in depth: “Came/Made/Became” (ἐγένετο/γίνομαι)

The magnificent language and imagery of the prologue as well as its seemingly disjointed nature often detract the reader from grasping the prologue’s collective significance. What holds the prologue together and directs its message is the carefully crafted use of one variously translated Greek verb (γίνομαι). The verb is quite flexible in meaning, which is why it appears in so many different forms in translation, making it undetectable to the English reader: “made,” “came,” “become/became,” the “unique” Son. Since its meaning contains “numerous nuances relating to being and manner of being,” it serves as an excellent medium to express the coming and arrival of the incarnate Word of God. This single Greek verb occurs in every section of the prologue, forming what is like a highway upon which the message and meaning of the prologue travels.

The significance of the verb, however, is not merely its repeated occurrence but its progressive development throughout the prologue. Beginning in v. 3, the verb is used emphatically three times to describe Jesus as the one through whom all things “came” (ἐγένετο) into being, with different verbal tenses expressing both the completed act of creation (aorist) and its continuing effects (perfect). The idea of “creation” behind the use of the verb in v. 3 depicts Jesus as central to all the creativity of God.

In v. 6 the verb is used again, though this time to describe the arrival of John (the Baptist), who “came” (ἐγένετο) beneath the sending mission of God. While there is an intended contrast between John (witness) and Jesus (the one witnessed to), the explicit use of the word in v. 6 implies that a related force is also at work here. John would not have used the same verb four times in six verses without allowing them to work in a coordinated manner. The related force influencing v. 6 is that behind the witness of John is the God of creation (v. 3), who is working in creation. John could have used the imperfect “was” (ἦν), which would have described John from the inside. Instead John signals to the reader that even the ministry of the Baptist is subsumed under the creative working of God.

After being used again in v. 10 in a manner similar to v. 3, helping to carry forward the developing force of the verb, the term is used for a sixth time in v. 12 to describe the “creative” force of God when those who believe “become” (γενέσθαι) children of God. This transformation can only be described (with Paul) as a new creation, connecting this use of the verb with its emphatic use in v. 3 regarding the creation of the world.

The seventh (a significant number) occurrence of the verb occurs in v. 14 when John describes how the Word “became” (ἐγένετο) flesh. This is the ultimate manifestation of God’s “creative” activity. The God who had been working from the outside was now on the inside; the Creator is now with his creation. In v. 14 Jesus is also described with a new title that is taken from the word’s root: “the unique Son” (μονογενής; repeated in v. 18). By means of this eighth use Jesus has become the pinnacle of creation, the center of human history and all created things. The ninth use of the verb in v. 15 reinforces Jesus’s place in history and the plan of God, making clear that Jesus “existed” not only before the time of the Baptist but before the creation of the world.

Finally, the verb is used for a tenth (another significant number) time in v. 17 to describe how the gospel of Jesus Christ is the ultimate “creative” act of God: the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth “came” (ἐγένετο) through Jesus Christ. The same power that God used to create the world (see v. 3) is also at work in the person and ministerial work of Jesus Christ. The children of God were born out of the same power that was used to create the world. With one verb the prologue of John describes with progressive precision the important characters, overall plot, and unseen forces at work in the story; something entirely missed in the English translation.

The above discussion not only gives evidence of a unified prologue (1:1–18) but also gives warrant for using the cosmological vision cast by the prologue to interpret and understand the historical events described by the remainder of the Gospel. Even more, the verb makes several other meaning-significant appearances through the Gospel. Direct examples include 4:14; 5:6, 9; 6:19; and 8:58. Indirect examples include 3:9; 6:25; 9:27, 39; and 19:36. While we will not explore each of those examples in depth, the same “creative” and transformative vision of the work of God through Jesus Christ crafted by the prologue should, based upon the context, be equally applied to those occurrences.