John 1:2

‘And the Word was with God.' ‘With God' in the Greek is ‘pros ton theon' i.e. ‘towards God', signifying close relationship. It reflects more than just being ‘with God'. We might translate ‘face to face with God in close relationship'. There was between the Word and God an inter-personal relationship so close that the One blended into the Other.

‘And the Word was God' (Gk. theos en ho logos). Here the unique nature of the Word is made clear. Note the growth in movement from ‘existing in the beginning' -- to -- ‘being face to face with God in close relation' -- to -- ‘being of the very nature of God'.

We must translate this as, ‘The Word was essentially of the very nature of God'. Some try to lessen the impact of the verse by saying that there is no definite article before theos and that it therefore simply means ‘divine', and then they try to water down the meaning of divine to suit their purposes (ignoring the fact that theos must in context be correlated with the previous use of theos). So while it is true that it means divine, it must also be stressed that in context it means fully divine. It means being of the very essence of what God is.

To have put a definite article in would have meant the words meant ‘God and the Word were absolutely synonymous, the Word was the whole of the Godhead' and this was clearly not what John meant. But ‘theos' here is an adjectival noun (which the lack of article demonstrates), and theos has already been used in the verse to mean God in His essence (pros ton theon). Here ‘theos' immediately follows that statement in close connection, a connection as close as it could be (‘theon kai theos'), for it is made the first word in the phrase for the purpose of emphasis. Thus he is saying ‘He was face to face with God and of that very God-nature was the Word'. This can only mean full divinity. There was no other way John could have said this so concisely. We might translate as ‘what God was, the Word was' (NEB).

John 1:2 ‘He was in the beginning with God.'

This repetition of the opening clause is intended to stress what has been said already, thereby giving twofold witness. It is stressing that ‘in the beginning, before anything was created, God and His Logos (Word) were there together, already eternally existent.' This was something both Jew and Greek could agree on. Where they would have differed was concerning what the Word consisted of. John tells both that it consisted of Jesus as the full expression of God, as the eternal Reason, as the powerful saving word of God through Whom He acts.