The beginning of the story of Christ is a beginning unlike any other. For unlike the subject of other stories, we cannot look back to Christ’s beginning: all we can do is look back to him as being the beginning. The beginning of his story is itself the beginning of all beginnings. For he himself is the beginning, he is the alpha, he is the first.
In the beginning, before the foundation of the world, before all things—indeed, before all time—Christ was.
Christ was in the beginning, but he was never alone. He was with God, in the presence of God, and God loved him. He was with God, loved by God, and, thus, distinguishable from God. Yet at the same time, he was indistinguishable from God: he was the very image of the invisible God, the exact imprint of his nature. He existed in the form of God and enjoyed equality with him. What God was, Christ was. He himself was God.
In the beginning, Christ was. He was with God. He was God.
Being God, Christ possessed in himself the glory of God. He shared glory with him who says he will not give his glory to another. Christ was the radiance of God’s own glory so that, through him, God himself was glorified.
This then, is how the story begins. In the beginning, before the foundation of the world, before all things, before all time, Christ was. He was with God. He was loved by God. He shared glory with God. He was God.
