The Beginning

The Lord, Not Idols

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word,^(A) and the Word was with God,^(B) and the Word was God.^{(C) 2} He was with God in the beginning.^{(D) 3} Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.^(E)

¹⁴ The Word became flesh^(A) and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,^(B) the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace^(C) and truth.^(D)

⁹ However, as it is written:

¹⁰ these are the things God has revealed^(B) to us by his Spirit.^(C)

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person’s thoughts^(D) except their own spirit^(E) within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² What we have received is not the spirit^(F) of the world,^(G) but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

The Supremacy of the Son of God

¹⁵ The Son is the image^(A) of the invisible God,^(B) the firstborn^(C) over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created:^(D) things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;^(E) all things have been created through him and for him.^(F)

⁹ For in Christ all the fullness^(A) of the Deity lives in bodily form,

³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory^(A) and the exact representation of his being,^(B) sustaining all things^(C) by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins,^(D) he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.^(E)