Before Time Began: What John 1:1 Reveals About Jesus That Will Change How You Read the Entire Gospel
GOSPEL OF JOHN SERIES • DAY 1 OF 32 • LENT 2026
Understanding the 'Logos' in John 1:1-5 unlocks the whole story: here's why the Apostle John started with eternity instead of Bethlehem
📖 John 1:1-5 | ⏱️ 5 min read | 💡 Key Insights | ✝️ Church Fathers
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:1-5, NABRE)
Why does John skip the birth story?
Matthew gives us the genealogy. Luke gives us the stable and the shepherds. Mark jumps straight to John the Baptist. But when the Apostle John sits down to write his Gospel (likely the last of the four to be written), he doesn't start with Mary, or Bethlehem, or even the manger.
He starts before creation itself.
This isn't an accident. This is strategy. John knows that if we're going to understand anything Jesus said or did, if we're going to make sense of the miracles, the teachings, the cross, the empty tomb, we need to know who he is before we see what he does.
So John takes us to eternity. "In the beginning was the Word." Not "In the beginning the Word was created." Just: "was."
That one word changes everything. Because if you're going to spend the next 32 days walking through this Gospel with me, you need to know from day one: the man who will wash feet in chapter 13, who will hang on a cross in chapter 19, who will rise from the dead in chapter 20? He's the one who made the stars.
What 'Logos' Meant (And Why It Blew People's Minds)
When John wrote Logos ("the Word"), he was using a word that would have made both Greeks and Jews sit up and pay attention.
To Greek readers: The Logos was the rational principle holding the universe together, the "divine reason" behind everything. Greek philosophers had been talking about the Logos for centuries as an impersonal force, a cosmic organizing principle.
To Jewish readers: "The Word of the Lord" was how God created ("God said, 'Let there be light'"), how God revealed himself to the prophets ("The word of the Lord came to Isaiah"), and how God acted in history. God's Word wasn't just information. It was power.
John's bombshell: This Logos you've all been talking about? He's not an "it." He's a person. And I know his name.
⚡ KEY INSIGHT: "The Word was with God" and "the Word was God." How can both be true? The Word is distinct from the Father (they're in relationship, face to face) but fully shares the divine nature. Think of it this way: Jesus isn't a god among many. He's not just godlike. He is God. Fully. Completely. Yet he's also distinct from the Father. This is the mystery of the Trinity beginning to unfold.
The Word Who Made Everything
Here's where it gets even bigger. "All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be."
All things. No exceptions. Every atom, every star, every moment of time exists because the Word spoke it into existence. If it exists, Jesus made it. Including you.
And what the Word creates, he fills with life. Not just biological life, but life in the fullest sense. The kind of life that finds its source in God himself. This is what John means when he says, "What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race."
Life and light. These two words are going to echo through the whole Gospel. Jesus will say "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). He'll say "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25). He'll say "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). It all starts here, in verse 4.
Light Shining in Darkness
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
This is both a statement of fact and a promise. The Word's light has been shining since the beginning. And no matter how deep the darkness gets, no matter how much evil there is in the world, the darkness cannot put out the light. Cannot comprehend it. Cannot overpower it. Cannot extinguish it.
This is the promise we carry into Lent: no matter how deep the darkness of our sin, Christ's light still shines. The darkness couldn't stop it then. It can't stop it now.
What the Early Christians Saw in This
St. Augustine marveled at how John starts his Gospel: "He does not say, 'In the beginning the Word was made,' but, 'In the beginning was the Word.' The world was made. But the Word was. What was made had a beginning; but He through whom all things were made existed before all that was made."
Do you see what Augustine is saying? John isn't describing when the Word began, because the Word never began. He always was. He is eternal.
St. John Chrysostom preached to his congregation: "When you hear 'In the beginning was,' understand that He was before all things. 'Was' is spoken of the Son, not as having a beginning, but as being without beginning."
For these early Christians, John's opening words were an invitation to worship. To recognize that the baby in Bethlehem, the teacher in Galilee, the crucified one on Calvary is none other than the eternal God who has always been.
Why This Changes Everything
Here's why John starts with eternity instead of Bethlehem: because every human heart is searching for answers to the same questions.
Why am I here?
What's the point of it all?
How should I live?
We try to answer these through success, relationships, achievements, experiences. Anything to fill the void. Anything to find meaning.
John's answer? A person.
The eternal Word. All your searching, all your striving, all your questions find their answer in him. He is the Logos, the meaning behind everything, the truth that makes sense of all truth, the life that gives purpose to every moment.
YOUR LENTEN PRACTICE THIS WEEK:
Verse 5 says "the light shines in the darkness." What shadows in your life need Christ's light? Name one fear you won't voice, one sin you keep hidden, one doubt you're afraid to admit. Write it down. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. Bring your darkness to his light this Lent.
What Does This Mean for You?
As you begin this Lenten journey, you're invited to bring your darkness to his light. What are the shadowed corners of your life: the fears you won't name, the sins you keep hidden, the doubts you're afraid to voice?
The light shines in the darkness. It has always been shining, even when you couldn't see it. The Word who spoke galaxies into being speaks still, calling you by name, inviting you deeper into the light.
This Lent is not primarily about what you give up. It's about whom you receive. It's about opening yourself to the One who is himself the answer to every human longing. The Word exists from eternity not to give us information about God, but to give us God himself.
As you prepare for the days ahead (the fasting, the almsgiving, the prayer), remember why we do this. We fast not to earn God's favor but to hunger for the Bread of Life. We give not to check a box but to participate in the Word's self-giving love. We pray not to inform God of our needs but to open ourselves to the eternal conversation of love.
For Reflection
Take a moment in silence. In the beginning was the Word: before your problems, before your past, before anything you fear or anything you've done. The Word who is God has been pursuing you from before the foundation of the world. He is pursuing you still.
What would it mean to stop searching for meaning in lesser things and to rest in the Word himself? What darkness in your life needs his light today?
Eternal Word, you who were in the beginning with God and were God, speak into the darkness of my heart. Let your light shine where I have preferred shadow. Help me to see that you are the answer to every question I've been asking, the meaning I've been seeking, the life I've been longing for. As I walk through these forty days, open my eyes to see you more clearly, my ears to hear you more truly, and my heart to love you more deeply. Amen.
