John 1:1

"In the beginning was the Word..."
"In the beginning" is also found to be the first words of the Bible in Genesis 1:1. John was making it clear from the beginning of his writings that Whom he was speaking about was, and has been from the beginning. He also gives a similar introduction in 1 John 1:1 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life". Whom John is speaking about from the begining is not talking about the beginning of one's life or the beginning of His ministry, but from the beginnings of beginnings, the same beginning as previously stated thats found in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Just as Genesis could read " God, in the beginning created the heavens and the earth," John 1:1 could read "The Word in the beginning was...". The word beginning in Greek is arche: not referring to a restrictive event, situation or time, but "in the beginning" is absolute, meaning the beginning of any and everything or creation." God existed and had been before the beginning and the Word existed and had been before the beginning. Between Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 one can see the Holy Trinity clearly and at work in creation. In the beginning God created and there was the Word, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters.
"was the word..."
was is the word en and is the imperfect 3rd person singular of eimi(1510 Strong's)which means "to be", it is the verb of existence, to have existence meaning that the Word had been before and was existing and had existed before there was any beginning, (thereby showing the eternality of the Word and leading to its equality with God.)existing before the beginning of anything - Zodihates (my note in parenthesees) "John 8:50 says 'And I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeketh and judges. This means that "There has always been one that seeks and judges (esti)." - Zodihates
John 8:58 says " Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am (eimi)" Christ called Himself the One who exists, and the One who has always existed, even before Abraham was (genesomai): which means to come into existence.
Christ was before any man was: Christ (en) before any man (genesomai).
So, In the beginning, the Word already existed, and had been existing. Jesus Christ is the Word that existed before anything - He existed before anything else had existence - He is outside of time, outside of all things created, outside of space and matter and existed before any of it. I think John's aim in starting this book of in this way is to show the truest genealogy and beginnings of Jesus Christ -namely, that He had no beginnings! Johns Gospel was written after Matthew, Mark and Lukes and two of those gospels outline Jesus' earthly genealogy. John begins with His Divine origins - who this man was before he ever came unto His own. He was the pre-existing, eternal Word of the Living God, Sovereign, free, self-existent, self-sufficient, holy and transcendent. Christ is the Divine Word of God, that expressed His thoughts and created all things. Christ was the Word from eternity and therefore He is God because He possesses, from what we have already seen in just the first few words of this book, the atributes of eternality, infinitude,and transcendence.
"Word" (hologos): "Intelligence, Word as the expression of that Intelligence. The pre-incarnate Christ; the Second person of the Godhead; the eternal expression of the divine intelligence and the disclosure of the divine essence. This self - revealing characteristic of God qand utterly achieved for mankind in the incarnation" - Zodihates
Just as man's words express out thoughts, The Word of God expressed His thoughts, but the Word was not hust an instrument or means of communication, or a tool to use to do something. "Word was with God..."
This Word was (existed, exists, has always existed) with (pros):in nearness to; co-existed in nearness to God; and the Word was (existed, exists, and had always existed) God. Christ has always been and had always been a part of the Diety of the Godhead...rather, in Him the fullness of the godhead dwells bodily (Colossians 1:19). Even in His incarnation, He was still God. The Word became flesh, it was still the Word though. Jesus Christ is God and was originally present with God. Christ was not a created being, but the CREATOR, co-existing with the Father and Spirit, and as One- all things were made by Him.
This verse of John 1:1 seems to be molded by some to show that Christ was "a god" but this can not be true because John was a monotheistic Jew who held to the view that Jehovah was one (Deut 6:4) . If Christ were "a god" then He could not exist with God, unless those who say these things are polytheistic, and this is contrary to scripture. Scripture clearly defines the attributes of God and Christ possesses all of these divine atributes. Many times He is even spoken of as Jehovah himself in the Old Testament and John would be foolish to ascribe attrubutes of God to anything less than God....unless Christ wasn't less than God (John 5:18; Phil 2:6)