John 1:1 is one of the well-known Bible verses: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It can be a puzzling verse. To many readers, it appears that John was poetic and cared little for precedence. But was he? Did John express a fresh revelation about the divine with this description, or did he have an Old Testament practice to rely on? The latter is the case.

Whereas today, the “word of God” can mean anything from a preacher’s sermon to the Bible, the phrase had other uses in the Hebrew Bible. Today, we are used to thinking about the “word of God” primarily as an AUDITORY thing. In the Old Testament, however, the phrase is also used VISUALLY – which informs John’s writing.