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Timeless Existence and Principle of Creation: Notions Embedded in John 1:1, “In the Beginning Was the Word”

Emiliano C. De Catalina

Discipline: Philosophy, Religion

 

Abstract:

St. John’s Gospel begins with a prologue, serving as an overture to the whole Gospel. This paper investigates the philosophical notions embedded in the first three lines of John 1:1. The inquiry focuses on whether or not the accepted meaning of this line as “indicating timeless existence” can be deduced from John 1:1 and whether or not John 1:1 also indicates the meaning of the “principle of creation.” This paper proceeds to make this inquiry in the following order: Introduction; The questions arising in John 1:1; Word as God is eternal, outside time; “In the beginning” as predicate; “The Word was in the beginning”; Timeless existence and the verb was; The Word as God is a principle of creation (which included the distinction between the concepts of anthropological intentionality and metaphysical intentionality); and Conclusion. This paper concludes by affirming the two questions on timeless existence and the principle of creation.