Matthew and Luke begin the story of Jesus' life on earth with an account of his conception. Even though each Evangelist has his own approach to the story of Jesus' conception, telling Jesus' story from this perspective has the advantage of situating Jesus in a particular time and place within human history and the inhabited world.

Without in any way denying the significance and importance of an account of Jesus' conception, John suggests that we must view Jesus from the perspective of eternity, otherwise there is no way to understand the Gospel fully. Scholars debate where John got the idea of calling Jesus "the Word", but from the perspective of faith, his insight that Jesus is the Word of God has proved very fruitful in helping us to speak intelligently about the mystery of the Trinity, thus adding deeper understanding to our faith.

Jesus is not directly called "the Word" anywhere else in Scripture but this doctrine finds another expression in the opening words of the Letter to the Hebrews: God speaks now, more engagingly, through his Son.