the Greek equivalent arche, meaning "chief" as well as "beginning"). The Logos created

all things "in the beginning", and He Himself is "the Beginning of the creation of God".

We return now to John 1: 1, to notice how this beginning of all things is related to

Him Who is the Word:

We draw particular attention here to the word "was", which is part of the verb eimi,

"to be". In contrast to this we read in verse 3, that "all things were made by Him", the

verb being egeneto, "to come into being". We must therefore repudiate the slightest

suggestion that John 1: 1 tells us that the Word came into being in the beginning. We are

simply told that He "was" in the beginning. We have here the basis of the stupendous

claim made by the Lord in John 8: 58: "Before Abraham was (genesthai, `came into

being') I AM (Ego eimi)." As "the Word" He is the "I AM", absolute and transcendent.

As the Word made flesh, He can say, "I am the Bread of life", "I am the good Shepherd".

In all such cases, the absolute "I AM" has become relative and immanent.

If we endeavour to think of God as He is, we are attempting the impossible. "No man

hath seen God at any time." Both John and Paul reveal the fact that God in His essence is

"invisible"; He is "spirit", and no man has seen His "shape" or heard His "voice". Yet

this same God is revealed as essentially "love", and we know that He "created" heaven

and earth, and finally man in His Own image. It is clear that He purposed to reveal

Himself, and, being love, He must inevitably reveal this love in revealing Himself. He

therefore takes the step which involves self-limitation. He, the invisible One, becomes

visible; so that Paul can speak of the "Image of the Invisible God". He Whose voice no

man has ever heard, becomes audible; and we further read that He Who cannot be

approached (I Tim. 6: 16) has been "handled" by men and women like ourselves

(I John 1: 1, 2).

The name whereby John is inspired to set forth this glorious self-limitation and

mediation of the Most High is that of the Logos, or "the Word". In writing to the

Philippians Paul uses the word morphe, "form";  to the Colossians, he uses eikon,

"image"; to the Hebrews, charakter, "express image"; while in I Tim. 3: 16, at the

centre of an epistle which begins and ends with the thought of the invisibility of God

(I Tim. 1: 17 and 6: 16), he speaks of the Mystery of Godliness: "God was manifest in

the flesh." In all these cases, we must be most careful not to use any of these revealed

titles out of their context. Each has its own setting, and taken together they provide a

wonderfully complete presentation of the truth.  The examination of these various

passages cannot, however, be undertaken until we have first examined with some care the

opening section of John's prologue: John 1: 1-5.

We have already given some indication of the growing conception of the Logos in the

minds of thinking men from early days. Unaided human reason discovered the need for

the Logos, but was entirely unable to supply the need. The Logos was a felt necessity,