John opens his Gospel by placing the Word with God and calling the Word God, then says that same Word became flesh and lived among us. The passage answers the question about Jesus being God before it ever names him.

John 1:1–3 identifies the Word as God and as the one through whom everything was made. That claim about Christ and creation does not settle a curriculum debate, and treating it as a proof text asks the passage to do work it never sets out to do.