In the opening prologue to John’s Gospel there is a description of what John calls the “Word.” From the very first the “Word” is associated with God both approximately (with) and literally (was) and this association was established in the beginning before the creation of all else, of which the “Word” was involved in. The “Word” had life and light, but the world (darkness) did not recognize the attribute of light in the “Word.” Those who believed and received the “Word” were given power to”become sons of God,” (1:12). Finally the “Word” became man (flesh) and that he lived amongst people and that the members of John’s community saw his glory that was like that of his father’s “full of grace and truth,”  (1:14). The members of John’s community received from the “Word” a great many graces.

The identification of Jesus with the Word is made possible by comparing the first mention of Jesus (1: 17), which describes him as being the way through which grace and truth came, to earlier descriptions of the Word, from which the members of John’s community received many graces and earlier in which its glory was full of “grace and truth,” (1:14).

The identification of Jesus with the Word is significant for understanding the author’s views of Jesus since the author presents Jesus has a divine or heavenly sent being in later passages of his Gospel. For example: in John 3:13-16 Jesus is presented as saying “No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven,” this passage reflects back to the prologue where Jesus (as the Word) is associated with God and later becomes man (“was made flesh”). Not only does the passage reflect back to the prologue, but the prologue sets the stage, by providing pertinent information about Jesus, for the rest of the Gospel account. The rest of the Gospel acts as a proof for the veracity of the prologue, since at 20:32 the author states that the different signs (miracles) in his Gospel were written that his audience may believe Jesus is the Messiah and have life in his name. Compare this to “all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God…” (1:13). The Gospel was written that people may believe in Jesus’ name and through him become children of God.