The Verse That Made the Apostles Read Genesis Differently
Proto-Tabernacle Series - Week 2
John 1:1–18 – the lens they never took off
Most of us have treated John 1:1 as a nice Christmas-card verse: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
We nod, perhaps sing a hymn, and move on.
But the apostles and the earliest church heard something far louder. When John wrote “In the beginning,” he deliberately echoed the first three words of the Greek Old Testament (Genesis 1:1 – Ἐν ἀρχῇ). He wanted every Jewish and God-fearing reader to hear Genesis opening again but this time with the curtain pulled back.
Here is what John is actually saying in the first 18 verses (read it slowly):
The One who said “Let there be light” in Genesis 1 was not a nameless force. He already had a personal identity: the Word (Logos).
He did not begin to exist in Bethlehem. He was already “in the beginning,” already “with God,” already “God.”
He is the One through whom “all things were made” (v. 3) including the Garden, the tree of life, and Adam himself.
He is the true Light who was coming into the world (v. 9) the same Light that shone in the darkness of creation.
He is the only Son from the Father (v. 14, 18) the One who “became flesh and dwelt among us,” revealing the invisible God.
He is greater than Moses (v. 17) bringing grace and truth that fulfill the Law given at Sinai.
No one has ever seen God, but the Son has made Him known (v. 18) He is the visible image of the invisible God (cf. Colossians 1:15).
This prologue reframes the entire Old Testament. The “us” in “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26) now points to the Father and the preexistent Son. The voice calling to Adam in the Garden (Genesis 3:8–9) echoes the Word who later calls disciples by name. The footsteps Adam heard in Genesis 3:8 are the same footsteps that later walked Galilee, carried the cross, and will one day walk with us again in the restored Eden.
Many of us have heard teachers hesitate here some say “maybe” or “possibly” when the Scripture is so direct. But the apostles didn’t hesitate. They read Genesis through this lens and never looked back. And once we do the same, the Old Testament stops feeling distant. It becomes the living story that leads straight to Jesus.
One-page takeaway you can print and keep in your Bible.
Early church fathers who saw it clearly:
Justin Martyr (~160 AD): “It is the Son who spoke with Adam at the beginning.”
Irenaeus (~180 AD): “The Son conversed with the human race from the beginning.”
Tertullian (~200 AD): “The Son walked in Paradise and talked with Adam.”
Origen (~230 AD): “The Logos is the One who walked in the Garden.”
This reality acknowledged by early church fathers feels forgotten in our modern instruction.
Bottom line:
The footsteps Adam heard in Genesis 3:8 are the same footsteps that later walked Galilee, carried the cross, and will one day walk with us again in the restored Eden.
Everything is on this one page. No extra emails, no extra tabs, no extra sheets. Just open, read, scroll, print if you want.
Next Saturday we go to the men who “walked with God” before the flood and exactly with whom they were walking. See you then.
Blessings, William
See you on the ancient paths.
© 2026 Galilee Publications. Just reading what’s written. Walk with us on the ancient paths.
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