John 1.1-5 Reworked and Deeper

John, through the eyes of the period.  
John 1 click for whole chapter
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.

This verse is like my all time favorite verse: 
¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross Col 1

Now, aside from those passages, the purpose in good, deep Bible study is a three-part-thinking- process called the TAN technique: then, always, now. So, what was the world like "then", who were these people and what was being said to the people then. "Always", as in how does the Scripture apply through the ages since it was written, how did the people use it, know it. Then, considering "now" how can we apply and know what God is telling us through these passages now, either through historical stories, commands from Christ or whatever section you are reading. 
 Eric Vear points out certain things that are important to note on the books of the Bible when beginning study. What is the theme and the audience of the book?  The theme of John, according to Vear and what can be read in Word is that Jesus is the Messiah,  the Son of God, and that this Gospel is for the world at large. pg 8 .....
The opening words of John are some of the most well-known words of Scripture. As such, we will spend today dealing with some points of interest I discovered in my research. First off, the definition of logos, or the Greek word "Word" used in these first verses: 
"Logos, ( Greek: “word,” “reason,” or “plan”) plural logoi, in Greek philosophy and theology, the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning". (Logos).
The Apostle John utilized a philosophical term that he was familiar with because of the people in the area---and also because the rabbis of the time used that word in an attempt to proselytize the surrounding Greeks and Romans to Judaism. The rabbis utilize the Hebrew term davar for the passages in the Old Testament dealing with the Word. This translates to Memra in Aramaic, and to logos in Greek. The rabbis created a list based on their studies of what characteristics memra (logos) had--the same traits that God had, being that the Word of God is, indeed, God, not some other power floating around waiting to be harnessed.
By utilizing the Greeks love of logic, the Jews  understanding of the Word through the Old Testament, and the Romans  knowledge was a tool for the early Christians to point out that Jesus Christ was God.
Here are just a few verses that show the wide range of jobs that the Word has:  God's Word is going to produce results, reveals His nature, is living and powerful, creative, His Word is magnified above all else, covenant forming, forever settled in Heaven! How thrilling really this is for me to consider.
 Nature of God's Word Vear pg 1-23 and Mack (Memra), BlueLetterBible:
   
Gen 15. 1 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
    I am your shield,^[a]
    your very great reward.^[b]” NIV

Psalms 119.89

⁸⁹ Your word, Lord, is eternal;    it stands firm in the heavens. NIV

Matthew 24
³⁵ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. NIV

 Isaiah 45:23
By myself I have sworn,
    my mouth has uttered in all integrity
    a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow;
    by me every tongue will swear.

; Isaiah 55.10-11

¹⁰ As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.NIV

 Hosea 1.7
⁷ Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.” NIV

Psalms 147.15

¹⁵ He sends his command to the earth;
    his word runs swiftly. NIV

Matthew 26

²⁸ This is my blood of the^[b] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 

John 1.1-2 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. 

 Ps 33.4-6 For the word of the Lord is right and true;
    he is faithful in all he does.
⁵ The Lord loves righteousness and justice;
    the earth is full of his unfailing love.

⁶ By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
    their starry host by the breath of his mouth. NIV

Gen 15.4 ⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” NIV


Now to move on:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross Col 1
These two passages point out firmly that Christ was with God from the very beginning. Not from the beginning of His time on earth but that He always existed with God because He was God. Here we have "a being who existed before creation took place. In the beginning the Word already was. So we actually start before the beginning, outside of time and space in eternity." BibleGateway. Henry 
We are forever minimizing God and attempting to put Him in a box of human understanding---and then we end up with a god who has no power, no knowledge and who certainly cannot save us, nor can he command us to do anything because ,if anything, he is weaker than we are,  thus allowing us to do anything we want. ( BlueLetterBible ) 
If He created all things as Colossions says, He had to be there. The idea that Christ was made, or was not always has been an issue for generations. For example, "Arius, a third-century false teacher, loved to say, “There was a time when He was not.”" Further, it was understood at that time period by both Jews and Gentiles that "anything not created must be deity", so John's use of words here pushes the reader to think on the truth of Christ's Godhood.Mack  To read more on Arius:techmalta 
This is why John, as the last surviving eye witness of Christ wrote the last three letters he did. He was disturbed by the twisting of the faith, the changes being made to what Christ did and said. He writes that they saw, and touched and heard Christ, that those around could not claim that He was not what He was. Oh, how easy it is to twist the Word to make it easy to do exactly what sins we want to do. If we make Christ less than what He is, we can more easily not listen to His teachings.
 
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. ² The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. ³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We write this to make our^[a] joy complete. 1 John 1 NIV

This is a repetition of the book of John's introduction, but has some differences in that he points out that he saw, touched and looked at Christ. People were also saying that He was not a man.Anything to negate the miracles about us completed by HIm, I guess. Anything to make God less.
 
 When Job asked God why He had allowed the sufferings he had faced, God replied:
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
    Tell me, if you understand.
⁵ Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
    Who stretched a measuring line across it?
⁶ On what were its footings set,
    or who laid its cornerstone—
⁷ while the morning stars sang together
    and all the angels^[a] shouted for joy?

⁸ “Who shut up the sea behind doors
    when it burst forth from the womb,
⁹ when I made the clouds its garment
    and wrapped it in thick darkness,
¹⁰ when I fixed limits for it
    and set its doors and bars in place,
¹¹ when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
    here is where your proud waves halt’? Job 38 NIV

To lessen God from the God who said and it happened to a God who did not is a terrifying thing.  In Revelation, Christ says: ⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Rev 1 NIV
That is pretty clear to me. He is God. There is no question about the holiness of the One and Only. 

  The life that was in Christ was physical and spiritual life. We are dead from the moment of conception because we are of cursed blood--we are spiritually dead and we are physically dying. Christ, being born through the miracle avoided Adam's curse. And as an aside, He meet through Mary's geneaology the requirements of the Messiah. Jospeph's line passed through Johachin, who was cursed to not see the Messiah in his line due to his actions towards God. But because Christ was not Jospeh's son, it didn't matter. Mary's line from David went through Nathan, thus avoiding that curse and still coming from the line. (Vear)
 Until we say that we believe in Christ, that He died to cover sins once and for all, we are missing out on a huge part of what we were created to be: alive spiritually and alive physically.
We were to live in the Garden, in Paradise. We were created to have a constant communion with God--- The closest on earth we can have to paradise is through faith and the receiving of this Spirit. 
 The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach, which means “wind, breath, air, spirit.” The life of God lives on and on; the immaterial part of man was designed to live eternally." GotQuestionsFor that matter, we will live eternally...it just depends where we will live eternally. 
"The Apostle Paul calls this permanent indwelling the “guarantee of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:13-14). In contrast to this work in the New Testament, the indwelling in the Old Testament was selective and temporary. The Spirit “came upon” such Old Testament people as Joshua (Numbers 27:18), David (1 Samuel 16:12-13) and even Saul (1 Samuel 10:10)'" (Got Questions).

Vear points out that there are two subthemes running throughout the length of John's book. The first is the battle between the goodness and fullness of the holiness of God and the attempt by Satan to usurp the One True God. The second subtheme was teaching about God to the people  pg 16
Darkness and Light are used commonly in today's writing as "Evil" and "Good". Usually the bad characters wear black clothes, the good wear light clothes. Or "darkness" will descend on a scene. Light and Dark are used in the Word, too, to describe the battle between God and the rebels against Him.
Light is difficult to escape from, as any migraine sufferer knows, and so follows that darkness is easy to break with light. The smallest light seems extraordinarily bright in darkness and dims the intensity of darkness. Mack points out that the Light was not destroyed by even putting it in a tomb, which only makes sense. If the Light is God, and God created everything, how could darkness possibly destroy light? Satan, being a created being, cannot overcome the Creator. It makes as much sense as a painting attacking a painter and winning.

" Who needs to be told the light is on? That’s right, the blind!" (Mack) No 100% blind person can see when a light is turned on. By the same token, no person who is spiritually blind can see God. This is why, for example, that the Pharisees and Saducees fought so hard against Christ---they could not, or would not, see that He was the One!   14Leave them; they are blind guides.^d If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” Matt 15 NIV
This is why we discuss the Light with those who are blind. God calls each person but ultimately it is the choice of the blind to decide whether to see or not. 
In a favorite book of my family's, "The Plague and I" by Betty MacDonald, she faces institutionalization because she contracts tuberculosis before they found an antibiotic to work against TB. She writes at one point that the staff at the hospital often had to wrestle TB away from the patients as if TB were their beloved old shawl. I think that is a succinct statement about whether a "blind" man will decided to "see" by faith in God. So many say no, thank you, they'd rather not see but keep to their blindness.