thinker must conform to all the conditions of space and time. So that

we come back to the fundamental fact, that there must be a place

where, and a time when, for all human experience. With the first verse

before us we are thinking particularly of the limitations of time, and

the reader will remember that the Preacher, who examined all things

that are done `under the sun', found that there was a time and a season

for every purpose (Eccles. 3). The synoptic Gospels, and the narrative

sections of this Gospel are no exceptions to this rule. The earthly life

of the Son of God was as much conditioned by time and space as that

of the sons of men.

`Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Jud -a in the days of

Herod the King' (Matt. 2:1).

Here we have the two essential conditions: the place, `in

Bethlehem', and the time, `in the days of Herod'. We also read that

Herod inquired `where' Christ should be born, and at `what time' the

star appeared.  We also discover that, from the beginning of His

ministry, the Lord was conscious of a set time in which His work was

to be accomplished, and a set hour in which that work should reach its

When we turn to the opening words of the Gospel we are

immediately confronted with a state of being that is not conditioned in

the same way as our own. We do not read about the beginning of any

particular event or action which could be used as a sort of date line.

There is no possibility of printing a date in the margin here, for all is

timeless. We are simply told that `in the beginning', however far back

that may be, the Word already `was'. Nothing is said about activity; it

is just sheer existence. The passage is quite different from Genesis

1:1, where we read that `in the beginning God created'. Here, in John,

it is just pure unconditioned existence that confronts us, and if we are

honest we shall say, concerning this sphere of being, that we can know

nothing apart from what we are told. To import into this first verse

arguments drawn from our own experience would be simply irrelevant.

Our difficulty in understanding the statement that the Word was `with

God', and also that the Word was `God' is inevitable with our present

human limitations. We cannot make the unconditioned being of God

conform to the limitations of time and space.