John 1.1 affirms two very essential things. Foremost, notice that the text speaks of the Word existing “with” God. The term used here for “with” is the Greek word πρὸς (
pros), which, when followed by a noun in the accusative case, speaks of face-to-face communion, interaction. One does not need to leave the first chapter of John to find examples in which πρὸς signifies a person near or moving towards another person (e.g., 1.29, 42, 47). Of course, this comports well with John 17.5, where Jesus speaks of His pre-existence with the Father. John 1.1 is speaking of two persons.
Finally, we come to “the Word was God.” The term “God” here carries with it a qualitative nuance (i.e., “For the Son of Man is
Lord of the Sabbath” vs. “For the Son of Man is
the/a Lord of the Sabbath”). Take John 3.6 for example,
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
The idea here has absolutely nothing to do with
identification of any sort (“
the spirit,” “
a spirit”), but everything to do with that of
predication. More specifically, the nouns (“flesh,” “spirit”) here function in a purely qualitative sense, without a definite or indefinite semantic force. The context of the passage in view is about the inherent
nature of sinful flesh (John 3.6a) in contrast to the new
nature of man in the process of regeneration (John 3.6b).
That said, the Trinitarian position on John 1.1 is that the text is teaching the equality between the Father, and the Son... that all the qualities, attributes, and nature of God – everything that makes God, God – the Word also possesses. This is why the Greek term for “God” here is anarthrous.
Further, John 1.3 presupposes the eternality of Jesus,
“All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1.3)
Hone in on the second part of the passage, “apart from Him nothing has come into being that has come into being.” Christ is being described as the One through whom all things which have “come into being” have their place in existence. Everything that was created; everything that had a starting point in time; everything that has come into existence… all things that “came into being” did so through, or by means of the Word. These are not words that describe a created being, these are words that describe an active, and eternal agent of creation. The Logos is not here identified as one that “came into being,” but the One through whom all things that have “come into being” have their existence. Meaning, if Jesus is created, and Jesus is the One through whom all things that have “come into being” have their existence, then Jesus created Himself.