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John 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.

Essentially this verse condenses the understanding of the first verse into one short statement. The previous verse established that the Word was eternal, Divine and Heavenly, and all three notions are expressed here. The same Word spoken of earlier was in the beginning with God. Consider it restated here for both emphasis’ sake (the Word is God) and as a lead-in to what John says in the next verse…

 John 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

The phrase “in the beginning,” which appeared in the first two verses of this writing, were certainly specifically chosen to evoke the recollection of Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, Moses wrote, God created the Heavens and the Earth. In the beginning of time, the eternal God, made everything. John takes us back to that creation process here, by specifying what aspect of the Divine nature was responsible for creation. All things were made by “Him” (the Word), John says.

The first phrase is written in the affirmative: He made everything. The second phrase of the verse says the same thing, but is written in the negative: Nothing was made unless He made it.

Which means, if everything was made by Him, and He obviously did not make Himself, then He–the Word–is eternal.

There’s a lot packed into these two little verses!