Advent Passage: John 1:1-18

Earlier this week, we discussed how the Gospel accounts of Matthew and Luke both point to Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises. Today, we’ll explore how the Gospel of John adds to this understanding.

John does not include a genealogy of Jesus in his Gospel, but his opening phrase—“In the beginning”—connects Jesus straight back to creation by repeating Genesis 1:1 (John 1:1). While the genealogies of Matthew and Luke teach us about Jesus in relationship to God’s people, John’s description reveals the presence of Jesus as fully God from the beginning.

John describes Jesus as the Word. By naming Jesus this way, he asserts that Jesus is God, a full participant of the Trinity along with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not part of creation; He is its Creator. Jesus always existed and always will.

This distinction counters claims that Jesus was merely a human prophet or just a good guy. Rather, Jesus is God incarnate on earth. Just as the angel proclaimed to Joseph, Jesus is “Immanuel—which means, ‘God with us.’” (Matthew 1:23).

John’s choice to call Jesus “the Word” also points back to creation. The Greek term for the Word is logos, meaning something spoken.[1] The root verb is lego, meaning a broken silence. [2] God spoke creation into existence when He broke His silence over it. With His voice, He created life and the light to sustain it.

As the Word, Jesus’ coming broke God’s silence and lit up the hearts of humanity. He created a new way for us to relate to Him: by faith instead of through the law.

Jesus enlightened our hearts so that the darkness cannot overcome us. Jesus was always present, throughout the generations in Mary’s Song, but He came into the world to bring grace and truth so that we might all understand ourselves as God’s children.

We were His from the beginning of creation, but through Jesus, we are able to perceive it. That understanding is the dawning light of Jesus, and no scheme that seeks to divide, distort, or destroy that light has ever or will ever extinguish it.

Knowing this brings new meaning to the lights of Christmas! Every pinprick of light piercing the night reminds us that “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

[1] James Strong, The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1996), s.v. “logo,” #G3056.

[2] Strong, s.v. “lego,” #G3004.

© 2025 Lori Myers Berry

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