In Johannine studies
of 1:1, the linking verb ην has drawn a great deal of attention.
Keener notes that “For John, the Word was not only ‘from the beginning,’ but ‘in
the beginning.’ Many commentators have laid heavy stress on the verb ην: in
contrast to many Wisdom texts which declare that Wisdom or Torah was created ‘in
the beginning’ or before the creation of the rest of the world. John omits
Jesus’ creation and merely declares that he ‘was.’ The verb (ην) may thus suggest
the Word’s eternal preexistence” (Keener, The Gospel of John, 1:369).
Joseph Smith's point in D&C 93 seems to be something similar. First, note the
clear, if not awkward, presence of “was” in D&C 93:8, as if the author went
to pains to emphasize the “was” by altering the expected word order of John 1:1,
“in the beginning was the word.” If we allow the meaning of the Greek verb ην to be carried over to
the “was” of D&C 93:8, it again re-enforces not only a pre-earthly but also
an eternal existence for the Word. Note as well D&C 83:29, that “Man was
also in the beginning with God.” This repetition of “in the beginning” takes
the reader back to verses 7 and 8 and suggests that humanity shared a similar
pre-earthly existence as the Word did, by implication “eternal” rather than
just “pre-earthly.” (Nicholas J. Frederick, The Bible, Mormon Scripture, and
the Rhetoric of Allusivity [Madison: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,
2016], 125 n. 45)
Further Reading
Is Latter-day Saint Christology "Arian"?