Today I was meditating on this verse. For those reading it first time, it may be quite obscure who / what “the Word” refers to. I will try to explain in this article.

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

John 1:1, KJV

The “Word” here in John refers to Jesus Christ, the second person in the Godhead. Hence, in this verse we can substitute all occurrences of “Word” with “Jesus”.

There are three separate phrases in this verse, let’s look at each of them.

In the beginning was the Word (Jesus):

He was present from the beginning, during creation of the world in Gen 1:1. This implies His eternal existence, even before time was created.

and the Word (Jesus) was with God:

Jesus participated in the creation of the world. This implies His power and wisdom, in union with God.

Also, the continuing governance of the universe even till today is under His helm too.

and the Word (Jesus) was God:

Jesus played a distinct role from the other entities in the Godhead. As the Messiah (John 4:25-26), He procured salvation for humanity (John 3:16).

He did so by coming to this world as God incarnate, being fully God and fully man (John 1:14).

And He gave up His life for us on the cross.

Physically, in his humanity, he was crucified died a cruel death under the Romans (Matt 26-27).

2 Cor 5:21 (Double imputation)

Spiritually, in his divinity, he suffered the punishment for all our sins, due to us. He drank our cup of wrath on the cross (Luke 22:42).

Our sins and filthiness were hence imputed onto Him, that even God the Father had to leave Him (Matt 27:46).

In return, His righteousness was imputed to us. That by “his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

Now we have direct access to God, entering into His most holy presence (Heb 10:19-20).

And we are hence able to draw near to Him (Heb 10:22), to have uninterrupted fellowship and communion (1 Cor 6:17, 1 John 1:3, 2 Cor 13:14).

All we have to do to receive justification for our sins is to: confess and repent from our sins, and believe on Jesus our Lord and Saviour, who died and rose again from the dead (Matt 4:17, Mark 1:15, Acts 2:38, Rom 4:22-25, Rom 10:9).

Please refer to the Sinner’s Prayer article.