"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God."

The Fourth Gospel once, and once only, identifies this Word with the
pre-existent nature of Jesus, in the concluding words of the same
exordium:--

"The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we behold His
Glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of
grace and truth."

Except in these two places (and, of course, I need not say that they are
all-important as containing by implication the whole truth of God
respecting Christ), there is no mention whatsoever of the "Word" in this
Gospel.

The Fourth Gospel gives to Jesus the name of God only in two places,
_i.e._ in the narrative of the second appearance of our Lord to His
apostles assembled together after His Resurrection, where Thomas is
related to have said to Him the words, "My Lord and my God;" and in the
words "The Word was God" taken in connection with "the Word was made
flesh." The indirect, but certain, proofs by implication that Jesus
fully shared with His Father the Divine Nature are numerous, as, for
instance, that He wields all the power of Godhead, in that "whatsoever
things [the Father] doeth these doeth the Son likewise"--that He is
equal in point of nature with the Father, because God is His own proper
Father ([Greek: idios])--that He raises from the dead whom He
wills--that He and the Father are One--that when Esaias saw the glory of
God in the temple he saw Christ's glory; and, because of all this, He is