1:1 a

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

It is not by accident that the Gospel begins with the same phrase as the book of Genesis. Gen 1:1 introduces the story of the old creation while John introduces the story of the new creation.

According to Bruce the English term Word is an inadequate rendering of the Greek logos, but it would be hard to find anything in English that better represented logos.

Moffat translation says 'The logos existed in the very beginning'.

Phillips renders the clause 'At the beginning God expressed himself' and then follows 'That personal expression, that word, was with God. . .'

Bruce says we can better understand logos by the phrase 'word in action'. The true background of logos comes from the Hebrew revelation of 'the word of God' which in the O.T. denotes God in action especially in creation, revelation and deliverance. Over and over in the creation narrative we read 'God said . . . and it was so'. Ps 33:6 states 'By the word of the Lord the heavens were made'.

The Gospel of John, F.F. Bruce