"Without a doubt, misunderstanding these verses at the beginning of the gospel of John has done more to further the cause of Trinitarian orthodoxy than misunderstanding any other section of Scripture. Whenever we challenge the traditional understanding of God and Christ, the first three verses of John’s prologue are invariably and almost immediately brought to the forefront of the discussion. Thus, it behooves us as workmen of God’s Word to thoroughly consider them."~~(Schoenheit, John W.; Graeser, Mark H.; Lynn, John A.. One God & One Lord: Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith (p. 205). Spirit & Truth Fellowship International. Kindle Edition.)
And as Kegan Chandler notes:
"Interestingly, we find that misunderstanding Jesus is actually a major theme of the Gospel of John. Episodes involving his audience’s misinterpretation of his sayings occur in at least fifteen out of the twenty-one chapters. Might contemporary audiences be missing his intentions now, just as so many did in his own time?
He goes on to say:
We wonder then, if meaning can be so easily lost even between concurrent cultures sharing the same language, how easy might it be to misinterpret the phraseology employed by the ancient personalities of the New Testament?"
(from: "The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma" (Kindle Locations 925-935). Restoration Fellowship. Kindle Edition.)
Yes,
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
That Word became flesh in John 1:14.
Please consider:
If John 1:1 had said "In the beginning was the gospel. The gospel was with God and the gospel was God", would you automatically think the gospel was a separate person from God in the beginning? Well, quite simply and unstartlingly, the word of God is the gospel of our salvation! Of course you wouldn't, yet you still manage to do it with "word" because of a thoroughly ingrained quite stubborn tradition.
Here's a biblical principle that sums up John 1:1's poetic intent quite sufficiently:
"For as he thinks within himself, so he is." (Proverbs 23:7)
Think about it. God the father is salvation. He is also life, light, and love, all found within that gospel of salvation, that word of truth. Yahweh expressed all those wonders through Jesus when he used him to save us, bringing his own life, light, and love to the fallen desperate world! Yes, Jesus was and is a perfect representation and fulfillment of the father's word in the flesh! The father resided fully in Christ by spirit, so this is how Jesus was and still is the most flawless and perfect representation of God and his purposes fathomable. (John 3:34, Heb. 1:3) Yep, Jesus is an incarnation of the father's word (or gospel of salvation), intent, will, personality, and revelation. Not the incarnation of a pre-existing supposed "person of God's triune substance."
Greg Deuble's book "They never told me this in Church" is a great one I highly recommend. Let me quote what he says concerning John 1:1 on page 187:
"John did not write "In the beginning was the Son and the Son was with God and the Son was God." (Some translations make this bold claim even though it is totally unwarranted from the text.) But our inherited tradition automatically makes our eyes run in that groove. One of the reasons we tend to read into it this meaning is the very fact that our translations have a capital "W" for "Word." The capital W subconsciously dictates what we think John means when he speaks of the "Word."
The word of God in scripture, quite simply, encompasses God's messages and plans. They are not literally Him but wrapped up with who he is because they reveal him. Yes, God's plan of salvation became flesh, and it (as well as Jesus who manifest it) demonstrated who he is beautifully, profoundly, and poetically. The sheer magnificence of God's word would inevitably inspire poetic license, and even trinitarian scholars admit John 1:1 is beautiful poetry! That's significant, no?
Jesus revealed God the father's personality in his being, actions, and existence profusely and magnanimously.
Jesus "became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." (1 Corinthians 1:30)
God's plan was to sanctify, redeem, and make righteous fallen mankind. These loving plans revealed his heart, mind, and intent. He expressed that utmostly in Jesus the Christ. This is how God's word of truth was made flesh, a full-on come-to-fruition of his plans to make righteous faithful mankind immortal heirs to a benevolent and eternal kingdom, in and through Jesus, of course. May that sweet kingdom come soon!
Yahweh affirms:
“So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
Is this word that goes forth from God's mouth a preexistent Christ or simply what God speaks (sometimes through others even), also wrapped up in his wisdom and will? (Rev. 4:11) To elucidate further, and speaking of speaking:
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ..And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds. (Genesis 1)
etc, etc...Yes,
"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth." (Ps. 33:6)
So here we have what God speaks (literally) and wills coming about by breath from his mouth, which could be identified as his spirit, that we all know he used to create. His spirit is wrapped up in his power and is his means of fulfilling his word and will. That's why he gave it to Christ without measure, so that Christ could competently and assuredly fulfill his word and will. Was this word of Yahweh that made the heavens, that was the breath of his mouth, a preexistent figure named "Word" by his side in the Old Testament? Or was it what he spoke and willed? If you say both then you have two words with God in the beginning, what he spoke and also a spirit creature, his supposed second person of three right by his side on top of the word from his lips, but this is a tragic imposition rather than an honest admission.
I suppose after God spoke the heavens and earth into being, they could be called the Word of God because they revealed him and fulfilled his plans. They encompassed what had been in his heart, mind, and soul and revealed it by their majesty. They revealed God! The same could be said of Jesus only in an even more full, heartfelt, and exceptional way. When Jesus was born, no one in the history of the world revealed God more extraordinarily or fully. He was the foreordained savior of the world and kingdom heir. (Dan. 7:13-14, 1 Pet. 1:20) The Word of God fulfilled and revealed and manifest (1 John 1:1-2) indeed! When he was born in the flesh and humbled himself unto death ensuring his own exaltation and that of righteous faithful mankind forevermore! Praise Yah and the savior he sent, loved profusely, and extolled inimitably!
Interesting indeed that English bible translations prior to the King James of 1611 identify the "word" in John 1:1 and beyond as an "it" and not a "who," proclaiming that God made all things by "it" and not by "him." This is a significant revelation that makes sweet sense to me given that what God spoke by his "word" came to be (created.) These are acceptable translations that should at the very least be thoughtfully considered by earnest truth seekers.
As I've already touched on, many commentators recognize that John ch. 1 is in a poetic style as opposed to a literary one. To quote Deuble: "(Early Church father) Origen's commentary on John states: "logos-only in the sense of the utterance of the father which came to expression in a Son when Jesus was conceived. "Similarly Tertullian, (who many people deem the father of the trinity) said: "It is the simple use of our people to say (of John 1) that the word of revelation (emphasis mine) was with God." (p. 191 in Deuble's book from Ad Praxeus 5)
Additionally, the following are a few examples where the word, truth, and wisdom are "with" people, and not as separate people of course:
2 Kings 3:12: And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the LORD is with him.”
2 John 2 because of the truth that remains in us, and it will be with us forever
Jeremiah 27:18: If the word of the LORD is with them
Proverbs 11:12: Wisdom is with the humble
So there is most certainly no reason to assume a second individual was with the father just to accommodate what I personally believe is an abuse of John 1:1's intent.
Quite notably, the second occurrence of theos (God) in John 1:1 is qualitative, thus emphasizing “the nature of the Word, rather than his identity.” (Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, p. 269) Notice these translations, heeding this:
"What God was, the Word was” (NEB)
Yes, the word, like God, is salvific. It being synonymous with the gospel of salvation, mind you.
“The Word was divine” (a modified Moffatt translation)
Even I am my own word poetically. It reveals what I'm thinking, my intentions, and who I am. If you heard my voice on a cd player or in a youtube video, you might say "oh, that's Kellie." It's me, but it's not really me. Same with God and His Word, except His is alive exerting power! Divine and inimitable. Revealing his majesty and glory outstandingly. He phenomenally expressed that in Jesus.
E. W. Bullinger notes on John 1:1 in the Companion Bible: “As the spoken word reveals the invisible thought, so the Living Word reveals the invisible God.” (Bullinger, op. cit., Companion, p. 1512)
Who encompassed that? Our brother and savior Jesus of course, again!
Ephesians 3:9 states:
"And to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things."
So Christ wasn't existing in heaven for all time but was rather a mystery hidden in God to appear at the decreed time as the Last Adam through human genealogy for the salvation and glorification of faithful mankind and his own inimitable inherited exaltation to a remarkable glory, second only to his father's!
Yes,
"Jesus was the ultimate expression of God. God’s plan, wisdom and purpose was the logos, and when we speak of the Bible, it is called “the Word” because it also is God’s expression of Himself. When we speak of a prophecy, we say, it is “the word of the Lord,” both because it is in the form of words and because it is God’s expression of Himself. Jesus was the logos in the most complete sense. He was the ultimate expression of God and the essence of His plan and purpose."~~(Schoenheit, John W.; Graeser, Mark H.; Lynn, John A.. One God & One Lord: Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith (p. 208). Spirit & Truth Fellowship International. Kindle Edition.)
From the same book:
“Before Jesus’ conception in the womb of Mary, the logos was to Jesus what promise is to fulfillment. When “the logos became flesh,” the promise was fulfilled in the form of a person."
To quote Karen Armstrong (from A History of God: From Abraham to the present: the 4000 year quest for God, p.106) :
"The "memra" (word) performs the same function as other technical terms like "glory, "Holy spirit", and "Shekinah" which emphasized the distinction between God's presence in the world and the incomprehensible reality of God itself. Like the divine Wisdom, the "Word" symbolized God's original plan for creation. When Paul and John speak about Jesus as though he had some kind of preexistent life, they were not suggesting he was a second divine "person" in the later trinitarian sense. They were indicating that Jesus transcended temporal and individual modes of existence. Because the "power" and "wisdom" he represented (emphasis mine) were activities that derived from God, he had in some way expressed "what was there from the beginning." These ideas were comprehensible in a strictly Jewish context, though later Christians with a Greek background would interpret them differently."
Because of God's foreknowledge of mankind's fall and decay, he purposed and planned, via his spirit, will, wisdom, and word to bring about a means of redemption (as Karen in the quote above so termed "God's original plan for creation") which became Christ in the flesh for our ultimate salvation. God has scales of perfect justice so if one perfect man (God's first human son) could bring about death for every man by one act of disobedience then another perfect man (The Last Adam, the Son of the living God) could bring about the salvation of every man of faith by his own obedience. (Rom. 5:12-21) It's a beautiful thing indeed! To go beyond God's scales of justice to create our own is unneeded. The redeeming blood of the perfect and holy Lamb of God accomplishes for us what God's will and word purposed. God's "word of life", that spoken of in John 1 and 1 John 1 was God's divine wisdom, plan, and gospel for our salvaton and glory (also a majestic self-expression) that was fulfilled when Christ became flesh, a true man. (John 1:14)
Jesus's words were not his own, but rather God's, so he relayed God's messages and love to mankind fully and beautifully as God's prophet, agent, image, and representative, who said nothing of his own initiative but in all things looked to his own God and father for what to do and say. (Jn. 8:28, 12:49) He fulfilled all God's plans and intentions from the beginning, including what was prophesied at Genesis 3:15. Therefore, God's "word", or what would come to pass for the light and life of all mankind, was to be fulfilled with absolute surety due to Jesus's faithfulness, obedience, and diligence to his father's word, or will. Hence Christ encompasses God's word on every level as the Great Amen who ensured fulfillment of God's prophecies by his faithful life, fleeting death, and glorious resurrection. He reveals God's word of life, that invaluable gospel of salvation and plan for redemption, as he finished all the work that needed to be done to ensure a restoration of all things unto glory.
When we allow John himself to articulate his entire intention, did he write the gospel to let us know Jesus preexisted or was the second person of a triune philosophical homoousious (substance)? Apparently not.
"But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:31)
Is calling him the Son of God a declaration he's also True God? (John 17:3) Apparently not!
"And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)
Yes, he's the Son of God because he was conceived in a virgin womb supernaturally and miraculously by God's spirit, of course making him God's unique Son. Who else has ever been? Who else is the fulfillment of all things? Who else is the beginning and end of all God's plans by his admirable faithfulness to his own God which leads to salvation for all who exercise faith in him? Praise the Lord Messiah! For everything he is and for everything he's done to the glory of God and the exaltation of righteous mankind! (Col. 3:4).
Trinitarians, because they know there is only One God, will assuredly assert that they are definitely not importing a second God into John 1:1. I'm at a loss as to how they can in good conscience confidently claim this. I say this only because I know very well they can accomplish pre-school math. When they make such intellectually dishonest contentions, I can't help but picture them with their fingers crossed behind their backs. It doesn't matter how much animation or determination they demonstrate behind their assertion, it is still a bald-faced impossibility to have two or three Gods but only one God. They can manipulate language or imagine untruths all they like, but every time they try, they are demonstrating cognitive dissonance, which they perplexingly accuse others like myself of often. Either that, or willfully lying and self-deceiving. Either way, not ideal for a truth seeker in love with God. Don't just chalk it up to mystery and think no further upon it. Think critically about it to the point of acknowledging the existing problem so that you may come to a solution, found only in the words of Yah and Christ, not councils of men or intensely bias pastors who are also incessantly indoctrinated with traditionalist deceptions. We are commanded to maintain reason when assessing the Word of God. This is the only way it can be regarded respectfully, so I say these things with concern and sincerity. This is the kind of talking point that I think should foster the kinds of crises of conscience that eventually, if heeded, can lead us where we belong. Sorry. Was that a rant? For clarification, when I say things like this, I am intending them for the more Pharisaic, studied, and fiercely dogmatic trinitarians and not the innocently deceived who worship Jesus humbly and as honestly as they're capable of doing. Though I think they too need to critically delve into their cherished beliefs to make sure of all things like a Berean would. After all, Jesus resolutely and ubiquitously professed inferiority to and shameless utter reliance upon someone he called "greater" and "my God." The only qualification (and it's jaunting) is provided by trinitarians themselves, not by anyone inspired in scripture. This should definitively provide tremendous pause to call Jesus himself The One God instead of the Son of God, no? He wasn't claiming or trying to be both, as if they're synonyms.
And as Kegan Chandler notes:
"Interestingly, we find that misunderstanding Jesus is actually a major theme of the Gospel of John. Episodes involving his audience’s misinterpretation of his sayings occur in at least fifteen out of the twenty-one chapters. Might contemporary audiences be missing his intentions now, just as so many did in his own time?
He goes on to say:
We wonder then, if meaning can be so easily lost even between concurrent cultures sharing the same language, how easy might it be to misinterpret the phraseology employed by the ancient personalities of the New Testament?"
(from: "The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma" (Kindle Locations 925-935). Restoration Fellowship. Kindle Edition.)
Yes,
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
That Word became flesh in John 1:14.
Please consider:
If John 1:1 had said "In the beginning was the gospel. The gospel was with God and the gospel was God", would you automatically think the gospel was a separate person from God in the beginning? Well, quite simply and unstartlingly, the word of God is the gospel of our salvation! Of course you wouldn't, yet you still manage to do it with "word" because of a thoroughly ingrained quite stubborn tradition.
Here's a biblical principle that sums up John 1:1's poetic intent quite sufficiently:
"For as he thinks within himself, so he is." (Proverbs 23:7)
Think about it. God the father is salvation. He is also life, light, and love, all found within that gospel of salvation, that word of truth. Yahweh expressed all those wonders through Jesus when he used him to save us, bringing his own life, light, and love to the fallen desperate world! Yes, Jesus was and is a perfect representation and fulfillment of the father's word in the flesh! The father resided fully in Christ by spirit, so this is how Jesus was and still is the most flawless and perfect representation of God and his purposes fathomable. (John 3:34, Heb. 1:3) Yep, Jesus is an incarnation of the father's word (or gospel of salvation), intent, will, personality, and revelation. Not the incarnation of a pre-existing supposed "person of God's triune substance."
Greg Deuble's book "They never told me this in Church" is a great one I highly recommend. Let me quote what he says concerning John 1:1 on page 187:
"John did not write "In the beginning was the Son and the Son was with God and the Son was God." (Some translations make this bold claim even though it is totally unwarranted from the text.) But our inherited tradition automatically makes our eyes run in that groove. One of the reasons we tend to read into it this meaning is the very fact that our translations have a capital "W" for "Word." The capital W subconsciously dictates what we think John means when he speaks of the "Word."
The word of God in scripture, quite simply, encompasses God's messages and plans. They are not literally Him but wrapped up with who he is because they reveal him. Yes, God's plan of salvation became flesh, and it (as well as Jesus who manifest it) demonstrated who he is beautifully, profoundly, and poetically. The sheer magnificence of God's word would inevitably inspire poetic license, and even trinitarian scholars admit John 1:1 is beautiful poetry! That's significant, no?
Jesus revealed God the father's personality in his being, actions, and existence profusely and magnanimously.
Jesus "became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption." (1 Corinthians 1:30)
God's plan was to sanctify, redeem, and make righteous fallen mankind. These loving plans revealed his heart, mind, and intent. He expressed that utmostly in Jesus the Christ. This is how God's word of truth was made flesh, a full-on come-to-fruition of his plans to make righteous faithful mankind immortal heirs to a benevolent and eternal kingdom, in and through Jesus, of course. May that sweet kingdom come soon!
Yahweh affirms:
“So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
Is this word that goes forth from God's mouth a preexistent Christ or simply what God speaks (sometimes through others even), also wrapped up in his wisdom and will? (Rev. 4:11) To elucidate further, and speaking of speaking:
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ..And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds. (Genesis 1)
etc, etc...Yes,
"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth." (Ps. 33:6)
So here we have what God speaks (literally) and wills coming about by breath from his mouth, which could be identified as his spirit, that we all know he used to create. His spirit is wrapped up in his power and is his means of fulfilling his word and will. That's why he gave it to Christ without measure, so that Christ could competently and assuredly fulfill his word and will. Was this word of Yahweh that made the heavens, that was the breath of his mouth, a preexistent figure named "Word" by his side in the Old Testament? Or was it what he spoke and willed? If you say both then you have two words with God in the beginning, what he spoke and also a spirit creature, his supposed second person of three right by his side on top of the word from his lips, but this is a tragic imposition rather than an honest admission.
I suppose after God spoke the heavens and earth into being, they could be called the Word of God because they revealed him and fulfilled his plans. They encompassed what had been in his heart, mind, and soul and revealed it by their majesty. They revealed God! The same could be said of Jesus only in an even more full, heartfelt, and exceptional way. When Jesus was born, no one in the history of the world revealed God more extraordinarily or fully. He was the foreordained savior of the world and kingdom heir. (Dan. 7:13-14, 1 Pet. 1:20) The Word of God fulfilled and revealed and manifest (1 John 1:1-2) indeed! When he was born in the flesh and humbled himself unto death ensuring his own exaltation and that of righteous faithful mankind forevermore! Praise Yah and the savior he sent, loved profusely, and extolled inimitably!
Interesting indeed that English bible translations prior to the King James of 1611 identify the "word" in John 1:1 and beyond as an "it" and not a "who," proclaiming that God made all things by "it" and not by "him." This is a significant revelation that makes sweet sense to me given that what God spoke by his "word" came to be (created.) These are acceptable translations that should at the very least be thoughtfully considered by earnest truth seekers.
As I've already touched on, many commentators recognize that John ch. 1 is in a poetic style as opposed to a literary one. To quote Deuble: "(Early Church father) Origen's commentary on John states: "logos-only in the sense of the utterance of the father which came to expression in a Son when Jesus was conceived. "Similarly Tertullian, (who many people deem the father of the trinity) said: "It is the simple use of our people to say (of John 1) that the word of revelation (emphasis mine) was with God." (p. 191 in Deuble's book from Ad Praxeus 5)
Additionally, the following are a few examples where the word, truth, and wisdom are "with" people, and not as separate people of course:
2 Kings 3:12: And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the LORD is with him.”
2 John 2 because of the truth that remains in us, and it will be with us forever
Jeremiah 27:18: If the word of the LORD is with them
Proverbs 11:12: Wisdom is with the humble
So there is most certainly no reason to assume a second individual was with the father just to accommodate what I personally believe is an abuse of John 1:1's intent.
Quite notably, the second occurrence of theos (God) in John 1:1 is qualitative, thus emphasizing “the nature of the Word, rather than his identity.” (Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, p. 269) Notice these translations, heeding this:
"What God was, the Word was” (NEB)
Yes, the word, like God, is salvific. It being synonymous with the gospel of salvation, mind you.
“The Word was divine” (a modified Moffatt translation)
Even I am my own word poetically. It reveals what I'm thinking, my intentions, and who I am. If you heard my voice on a cd player or in a youtube video, you might say "oh, that's Kellie." It's me, but it's not really me. Same with God and His Word, except His is alive exerting power! Divine and inimitable. Revealing his majesty and glory outstandingly. He phenomenally expressed that in Jesus.
E. W. Bullinger notes on John 1:1 in the Companion Bible: “As the spoken word reveals the invisible thought, so the Living Word reveals the invisible God.” (Bullinger, op. cit., Companion, p. 1512)
Who encompassed that? Our brother and savior Jesus of course, again!
Ephesians 3:9 states:
"And to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things."
So Christ wasn't existing in heaven for all time but was rather a mystery hidden in God to appear at the decreed time as the Last Adam through human genealogy for the salvation and glorification of faithful mankind and his own inimitable inherited exaltation to a remarkable glory, second only to his father's!
Yes,
"Jesus was the ultimate expression of God. God’s plan, wisdom and purpose was the logos, and when we speak of the Bible, it is called “the Word” because it also is God’s expression of Himself. When we speak of a prophecy, we say, it is “the word of the Lord,” both because it is in the form of words and because it is God’s expression of Himself. Jesus was the logos in the most complete sense. He was the ultimate expression of God and the essence of His plan and purpose."~~(Schoenheit, John W.; Graeser, Mark H.; Lynn, John A.. One God & One Lord: Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith (p. 208). Spirit & Truth Fellowship International. Kindle Edition.)
From the same book:
“Before Jesus’ conception in the womb of Mary, the logos was to Jesus what promise is to fulfillment. When “the logos became flesh,” the promise was fulfilled in the form of a person."
To quote Karen Armstrong (from A History of God: From Abraham to the present: the 4000 year quest for God, p.106) :
"The "memra" (word) performs the same function as other technical terms like "glory, "Holy spirit", and "Shekinah" which emphasized the distinction between God's presence in the world and the incomprehensible reality of God itself. Like the divine Wisdom, the "Word" symbolized God's original plan for creation. When Paul and John speak about Jesus as though he had some kind of preexistent life, they were not suggesting he was a second divine "person" in the later trinitarian sense. They were indicating that Jesus transcended temporal and individual modes of existence. Because the "power" and "wisdom" he represented (emphasis mine) were activities that derived from God, he had in some way expressed "what was there from the beginning." These ideas were comprehensible in a strictly Jewish context, though later Christians with a Greek background would interpret them differently."
Because of God's foreknowledge of mankind's fall and decay, he purposed and planned, via his spirit, will, wisdom, and word to bring about a means of redemption (as Karen in the quote above so termed "God's original plan for creation") which became Christ in the flesh for our ultimate salvation. God has scales of perfect justice so if one perfect man (God's first human son) could bring about death for every man by one act of disobedience then another perfect man (The Last Adam, the Son of the living God) could bring about the salvation of every man of faith by his own obedience. (Rom. 5:12-21) It's a beautiful thing indeed! To go beyond God's scales of justice to create our own is unneeded. The redeeming blood of the perfect and holy Lamb of God accomplishes for us what God's will and word purposed. God's "word of life", that spoken of in John 1 and 1 John 1 was God's divine wisdom, plan, and gospel for our salvaton and glory (also a majestic self-expression) that was fulfilled when Christ became flesh, a true man. (John 1:14)
Jesus's words were not his own, but rather God's, so he relayed God's messages and love to mankind fully and beautifully as God's prophet, agent, image, and representative, who said nothing of his own initiative but in all things looked to his own God and father for what to do and say. (Jn. 8:28, 12:49) He fulfilled all God's plans and intentions from the beginning, including what was prophesied at Genesis 3:15. Therefore, God's "word", or what would come to pass for the light and life of all mankind, was to be fulfilled with absolute surety due to Jesus's faithfulness, obedience, and diligence to his father's word, or will. Hence Christ encompasses God's word on every level as the Great Amen who ensured fulfillment of God's prophecies by his faithful life, fleeting death, and glorious resurrection. He reveals God's word of life, that invaluable gospel of salvation and plan for redemption, as he finished all the work that needed to be done to ensure a restoration of all things unto glory.
When we allow John himself to articulate his entire intention, did he write the gospel to let us know Jesus preexisted or was the second person of a triune philosophical homoousious (substance)? Apparently not.
"But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:31)
Is calling him the Son of God a declaration he's also True God? (John 17:3) Apparently not!
"And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God." (Luke 1:35)
Yes, he's the Son of God because he was conceived in a virgin womb supernaturally and miraculously by God's spirit, of course making him God's unique Son. Who else has ever been? Who else is the fulfillment of all things? Who else is the beginning and end of all God's plans by his admirable faithfulness to his own God which leads to salvation for all who exercise faith in him? Praise the Lord Messiah! For everything he is and for everything he's done to the glory of God and the exaltation of righteous mankind! (Col. 3:4).
Trinitarians, because they know there is only One God, will assuredly assert that they are definitely not importing a second God into John 1:1. I'm at a loss as to how they can in good conscience confidently claim this. I say this only because I know very well they can accomplish pre-school math. When they make such intellectually dishonest contentions, I can't help but picture them with their fingers crossed behind their backs. It doesn't matter how much animation or determination they demonstrate behind their assertion, it is still a bald-faced impossibility to have two or three Gods but only one God. They can manipulate language or imagine untruths all they like, but every time they try, they are demonstrating cognitive dissonance, which they perplexingly accuse others like myself of often. Either that, or willfully lying and self-deceiving. Either way, not ideal for a truth seeker in love with God. Don't just chalk it up to mystery and think no further upon it. Think critically about it to the point of acknowledging the existing problem so that you may come to a solution, found only in the words of Yah and Christ, not councils of men or intensely bias pastors who are also incessantly indoctrinated with traditionalist deceptions. We are commanded to maintain reason when assessing the Word of God. This is the only way it can be regarded respectfully, so I say these things with concern and sincerity. This is the kind of talking point that I think should foster the kinds of crises of conscience that eventually, if heeded, can lead us where we belong. Sorry. Was that a rant? For clarification, when I say things like this, I am intending them for the more Pharisaic, studied, and fiercely dogmatic trinitarians and not the innocently deceived who worship Jesus humbly and as honestly as they're capable of doing. Though I think they too need to critically delve into their cherished beliefs to make sure of all things like a Berean would. After all, Jesus resolutely and ubiquitously professed inferiority to and shameless utter reliance upon someone he called "greater" and "my God." The only qualification (and it's jaunting) is provided by trinitarians themselves, not by anyone inspired in scripture. This should definitively provide tremendous pause to call Jesus himself The One God instead of the Son of God, no? He wasn't claiming or trying to be both, as if they're synonyms.
"Similarly Tertullian, (who many people deem the father of the trinity) said: "It is the simple use of our people to say (of John 1) that the word of revelation (emphasis mine) was with God." (p. 191 in Deuble's book from Ad Praxeus 5)"
ReplyDeleteI am not finding this sentence anywhere in "Against Praxeas" by Tertullian.
I found it: "This Reason is His own Thought (or Consciousness) which the Greeks call λόγος, by which term we also designate Word or Discourse and therefore it is now usual with our people, owing to the mere simple interpretation of the term, to say that the Word was in the beginning with God; although it would be more suitable to regard Reason as the more ancient; " https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0317.htm
DeleteClose but you have been deceived
ReplyDelete* https://www.academia.edu/39812028/Logos_and_Memra
* https://www.academia.edu/50808377/V14_An_Expository_Rendering_of_John_1_1_4
* http://newworldtranslation.blogspot.com/2018/06/revelation-314-is-christ-created-being.html?m=1