restored to that communion with the Word, and that living re- lation with God, of which man had been deprived by sin.”
1. In the beginning was (€v apy jv). With evident allu- sion to the first word of Genesis. But John elevates the phrase from its reference to a point of time, the beginning of creation, to the time of absolute pre-existence before any creation, which is not mentioned until ver. 3. This beginning had no beginning (compare ver. 3; xvii.5; 1 Ep. i.1; Eph. i.4; Prov. viii. 23; Ps. xe. 2). This heightening of the conception, however, ap- pears not so much in apy7, beginning, which simply leaves room for it, as in the use of 7, was, denoting absolute existence (compare ecut, J am, John viii. 58) instead of éyévero, came into being, or began to be, which is used in vv. 3, 14, of the coming into being of creation and of the Word becoming flesh. Note also the contrast between év dpyf, in the beginning, and the expression a7’ apyfjs, from the beginning, which is common in John’s writings (viii. 44 ; 1 Ep. ii. 7, 24; iii. 8) and which leaves no room for the idea of eternal pre-existence. ‘In Gen. i. 1, the sacred historian starts from the beginning and comes down- ward, thus keeping us in the course of time. Here he starts from the same point, but goes upward, thus taking us into the eternity preceding time” (Milligan and Moulton). See on Col. i.15. This notion of “beginning” is still further heightened by the subsequent statement of the relation of the Logos to the eternal God. The apy must refer to the creation—the primal beginning of things ; but if, in this beginning, the Logos already was, then he belonged to the order of eternity. ‘The Logos was not merely existent, however, in the beginning, but was also the efficient principle, the beginning of the beginning. The apyn (beginning), in itself and in its operation dark, cha- otic, was, in its idea and its principle, comprised in one single luminous word, which was the Logos. And when it is said the Logos was in this beginning, His eternal existence is already expressed, and His eternal position in the Godhead already in- dicated thereby” (Lange). “Eight times in the narrative of
PROLOGUE. 2d
ereation (in Genesis) there occur, like the refrain of a hymn, the words, And God said. John gathers up all those sayings of God into a single saying, living and endowed with activity and intelligence, from which all divine orders emanate: he finds as the basis of all spoken words, the speaking Word” (Godet).
The Word (6 Xéyos): Locos. This expression is the key- note and theme of the entire gospel. Adyos is from the root rey appearing in Aéyo, the primitive meaning of which is to lay: then, to pick out, gather, pick up: hence to gather or put words together, and so, to speak. Hence Adyos is, first of all, a collecting or collection both of things in the mind, and of words by which they are expressed. It therefore signifies both the outward form by which the inward thought is expressed, and the inward thought itself, the Latin oratio and ratio: com- pare the Italian ragionare, “to think” and “ to speak.”
As signifying the outward form it is never used in the merely grammatical sense, as simply the name of a thing or act (é7os, dvouwa, phua), but means a word as the thing referred to: the material, not the formal part: a word as embodying a concep- tion or idea. See, for instance, Matt. xxii. 46; 1 Cor. xiv. 9, 19. Hence it signifies a saying, of God, or of man (Matt. xix. 21, 22 ; Mark v. 35,36): a decree, a precept (Rom. ix. 28; Mark vii. 13). The ten commandments are called in the Septuagint, oi Séxa rbyou, “the ten words” (Exod. xxxiv. 28), and hence the familiar term decalogue. It is further used of discourse: either of the act of speaking (Acts xiv. 12), of skell and practice in speaking (Eph. vi. 19), or of continuous speaking (Luke iv. 32, 36). Also of doctrine (Acts xviii. 15; 2 Tim. iv. 15), specifi- cally the doctrine of salvation through Christ (Matt. xiii. 20-23 ; Philip. i. 14); of narrative, both the relation and the thing re- lated (Acts i.1; John xxi. 23; Mark i. 45); of matter under discussion, an affair, a case in law (Acts xv. 6; xix. 38).