The Gospel of John Prologue: Exegesis of Verses 1–5

Introduction: The Prologue and Its Controversies

Throughout history, the Gospel According to John has provoked both thought and controversy, especially concerning its enigmatic and problematic prologue. Many scholars have felt that it is out of place and does not flow with the rest of the epistle, while others find it moving and rich with imagery and ontology — concerning not only the nature of God, but the nature of man as well. There is also speculation that the prologue was derived from a hymn and is not solely the work of John, but adapted by him for this introduction. Many Biblical scholars also believe there is an obvious similarity with the opening words of the Bible in Genesis, thus creating a connection between the Old and New Testaments that may have been purposeful and intended. Many others refute this view as well. Regardless of its origin, the prologue — as well as the Gospel of John itself — has become a cornerstone of theological canon and Biblical exegesis.

While the prologue itself encompasses the first eighteen verses, this paper concerns itself with the first five:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.
4 What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people;
5 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:1–5)

Structure of the Gospel and the Hymnic Origins of the Prologue

The Gospel itself is divided by most scholars into five main sections: the Introduction, which contains the prologue and the testimony of John to Jesus; the Book of Signs; the Farewell Discourses and Prayer for the Church; the Passion Narrative; and the Epilogue — the Appearance of Jesus in Galilee (Perrin and Duling 347). Perrin and Duling further comment on the nature of the hymn as a true prologue:

"The hymn itself presents features foreign to the gospel — in the gospel after the prologue Jesus is never called the Logos nor is the phrase grace and truth found — but its presentation of Jesus as the preexistent redeemer who manifested his glory in the world matches exactly the major aspects of the gospel's presentation of Jesus. In its presentation of Jesus as the redeemer who descends to the world the hymn shares the emphasis of the other christological hymns." (Perrin and Duling 348)

Brodie believes that this "problem" exists not only at the beginning of the Gospel but at the end as well: "It is also generally agreed that the beginning and end of the gospel stand out in some way; and so, for this and other reasons, the beginning and end are frequently referred to respectively as the prologue and epilogue." (Brodie 21) However, Brodie, along with other scholars, sees this as perhaps a connective literary device that attempts to bring together the Old and New Testaments. "It is connected, obviously, to the question of the relationship between the two testaments, and it raises a difficult problem: how can a steadfast God, having solemnly established what seems to be a permanent covenant, inaugurate an order that is quite new?" (Brodie 243)

Brodie also accounts for the difference in style as a matter of interspersing poetry and prose in order to express the prologue's — and indeed the entire Gospel's — central theme:

"...the descent of the (soaring, poetic) Word into the (prosaic) reality of human life. In other words, the increasing mixing of Word with flesh is reflected in the increasing mixing of poetry with prose, and the persistent failure of scholars to disentangle the poetry is a reflection of something more basic: God — insofar as God is known — cannot be disentangled from humanity." (Brodie 134)

While this passage may at first appear to create some disunity from the whole of the work, its poetry is certainly part and parcel of the inspiration of the evangelical message that John attempts to put forward. While there is certainly evidence of a traditional hymn and a redaction by the author (Kysar 164), the passage creates lasting imagery that is essential to understanding its message. Kysar offers this assessment:

"My own view is that the passage is composed of four interlocking human images with an expansion of the last of those images, followed by an explicitly theological image... I mean to suggest that we understand genre only after the structure and unity or disunity of the passage is considered. Genre arises from function. I use the word human only as a way of distinguishing the images having to do with Jesus' relationship with humans as opposed to the theological image." (Kysar 165)

Kysar further notes that many scholars have belittled this passage and called the authenticity of the section into question. Bultmann, Brown, Lindars, and Robinson all feel that it is simply a hodgepodge of different passages and hymns strewn together, while Dodd described it as "the wreckage of two parables fused into one, the fusion having partly destroyed the original form of both" (Kysar 164). They all seem to miss the point in one important respect: "What is said of creation in 1:3–4 bears upon an individual's proper self-understanding; it has to do with the reader's proper sense of creatureliness. Hence, it is liturgical and confessional in nature rather than speculative." (Kysar 12)

The Logos, Genesis, and the Connection Between Testaments

This broad question of the relationship between the Testaments is certainly of paramount concern to biblical and Talmudic scholars (Pitkin 96), and perhaps it was John's intention to answer just such a question through a more creative understanding of the process. This may be why the wording is strikingly similar to that of the first verses of Genesis:

"Two scriptural associations with this passage need to be noted. First, it seems to recall Gen. 1:1. This link is solidified by examining the similarity between the Greek of Jn. 1:1 (En arche en ho logos ...) and the Septuagint of Gen. 1:1 (En arche epoiesen ho theos ...). The first two words, translated 'In the beginning,' are identical, while the fourth word in the nominative case in each identifies the divine being." (Celsor 3)

Translation and transliteration may have created more of a difference between the texts than is actually present in current versions, and this — combined with cultural variances — has often challenged the minds of biblical scholars (Brodie 13).

The Word, Logos, Christ, and God become an interwoven texture whose threads are indiscernible from the whole tapestry of life, according to John's interpretation. There are two paramount questions espoused by this prologue and the entire Gospel of John: Where do we come from? Where are we going? The evangelical answer is that for the believer, "Jesus comes from the Father, makes the Father known, and in so doing, brings light and salvation to the world. These are glad tidings, the euangelion of the gospel, that the kingdom of God is really among us." ("Adveniat Regnum Tuum" 5)

Conclusion: The Prologue as Revelation

Taking the Gospel of John as a whole and the prologue in particular, one must remember that it is primarily a tale of revelation and not necessarily cosmological or even theological speculation and argument. In some sense the entire Gospel itself is akin to a liturgical hymn, so it is no mystery that many feel that it begins that way. The images in the prologue reveal the experience, as John sees it, of encountering and understanding the nature of God within and without. "It arises then not out of philosophical or even theological reflection but out of the self-understanding of the worshipping community." (Kysar 12) Pitkin echoes this sentiment and the idea of the revelatory experience for the community:

"The Gospel of John... shares with the Pauline writings a thoroughly reflective explication of Christological faith. While clearly concerned with the question of the origin of faith, the Gospel's main interest is to establish the firm ground of faith in Christ precisely to foster the community's endurance." (Pitkin 96)

Recent research — dominated by questions of oral tradition and the vast influence of various languages, translations, and liturgies (Brodie 133) — still largely supports the view that the prologue derives from some yet-undiscovered hymn. As evidenced above, there are certainly good reasons to support this view: the changes in text from poetry to prose and the subsequent shift in flow to the narrative of John do initially appear out of place. This has resulted in a long and belabored discussion of the structure of the prologue and the effort to find the "hypothetical hymn" (Brodie 134), with less attention given to its content and meaning for Christians today. Presently there is an egocentric tendency when attempting to understand ourselves in relation to the world through art, music, science, economics, and politics. "Increasingly, we define ourselves in nontheological, nonbiblical terms. We cast ourselves in our own image, and our goals are self-determined and self-referential." ("Adveniat Regnum Tuum" 7)

Paradoxical and often cryptic, this prologue has sparked great debate and has generated tremendous dialogue in the search for truth and understanding of what it means to be divine — and what it means to be human. In a sense, this passage suggests that there is less difference between the two than earlier biblical references may indicate. "What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people." (John 1:4) This divine light is therefore present in us all, and our very nature is, by that inference, divine.

Works Cited

"Adveniat Regnum Tuum." Commonweal 17 Dec. 2004: 5–7.

Augustine. Tractates on the Gospel of John. Trans. John W. Rettig. Vol. 5. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1988.

Barnes, Michel Rene. "Augustine in Contemporary Trinitarian Theology." Theological Studies 56.2 (1995): 237–250.

Brodie, Thomas L. The Gospel According to John: A Literary and Theological Commentary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Celsor, Scott A. "'God's Grace Effects What He Declares': Scriptural Support for the Agreement on Justification in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification and Salvation and the Church." Journal of Ecumenical Studies 39.3–4 (2002): 289–299.

"Conflict and Christology in the Fourth Gospel." Irish Biblical Studies 19 (1997): 98–120.

Dunn, Geoffrey D. "Divine Impassibility and Christology in the Christmas Homilies of Leo the Great." Theological Studies 62.1 (2001): 71.

Kuehn, Evan F. "The Johannine Logic of Augustine's Trinity: A Dogmatic Sketch." Theological Studies 68.3 (2007): 572–581.

Kysar, Robert. Voyages with John: Charting the Fourth Gospel. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2005.

O'Leary, Joseph S. "Emptiness and Dogma." Buddhist-Christian Studies (2002): 163–177.

Ormerod, Neil. "Augustine's De Trinitate and Lonergan's Realms of Meaning." Theological Studies 64.4 (2003): 773–789.

Perrin, Norman, and Dennis C. Duling. The New Testament, an Introduction: Proclamation and Parenesis, Myth and History. 2nd ed. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982.

Pitkin, Barbara. What Pure Eyes Could See: Calvin's Doctrine of Faith in Its Exegetical Context. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.