e phrase, "the Word was God" was blasphemous to the Jews. To the Greek readers the phrase, "the Word became flesh" was unthinkable. But, John used these phrases to express his new understanding that this "Word" was the Gospel. Also, by calling Jesus "the Word," John calls Him the incarnate revelation of God's commands in the scriptures, and therefore declares that only those who accept Jesus honor the law fully (Inter Varsity Press). Since "the Word" can also be described as "the expression," it is also plausible to consider Christ as the expression of God to the world (New Commentary on the Whole Bible). The Greek culture encouraged the worship of many mythological gods. These gods had supernatural powers that were as important to the Greeks as the genealogies were to the Jews. John shows that Jesus is superior to these gods of mythology (Life Application Notes). Three times in the sentence, John uses the imperfect form of "was" or in the Greek, "eimi."
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