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John 1 · a question people ask

"the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1). How can the Word be both?

In the text

The chapter doesn't explain it, and these notes don't either. Here are the book's own words, side by side. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1). "The same was in the beginning with God" (1:2). "No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him" (1:18). Jesus says, "I and the Father are one" (10:30). Jesus says, "the Father is greater than I" (14:28). "Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”" (20:28). These are John's Gospel's own words, as the book gives them, and these notes add nothing to them.

The verses

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.”
John 1:1-2 · World English Bible
“No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.”
John 1:18 · World English Bible
“I and the Father are one.””
John 10:30 · World English Bible
“You heard how I told you, ‘I am going away, and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I.”
John 14:28 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of John 1

John 1: In the beginning was the Word

John's Gospel has grace only in 1:14-17, and the WEB gives Word a capital only in 1:1 and 1:14. And one brings another: Andrew finds his brother Simon and brings him to Jesus, Philip finds Nathanael, and Philip answers him with the words Jesus spoke: "Come and see" (1:39, 1:46).

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Last reviewed October 1, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions