Greek
ουτος ην εν αρχη προς τον θεον
this (one) was in the beginning with God
Latin
Hoc erat in principio apud Deum
This (one) was in the beginning with God
English Translations with variant readings:
Standard: He (this one) (the same) was in the beginning with God.
NEB: The Word, then, was with God at the beginning
AMP: He was present originally with God.
CEV: From the very beginning the Word was with God.
TM: in readiness for God from day one.
Comments and Commentaries:
I like using “this one” rather than “he” because that’s the literal rendering of both the Greek and the Latin words that begin this sentence.
The repetition of “in the beginning” again focuses our attention on Genesis 1:1
God the Father is unseen and unknowable with the Logos. The Logos is the complete manifestation of God to man. When God speaks in the OT it is the Logos. When God acts in the OT it is the Logos.
Augustine says that “the beginning” mentioned in the first two verses “has no beginning.”
In John 14:8, Philip asks Jesus, “show us the father and we will be satisfied.” If it takes seeing God, or knowing God to live a satisfied life, then the satisfied life is available to us all because as Jesus answered Philip, so too does he answer us, “if you’ve seen me you have seen the father.”
Jesus became flesh! What Jesus is, God is. What Jesus is like is what God has always been like.
Barclay says, “What Jesus did was to open a window in time that we might see the eternal and unchanging love of God.”
CLV (Chuck Larsen Version): This one had always existed with God before the very beginning of the world.