotten of the Father, and later came to His own people though they did not receive Him. When man fell He announced His purpose to become man's substitute and surety, the child born and Son given with the government upon His shoulder, called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. His works in creation reveal God's glory, and He came to reveal God, in whom are life and the light of humanity.
In Him is life that is not physical life which each person receives and which God takes again without human control, nor temporary given life like human life, but immortality, original, unborrowed, underived life which belongs exclusively to God. That life existed before the worlds were made, is the open fountain of life for the world, is not inherent in man and cannot be earned, and can be possessed only through Christ as a free gift by believing in Him as personal Saviour and knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. He is our life and desires to give each person a life equal to the life of God, and this is the science of eternal life. His personal companionship communicated vitalizing life because life begets life, and true education communicates this energy through communion of mind with mind and heart with heart, the human with the divine. The life of Christ that gives life to the world is present in God's word, so that the whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and the source of spiritual power. That life carried in Himself is in His word, and by that word He healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead, the same word He had spoken through all the Old Testament.
That life is the light of men, the true Light lighting every man, and He came into a guilty world to make known God's character and the laws of His kingdom and to penetrate and pierce its spiritual darkness. He was sent from the throne of the Infinite, fully God Himself, unchanging, the truth come down from heaven in person, who was in the world He made yet was not known by the world. His light shines in darkness and the darkness does not overcome, understand, or comprehend it, so that just to the extent mists and fogs encompass minds there is ignorance and misconception of God and the light from the Father of lights is not discerned. Though He is the true Light lighting every man, the world made by Him did not know Him and His own did not receive Him, while those who receive Him and believe on His name receive power to become sons of God and receive of His fullness grace for grace. This proves that even when truth appears in glory on earth all do not fall down and worship it.
His part in creation makes the Sabbath a memorial of His work in making all things through Him, and a sign of His love and power.
As the One who was in the beginning with God He formed marriage by giving Eve to Adam as a helpmeet, and in the beginning gave man His two great gifts of woman as a helpmeet under the marriage law and the Sabbath as a day of rest. He sanctioned marriage in Eden and gave His decided sanction to it again at the beginning of His public ministry when He performed His first miracle at the marriage festival in Cana. By that presence He witnessed that He will not refuse His presence on marriage occasions, and that marriage joined with purity and holiness, truth and righteousness is sacred and one of the greatest blessings given to the human family.
Incarnation and Earthly Ministry
The eternal Word voluntarily became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth, beheld in the glory of the only begotten of the Father. In him divinity was united with humanity and clothed with humanity while veiling his divine glory, God manifest in the flesh. He who was with God in the beginning did not begin at his coming into the world as a human being, but already was before creation and before his advent to earth.
He came to his own and to the world he had made, yet the world knew him not in his true character as divine and his own received him not. Even when truth appears in glory on earth all do not fall down and worship it, and his rejection proves that truth is not universally acknowledged when it comes. The one who stood clothed in human flesh before Pilate to be judged by the people he had made was divine, though he patiently endured their abuse.
He came as the humble Man of Nazareth, unknown in his true divine character, the great miracle-worker to whom all glory belongs. He came as a helpless babe born in a stable and cradled in a manger, and as a humble man whose human life concealed his divine glory so that he was to be recognized through the testimony of Scripture. He is the promised Messiah and Creator of all worlds, the only-begotten Son of the infinite God. He came as humanity's divine Teacher and Great Teacher sent in the fullness of time to make known God's character, law, love, and life. He himself had proclaimed the law from Mount Sinai to his chosen people, and he came to magnify the law and make it honorable, giving in the Sermon on the Mount light and truth and principles that apply to every condition of life and every duty God requires. He is the embodiment of the law of God which is the transcript of God's character, standing to the invisible Father as speech stands to thought and manifesting the Father's nature and attributes with divinity flashing through humanity in softening, subduing light, and receiving his words is receiving Christ as the only sure foundation for lasting character.
When man fell and Adam yielded to temptation he announced his purpose of becoming man's substitute and surety, the child born and Son given with the government upon his shoulder, called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. In the fullness of time, when the world seemed wholly given into the control of the enemy, God sent him to reveal God's love and the immutability of God's law, to gather to his own pure sinless soul the penalty resting on the sinful race, to bear human sins so people might live in righteousness and be reconciled to God, and to die for the fallen race and offer himself as sacrifice and ransom. By giving his life he redeems a people from everything earthly and renews them in God's image, freely granting pardon and adoption as members of the royal family to those who receive him as Saviour. The life of God in him that gives life to the world is in his word, and by that word he healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead with power to which the people bore witness. It was the same word he had spoken through all the Old Testament, so that the whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and the only source of power. He is the Word of life whom the apostles heard, saw, and touched and could testify to from personal experience, and the Faithful and True Witness made flesh who stands pre-eminent through the ages as the fullness for both Jew and Gentile.
Heavenly Standing Before Creation
Before the angels were created He was already one with the Father, the Son of God who stood at God's right hand and ever stood there. He held pre-eminence and supremacy over all the angelic host, and that supremacy was part of heaven's order, bringing blessing to all who were under His authority. Satan stood next in honor after Him, yet the command belonging to oneness with God devolved on Christ alone, which Satan in envy and ambition assumed for himself.
His authority was mild and loving and had never been questioned, and He had given no commands but what it was joy for the heavenly host to execute. The special honor the Father proclaimed upon the Son in the presence of the angels did not take away any honor the Son had already received, nor diminish the honor He already possessed.
He was present at the creation of the world as Commander in the heavenly courts, with God from the beginning before creation and before the world existed. He was equal with the Father and shared His authority, so that the Son's word was to be obeyed as the Father's, and wherever the Son was present it was as though the Father Himself were present. In creating the earth and its living things He worked in union with the Father, carrying out the Father's will and purposes and not acting independently. He was one with the eternal Father in nature, character, and purpose, the only begotten Son and the only being who could enter fully and uniquely into God's counsels and purposes. He had lived eternally in the light of the heavenly courts, sharing glory with the Father before the world was and before entering the world He had created.
Doctrinal Proof and Warnings
The same was in the beginning with God affirms that the Word already was with God in the beginning and existed with the Father before visiting the world and before His first advent to this world. It declares His previous existence with the Father, His eternal existence, His divine character and His relationship with the Father, and in this way it proves and reveals His divinity. He was one with the Father before creation, not a being who came into existence later, but the one through whom the worlds were made. To deny that He lived before His life on earth, that from the beginning He was one with the Father as the only-begotten Son of God, is to deny His divinity and is a total denial of Christ. Such denial belongs to the confusion of faith and corruption of truth concerning the mystery of God in the latter times before the last developments of apostasy. Those who persist in denying His existence before His first coming contradict His plain testimony concerning Himself, show ignorance of God and of His Son, and have no experimental knowledge of Jesus as a divine personal Saviour.
His preexistence and divinity, His being with God from the beginning before He assumed human nature, are truths that human reason cannot overturn. To reject them in favor of human philosophy is to reject the Source of wisdom. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, which are spiritually discerned, so no conclusive argument will convince those who reject the plain testimony. The verse is part of the light of heavenly origin brought from heaven and given through John to His people, revealing the personality of God and of Christ as distinct and divine from the beginning. Spiritualistic theories about the personality of God count that light as nothing and make it of no effect. Followed to their logical conclusion those theories sweep away the whole Christian economy, deny the special importance of the scenes just before us, rob the people of God of their past experience, and give them a false science instead.
John's words are the true presentation of Christ given to the mind, in place of pictures made by human art, which can never truly represent God or heaven or Christ who is the image of the Father. No described person or painted likeness or external representation of His person is needed. The renewed heart is to behold Him by faith through this inspired description, with the Holy Spirit keeping His most attractive excellencies before the mind's eye and engaging the attention. Though in human form, He spoke with the authority of true greatness from His commission from the Excellent Glory and called for submissive attention to His words, and God summons the world to listen while He speaks and to receive every word He utters as law and life, full of grace and truth. The verse gives the knowledge of God the Creator and Jesus Christ that is true education, ennobling the intellect and expanding the mind. Students are to be drawn to this Word and feed upon the teaching of Christ found in it.
He with the living oracles of God, rather than human wisdom, lies at the very foundation of all true education, and placing human wisdom at the head as essential for education brings accountability to God. The Word, identified with Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, was with God in the beginning, unchanging while language changes and study books present supposed improvements, and His divine existence and presence with God precede creation. That knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent requires constant progress, beginning with the fear of the Lord and keeping the distinction between the sacred and the common. Just to the extent that mists and fogs encompass minds there is ignorance and misconception of God, and the light coming from the Father of lights is not discerned. Feeling wise above a Thus saith the Lord brings need to become fools to be wise.
The record was given through John by the dictation of the Holy Spirit and is a most precious unfolding of definite truth that flashes divine light and glory upon all who will receive it. Together with the teaching of the fall of man and the woe it opened upon the world and of the first advent of Christ as a helpless babe born in a stable and cradled in a manger, it gives the most important knowledge that can be received. The history of Christ is to be searched by comparing scripture with scripture to learn the terms of salvation, so intelligent agents invested with personal attributes and responsibilities can know their future eternal destiny. Its terms are easily comprehended and will bear the most searching and critical investigation. Christ reveals God and manifests His character, law, love, and life, and receiving His words is receiving Christ, the only sure foundation for a lasting character.
Salvation and Daily Living
The same who was in the beginning with God is the one Mediator between God and humanity, the way, the truth, and the life, who took both divine and human natures to fully redeem the race and restore people to the privileges of the higher life. He is Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of the infinite God, the Word through whom all things were made, who came into the world as the humble Man of Nazareth though men knew Him not in His true character as divine. In Him is life that is not the physical life which each receives and which is taken again without human control, but immortality, original, unborrowed, underived life which belongs exclusively to God. That life is the light of men and an open fountain of life for the world, not inherent in man and not to be earned, but to be possessed only through Christ as a free gift by believing in Him as personal Saviour and knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ.
Those who receive Him by faith are given power to become God's children and sons of God, with hope of eternal life, and from His fullness all receive grace for grace. The world made by Him did not know Him and His own received Him not, yet His coming revealed the Father's glory, grace, and truth, and He was sent to make known God's character and the laws of His kingdom after Israel failed to communicate the entrusted light. He is the true Light lighting every man, the Word made flesh dwelling among men full of grace and truth, whose sinless life belongs to His work of redemption in bearing human sins so that people might live in righteousness and be reconciled to God. Believing this leaves no room for blind selfishness and perverted ideas, but calls those who claim to follow Him to repent and be converted, that He may unite His power with their humanity and give strength to live out God's law, for true faith in Him is invincible.
His personal companionship communicated vitalizing life, because life begets life, and true education communicates this energy through communion of mind and heart, the human with the divine. All who accept Him are brought into close relationship with God, and that relationship is kept by continuing to receive Him and confessing Him as personal Saviour day by day, kept by God's power in humility rather than self-sufficiency, with the Holy Spirit alone guiding into all truth. As physical life is sustained by food, so spiritual life is sustained by His word as the bread of life and bread of God come down from heaven, so that whoever comes never hungers and whoever believes never thirsts. Every soul must receive and assimilate it for himself as he must eat for himself to be nourished, making it part of every action and attribute of character, and will grow strong in God's strength, receive immortal vigor, perfected experience, and abiding joys, and be guarded against surprise into sin.
That life in His word is the life of God that gives life to the world, the same word He had spoken through all the Old Testament, by which He healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead, so that the whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and the only source of power. This truth of His being with God from the beginning gives believers a firm foundation of faith in the One who humbled Himself to become human and gave His life to save the perishing world. The Son so identified with the Word who was with God in the beginning was manifested to destroy the devil's works and to vindicate and honor God's law.
The verse means that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, already existed with God in the beginning before anything was created and did not begin to exist at Bethlehem. He was distinct from the Father yet himself fully God, one with the Father in nature, character, and purpose. All things were made by and through him as God's co-worker in creation, and in him is original, unborrowed, underived life that is the light of men. That Word voluntarily became flesh and dwelt among men, veiling his divine glory in humanity to reveal God's character and give his life to save the fallen race. That life is received only through him by believing in him as personal Saviour, and those who receive him are given power to become the children of God.
Identity as Eternal Word
The Word in the verse is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten Son of the infinite God. He is the Word of life made flesh, who became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth and was beheld in the glory of the only begotten of the Father. He is the one who came into the world as the humble Man of Nazareth, though men knew him not in his true character as divine. He was not separate from God or a later addition, but is distinct from God yet himself God. Through him as the divine Son all things were made, and he came to reveal God and to visit a guilty world as the source of life and the Light of the world.
The verse means he already was with God in the beginning and did not begin to exist when he came into the world. He did not begin to exist at his birth in Bethlehem. His existence is eternal and he is not a created being, but was in union and oneness with the Father from eternity. His life existed before the worlds were made and was not temporary, given physical life that each individual receives and that is taken again without human control, but immortality, original, unborrowed, underived life that belongs exclusively to God. This life in him is the light of men and the open fountain of life for the world, which is not inherent in man and cannot be earned.
His being with God in the beginning was before he created all things and came into the world. It was before humans or angels were created. It was before the worlds were made and before the account of creation. It was before creation and his advent to this world, when as the Son he was with God, equal with the Father and sharing his authority, standing at God's right hand with loving, unquestioned authority.
Oneness and Distinction with God
The same who was in the beginning with God is Christ the Word, distinct from God the Father yet himself God and fully divine. He already existed with God before creation and before coming to earth, and as the eternal Word he is the Maker of all things, the source of life and the Light of the world. He is the truth come down from heaven in person, the true Light lighting every man, whose life is the light of men shining in darkness that does not understand it. He came to visit a guilty world and to the world he had made, was made flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth, and was beheld in the glory of the only begotten of the Father, yet the world knew him not and his own received him not. From his fullness all receive grace, and those who receive and believe in him are given power to become God's children, for he is the one Mediator between God and humanity. His coming revealed the Father's glory, grace and truth, and his incarnation and sinless life belong to his work of redemption in bearing human sins so that people might live in righteousness and be reconciled to God.
He was one with the eternal Father in nature, character and purpose, and the only being able to enter fully into God's counsels and purposes. Though he stood forth as a distinct person, he was in perfect oneness with God, so his voice carried God's authority. He was equal with the Father in dignity, glory and blessedness, and in authority, and as God's co-worker in creation he held supremacy over the angels. Existing with God from the beginning, he gave his life to redeem a people from everything earthly and to renew them in God's image.
He stands to the invisible Father as speech stands to thought, as the manifestation of the Father sent into the world. He is the image of the Father and the express image of the invisible God, and God is in Christ; the One who is the beginning and the end came as a man. He alone, having been in the Father's presence before taking humanity, could reveal God's character to humanity, making known in his words, character, power and majesty the nature and attributes of God. With divinity clothed with humanity and flashing through humanity in softening, subduing light, he came so that man might bear the image of the invisible God, and he is the embodiment of the law of God as the transcript of God's character. His true presentation is given in John's words for the mind, not in described person or painted likeness or art of man, which can never truly represent God or heaven or Christ; no external representation of his person is needed, for the renewed heart beholds him by faith through this inspired description while the Holy Spirit keeps his most attractive excellencies before the mind's eye.
Though in human form he spoke with the authority of true greatness from his commission from the Excellent Glory and called for submissive attention to his words. His word was to be obeyed as the Father's, and wherever he was present it was as though the Father himself were present. God summons the world to listen while he speaks and to receive every word he utters as law and life, full of grace and truth. In creating the earth and its living things he would work in union with the Father, carrying out the Father's will and purposes and not acting independently, and all things were made through him as definite truth about Christ.
Creator Life and Light
The same who was in the beginning with God is the one through whom all things were made, and the making of the world and of humanity was accomplished through Christ as God's co-worker in creation. He is not a being who appeared later in time but already existed in the beginning with God, distinct yet divine, existing before creation and before coming to earth. The Word who was with God was God, became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth, was beheld in the glory of the only begotten of the Father, and later came to His own people though they did not receive Him. When man fell He announced His purpose to become man's substitute and surety, the child born and Son given with the government upon His shoulder, called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. His works in creation reveal God's glory, and He came to reveal God, in whom are life and the light of humanity.
In Him is life that is not physical life which each person receives and which God takes again without human control, nor temporary given life like human life, but immortality, original, unborrowed, underived life which belongs exclusively to God. That life existed before the worlds were made, is the open fountain of life for the world, is not inherent in man and cannot be earned, and can be possessed only through Christ as a free gift by believing in Him as personal Saviour and knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. He is our life and desires to give each person a life equal to the life of God, and this is the science of eternal life. His personal companionship communicated vitalizing life because life begets life, and true education communicates this energy through communion of mind with mind and heart with heart, the human with the divine. The life of Christ that gives life to the world is present in God's word, so that the whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and the source of spiritual power. That life carried in Himself is in His word, and by that word He healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead, the same word He had spoken through all the Old Testament.
That life is the light of men, the true Light lighting every man, and He came into a guilty world to make known God's character and the laws of His kingdom and to penetrate and pierce its spiritual darkness. He was sent from the throne of the Infinite, fully God Himself, unchanging, the truth come down from heaven in person, who was in the world He made yet was not known by the world. His light shines in darkness and the darkness does not overcome, understand, or comprehend it, so that just to the extent mists and fogs encompass minds there is ignorance and misconception of God and the light from the Father of lights is not discerned. Though He is the true Light lighting every man, the world made by Him did not know Him and His own did not receive Him, while those who receive Him and believe on His name receive power to become sons of God and receive of His fullness grace for grace. This proves that even when truth appears in glory on earth all do not fall down and worship it.
His part in creation makes the Sabbath a memorial of His work in making all things through Him, and a sign of His love and power.
As the One who was in the beginning with God He formed marriage by giving Eve to Adam as a helpmeet, and in the beginning gave man His two great gifts of woman as a helpmeet under the marriage law and the Sabbath as a day of rest. He sanctioned marriage in Eden and gave His decided sanction to it again at the beginning of His public ministry when He performed His first miracle at the marriage festival in Cana. By that presence He witnessed that He will not refuse His presence on marriage occasions, and that marriage joined with purity and holiness, truth and righteousness is sacred and one of the greatest blessings given to the human family.
Incarnation and Earthly Ministry
The eternal Word voluntarily became flesh and dwelt among men full of grace and truth, beheld in the glory of the only begotten of the Father. In him divinity was united with humanity and clothed with humanity while veiling his divine glory, God manifest in the flesh. He who was with God in the beginning did not begin at his coming into the world as a human being, but already was before creation and before his advent to earth.
He came to his own and to the world he had made, yet the world knew him not in his true character as divine and his own received him not. Even when truth appears in glory on earth all do not fall down and worship it, and his rejection proves that truth is not universally acknowledged when it comes. The one who stood clothed in human flesh before Pilate to be judged by the people he had made was divine, though he patiently endured their abuse.
He came as the humble Man of Nazareth, unknown in his true divine character, the great miracle-worker to whom all glory belongs. He came as a helpless babe born in a stable and cradled in a manger, and as a humble man whose human life concealed his divine glory so that he was to be recognized through the testimony of Scripture. He is the promised Messiah and Creator of all worlds, the only-begotten Son of the infinite God. He came as humanity's divine Teacher and Great Teacher sent in the fullness of time to make known God's character, law, love, and life. He himself had proclaimed the law from Mount Sinai to his chosen people, and he came to magnify the law and make it honorable, giving in the Sermon on the Mount light and truth and principles that apply to every condition of life and every duty God requires. He is the embodiment of the law of God which is the transcript of God's character, standing to the invisible Father as speech stands to thought and manifesting the Father's nature and attributes with divinity flashing through humanity in softening, subduing light, and receiving his words is receiving Christ as the only sure foundation for lasting character.
When man fell and Adam yielded to temptation he announced his purpose of becoming man's substitute and surety, the child born and Son given with the government upon his shoulder, called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. In the fullness of time, when the world seemed wholly given into the control of the enemy, God sent him to reveal God's love and the immutability of God's law, to gather to his own pure sinless soul the penalty resting on the sinful race, to bear human sins so people might live in righteousness and be reconciled to God, and to die for the fallen race and offer himself as sacrifice and ransom. By giving his life he redeems a people from everything earthly and renews them in God's image, freely granting pardon and adoption as members of the royal family to those who receive him as Saviour. The life of God in him that gives life to the world is in his word, and by that word he healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead with power to which the people bore witness. It was the same word he had spoken through all the Old Testament, so that the whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and the only source of power. He is the Word of life whom the apostles heard, saw, and touched and could testify to from personal experience, and the Faithful and True Witness made flesh who stands pre-eminent through the ages as the fullness for both Jew and Gentile.
Heavenly Standing Before Creation
Before the angels were created He was already one with the Father, the Son of God who stood at God's right hand and ever stood there. He held pre-eminence and supremacy over all the angelic host, and that supremacy was part of heaven's order, bringing blessing to all who were under His authority. Satan stood next in honor after Him, yet the command belonging to oneness with God devolved on Christ alone, which Satan in envy and ambition assumed for himself.
His authority was mild and loving and had never been questioned, and He had given no commands but what it was joy for the heavenly host to execute. The special honor the Father proclaimed upon the Son in the presence of the angels did not take away any honor the Son had already received, nor diminish the honor He already possessed.
He was present at the creation of the world as Commander in the heavenly courts, with God from the beginning before creation and before the world existed. He was equal with the Father and shared His authority, so that the Son's word was to be obeyed as the Father's, and wherever the Son was present it was as though the Father Himself were present. In creating the earth and its living things He worked in union with the Father, carrying out the Father's will and purposes and not acting independently. He was one with the eternal Father in nature, character, and purpose, the only begotten Son and the only being who could enter fully and uniquely into God's counsels and purposes. He had lived eternally in the light of the heavenly courts, sharing glory with the Father before the world was and before entering the world He had created.
Doctrinal Proof and Warnings
The same was in the beginning with God affirms that the Word already was with God in the beginning and existed with the Father before visiting the world and before His first advent to this world. It declares His previous existence with the Father, His eternal existence, His divine character and His relationship with the Father, and in this way it proves and reveals His divinity. He was one with the Father before creation, not a being who came into existence later, but the one through whom the worlds were made. To deny that He lived before His life on earth, that from the beginning He was one with the Father as the only-begotten Son of God, is to deny His divinity and is a total denial of Christ. Such denial belongs to the confusion of faith and corruption of truth concerning the mystery of God in the latter times before the last developments of apostasy. Those who persist in denying His existence before His first coming contradict His plain testimony concerning Himself, show ignorance of God and of His Son, and have no experimental knowledge of Jesus as a divine personal Saviour.
His preexistence and divinity, His being with God from the beginning before He assumed human nature, are truths that human reason cannot overturn. To reject them in favor of human philosophy is to reject the Source of wisdom. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, which are spiritually discerned, so no conclusive argument will convince those who reject the plain testimony. The verse is part of the light of heavenly origin brought from heaven and given through John to His people, revealing the personality of God and of Christ as distinct and divine from the beginning. Spiritualistic theories about the personality of God count that light as nothing and make it of no effect. Followed to their logical conclusion those theories sweep away the whole Christian economy, deny the special importance of the scenes just before us, rob the people of God of their past experience, and give them a false science instead.
John's words are the true presentation of Christ given to the mind, in place of pictures made by human art, which can never truly represent God or heaven or Christ who is the image of the Father. No described person or painted likeness or external representation of His person is needed. The renewed heart is to behold Him by faith through this inspired description, with the Holy Spirit keeping His most attractive excellencies before the mind's eye and engaging the attention. Though in human form, He spoke with the authority of true greatness from His commission from the Excellent Glory and called for submissive attention to His words, and God summons the world to listen while He speaks and to receive every word He utters as law and life, full of grace and truth. The verse gives the knowledge of God the Creator and Jesus Christ that is true education, ennobling the intellect and expanding the mind. Students are to be drawn to this Word and feed upon the teaching of Christ found in it.
He with the living oracles of God, rather than human wisdom, lies at the very foundation of all true education, and placing human wisdom at the head as essential for education brings accountability to God. The Word, identified with Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, was with God in the beginning, unchanging while language changes and study books present supposed improvements, and His divine existence and presence with God precede creation. That knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom He has sent requires constant progress, beginning with the fear of the Lord and keeping the distinction between the sacred and the common. Just to the extent that mists and fogs encompass minds there is ignorance and misconception of God, and the light coming from the Father of lights is not discerned. Feeling wise above a Thus saith the Lord brings need to become fools to be wise.
The record was given through John by the dictation of the Holy Spirit and is a most precious unfolding of definite truth that flashes divine light and glory upon all who will receive it. Together with the teaching of the fall of man and the woe it opened upon the world and of the first advent of Christ as a helpless babe born in a stable and cradled in a manger, it gives the most important knowledge that can be received. The history of Christ is to be searched by comparing scripture with scripture to learn the terms of salvation, so intelligent agents invested with personal attributes and responsibilities can know their future eternal destiny. Its terms are easily comprehended and will bear the most searching and critical investigation. Christ reveals God and manifests His character, law, love, and life, and receiving His words is receiving Christ, the only sure foundation for a lasting character.
Salvation and Daily Living
The same who was in the beginning with God is the one Mediator between God and humanity, the way, the truth, and the life, who took both divine and human natures to fully redeem the race and restore people to the privileges of the higher life. He is Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of the infinite God, the Word through whom all things were made, who came into the world as the humble Man of Nazareth though men knew Him not in His true character as divine. In Him is life that is not the physical life which each receives and which is taken again without human control, but immortality, original, unborrowed, underived life which belongs exclusively to God. That life is the light of men and an open fountain of life for the world, not inherent in man and not to be earned, but to be possessed only through Christ as a free gift by believing in Him as personal Saviour and knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ.
Those who receive Him by faith are given power to become God's children and sons of God, with hope of eternal life, and from His fullness all receive grace for grace. The world made by Him did not know Him and His own received Him not, yet His coming revealed the Father's glory, grace, and truth, and He was sent to make known God's character and the laws of His kingdom after Israel failed to communicate the entrusted light. He is the true Light lighting every man, the Word made flesh dwelling among men full of grace and truth, whose sinless life belongs to His work of redemption in bearing human sins so that people might live in righteousness and be reconciled to God. Believing this leaves no room for blind selfishness and perverted ideas, but calls those who claim to follow Him to repent and be converted, that He may unite His power with their humanity and give strength to live out God's law, for true faith in Him is invincible.
His personal companionship communicated vitalizing life, because life begets life, and true education communicates this energy through communion of mind and heart, the human with the divine. All who accept Him are brought into close relationship with God, and that relationship is kept by continuing to receive Him and confessing Him as personal Saviour day by day, kept by God's power in humility rather than self-sufficiency, with the Holy Spirit alone guiding into all truth. As physical life is sustained by food, so spiritual life is sustained by His word as the bread of life and bread of God come down from heaven, so that whoever comes never hungers and whoever believes never thirsts. Every soul must receive and assimilate it for himself as he must eat for himself to be nourished, making it part of every action and attribute of character, and will grow strong in God's strength, receive immortal vigor, perfected experience, and abiding joys, and be guarded against surprise into sin.
That life in His word is the life of God that gives life to the world, the same word He had spoken through all the Old Testament, by which He healed disease, cast out demons, stilled the sea, and raised the dead, so that the whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ and the only source of power. This truth of His being with God from the beginning gives believers a firm foundation of faith in the One who humbled Himself to become human and gave His life to save the perishing world. The Son so identified with the Word who was with God in the beginning was manifested to destroy the devil's works and to vindicate and honor God's law.