John 1:1-18  

Before the beginning of time was intelligent power. That power was not only in God; it was God. He was the presence of God at the beginning of time. Through him all things were granted being, and apart from him not one thing had being at all. That which had being in him was life, and this life was the light of humanity. That light shines in the darkness still as the darkness did not comprehend it. [A man was sent by God, a man named John, who came to give testimony to the meaning of the light so that humanity might believe in it. He himself was not the light. The actual light that gives itself to everyone was coming into the world.] The one who was the light was in the world that was made through him; yet the world did not see him as such. To his own he came, yet his own did not accept him. But all who did accept him were by their accepting given power to become children of God, who are the ones who believe in his nature, i.e. those born not from blood, not as a result of sexual desire of humans, but from God. And this intelligent power became human flesh and lived among us. And we have seen how high is his esteem as of a father's only son, overflowing with loveliness of truth and love. [John bore witness to him and spoke up, saying, "This is the one of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me.'"] Out of his fullness have we all received the loveliness of truth. The law was indeed given through Moses, but the loveliness of this truth came through Jesus the anointed one. No one has seen God ever. Rather it is the only son always at the father's side who has made him known.  (Translated and paraphrased by Harry T. Cook.)

* * * * * 

The first 18 verses of According to John (known as that gospel's prologue) are among the most remarkable in scripture both for what they say and what they left unsaid (see Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 2:1-20). Most research yields the working hypothesis that portions of the passages are strophes or movements of a poetic hymn the origins of which are unknown. A good case can be made that the prologue is a Greek translation of a primary Aramaic text, as in fact some of the hymns in Luke's infancy narrative may have been originally composed in Aramaic.

The extant Greek, however, is redolent of Hellenist themes. The use of several potent Greek terms λογος-- logos (intelligent force), ζωη -- zōay (life), σκοτια -- skotia (darkness), phōs -- ψως (light), κοσμος -- kosmos (world), σαρζ -- sarx (flesh), χαρις -- charis (loveliness or grace) and αληθεια -- alaytheia (truth) -- tells us that one or more of the authors of this gospel were deeply affected by the Hellenist culture in which they lived and had their being, deciding at some level to cast their account in terms and forms that would be accessible to Greek-speaking and Greek-thinking Gentiles.

First and second strophes: While his "in the beginning" (εν αρχη -- en archay) is reminiscent of Genesis 1:1 (bayrashith), John doesn't mean "at the inception," but "before the beginning of time" or "during the formation of what would become time and space." Logos, which appears in the work of Heraclitus as "cosmic-divine potency," becomes much later Paul Tillich's "Ground and Source of Being." It is said to be the agent of all (παντα -- panta) and the source and impetus of the entirety of life.

In logos was zōay (life), i.e. psychic and material existence, so "that which has been made was life in him." That life was the phōs (light) of all people. Psychic and material existence came into being through logos in all the varieties and forms present in the kosmos (the world). Arrayed against life-light is darkness (skotia), the absence of light and therefore of life. Here John is at his most dualistic, virtually positing the opposing poles of good and evil. It is John's "dark matter" or "black hole in space," to use the nomenclature of modern astrophysics. But the light that proceeds from life brought life in the midst of darkness and the darkness did not lay hold upon it; it could not touch it.

At v. 6, John makes a sharp turn away from timeless philosophy to an identifiable time and person of history.  The time is toward the end of the first third of the first century CE, and the person is John -- no doubt the Baptizer. Virtually all who study the prologue agree that vv. 6-8 and 15 represent editorial additions to or interruptions between the second and third strophes and splitting the fourth. The purpose of the first interruption is to tie the historical figure of Jesus to logos. The interruption is faithful to the Jewish tradition that "he who is to come" will have before him in both time and space a herald or announcer.

John the Evangelist makes certain that his readers will understand that John the Baptizer was not "the true light that was coming into the world," neither the personification of logos. The evangelist's effort on this point may have been to blunt any movement of late first century C.E. Jewish or gentile Christians toward following John rather than Jesus. Thus endeth the first interruption.

Third strophe: true light phōs coming into the world -- kosmos. Logos as light was part of kosmos for the existence of which he was responsible. Why did not kosmos know him? Because he was not what kosmos expected or desired?  John seems to be making the point that logos was the dabar of Hebrew, viz. the word of Yahweh that would stand forever (Isaiah 40:8), yet he was rejected by much of Judaism. But to those who did accept the light/life/truth/grace that constituted the sent one was given the power to become God's children. Or another translation: "God authenticated them as his posterity."

Fourth strophe: logos becomes sarx (flesh) and makes its home (or dwelling or even "pitches a tent") among us (humanity in the individual and collective sense of the word), and his esteem and his reputation δοζα -- (doxa) is seen, even as God himself is not seen. Interesting, as if the evangelist cannot quite make up his mind as he once again grounds us in particular time and space with his second interruption, having the John (presumably the Baptizer) say even more directly that he is not The One, because "he existed before me." Look for a fuller treatment of this idea at John 8:58 where the evangelist puts on Jesus' lips the words, "Before Abraham was, I am."

Here are 18 verses rich in Hellenist philosophy and early Christian theology spread before the exegete, the expositor and, finally, the homilist. At hand is a syntactical skotia that may or may not be overcome by careful, patient hours in the study with books open, half-drunk cups of cold coffee cluttering desks, many a hand run through many a head of hair, back-spacing of computer keyboard or typewriter, pens run out of ink and preachers out of patience. The default position is to go back to Luke 2: 1-20 with its no-vacancy inn, lowing cattle, angel choir and Darryl and his other brothers Darryl filing into to worship the newborn king. Congregations love that stuff.

NOTE: Working homilists and teachers of scripture might wish to spend some time with John S. Spong's new book on According to John: The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic. New York, NY. Harper Collins, 2013. ISBN 978-0-06-201130-5