A silly argument here focusing on
the very ‘to be’ is that the Word was in the beginning and before that
beginning and timeless and eternal. However, all that we have is a statement of
fact about the beginning and nothing from which to infer propositions about
timeless and eternal existence. It would be just as ‘valid’ to infer the
creation of the Word in the beginning. John sees ‘the beginning’ as having duration
‘in’ which there was the Word and we have to determine which beginning he
means. (Andrew Perry, John 1:1-18 [1st ed. [7th revision];
Staffordshire, U.K.: Willow Publications, 2022], 27 n. 1, emphasis in original)
