Ver. 1. In the beginning] Here this heavenly eagle, John the Divine, soars at first out of sight (ο θεολογος κατ εξοχην). Here doth God detonate ab alto, thunder from on high, saith Calvin. St Austin stands amazed at the mystical divinity here delivered. This barbarian (said the philosopher, concerning our evangelist) hath comprised more stupendous stuff in three lines than we have done in all our voluminous discourses. Happy had it been for him if he had been made, by this first chapter, of an atheist, a true Christian, as learned Junius was. But he only admired it, and so left it where he found it; as too many do the Word at this day. Was the Word] Personal, and enunciative. Isaiah, Isaiah 6:1, saw him on the throne, and heard him speaking; Daniel, Daniel 8:13, calleth him Palmoni hammedabber, “that excellent speaker,” and asketh him of the vision; the Syriac interpreter here calleth him Meltha, “the Word uttered”; and the Chaldee, Pithgam Adonai, “the Lord, the Word.” And the Word was with God] Which sweetly sets forth his co-eternity and co-existency with the Father (το συναιδιον και ενυποστατον), saith Chrysostom. Moscopulus renders it, secundum Deum according to God, as being the express image of the Father. Others, ad Deum; to God, as importing a deliberation and conference of the Father and the Son. And the Word was God] θεος, without an article: hence the Arians cavil that the Son is not God co-equal, but a secondary God, inferior to the Father. See Galatians 1:3. The Father is also called θεος, without an article: therefore this follows not. This whole Gospel is a continuate demonstration of Christ’s Deity, which began to be denied, while this evangelist lived, by Ebion, Cerinthus, and other odious antichrists. Amel. Platonic. ap. Clem. Alex. Funccius ia Vita Sua, Operib. praefix.
Ver. 2. The same was in the beginning] In the instant of creation, as Genesis 1:1, therefore also before the creation, therefore from eternity, Ephesians 1:4 1Pe 1:10 Pr 8:22,23. “The Lord possessed me” (saith Christ, the essential Wisdom of God there) “in the beginning of his way.” Arius corrupted the Greek text, reading it thus, “The Lord created me in the beginning,” &c.; and therehence blasphemously inferred that Christ was no more than a creature. But he was “set up from everlasting from the beginning, or ever the earth was,” Proverbs 8:23 Ps 45:6. Hence he is called the “Ancient of days,” Daniel 7:9. And Thales, one of the seven Sages of Greece, styleth him, “The most ancient of anything that hath being,” πρεσβυτατον των οντων. With God] Being alius another from his Father, not aliud; a distinct person, yet co-essential and co-eternal; for he was with him in the beginning of “the creature which God created,” as himself speaketh, Mark 13:19. Hinc Iohannes augustum illud et magnificum Evangelis sui initium assumpsit. Mercer in loc. For εκτησε in place of εκτισε. Uncta sum in reginam et dominatricem oleo loetitiae. Psalms 45:6.
Ver. 3. All things were made by him] So he was not idle with the Father (though he were his darling, sporting always before him, Proverbs 8:30), but by him, as by a principal efficient and co-agent with the Father and the Holy Ghost, all things were made; as some shadow and obscure representation of his wisdom, power, goodness, &c., seen in the creature, as the sun is seen in water, or as letters refracted in a pair of spectacles are beheld by a dim eye. We can see but God’s back parts, and live; we need see no more, that we may live, Exodus 33:23. And without him was nothing made] This is added for the more certainty: it being usual with the Hebrews, thus by negation to confirm what they have before affirmed, where they would assure that the thing is so indeed; as Psalms 92:15 Joh 7:18.
Ver. 4. In him was life] As he created, so he quickeneth and conserveth all, being the Prince and principle of life, Acts 3:15; both of natural life, Acts 17:28 (the heathen could say as much), and of spiritual, 1 John 5:12. Hence his members are called “heirs of the grace of life,” 1 Peter 3:7, and all others are said to be “dead in trespasses and sins,” Ephesians 2:1, living carcases, walking sepulchres of themselves. In most families (as in Egypt, Exodus 12:40) there is not one, but many dead corpses, as being “alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them,” Ephesians 4:18. Est Deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo. This is a God in us, we are warmed by that stirring.
Ver. 5. And the light shineth] The light both of nature and of Scripture. The former is but a dim half-light, a rush candle, that will light a man but into utter darkness. The latter is a clear thorough light: the commandment is a lamp, et lex, lux, and the law is light, Proverbs 6:23. As for the gospel, it is set up as a beacon on a hill, Titus 2:11, επεφανη, or as the sun in the firmament, Luke 1:78,79, bringing “life and immortality to light,” 2 Timothy 1:10; where God by his Holy Spirit enlighteneth organ and object, Acts 26:18, and shineth on the heart, in the face of Jesus Christ, 2 Corinthians 4:6. And the darkness comprehendeth it not] Nor will be comprehended by it, Philippians 3:12, but repels it, rebels against it, Job 24:13; imprisons it, as those wizards did, Romans 1:18; spurns at it (as Balaam the devil’s spelman did, Numbers 24:1,2, when he set his face toward the wilderness, and resolved to curse howsoever); execrates it, as the Ethiopians do the rising sun. (Herodot.) The morning is to such as the shadow of death, Job 24:17; for being born in hell, they seek no other heaven.