In the Beginning Was the Word
The Teaching
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Commentary
The Greek 'Logos' had been used for centuries before John, by Heraclitus to mean the rational principle underlying all existence, and by the Stoics for the divine reason permeating the cosmos. John's Prologue deliberately maps Christ onto this existing philosophical tradition.
The Tao Te Ching opens: 'The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.' John's Logos is strikingly parallel, the generative principle before all things, immanent in creation yet transcending it.
The Sikh Mool Mantar begins: 'Ik Onkar', one creative reality, and the Guru Granth Sahib is called the Word (Shabd) made manifest. The Logos/Tao/Brahman/Shabd/Nous, all names for the same generative intelligence.