Before John ever wrote “In the beginning was the Word,” Jewish readers already had categories for God’s Word as more than mere speech.

In the Targums, the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, the term Memra (“Word”) often appears as a way of speaking about God’s active, revealing presence in the world, especially when God speaks, acts, or draws near.

So when John opens with:

“In the beginning was the Word (Memra)…”, he is not dropping some random Greek philosophy quote into his gospel.

He is speaking in a world already shaped by Genesis, Wisdom, Torah, divine Presence, and the language of God’s Word.

John was not inventing a brand new category. He was making a breathtaking Jewish claim: The Word through whom God creates, reveals, and draws near has now become flesh in Yeshua.

Everything just changed.