John 1:1 — "The Word Was God"

Presbyterian theology affirms the traditional Trinitarian reading of John 1:1, which proclaims that 'in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.' This statement is interpreted as establishing the Word's (Jesus Christ's) eternal existence alongside God the Father and his full divine nature. The Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter II) grounds all Christian doctrine in the Trinitarian understanding of God, and John 1:1 is a cornerstone proof-text for the co-eternity and co-equality of the Son within the Godhead.

This reading is consistent with the broader New Testament witness to Christ's deity. The Gospel's opening affirms what is developed throughout John's Gospel and the rest of the New Testament: that Christ is not a creature, not subordinate, and not merely divine in a derivative sense, but truly God. The complement to John 1:1 — 'the Word became flesh' (John 1:14) — establishes both Christ's full divinity and full humanity in the incarnation, a doctrine fundamental to Westminster theology and the ecumenical creeds.