The Word is not simply an aspect of God, or a characteristic of God, like His mercy or His love. There is distinct personality here. That’s why John goes on to say, “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). We are bumping up against the most marvelous, complex doctrine of the Trinity here. 

John is referring, of course, to Jesus Christ, who is the subject of his Gospel and indeed of the whole Bible. How can Jesus make God known? How can He do what no religion has ever done and what no other person—past, present, or future—can ever do? 

Verse 18 is the conclusion of the entire introduction to John’s Gospel, which explains why Christians worship Jesus. These verses give us a seven-fold description of the unique glory of Jesus Christ: He is the eternal, personal, divine, creating, life-giving, incarnate Son of God.

1. Eternal

In the beginning was the Word… (John 1:1) 

It does not say, “In the beginning was God and no one has ever seen him or made him known.” It says, “in the beginning was the Word.” What this means is that God speaks. 

It has often been said that all religions are like blind men trying to describe an elephant. One blind man gets hold of its tail, and says the elephant is like a long thin rope. Another blind man gets hold of its trunk and says, “No, the elephant is like a long flexible tube.”

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