The apostle John is being quite systematic in his approach. He is building a case for the total divinity of the Word. He leads off with a statement of faith (verse 1). Now he is breaking it down (verses 2ff). These are qualities of God being applied to this mysterious “Word” who has yet to be identified. There is no question John wants to make sure there no doubt remains about the status of this entity.
The first divine
quality ascribed to the Word is “The One who Is Forever.” Just as God has no beginning or end, so the
Word exists as long as God exists. The
moment when God did not exist cannot be fathomed since without God nothing is. Existing for eternity past is a quality
reserved for God alone. All creation
finds its beginning in God, and flows from God, but God, in turn, has no source. God forever is—period. The Word shares that
quality.
There is now a
second quality that is being attributed to the Word —“The Creator.” While we as
created beings can create from material that exists, only God claims to create ex nihilo—out of nothing. It is an innate quality of God to
create. It can be said that God has
forever been creating, first the matter from which all other things have come
to be, but also at times simply by speaking them into existence (See Genesis 1,
Psalm 33:9). God is defined by that
which He creates. Now the Word is given
that title, not because it needs to be, but because there is no way to separate
the two. The Word is Creator.
The statement is
comprehensive in nature. It does not limit
the creative activity of the Word to what was originally created, but to all
that is created. In a sense, all the
ability of the created to subsequently create is derived from God. We create because the Word who originally
created us placed the desire and ability to create within us—a little piece of
the Word. I like that. We are undeniably like our Creator—He made
sure of that. How does that impact what
we do with that ability?
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