“In the beginning was the Word”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1 BSB)
What it sounds like today
Abstract philosophy; 'the Word' floats without context.
The cultural key
Logos was a bridge word with deep roots on both sides of John's audience. For Greek readers, the logos was the rational principle ordering the cosmos (Heraclitus, the Stoics, Philo). For Jewish readers: God creates by speaking (Genesis 1; 'by the word of the LORD the heavens were made,' Psalm 33:6), Wisdom is personified beside God at creation (Proverbs 8), and the Aramaic synagogue translations (targums) reverently said 'the Memra (Word) of the LORD' where Scripture described God acting in the world. 'In the beginning' repeats Genesis 1:1 verbatim.
Recovered meaning
John opens with a term both halves of the ancient world already honored, identifies it with God, and then scandalizes everyone with verse 14: the ordering principle of the cosmos, the creative speech of God, became flesh and had an address.