John reaffirms and elaborates the core truths from the previous verse, namely that the Word was in the beginning from the beginning and that He is the Creator of all things.
He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (vv 2-3).
John continues: He was in the beginning with God (v 2).
The pronoun—He—refers to “the Word” (the “Logos”) from John 1:1John 1:1 commentary.
The beginning refers to thebeginning of the world, when God created the heavens and the earth, “In the beginning” (Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary)
John’s statement, He was in the beginning with God reaffirms and combines the core truths of the first and second phrases of John 1:1John 1:1 commentary, commentary
“In the beginning was the Word…”
“…and the Word was with God…”
The first part of John 1:2John 1:2 commentary—He was in the beginning—reinforces that He (Jesus/the Word) is eternal. The phrase mirrors: “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1aJohn 1:1a commentary). Within the first two verses of his gospel account, John asserts in two different ways the essential truth that the Word is eternal and existed before the beginning of the world.
John 1:1John 1:1 commentary states this truth by opening with the setting “In the beginning,” before moving to the Person “was the Word.”
John 2:2John 2:2 commentary opens with the Person before referencing the moment—the Word already was in the beginning.
John’s restatement and rephrasing of this simple but profound truth emphasizes its significance and helps ensure that this important fact is not overlooked.
John’s statement He was in the beginning echoes Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary, commentary which says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary describes the action which God did in the beginning—create “the heavens and the earth.” John 1:1John 1:1 commentary and 1:21:2 commentary describe God’s eternal existence—He was in the beginning.
The second core truth John 1:2John 1:2 commentary readdresses is that He (Jesus/the Word) is divine and co-equal with God.
The clause at the end of John 1:2John 1:2 commentary—He was in the beginning with God—reinforces the core truth of the middle statement of John 1:1John 1:1 commentary—“and the Word was with God.”
The statement He was in the beginning with God emphasizes that He (Jesus/the Word) was both distinct from and on the same level with God.
The book of Hebrews more explicitly makes the point that Jesus was equal with God. It claims that Jesus is “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3aHebrews 1:3a commentary).
Colossians describes Jesus as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15Colossians 1:15 commentary).
“The firstborn of all creation” means He is the ruler over all that is. As God, He was already the ruler of all when He came to earth as a human. He set aside His divinity to put on human flesh that He might redeem us from our sin (Philippians 2:5-9Philippians 2:5-9 commentary). As a result of His obedience, He was given all authority as a human (Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18 commentary). Thus, Jesus now has the authority of God as God and as a human. So He is the Creator of all things as well as a part of the creation. As the “firstborn” of all creation, He reigns over all.
From a Greek perspective, (as explained in the Bible Says commentary for John 1:1John 1:1 commentary) the thought that “the Logos” (the Greek term for “Word”) was with God aligned with their philosophers’ idea that the Logos was the founding principle that established the order of creation. When the creation of the world took place in the beginning, He (the Logos/Word) was already with God.
From both a Jewish and Greek perspective, the idea that He (Jesus/the Word) was with God point to His divine and eternal nature.
John emphasized the Word’s eternality to demonstrate that He (Jesus/the Word) was not created. He is coequal with God. And indeed, Jesus is God (John 1:1cJohn 1:1c commentary).
John 1:1-2John 1:1-2 commentary introduce the Word as the eternal God. The next thing John tells his readers is what He (Jesus/the Word) has done. Instead of being created, Jesus/the Word was God, the Creator. This will be the third core truth of John 1:1John 1:1 commentary that John restates.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (v 3).
After strongly alluding to the Word’s role in creation during John’s Genesis-like opening: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1aJohn 1:1a commentary), the author of this gospel now explicitly and emphatically asserts that He (Jesus/the Word) created all things.
John states the same truth as Genesis 1Genesis 1 commentary. But John 1John 1 commentary and commentaryGenesis 1Genesis 1 commentary are phrased differently. Genesis phrases this claim with God as the subject and creation as the direct object:
Instead, John phrases this truth with creation as the subject and God as the direct object:
All things came into being through Him (v 3a)
In other words, having introduced the Word as the eternal God in John 1:1-2John 1:1-2 commentary, commentary John now works from creation and explains how all things have their origin through the Word.
The construction of Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary flows from cause to effect: Creator God to creation. The construction of John 1:3John 1:3 commentary runs in the opposite direction and completes the logical circuit, from effect back to its cause: All things back to the Word.
John 1:3John 1:3 commentary asserts how all things were created though the Word twice. He states this fact both positively and negatively. He states this both ways to cut off any potential misunderstanding that Jesus is God, the Creator.
First, John states this core truth positively: All things came into begin through Him.
The term all things means every individual thing that has being or existence. The phrase come into being means “come into existence.”
The fuller expression—All things came into being through Him—not only refers to all things which presently exist, it also includes all the things which have ever existed in the past and all the things which are yet to exist in the future.
All things include all the things mentioned in the Genesis 1Genesis 1 commentary account of creation:
All things also includes all living things and physical creatures from human beings made in His image (Genesis 1:26-27Genesis 1:26-27 commentary) all the way down to microbes. He (Jesus/the Word) did not just create all living things, He established life itself, for “in Him was life” (John 1:4aJohn 1:4a commentary).
All things also includes every physical particle and all the matter or material substance within the cosmos. And all things includes the following things about each type of matter:
The distinctive properties of all these various materials.
The laws of physics and nature, and the limits of the universe itself—
All the space within the physical universe.
All things also includes the nature of all things.
God created the properties of all things with their potentials and limits.
God established the rules and natural law that govern all things which determine how they naturally respond to different stimuli—light, heat, other material elements, and various forces.
Moreover, all things includes everything within the spiritual world:
All the angelic beings,
All the heavenly places,
The moral fabric of reality.
All these things (and everything else that has or will have existence) came into being through Him (Jesus/the Word). He is the Creator of all that is. This also includes boundaries of authority, and those who are given authority to reign.
Paul explains all of this to the Colossian church when he writes of Jesus:
“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.” (Colossians 1:16Colossians 1:16 commentary)
Additionally, after stating that Jesus is “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3aHebrews 1:3a commentary), the author of Hebrews goes on to say that Jesus “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3bHebrews 1:3b commentary).
Having described how all things came into being through Him (Jesus, the Word) with a positive truth statement, John then states this same truth with a negative truth statement by declaring that not a single thing exists outside of His agency:
And apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (v 3b).
Positive truth claims affirm a particular truth about reality. John 1:3aJohn 1:3a commentary declares the Word’s comprehensive role in creation: He (Jesus, the Word) is the Creator of all things.
Negative truth claims are also powerful because they exclude any potential counterarguments, by eliminating false claims as untrue.
The negative assertion of John 1:3bJohn 1:3b commentary—apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being—rules out any exception to the positive claim of John 1:3aJohn 1:3a commentary that all things were created by Jesus.
The combination of positive and negative truth claims in John 1:3John 1:3 commentary serves to reinforce the completeness and exclusivity of the Word's creative power and the totality of this truth claim. Taken together, the positive and negative statements form a comprehensive truth claim and leave no room for ambiguity.
All things owe their existence—their very being—to Jesus. Nothing which has being and exists, exists apart from Him.
These dual statements strengthen one another and assert that He (Jesus/the Word) is the sole source of all creation, affirming His preeminence and role as the Creator of all existence.
As the Word, Jesus is the Creator of all that is. Jesus has unmatched authority over all things. This means that Jesus has authority over everything and everyone. The claims He makes carry the authority of God Himself. He is over all kingdoms and has authority over all political and religious leaders. He has authority over all people. And He has authority over you and me. The instructions and commands that He speaks (many of which are recorded in John’s gospel) have absolute authority over our lives.
In these verses and throughout the prologue to his gospel (John 1:1-18John 1:1-18 commentary), John has laid and is laying the philosophical groundwork for why his readers should take Jesus and His claims about life, death, and eternity seriously.
One additional note of interest should be included.
It concerns some striking similarities between John’s account of all things being made through Him (the World/Logos) and what the Aramaic translations and commentaries of the Old Testament say about “the ‘Memra’ (Word/Logos) of the Lord” and creation.
The Aramaic translations and commentaries of the Old Testament are called “Targums.” The Targums were widely circulated and used as teaching tools in Jewish synagogues during the first century for the many ordinary Jews who were uneducated in Hebrew. (Following Judah’s exile in Babylon, Aramaic was the common language of the Jews—see: The Four Languages of Jesus’s Judea.)
Consequently, the Targums would have likely been the primary scriptural source that John, an “uneducated” (Acts 4:13Acts 4:13 commentary) Galilean fisherman, would have been taught as he learned the Old Testament scriptures.
The Aramaic translations and commentaries of the Old Testament (the Targums) appear to give agency and personality to “the ‘Memra’ (Word/Logos) of the Lord.” And specifically to John 1:3John 1:3 commentary, commentary the Targums credit “the Memra of the Lord” as the Creator,
“From the beginning, with wisdom, the Memra of the LORD created and perfected the heavens and the earth.” (Targum Neofiti. Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary)
“The dwelling of God who, from the beginning, through His Memra, created the world…” (Targum Onkelos. Deuteronomy 33:27aDeuteronomy 33:27a commentary)
John’s claim about the Logos and the creation, All things came into being through the Logos, mirrors what the Targums say about all things being made throughthe Memra:
“I am the LORD who made all things; I stretched out the heavens through My Memra...” (Targum Jonathan. Isaiah 44:24Isaiah 44:24 commentary)
“I through My Memra made the earth, and created man upon it…” (Targum Jonathan. Isaiah 45:12Isaiah 45:12 commentary)
“I through My Memra, made the earth, the men and the beasts on the face of the earth…” (Targum Jonathan. Jeremiah 27:5Jeremiah 27:5 commentary)
Briefly returning to John 1:2John 1:2 commentary on this topic, we see that He (the Word) was in the beginning with God aligns with the idea that “‘the Memra of the LORD’ was eternally with God”—as the Targums taught. One example from the Targums that suggest that the Memra was with God is from a targum of Psalm 110:Psalm 110: commentary
“The LORD said to His Memra, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’” (Targum Jonathan. Psalm 110:1Psalm 110:1 commentary)
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John 1:2-3 meaning
There is no apparent parallel gospel account of John 1:2-3John 1:2-3 commentary.
John continues to describe Jesus as God, including the fact that He was an active agent in the Creation of all that is. John began his gospel account:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
(John 1:1John 1:1 commentary)
John 1:2-3John 1:2-3 commentary elaborates the core truths of John 1:1John 1:1 commentary, commentary
He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (vv 2-3).
John continues: He was in the beginning with God (v 2).
The pronoun—He—refers to “the Word” (the “Logos”) from John 1:1John 1:1 commentary.
The beginning refers to the beginning of the world, when God created the heavens and the earth, “In the beginning” (Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary)
John’s statement, He was in the beginning with God reaffirms and combines the core truths of the first and second phrases of John 1:1John 1:1 commentary, commentary
The first part of John 1:2John 1:2 commentary—He was in the beginning—reinforces that He (Jesus/the Word) is eternal. The phrase mirrors: “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1aJohn 1:1a commentary). Within the first two verses of his gospel account, John asserts in two different ways the essential truth that the Word is eternal and existed before the beginning of the world.
John’s restatement and rephrasing of this simple but profound truth emphasizes its significance and helps ensure that this important fact is not overlooked.
John’s statement He was in the beginning echoes Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary, commentary which says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary describes the action which God did in the beginning—create “the heavens and the earth.” John 1:1John 1:1 commentary and 1:21:2 commentary describe God’s eternal existence—He was in the beginning.
The second core truth John 1:2John 1:2 commentary readdresses is that He (Jesus/the Word) is divine and co-equal with God.
The clause at the end of John 1:2John 1:2 commentary—He was in the beginning with God—reinforces the core truth of the middle statement of John 1:1John 1:1 commentary—“and the Word was with God.”
The statement He was in the beginning with God emphasizes that He (Jesus/the Word) was both distinct from and on the same level with God.
The book of Hebrews more explicitly makes the point that Jesus was equal with God. It claims that Jesus is “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3aHebrews 1:3a commentary).
Colossians describes Jesus as “the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15Colossians 1:15 commentary).
“The firstborn of all creation” means He is the ruler over all that is. As God, He was already the ruler of all when He came to earth as a human. He set aside His divinity to put on human flesh that He might redeem us from our sin (Philippians 2:5-9Philippians 2:5-9 commentary). As a result of His obedience, He was given all authority as a human (Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18 commentary). Thus, Jesus now has the authority of God as God and as a human. So He is the Creator of all things as well as a part of the creation. As the “firstborn” of all creation, He reigns over all.
From a Greek perspective, (as explained in the Bible Says commentary for John 1:1John 1:1 commentary) the thought that “the Logos” (the Greek term for “Word”) was with God aligned with their philosophers’ idea that the Logos was the founding principle that established the order of creation. When the creation of the world took place in the beginning, He (the Logos/Word) was already with God.
From both a Jewish and Greek perspective, the idea that He (Jesus/the Word) was with God point to His divine and eternal nature.
John emphasized the Word’s eternality to demonstrate that He (Jesus/the Word) was not created. He is coequal with God. And indeed, Jesus is God (John 1:1cJohn 1:1c commentary).
John 1:1-2John 1:1-2 commentary introduce the Word as the eternal God. The next thing John tells his readers is what He (Jesus/the Word) has done. Instead of being created, Jesus/the Word was God, the Creator. This will be the third core truth of John 1:1John 1:1 commentary that John restates.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (v 3).
After strongly alluding to the Word’s role in creation during John’s Genesis-like opening: “In the beginning was the Word…” (John 1:1aJohn 1:1a commentary), the author of this gospel now explicitly and emphatically asserts that He (Jesus/the Word) created all things.
John states the same truth as Genesis 1Genesis 1 commentary. But John 1John 1 commentary and commentary Genesis 1Genesis 1 commentary are phrased differently. Genesis phrases this claim with God as the subject and creation as the direct object:
“God created the heavens and the earth.”
(Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary)
Instead, John phrases this truth with creation as the subject and God as the direct object:
All things came into being through Him (v 3a)
In other words, having introduced the Word as the eternal God in John 1:1-2John 1:1-2 commentary, commentary John now works from creation and explains how all things have their origin through the Word.
The construction of Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary flows from cause to effect: Creator God to creation. The construction of John 1:3John 1:3 commentary runs in the opposite direction and completes the logical circuit, from effect back to its cause: All things back to the Word.
The logical claims of Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary and commentary John 1:3John 1:3 commentary therefore compliment and reinforce one another.
John 1:3John 1:3 commentary asserts how all things were created though the Word twice. He states this fact both positively and negatively. He states this both ways to cut off any potential misunderstanding that Jesus is God, the Creator.
First, John states this core truth positively: All things came into begin through Him.
The term all things means every individual thing that has being or existence. The phrase come into being means “come into existence.”
The fuller expression—All things came into being through Him—not only refers to all things which presently exist, it also includes all the things which have ever existed in the past and all the things which are yet to exist in the future.
All things include all the things mentioned in the Genesis 1Genesis 1 commentary account of creation:
(Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary)
(Genesis 1:3Genesis 1:3 commentary)
(Genesis 1:9Genesis 1:9 commentary)
(Genesis 1:11-12Genesis 1:11-12 commentary)
(Genesis 1:14-16Genesis 1:14-16 commentary)
(Genesis 1:20-21Genesis 1:20-21 commentary)
(Genesis 1:24-25Genesis 1:24-25 commentary)
(Genesis 1:26-27Genesis 1:26-27 commentary)
All things also includes all living things and physical creatures from human beings made in His image (Genesis 1:26-27Genesis 1:26-27 commentary) all the way down to microbes. He (Jesus/the Word) did not just create all living things, He established life itself, for “in Him was life” (John 1:4aJohn 1:4a commentary).
All things also includes every physical particle and all the matter or material substance within the cosmos. And all things includes the following things about each type of matter:
All things also includes the nature of all things.
Moreover, all things includes everything within the spiritual world:
All these things (and everything else that has or will have existence) came into being through Him (Jesus/the Word). He is the Creator of all that is. This also includes boundaries of authority, and those who are given authority to reign.
Paul explains all of this to the Colossian church when he writes of Jesus:
“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”
(Colossians 1:16Colossians 1:16 commentary)
Additionally, after stating that Jesus is “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3aHebrews 1:3a commentary), the author of Hebrews goes on to say that Jesus “upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3bHebrews 1:3b commentary).
John 1:3aJohn 1:3a commentary, Colossians 1:16Colossians 1:16 commentary, and commentary Hebrews 1:3bHebrews 1:3b commentary all describe how Jesus is the Creator of all things.
Having described how all things came into being through Him (Jesus, the Word) with a positive truth statement, John then states this same truth with a negative truth statement by declaring that not a single thing exists outside of His agency:
And apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (v 3b).
Positive truth claims affirm a particular truth about reality. John 1:3aJohn 1:3a commentary declares the Word’s comprehensive role in creation: He (Jesus, the Word) is the Creator of all things.
Negative truth claims are also powerful because they exclude any potential counterarguments, by eliminating false claims as untrue.
The negative assertion of John 1:3bJohn 1:3b commentary—apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being—rules out any exception to the positive claim of John 1:3aJohn 1:3a commentary that all things were created by Jesus.
The combination of positive and negative truth claims in John 1:3John 1:3 commentary serves to reinforce the completeness and exclusivity of the Word's creative power and the totality of this truth claim. Taken together, the positive and negative statements form a comprehensive truth claim and leave no room for ambiguity.
All things owe their existence—their very being—to Jesus. Nothing which has being and exists, exists apart from Him.
These dual statements strengthen one another and assert that He (Jesus/the Word) is the sole source of all creation, affirming His preeminence and role as the Creator of all existence.
As the Word, Jesus is the Creator of all that is. Jesus has unmatched authority over all things. This means that Jesus has authority over everything and everyone. The claims He makes carry the authority of God Himself. He is over all kingdoms and has authority over all political and religious leaders. He has authority over all people. And He has authority over you and me. The instructions and commands that He speaks (many of which are recorded in John’s gospel) have absolute authority over our lives.
In these verses and throughout the prologue to his gospel (John 1:1-18John 1:1-18 commentary), John has laid and is laying the philosophical groundwork for why his readers should take Jesus and His claims about life, death, and eternity seriously.
One additional note of interest should be included.
It concerns some striking similarities between John’s account of all things being made through Him (the World/Logos) and what the Aramaic translations and commentaries of the Old Testament say about “the ‘Memra’ (Word/Logos) of the Lord” and creation.
The Aramaic translations and commentaries of the Old Testament are called “Targums.” The Targums were widely circulated and used as teaching tools in Jewish synagogues during the first century for the many ordinary Jews who were uneducated in Hebrew. (Following Judah’s exile in Babylon, Aramaic was the common language of the Jews—see: The Four Languages of Jesus’s Judea.)
Consequently, the Targums would have likely been the primary scriptural source that John, an “uneducated” (Acts 4:13Acts 4:13 commentary) Galilean fisherman, would have been taught as he learned the Old Testament scriptures.
The Aramaic translations and commentaries of the Old Testament (the Targums) appear to give agency and personality to “the ‘Memra’ (Word/Logos) of the Lord.” And specifically to John 1:3John 1:3 commentary, commentary the Targums credit “the Memra of the Lord” as the Creator,
“From the beginning, with wisdom, the Memra of the LORD created and perfected the heavens and the earth.”
(Targum Neofiti. Genesis 1:1Genesis 1:1 commentary)
“The dwelling of God who, from the beginning, through His Memra, created the world…”
(Targum Onkelos. Deuteronomy 33:27aDeuteronomy 33:27a commentary)
John’s claim about the Logos and the creation, All things came into being through the Logos, mirrors what the Targums say about all things being made through the Memra:
“I am the LORD who made all things; I stretched out the heavens through My Memra...”
(Targum Jonathan. Isaiah 44:24Isaiah 44:24 commentary)
“I through My Memra made the earth, and created man upon it…”
(Targum Jonathan. Isaiah 45:12Isaiah 45:12 commentary)
“I through My Memra, made the earth, the men and the beasts on the face of the earth…”
(Targum Jonathan. Jeremiah 27:5Jeremiah 27:5 commentary)
Briefly returning to John 1:2John 1:2 commentary on this topic, we see that He (the Word) was in the beginning with God aligns with the idea that “‘the Memra of the LORD’ was eternally with God”—as the Targums taught. One example from the Targums that suggest that the Memra was with God is from a targum of Psalm 110:Psalm 110: commentary
“The LORD said to His Memra, ‘Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.’”
(Targum Jonathan. Psalm 110:1Psalm 110:1 commentary)
To learn more about the similarities of the Memra and the Logos, see The Bible Says article: “How Do Ancient Jewish Teachings and Greek Philosophy Converge in John’s Gospel?”