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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadMatthew Poole Commentary - John 1:1 - 1:1
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
JOHN CHAPTER 1
Joh_1:1-5 The Divinity of Christ.
Joh_1:6-13 The mission of John, and end of Christ's coming.
Joh_1:14 The incarnation of the Word.
Joh_1:15-18 Christ's superior dignity witnessed by John, and
evinced by his gracious dispensation.
Joh_1:19-28 John's record of himself to the messengers of the
Jews.
Joh_1:29-34 His public testimony to the person of Christ.
Joh_1:35-42 Two of his disciples, hearing it, follow Jesus: Simon
is brought to Christ, and surnamed Cephas.
Joh_1:43-51 Philip is called, who bringeth Nathanael to Jesus.
In the beginning; in that beginning which Moses mentions, Gen_1:1, the beginning of all things, when the foundations of the world were laid, Pro_8:27,28; the beginning of time; for before that was no measure of time, all was eternity.
Was the Word, that is, the eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom more is spoken afterward. Nor is Christ in this text alone called the Word, but 1Jo_1:1, the Word of life; so Rev_19:13: and there are some who think he is so called, Luk_1:2, comparing that text with 2Pe_1:16, as also Psa_33:6. Nor is it an improper term by which to express the Son of God; for it both expresses something of his ineffable generation, as the word is begotten in our thoughts, and is the express image of them; and also his office in the revelation of his Father's will unto the sons of men, and revealing his Father to us, Mat_11:27: and there are some (if they be not too curious in their notion) who think by that phrase of David, 2Sa_7:21, For thy word's sake, ( expounded for thy servant's sake, 1Ch_17:19, which is the title of Christ, Isa_42:1), that Christ is meant. Besides, it is observed, that this term was more acceptable both to the Jews and the heathens, than the term of Christ, or the Son of God, would have been; for there was nothing more abhorred by the Jews than the latter; and the heathen writers made (as is noted by divers) a great use of this term, to express the name and the power of God. Nor is any thing more ordinary with the Chaldee paraphrast than this expression: Isa_45:12, I have made the earth; Chald. I in my word have made the earth. So Isa_48:13, Mine hand hath laid the foundation of the earth; Chald. By my word I have laid the foundations of the earth: this is taken from Moses's describing the creation by God's word of command, Let there be light, and there was light; the manner of expressing it by the word command, is significative that all things were made by his eternal Word; for would any Jew deny, that God by his word created the world? The evangelist therefore calleth Christ, to whom he was about to attribute the creation, the Word; not the word of God (so the Scriptures are called); to distinguish Christ in this notion from the revelation of the Divine will to the prophets, he is only called the Word, though he was the Son of God. Nor is it said, that in the beginning was the Word created, (as is said of the heavens and the earth, Gen_1:1), but was the Word: this proveth the eternal existence of the Second Person in the Trinity; for what was in the beginning did not then begin to be: the term the Word, without the addition of God, speaketh him a subsistence; and it being said, that in the beginning he was, speaks his eternal existence; for what had a being in the beginning of time must needs be eternal, nothing being when time began but what was eternal. To this purpose are those texts, Psa_90:2 Pro_8:22-31 Joh_17:5 Eph_1:4 2Th_2:13, which two texts compared show, In the beginning, here used, to be the same with before the foundation of the world: so 2Ti_1:9.
The Word was with God: lest any should say, Where was this Word before the foundations of the earth were laid? The evangelist saith, with God, which agreeth with Pro_8:27,30. This both distinguishes Christ from all creatures, (none of which were with God in the beginning), and also showeth the vanity of Sabellius, and those we call quakers, who will not allow Christ to be a distinct subsistence, or person, from his Father: it also denotes the Son's co-existence and his equality with his Father; and yet his filial relation; for God is not said to have been with the Word, but the Word was with God, which also speaks a perfect unity and consent between them.
And the Word was God: lest any should say, What but God can be eternal, or be said to have been and had an existence in the beginning of the world? The evangelist addeth, that the Word was God: that is, the person or subsistence spoken of and intended by him was the Divine Being, which is but one; though in it there be three distinct subsistences, all make but one and the same Divine Being. The first thing spoken here of Christ attributes to him eternity; the second speaks his relation to the Father; this speaks the oneness and sameness of his essence with that of the Father. The term God, which in the foregoing words is to be taken personally for God the Father, is here to be taken essentially, as it signifieth the Divine Being.