John 1: An Early Christian Hymn

In the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord tells his people that the "song of the heart is a prayer unto me." This is one of the first places in modern times that we learn of the important significance of music in Christen worship. This same truth would have been known unto the early Christens, and because of this reason we see the Apostle John start his Gospel with an early Christen hymn.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." These are the opening words of the Gospel of John, they are meaning rich. The first thing that we see here is that the idea of High Christology, the idea that Christ is a deified being, was not an idea developed over time, but rather something that the early Christens knew from the start. John boldly states that the Word, who is Jesus, was in the beginning with God and that he was God. Here we see one of the men that knew him in his life, and testifies of his Divinity.
In the second verse we learn another truth: that the Word was God, but we also read that He was with God. Here the Apostle John is adding his testimony to the true doctrine of the the trinity, or that God and the Son are two distinct and separate individuals. This truth would be later be distorted and shown in a more Hellenistic light, by making God into a Platonic form that can neither be personal nor understood. But here the doctrine is to be found, again, but it took the corrective lenses of the Restoration to enable mankind to see it again.
In verses 4 John is trying to share with us the central message of his Testimony of Christ. It reads:In him was life; and the life was the light of men. " Here John shares with us the fact that the light, or rather the hope of all mankind is found in the life that Christ led, that by the sacrifice and expiation of that life all men may find salvation and live again. John uses this verse of the hymn to share with us his testimony of salvation that comes only from Christ.
In the final verse we read: "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."
John shares with us a the ray of hope that the Gospel gives unto men. The word 'comprehend' is probably better translated 'overcome' so it should read the the darkness can not overcome the light which is Christ. This is the ultimate good news of the Gospel that in the End Christ will over come all wrongs, and make all things equal and extend the arm of Mercy to all those that will accept him as their Savior.
I find this a very poignant way in which to begin the Gospel that John saw fit to share with us, and it makes it even more poignant that it was all found as an early Christian hymn, a song create to praise God and offer up thanksgiving for the sacrifice of His Son, and for the Atonement that was made for our sake, so that we may one day return to God's presence.