John 1:1

Who is Jesus? part 2

The epic tale of Jesus kicks off in style! Matthew starts with Joseph finding out Mary is expecting, and then bam! Wise men pop up from the East. Meanwhile, in Luke’s Gospel, we’ve got angelic visitations left and right – first to Mary, then to some startled shepherds in the fields. Oh, and Mark? No time for a nativity, straight to the action-packed ministry of Jesus!

John’s nativity story, on the other hand, represents a provocative and enigmatic philosophical exploration of the Word, creation, and light.

In the beginning …

John 1:1 ESVUK

The account of John beautifully begins with the same three words as the Old Testament book Genesis, “In the beginning.”

“Whoa, that’s all wrong,” you might exclaim if you’re a biblical Hebrew or Greek expert. Genesis kicks off with just one Hebrew word, while John’s Gospel starts with a whopping two words. The funny thing is, in English translations, they look the same! But hear me out, I’m sticking to my guns that they are indeed the same, and John is not just making a mistake.He’s quoting from the Septuagint, an ancient translation of the Hebrew and Aramaic Jewish scriptures into Greek. John is doing it all on purpose, taking it back to the beginning of time and letting us know that the story of Jesus kicks off right there. Pretty clever, huh?

If Jesus was there at creation, it follows that Jesus has always been here.

I’ll just let it be. I’ll save the profound thoughts about whether we can refer to him as Jesus pre-nativity for another blog post.

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