Jesus is what the word became

“The logos of the prologue became Jesus; Jesus was the logos become flesh not the logos as such.” Leonhard Goppelt, The Theology of the NT (Eerdmans, 1992), Vol. 2, 297.

Literal preexistence Christology claims that in John 1:1 “the Word” is a second divine Person — the Son — who existed “with God” the Father and who later became a man. English translations continue to assume this reading by capitalizing “Word,” followed by personal pronouns like “he” and “him,” as if John were describing an already existing Person called “the Word of God.” But if “the Word” was a Person, then John 1:14 would mean that that Person “became flesh” — that is, became another person, a human being. Yet neither John nor any other NT writer ever says that a divine person was incarnated “as a man.” The text simply says that God’s “word became flesh.”

In the Old Testament, “the word of the LORD” is never a second divine Person alongside Yahweh. It is His speech, His creative power, His promise and purpose going out from Him and achieving His will.

“By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host…For He spoke, and it was; He commanded, and it stood” (Psalm 33:6, 9).

This word comes to the prophets as a message, not as a visiting second Person:

“Now the word of Yahweh came to me, saying…” (Jeremiah 1:4; cf. 1 Samuel 3:1).

And Isaiah tells us that this word is God’s plan and promise, just as rain waters the earth, “so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I delight” (Isaiah 55:11).

This is the Hebrew background John 1 has in mind. John is telling us that God’s creative, saving word — His plan and promise described as life and light — has now taken concrete, human form.

“The word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14).

God’s own self-expression has become embodied in a unique human person, “the man Messiah Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). God, who “in many parts and in many ways spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets,” has “in these last days spoken to us in a Son” (Hebrews 1:1–2). The Son is the climactic way God speaks, not some eternal second Person who has always existed “with God.” That would be polytheism — two Gods!

Simply put, Jesus is what the word of God became.

The New Testament never records Jesus saying, “I am the Word," i.e., "the preexistent Word who became flesh.” Instead, he consistently presents himself as the agent of God’s words.

“But now you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God” (John 8:40).

“My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me” (John 7:16).

He prays to the Father, “the words which You gave me I have given to them” (John 17:8). And he sharply distinguishes between himself and the message he carries:

“The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me” (John 14:24).

John’s own first letter says that the apostles “heard,” “saw,” and “touched” “the word of life” (1 John 1:1) — that is, the life of the coming age as embodied in the human Jesus. The “word” there is not a second eternal Person, but the life-giving message now manifested in a human person. A "which" or "what was from the beginning," (1 John 1:1) not "he" or "who was from the beginning."

When we let the Hebrew Scriptures define “the word of God,” John 1 no longer supports a literal preexistence Christology. Instead, it harmonizes beautifully with the rest of the New Testament. The one God speaks, His word goes out, and in the fullness of time that word comes to expression in a uniquely procreated human Son in the womb, not from outside the womb (see Matthew 1:18–20; Luke 1:30–35). He now perfectly reveals the Father’s character and purpose.

Rather than reading later literal preexistence incarnation theories back into John 1, let us carefully read and understand John, who repeatedly echoes the unitary creed known as the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4).

John 5:44 “How can you possibly believe when you accept praise from one another, and you fail to seek the praise which comes from the only One who is God?” 

John 8:41–42 They said, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father – God.” Jesus said to them, “If God really was your Father, you would love me, because I came from God… I did not come on my own, but He sent me.” 

John 17:3 “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus the Messiah whom you sent.” 

John 20:17 “I ascend to my Father and your Father and my God and your God.” 

1 John 5:19–20 “We know that we are from God and belong to God… And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding to know Him who is true. We are in Him who is true… This One is the true God and is the life of the age to come.”