John 1:1 (Prologue) contains three short phrases. Each phrase builds upon the other creating a parallelism — “in the beginning was the Word (logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Prologue draws on the Word of God in the Old Testament. The creation accounts in Genesis reveal creation from God’s spoken word. He spoke creation into existence, He spoke through the law at Sinai. He spoke to and through the prophets. The Word in John reflects both the word and deed of God. The Word links with Jewish wisdom tradition. In Proverbs 8:22-31, Wisdom has been God’s companion “before the beginning of the earth,” working alongside God 
to accomplish God’s plan for humanity. John reshapes the wisdom tradition to reflect the historical reality of the incarnation. In the use of logos, then, John has chosen a term familiar to both Jews and Greeks, but uses it in a new context.
John 1:1 stresses the eternal existence of the Word with God, an existence outside the bounds of time and history. The opening words of John 1:1, “in the beginning…,” recall the first words of Gen 1:1, but point to a time before the creation of the world. Creation is not spoken of until John 1:3. The eternal Word will not stay outside of time and history. The Word enters into our history. The contrast between the eternal and the temporal is seen in the contrast of the “to be” verb with the verb “to become” or “to come into being.” John proclaims that the Word is fully God. This is similar to Paul in Philippians 2:6 when he reveals that Jesus “was in the form of God” and was equal to God. Through this phrase, John states that the Word is what God is and the Word does what God does. John tells us that when one sees Jesus, one sees God; when one hears Jesus, one hears God (e.g., John 5:37-38; John 8:19; John 14:9-11). The oneness of the Word and God means that the revelation spoken and enacted by the Word makes God known (John 1:18).
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