John writes near the end of the first century, almost certainly from Ephesus, to churches living among both synagogue Judaism and Greek philosophy. He opens his Gospel with the same three Greek words the Septuagint opens Genesis with — en archê — and he is signaling to both audiences: read this Gospel with Genesis 1 in your other hand.

From the writers we read together

Saint Augustine

Bishop of Hippo (354-430 AD)

Augustine read John 1 the way a homesick man reads a letter from home. He had spent a decade chasing wisdom in pagan philosophy and human pleasure. When he finally heard the Logos in his own heart, he wept, because the order he had been looking for in the wrong places was a Person.

The verb in verse 14 — egeneto, "became" — is the same verb John has just used three times for creation. The Word who made everything has now made himself one of the things he made. There is no philosophy in the world that contains that sentence.