from youtube user humanityofjesus
Showing posts with label John 1:1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John 1:1. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
John 1:1 and God's "word of life" from 1 John 1
Before a car materializes on the road,it exists within the heart and mind of the designer.Before a warm home is inhabited and appreciated by a family,it exists within the heart and the mind of an architect and builders.Before Yahuwah's plans for mankind and gifts to mankind materialize in the flesh,you better believe they exist within his heart and mind.
Job 10:13: Yet these things you *hid in your heart*;I know that this was your *purpose.*
So Yahuwah's purposes are hidden in his heart before they enter the real world.
Job 23:13 he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?What he *desires*, that he does.14 For he will complete what he *appoints* for me,and many such things are *in his mind.*
Discussing the much misused and misunderstood John 1:1,we must ask ourselves:What IS God's "word" thousands of times in the Hebraic mindset of the bible authors and to our creator?Well,it can mean a number of things.Some of the ways it's used in scripture are:as a powerful utterance,a self expressive medium,a decree,a promise,an intention,a design,a plan,an extension of Yahuwah himself.So what was this word hidden in and "with" God from the beginning?Let's see if we can't discover texts that can be used along with John 1:1 to shed light on the matter that John presents to us.
Colossians 1:25 I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
So the word of God isn't a pre-existing spirit entity that transmigrated into a human womb in these texts but rather "the mystery hidden for ages and generations" but "now revealed" to his saints."This entailed our hope of glory and eternal life in Christ.:).How else is this described for us in scripture?
1 Corinthians 2:7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
and verse 9 says:
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”
So this word that was with God(also the hidden wisdom of God imo) was something that God "prepared for those who love him."It was the "secret and hidden wisdom of God" which he "decreed before the ages for our glory."
To quote James Dunn from "Christology in the Making"
"The thought is not so much of pre-existence as of predetermination;it is the MYSTERY that was "hidden for ages",not Christ.Christ is the content of this mystery as he is the content of the word of preaching.God having previously kept hidden his purpose has now realized it in Christ Jesus.(Eph. 3:11)--Christ,in other words,seen not so much as the mystery itself,but rather as the mystery revealed,the one who had from the beginning been predetermined to bring the divine master plan for men and world to its fulfillment."p.236
For man and woman,what is the most exceptional,significant,and important decree and purpose(again,God's *word* is his will and decree) that existed with God before it manifested itself to us?First it was with and within God,then spoken and prophesied,before it came to be.Well,that would be his intention to gift eternal life to faithful mankind in a savior.According to the holy word of God,Christians were seated in & raised up with Christ long ago.We were also glorified,possessing grace with God before time even began!(2 Tim. 1:9,Eph. 2:5,6,Rom. 8:28-30)Though we didn't pre-exist,faithful Christians existed in God's sure decrees.To quote James Dunn:
"It is the divine purpose for Christ which existed from the beginning,not the one in whom it should be fulfilled;just as Paul can speak of the divine purpose similarly predetermined for those who believe in Christ(Rom. 8:28-30)No thought of the personal pre-existence of either Christ or the believers is involved."p.235 "Christology in the Making"
Specifically,what does the bible actually *call* those plans and intentions of Yahuwah to give life to faithful mankind in Yahushua?We've already discussed a few ways it's described already,but another very important poignant descriptor is also that found in 1 John ch. 1,as Yah's "word of life."This "word of life" is "the word that was in the beginning with God."Even in trinitarian bias bibles,this word of life is called an "it."That,my friends,is significant considering the fact that trinitarians would call it blasphemy to refer to the word in John ch. 1 as an "it" before it manifest itself in Christ,considering they believe that "Word" was a literal spirit being(Yah) in heaven that transmigrated into a human womb.Let us examine 1 John 1,please,while we keep in mind these texts' explicit correlation with John chapter 1:
1 John 1:1:That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the *word of life*— 2 the life was made manifest(became flesh?Jn 1:14), and we have seen *it*, and testify to *it* and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father(in the beginning with God?Jn 1:1) and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you
Titus 1:2 might help us understand this even further.It says:
"a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time"
So what was manifest was a *promise* of eternal life which was fulfilled in Christ,as opposed to a preexistent spirit entity manifesting.Also,notice again,that even in trinitarian bias bibles the "word of life" is termed an "it" as opposed to a "him" and even a "which" as opposed to a "who."No doubt it became a "him" and a "who" when Christ fulfilled it and was manifest in the flesh.Before that,Yahushua was present(throughout the OT) in prophecy,in typology,in prefigurement,in foreshadowings,in God's heart and mind poignantly as the eventual fulfillment of and heir of all things!Could there be anything more amazing?He wasn't a spirit entity waiting to become a man or a Godman but rather God's word of life ready to be revealed when the "fullness of time" came.That word of life that was in the beginning with God.When,again,was this "mystery",this "word of life",this "hope of glory",this self-revelation of(in that in it was life,light,and love) of Yahuwah manifest to man in and through his Son?
Galatians 4:4 But *when the fullness of time had come*, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law
This would correlate with "the mystery hidden for ages and generations *now* revealed to his saints" from Colossians.And the word of life becoming manifest to the saints.(1 John 1:2)Also the word of God becoming flesh.(John 1:14)The word (or decree and plan to give immortality and glory to mankind in Yahushua) was revealed in the Last Adam,when "the fullness of time had come."To articulate all this even further,examine:
Ephesians 1:9: making known to us the *mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ*
So we have God's will and purpose which was mysterious till Christ was manifest.This,I believe,was his word of life,the word that was in the beginning with God,manifest in Christ in the Last days.Going further in the same chapter in Ephesians,we have:
10 as *a plan for the fullness of time*, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the *purpose* of him who works all things according to the counsel of his *will*, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the *word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,* and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
So even further we have a "plan for the fullness of time" that involved our inheritance in Christ,which was God's "purpose" according to his own "will".This was also known as his "word of truth" and the "gospel of our salvation."It is my view and the view of many others that this was the decree and purpose that was with God in his heart and mind that manifests itself in the flesh in Messiah Yahushua.Yes,this "word of life","word of truth",and "gospel of our salvation" manifest itself in John ch. 1 when the word became flesh.
So God's purpose and intent to give life to mankind was made flesh in Yahushua who,as a genuine man,as opposed to GOD with ONLY the "nature" of a genuine man,dwelt among mankind.He brought God the FATHER's light,life giving power,and love to mankind.While fulfilling all things and every gospel promise and decree that was most significant for the life of mankind and the guarantee of a kingdom.Christ was the incarnation of the FATHER's WORD,as opposed to the incarnation of the second person of a triune essence.
Yahushua was "foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you."(1 Peter 1:20)
Dunn says:
"The contrast is not between pre-existence and incarnation,but between that which was predestined and that which was revealed.Christ was the one who was thus predestined and who was thus revealed or who appeared at the right time just as planned.In other words,Peter may well mean(in 1 Peter 1:20)that what was "made manifest" was not so much Christ as what was pre-destined for Christ,God's eternal plan of salvation for Christ,believers,and the world."p.237
Yes,Yah has in "these *last days* spoken to us by his Son."(Heb. 1:2)The Son became his word to mankind in that Christ fulfilled ALL things and also in that God spoke through him to man in a number of ways after he was manifest to us.The word with God in the beginning was a "decree" for our "glory"(1 Cor. 2:7,again)and "eternal life."(1 Jn. 2:25,5:11)
Acts 2:23 says "this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men."The word of God made flesh,manifest,encompassed,and fulfilled in Yahushua indeed!This was the decree and will of God long before it came to fruition in historical reality in Christ.
Ephesians 3:11 says further that "This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord."
So in the respect that God plans,schemes, and thinks what comes to be before it's spoken forth and made material and tenable,God's "word" encapsulates both the plan and then it's realization.It's hidden in and with him,then spoken forth into existence,brought about by his spirit.
What I've covered here should also make clear that the word of God that was the word of life with God from the beginning could also properly be described as :
1."the mystery hidden for ages and generations" but "now revealed" to his saints,our "hope of glory" in Christ.(Col. 1:25-27)
2."a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory"(1 Cor. 2:7)
3.something that God had "prepared for those who love him" before time began.(1 Cor. 2:9,2 Tim. 1:9,Rom. 8:28-30)
4.a decree of eternal life for faithful mankind in Christ.(1 John 1:1-3)
5."the mystery of his(Yah's) will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."(Eph. 1:9-12)
6."God's eternal plan carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord."(Eph. 3:11)
7."a promise of eternal life for us since before time began."(Titus 1:2)
We should be attempting to understand how GOD HIMSELF and JOHN(along with other bible authors) connected God's word with his hidden eternal life decree and mysterious purpose revealed in Christ when the fullness of time came.Instead,most Christians keep God's word in their modern little box where they've managed to disconnect it from all that while they proceed to call it a pre-existent spirit entity distinct from God the father.What was manifest when Christ was born?God's purpose to give life to the world or the second person of a triune substance?Christ encompassed the gospel in the flesh.As the revealer and fulfiller of its content.There is no way if John 1:1 said "In the beginning was the gospel" you would think "In the beginning was another person of a God who's three people."Why is it any different for "word?"Let God's word define itself while attempting to understand how it became Christ(as the fulfiller of all things!) and you will have the answer to God's "mystery",as opposed to inventing your own.Mysteries get revealed and are meant to be understood when they are.:)No,the mystery wasn't a trinity but rather something and someone in the foreknowledge and magnificent will of the Most High manifest(made flesh) for our very lives and infinite sustenance.Yahushua *became* God's word to mankind as the fulfillment of it!Yes ,"no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ."(2 Corinthians 1:20)God showed his OWN love and light,his own intent to give LIFE to man in Christ.Christ was an incarnation of the *father's* "word of life" as opposed to the incarnation of a pre-existing son with the actual name "Word" or "word of life."
Job 10:13: Yet these things you *hid in your heart*;I know that this was your *purpose.*
So Yahuwah's purposes are hidden in his heart before they enter the real world.
Job 23:13 he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?What he *desires*, that he does.14 For he will complete what he *appoints* for me,and many such things are *in his mind.*
Discussing the much misused and misunderstood John 1:1,we must ask ourselves:What IS God's "word" thousands of times in the Hebraic mindset of the bible authors and to our creator?Well,it can mean a number of things.Some of the ways it's used in scripture are:as a powerful utterance,a self expressive medium,a decree,a promise,an intention,a design,a plan,an extension of Yahuwah himself.So what was this word hidden in and "with" God from the beginning?Let's see if we can't discover texts that can be used along with John 1:1 to shed light on the matter that John presents to us.
Colossians 1:25 I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
So the word of God isn't a pre-existing spirit entity that transmigrated into a human womb in these texts but rather "the mystery hidden for ages and generations" but "now revealed" to his saints."This entailed our hope of glory and eternal life in Christ.:).How else is this described for us in scripture?
1 Corinthians 2:7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
and verse 9 says:
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”
So this word that was with God(also the hidden wisdom of God imo) was something that God "prepared for those who love him."It was the "secret and hidden wisdom of God" which he "decreed before the ages for our glory."
To quote James Dunn from "Christology in the Making"
"The thought is not so much of pre-existence as of predetermination;it is the MYSTERY that was "hidden for ages",not Christ.Christ is the content of this mystery as he is the content of the word of preaching.God having previously kept hidden his purpose has now realized it in Christ Jesus.(Eph. 3:11)--Christ,in other words,seen not so much as the mystery itself,but rather as the mystery revealed,the one who had from the beginning been predetermined to bring the divine master plan for men and world to its fulfillment."p.236
For man and woman,what is the most exceptional,significant,and important decree and purpose(again,God's *word* is his will and decree) that existed with God before it manifested itself to us?First it was with and within God,then spoken and prophesied,before it came to be.Well,that would be his intention to gift eternal life to faithful mankind in a savior.According to the holy word of God,Christians were seated in & raised up with Christ long ago.We were also glorified,possessing grace with God before time even began!(2 Tim. 1:9,Eph. 2:5,6,Rom. 8:28-30)Though we didn't pre-exist,faithful Christians existed in God's sure decrees.To quote James Dunn:
"It is the divine purpose for Christ which existed from the beginning,not the one in whom it should be fulfilled;just as Paul can speak of the divine purpose similarly predetermined for those who believe in Christ(Rom. 8:28-30)No thought of the personal pre-existence of either Christ or the believers is involved."p.235 "Christology in the Making"
Specifically,what does the bible actually *call* those plans and intentions of Yahuwah to give life to faithful mankind in Yahushua?We've already discussed a few ways it's described already,but another very important poignant descriptor is also that found in 1 John ch. 1,as Yah's "word of life."This "word of life" is "the word that was in the beginning with God."Even in trinitarian bias bibles,this word of life is called an "it."That,my friends,is significant considering the fact that trinitarians would call it blasphemy to refer to the word in John ch. 1 as an "it" before it manifest itself in Christ,considering they believe that "Word" was a literal spirit being(Yah) in heaven that transmigrated into a human womb.Let us examine 1 John 1,please,while we keep in mind these texts' explicit correlation with John chapter 1:
1 John 1:1:That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the *word of life*— 2 the life was made manifest(became flesh?Jn 1:14), and we have seen *it*, and testify to *it* and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father(in the beginning with God?Jn 1:1) and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you
Titus 1:2 might help us understand this even further.It says:
"a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time"
So what was manifest was a *promise* of eternal life which was fulfilled in Christ,as opposed to a preexistent spirit entity manifesting.Also,notice again,that even in trinitarian bias bibles the "word of life" is termed an "it" as opposed to a "him" and even a "which" as opposed to a "who."No doubt it became a "him" and a "who" when Christ fulfilled it and was manifest in the flesh.Before that,Yahushua was present(throughout the OT) in prophecy,in typology,in prefigurement,in foreshadowings,in God's heart and mind poignantly as the eventual fulfillment of and heir of all things!Could there be anything more amazing?He wasn't a spirit entity waiting to become a man or a Godman but rather God's word of life ready to be revealed when the "fullness of time" came.That word of life that was in the beginning with God.When,again,was this "mystery",this "word of life",this "hope of glory",this self-revelation of(in that in it was life,light,and love) of Yahuwah manifest to man in and through his Son?
Galatians 4:4 But *when the fullness of time had come*, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law
This would correlate with "the mystery hidden for ages and generations *now* revealed to his saints" from Colossians.And the word of life becoming manifest to the saints.(1 John 1:2)Also the word of God becoming flesh.(John 1:14)The word (or decree and plan to give immortality and glory to mankind in Yahushua) was revealed in the Last Adam,when "the fullness of time had come."To articulate all this even further,examine:
Ephesians 1:9: making known to us the *mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ*
So we have God's will and purpose which was mysterious till Christ was manifest.This,I believe,was his word of life,the word that was in the beginning with God,manifest in Christ in the Last days.Going further in the same chapter in Ephesians,we have:
10 as *a plan for the fullness of time*, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the *purpose* of him who works all things according to the counsel of his *will*, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the *word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,* and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
So even further we have a "plan for the fullness of time" that involved our inheritance in Christ,which was God's "purpose" according to his own "will".This was also known as his "word of truth" and the "gospel of our salvation."It is my view and the view of many others that this was the decree and purpose that was with God in his heart and mind that manifests itself in the flesh in Messiah Yahushua.Yes,this "word of life","word of truth",and "gospel of our salvation" manifest itself in John ch. 1 when the word became flesh.
So God's purpose and intent to give life to mankind was made flesh in Yahushua who,as a genuine man,as opposed to GOD with ONLY the "nature" of a genuine man,dwelt among mankind.He brought God the FATHER's light,life giving power,and love to mankind.While fulfilling all things and every gospel promise and decree that was most significant for the life of mankind and the guarantee of a kingdom.Christ was the incarnation of the FATHER's WORD,as opposed to the incarnation of the second person of a triune essence.
Yahushua was "foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you."(1 Peter 1:20)
Dunn says:
"The contrast is not between pre-existence and incarnation,but between that which was predestined and that which was revealed.Christ was the one who was thus predestined and who was thus revealed or who appeared at the right time just as planned.In other words,Peter may well mean(in 1 Peter 1:20)that what was "made manifest" was not so much Christ as what was pre-destined for Christ,God's eternal plan of salvation for Christ,believers,and the world."p.237
Yes,Yah has in "these *last days* spoken to us by his Son."(Heb. 1:2)The Son became his word to mankind in that Christ fulfilled ALL things and also in that God spoke through him to man in a number of ways after he was manifest to us.The word with God in the beginning was a "decree" for our "glory"(1 Cor. 2:7,again)and "eternal life."(1 Jn. 2:25,5:11)
Acts 2:23 says "this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men."The word of God made flesh,manifest,encompassed,and fulfilled in Yahushua indeed!This was the decree and will of God long before it came to fruition in historical reality in Christ.
Ephesians 3:11 says further that "This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord."
So in the respect that God plans,schemes, and thinks what comes to be before it's spoken forth and made material and tenable,God's "word" encapsulates both the plan and then it's realization.It's hidden in and with him,then spoken forth into existence,brought about by his spirit.
What I've covered here should also make clear that the word of God that was the word of life with God from the beginning could also properly be described as :
1."the mystery hidden for ages and generations" but "now revealed" to his saints,our "hope of glory" in Christ.(Col. 1:25-27)
2."a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory"(1 Cor. 2:7)
3.something that God had "prepared for those who love him" before time began.(1 Cor. 2:9,2 Tim. 1:9,Rom. 8:28-30)
4.a decree of eternal life for faithful mankind in Christ.(1 John 1:1-3)
5."the mystery of his(Yah's) will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth."(Eph. 1:9-12)
6."God's eternal plan carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord."(Eph. 3:11)
7."a promise of eternal life for us since before time began."(Titus 1:2)
We should be attempting to understand how GOD HIMSELF and JOHN(along with other bible authors) connected God's word with his hidden eternal life decree and mysterious purpose revealed in Christ when the fullness of time came.Instead,most Christians keep God's word in their modern little box where they've managed to disconnect it from all that while they proceed to call it a pre-existent spirit entity distinct from God the father.What was manifest when Christ was born?God's purpose to give life to the world or the second person of a triune substance?Christ encompassed the gospel in the flesh.As the revealer and fulfiller of its content.There is no way if John 1:1 said "In the beginning was the gospel" you would think "In the beginning was another person of a God who's three people."Why is it any different for "word?"Let God's word define itself while attempting to understand how it became Christ(as the fulfiller of all things!) and you will have the answer to God's "mystery",as opposed to inventing your own.Mysteries get revealed and are meant to be understood when they are.:)No,the mystery wasn't a trinity but rather something and someone in the foreknowledge and magnificent will of the Most High manifest(made flesh) for our very lives and infinite sustenance.Yahushua *became* God's word to mankind as the fulfillment of it!Yes ,"no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ."(2 Corinthians 1:20)God showed his OWN love and light,his own intent to give LIFE to man in Christ.Christ was an incarnation of the *father's* "word of life" as opposed to the incarnation of a pre-existing son with the actual name "Word" or "word of life."
Thursday, February 17, 2011
John 1:1 and the Word of God
This is absolutely a must listen talk by Anthony Buzzard on one of the most beautiful poetic texts in scripture,John 1:1:
Buzzard on John 1:1
Btw,click on John 1:1 under trinity texts to the right for several blogs on John 1:1.I also have a youtube playlist on it.Be sure to check ALL the videos out when you can.:)
Buzzard on John 1:1
Btw,click on John 1:1 under trinity texts to the right for several blogs on John 1:1.I also have a youtube playlist on it.Be sure to check ALL the videos out when you can.:)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
John 1:1,the Word of God,and "new light" on Jesus
If you haven't already,first read my previous blog post.I have to qualify here again that I am journeying into the Socinian mind and writing as a Socinian(those who don't believe Jesus preexisted)would to see how well their interpretations register with my reasoning.I must say,with John 1:1,very well so far!I hope to explain soon to my Arian friends why I'm seriously questioning my Arian tradition.Hopefully I will be able to articulate why satisfactorily so as to do this topic justice and bring glory to God and Christ always no matter what!May God guide us in our truth seeking to the absolute truth of his word and to the Jesus of the bible.May he have mercy on those of us who can admit we don't know everything,who have questions and crave answers in all earnestness as Christian seekers.God alone knows our deepest thoughts and yearnings and I have faith that as long as we're willing to humbly seek,we will by his spirit find.If there's one thing I have learned as a former Jehovah's Witness though,it is that if we are scared to question our traditions,if we're wrapped up in our doctrines at all costs,there is no way he can help us.We must become like children and surrender to him alone in Christ Jesus.
In further regards to John 1:1:
Often in scripture,the preposition "with" can,as Greg Deuble notes in "They never told me THIS in Church", "describe the relationship between a person and what is in his heart or mind."(p.192)Just a few examples:
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 is it any marvel that God's word was WITH him and so identified with him?Just like in these texts truth,God's word and wisdom even could be with US and identified WITH us because they're a poetic and poignant part of us?
This principle can be summed up in Proverbs 23:7:
For as he thinks within himself, so he is.
Yes,as God thinks and wills and purposes,wrapped up in his word which becomes reality if he makes it be so,can be (poetically)described as what he himself is.
2 Peter 3:5:long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
Does this mean that by His Son the heavens and such existed or by God's will and plan and spoken word?
Rev. 4:11:Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.
God's *will*, *word*,*spirit* and *wisdom* ,encompassing his plans and attributes, can be spoken of as separate from him,poetically and understandably.God speaks and it comes to pass via divine strength,will,and wisdom.Does John ch 1say that GOD became flesh OR that his "word" did?Jesus was indeed fully expressive of God's plan,purpose,will,word and wisdom for being the Amen,God's vessel to inhabit by spirit fully,our redeemer,and the fulfillment of all things PURPOSED from the "beginning."Because of God's foreknowledge of our downfall and man's sure eventuality in abusing the gift of free will,hence needing a redeemer.
Taken from "Restoring the Biblical Christ.. Is Jesus God?" by Jason Kerrigan(who in this book does communicate his belief that Christ preexisted)..here Kerrigan notes definitions of "word".. p. 7
logos-something SAID(including the thought);by implication a topic(subject of discourse),also reasoning(the mental faculty) or motive;by extension a computation(-Strong's #3056)
rhema-an utterance(individually,collectively,or specifically);by implication a matter or topic(especially of narration,command or dispute)saying,word(-Strong's #4487)
Kerrigan says "Our words are expressions of our thoughts.Likewise,the word of God is the expression of God,and this expression is how God reveals himself."(p.8)
In Ephesians 6:17 the Word of God is identified as the *spirit.*
Kerrigan notes:"(because a word is an expression),the fact that the Spirit is called "The Word of God" shows us that God is somehow expressed via his spirit."(p.10)
And we all know that spirit was expressed in and through Christ more fully than anyone else ever,given him "without measure."(John 3:34)Make no mistake that the spirit of Christ IS the spirit of God meaning that which was GIVEN to him BY God to not only reveal God to the world through his person but also to dispense measures of it to believers due to this authority given him by his own God to do so as mediator and agent.
In 1 Cor. 2:9-12 ,God is revealed by his spirit because it searches the deep things of Him.It is likened to OUR spirits that "know us."Our spirits are within us yet not separate people that exist within our "beings."Similarly,God's spirit is within him and expressive of him and not a separate entity or person either.After all,it is compared to ours but is yet superior,unfathomable,and of course divine beyond measure,hence indescribable and personifiable and extraordinary!It's God's spirit after all!it searches the "deep things of God" and hence reveals those to us,sometimes through others,most especially Christ.I love the way Kerrigan in his book describes the spirit of man which can help us discern the definition of God's as well(pp.11-12)..He says:
"Our spirits search out the inward things that pertain to us so that those things may be brought forth,made intelligible,and applied to various situations in an orderly way."
Skipping ahead some..he says
"By way of analogy,it is like each of us is a big library,and in this library there are books that contain all our memories,books that contain all our emotions,and books that contain all our knowledge.When we learn something new it is our spirit that records those things in one of the library books(so to speak)and then places the book containing that knowledge within the shelves of our soul(our very being or life-force..my own words to define soul here)until that knowledge is needed again.Our spirit is also what goes back to those books and retrieves the information stored in us so as to present that information to our thoughts(or AS our thoughts) in an orderly way.Hence,a man's spirit is not a personality that is distinct from the man,but is rather that man's own personality revealed."
Skipping ahead again..
"It is the spiritual man(the soul) residing within a man's physical body that is the SOURCE of that man's personality(2 Cor. 5:1-8,2 Peter 1:13-14).In a similar way that our spirits search us,so also the Spirit of God searches the things of God and brings those forth.This is how God is expressed via his Spirit-the Spirit searches the things of God and reveals those things outwardly."
Kerrigan points out that God's spirit isn't constrained by the boundaries that limit the spirits of human beings and that we have no spiritual power at all but by the grace of God.
God's expression,or logos(word) is his spirit in some sense in that the spirit reveals it to us.So in my personal opinion,when God's spirit impregnated a virgin womb,the spirit that caused the birth of Christ in the flesh revealed God's expressive *word* through Christ,and that is how and why the word became flesh,how and why God is revealed in Christ.Though Kerrigan believes Christ preexisted and so would not agree with some of my conclusions here,I agree with him when he says "We cannot partake of the Spirit of God apart from Christ.God is expressed in his Spirit,but we cannot perceive nor access that expression unless we look to Christ,through whom that expression is revealed."(p.13)(1 Tim 2:5)..He goes on to say "Christ IS the expression of God unto us(but only in an intermediary sense.)And this is why BOTH Christ AND the Spirit are called "The Word of God."The Spirit is God's word inherently,but Christ is God's word mediated unto us.The Spirit is the principle truth of God revealed,but Jesus is the one THROUGH whom that principle truth is revealed to us."(p. 13)(John 8:40,John 18:37)
Even though the bible says:
Psalm 33:6a (NASB)
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.
Psalms 107:20 (KJV)
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
It also says:
Isaiah 55:11 (NRSV)
So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
So the "word" spoken of comes forth from God's MOUTH.Similarly,God's spirit comes forth from his lips or mouth,as it does Jesus's when he BLEW the spirit upon his disciples in John to give them the power to forgive sin.(John 20:21-23)Yes indeed!..God's purposes come to fruition by means of his personifiable force and power,his spirit.From biblicalunitarian's site:
http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=61
"Broughton and Southgate argue that “Word,” “Spirit” and “Wisdom” are all personified because they are intimately connected to how God has related to the world as its Creator, and that John’s use of logos is consistent with this biblical usage."
The article on the biblicalunitarian site about John 1:1 is taken from their book "One God & One Lord: Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith."All the rest of this blog,as long as it is in quotations is from the site linked above.Anything not in quotations are my personal thoughts.This is obviously just snippets from the site so visit it for in depth analysis and more from their book.
To quote them:
"We can see how John draws on all the Old Testament teaching…Wisdom is personified in Proverbs 8 as saying that she was in the beginning, that she was with God, and that she was His instrument in creation. The Word of God created the heavens (Ps. 33:6), and so did the Spirit as described in Job 26:13 (KJV) [and Gen. 1:2]. The language clearly is of figure and metaphor, of personification, not actual personality. And John is saying exactly the same of the logos or Word. No Jewish reader brought up on the writings of the prophets would have deduced from John’s introduction that he was alluding to a person who had existed with God from all time. They would see it instead as a continuation of the imagery by which the Word or Wisdom or the Spirit—those manifestations of God which are inseparable from Him—are described as putting God’s intentions into effect."--Broughton, James H. and Southgate, Peter J., The Trinity: True or False? (The Dawn Book Supply, Nottingham, 1995), p. 247."
The Jews being strictly unabashedly monotheistic understood the personifiability of the wisdom,spirit,word,etc. OF God without ever identifying those things as people within the being of God.
Also from the site:
"While in John 1:1 the logos is God’s self expression and His wisdom, plan and power, many times in the New Testament the logos is the message of the coming, the life, the death, the resurrection, the ascension, the exaltation, the lordship and the coming again of Jesus the Messiah. If the logos that was “in the beginning” is understood in these terms, then it becomes clear that God had this very series of events in mind when He created the cosmos. “The Word was God” (John 1:1) in that it is God’s self-revelation, the account that God chose to give of Himself and His will to all nations."
“In the beginning God” in Genesis 1:1. John tells us that “in the beginning” God had wisdom and a plan, and was prepared to start acting that plan out so that the people He created and invested His love in could be rescued from death and live with Him eternally. The crowning piece of the plan of God was the creation of Jesus Christ, who was in a very real sense, “the last word."
I guess in essence this could mean Jesus was the "beginning and the end" of God's plan of salvation and as the "creator" of the NEW heavens and NEW earth in that in him all things will consist and because of him it will come to be and for him God had a perfect kingdom in mind,to gift to a Son he so adores who faithfully served him in love and reverence,foreknown and decreed,slain even!,from the foundation of the world!God also had Christ in mind as redeemer and heir as he originally created,knowing mankind would fall and need his foreknown Son to save us with an imputation of his own superb righteousness.
More from site:
"God’s plan was being expressed in wisdom and action all through the Old Testament. The logos was being expressed as Abraham set off to sacrifice Isaac, as Moses lifted the serpent up on the pole, as Solomon built the Temple, and as Isaiah penned the verses stating that the Servant of God would be pierced for our transgressions. It was expressed in pieces and parts in history, as people acted, and in prophecy, as people spoke. Then one day, probably in 3 BC, the types, foreshadowings and prophecies ceased, and the logos, the plan, purpose, wisdom and power of God, “became flesh” in the man Jesus Christ."
"As 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)
“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. "
"C. H. Dodd is another scholar who sees in the logos the meeting of the divine, God’s communication of Himself, with the human, the man in whom God most clearly revealed Himself. The logos is the “final concentration of the whole creative and revealing thought of God” in “an individual who is what humanity was designed to be in the divine purpose.” (C. H. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, (Cambridge, 1953), p. 282.) In other words, Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, is what Man was intended to be, the perfect representative of God."
“If Jesus is not identical to the logos, what exactly is the relationship between them? The relationship of Jesus to the logos of God can best be described as intimate and prophetic, two important characteristics of the entire Gospel of John. Jesus was conceived in the mind of God “in the beginning,” and was in view when God created the present heavens and earth. God knew His plan, and throughout the Old Testament communicated it through a body of prophetic language that pointed toward Christ’s coming. Jesus refers to this plan in his prayer on the eve of his death:
John 17:24
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Peter communicates this same truth in his first epistle:
1 Peter 1:20 (NASB)
For he was foreknown before [pro] the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.
John is not propounding a mystical process by which a pre-existent spirit being became clothed in flesh. Rather, it is asserting that the prophetic plan and purpose of God has become a true man, “in the flesh,” and that as the “purpose of the ages,” even creation itself is organized around him. “
"The logos was not “made flesh” through a metaphysical or mystical process by which a pre-existent spirit being transmigrated his eternal consciousness into a temporal human zygote at the moment of conception. The logos was “made flesh” through a process that began when God fulfilled His Word to His people by creating the long awaited Seed of Promise, the seed of the woman, the one who would be just like his Dad, the “chip off the old Rock.”
Ephesians 3:9
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 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,2nd only to his father's!
Did John write the gospel to let us know Jesus preexisted or was the 2nd person of a triune philosophical homoousios (substance)?Apparently not.
John 20:31But 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.
And is calling him the son of God a declaration he's also True God?(John 17:3) Apparently not!
Luke 1:35: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."
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!
In further regards to John 1:1:
Often in scripture,the preposition "with" can,as Greg Deuble notes in "They never told me THIS in Church", "describe the relationship between a person and what is in his heart or mind."(p.192)Just a few examples:
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 is it any marvel that God's word was WITH him and so identified with him?Just like in these texts truth,God's word and wisdom even could be with US and identified WITH us because they're a poetic and poignant part of us?
This principle can be summed up in Proverbs 23:7:
For as he thinks within himself, so he is.
Yes,as God thinks and wills and purposes,wrapped up in his word which becomes reality if he makes it be so,can be (poetically)described as what he himself is.
2 Peter 3:5:long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
Does this mean that by His Son the heavens and such existed or by God's will and plan and spoken word?
Rev. 4:11:Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.
God's *will*, *word*,*spirit* and *wisdom* ,encompassing his plans and attributes, can be spoken of as separate from him,poetically and understandably.God speaks and it comes to pass via divine strength,will,and wisdom.Does John ch 1say that GOD became flesh OR that his "word" did?Jesus was indeed fully expressive of God's plan,purpose,will,word and wisdom for being the Amen,God's vessel to inhabit by spirit fully,our redeemer,and the fulfillment of all things PURPOSED from the "beginning."Because of God's foreknowledge of our downfall and man's sure eventuality in abusing the gift of free will,hence needing a redeemer.
Taken from "Restoring the Biblical Christ.. Is Jesus God?" by Jason Kerrigan(who in this book does communicate his belief that Christ preexisted)..here Kerrigan notes definitions of "word".. p. 7
logos-something SAID(including the thought);by implication a topic(subject of discourse),also reasoning(the mental faculty) or motive;by extension a computation(-Strong's #3056)
rhema-an utterance(individually,collectively,or specifically);by implication a matter or topic(especially of narration,command or dispute)saying,word(-Strong's #4487)
Kerrigan says "Our words are expressions of our thoughts.Likewise,the word of God is the expression of God,and this expression is how God reveals himself."(p.8)
In Ephesians 6:17 the Word of God is identified as the *spirit.*
Kerrigan notes:"(because a word is an expression),the fact that the Spirit is called "The Word of God" shows us that God is somehow expressed via his spirit."(p.10)
And we all know that spirit was expressed in and through Christ more fully than anyone else ever,given him "without measure."(John 3:34)Make no mistake that the spirit of Christ IS the spirit of God meaning that which was GIVEN to him BY God to not only reveal God to the world through his person but also to dispense measures of it to believers due to this authority given him by his own God to do so as mediator and agent.
In 1 Cor. 2:9-12 ,God is revealed by his spirit because it searches the deep things of Him.It is likened to OUR spirits that "know us."Our spirits are within us yet not separate people that exist within our "beings."Similarly,God's spirit is within him and expressive of him and not a separate entity or person either.After all,it is compared to ours but is yet superior,unfathomable,and of course divine beyond measure,hence indescribable and personifiable and extraordinary!It's God's spirit after all!it searches the "deep things of God" and hence reveals those to us,sometimes through others,most especially Christ.I love the way Kerrigan in his book describes the spirit of man which can help us discern the definition of God's as well(pp.11-12)..He says:
"Our spirits search out the inward things that pertain to us so that those things may be brought forth,made intelligible,and applied to various situations in an orderly way."
Skipping ahead some..he says
"By way of analogy,it is like each of us is a big library,and in this library there are books that contain all our memories,books that contain all our emotions,and books that contain all our knowledge.When we learn something new it is our spirit that records those things in one of the library books(so to speak)and then places the book containing that knowledge within the shelves of our soul(our very being or life-force..my own words to define soul here)until that knowledge is needed again.Our spirit is also what goes back to those books and retrieves the information stored in us so as to present that information to our thoughts(or AS our thoughts) in an orderly way.Hence,a man's spirit is not a personality that is distinct from the man,but is rather that man's own personality revealed."
Skipping ahead again..
"It is the spiritual man(the soul) residing within a man's physical body that is the SOURCE of that man's personality(2 Cor. 5:1-8,2 Peter 1:13-14).In a similar way that our spirits search us,so also the Spirit of God searches the things of God and brings those forth.This is how God is expressed via his Spirit-the Spirit searches the things of God and reveals those things outwardly."
Kerrigan points out that God's spirit isn't constrained by the boundaries that limit the spirits of human beings and that we have no spiritual power at all but by the grace of God.
God's expression,or logos(word) is his spirit in some sense in that the spirit reveals it to us.So in my personal opinion,when God's spirit impregnated a virgin womb,the spirit that caused the birth of Christ in the flesh revealed God's expressive *word* through Christ,and that is how and why the word became flesh,how and why God is revealed in Christ.Though Kerrigan believes Christ preexisted and so would not agree with some of my conclusions here,I agree with him when he says "We cannot partake of the Spirit of God apart from Christ.God is expressed in his Spirit,but we cannot perceive nor access that expression unless we look to Christ,through whom that expression is revealed."(p.13)(1 Tim 2:5)..He goes on to say "Christ IS the expression of God unto us(but only in an intermediary sense.)And this is why BOTH Christ AND the Spirit are called "The Word of God."The Spirit is God's word inherently,but Christ is God's word mediated unto us.The Spirit is the principle truth of God revealed,but Jesus is the one THROUGH whom that principle truth is revealed to us."(p. 13)(John 8:40,John 18:37)
Even though the bible says:
Psalm 33:6a (NASB)
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made.
Psalms 107:20 (KJV)
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
It also says:
Isaiah 55:11 (NRSV)
So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
So the "word" spoken of comes forth from God's MOUTH.Similarly,God's spirit comes forth from his lips or mouth,as it does Jesus's when he BLEW the spirit upon his disciples in John to give them the power to forgive sin.(John 20:21-23)Yes indeed!..God's purposes come to fruition by means of his personifiable force and power,his spirit.From biblicalunitarian's site:
http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=61
"Broughton and Southgate argue that “Word,” “Spirit” and “Wisdom” are all personified because they are intimately connected to how God has related to the world as its Creator, and that John’s use of logos is consistent with this biblical usage."
The article on the biblicalunitarian site about John 1:1 is taken from their book "One God & One Lord: Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith."All the rest of this blog,as long as it is in quotations is from the site linked above.Anything not in quotations are my personal thoughts.This is obviously just snippets from the site so visit it for in depth analysis and more from their book.
To quote them:
"We can see how John draws on all the Old Testament teaching…Wisdom is personified in Proverbs 8 as saying that she was in the beginning, that she was with God, and that she was His instrument in creation. The Word of God created the heavens (Ps. 33:6), and so did the Spirit as described in Job 26:13 (KJV) [and Gen. 1:2]. The language clearly is of figure and metaphor, of personification, not actual personality. And John is saying exactly the same of the logos or Word. No Jewish reader brought up on the writings of the prophets would have deduced from John’s introduction that he was alluding to a person who had existed with God from all time. They would see it instead as a continuation of the imagery by which the Word or Wisdom or the Spirit—those manifestations of God which are inseparable from Him—are described as putting God’s intentions into effect."--Broughton, James H. and Southgate, Peter J., The Trinity: True or False? (The Dawn Book Supply, Nottingham, 1995), p. 247."
The Jews being strictly unabashedly monotheistic understood the personifiability of the wisdom,spirit,word,etc. OF God without ever identifying those things as people within the being of God.
Also from the site:
"While in John 1:1 the logos is God’s self expression and His wisdom, plan and power, many times in the New Testament the logos is the message of the coming, the life, the death, the resurrection, the ascension, the exaltation, the lordship and the coming again of Jesus the Messiah. If the logos that was “in the beginning” is understood in these terms, then it becomes clear that God had this very series of events in mind when He created the cosmos. “The Word was God” (John 1:1) in that it is God’s self-revelation, the account that God chose to give of Himself and His will to all nations."
“In the beginning God” in Genesis 1:1. John tells us that “in the beginning” God had wisdom and a plan, and was prepared to start acting that plan out so that the people He created and invested His love in could be rescued from death and live with Him eternally. The crowning piece of the plan of God was the creation of Jesus Christ, who was in a very real sense, “the last word."
I guess in essence this could mean Jesus was the "beginning and the end" of God's plan of salvation and as the "creator" of the NEW heavens and NEW earth in that in him all things will consist and because of him it will come to be and for him God had a perfect kingdom in mind,to gift to a Son he so adores who faithfully served him in love and reverence,foreknown and decreed,slain even!,from the foundation of the world!God also had Christ in mind as redeemer and heir as he originally created,knowing mankind would fall and need his foreknown Son to save us with an imputation of his own superb righteousness.
More from site:
"God’s plan was being expressed in wisdom and action all through the Old Testament. The logos was being expressed as Abraham set off to sacrifice Isaac, as Moses lifted the serpent up on the pole, as Solomon built the Temple, and as Isaiah penned the verses stating that the Servant of God would be pierced for our transgressions. It was expressed in pieces and parts in history, as people acted, and in prophecy, as people spoke. Then one day, probably in 3 BC, the types, foreshadowings and prophecies ceased, and the logos, the plan, purpose, wisdom and power of God, “became flesh” in the man Jesus Christ."
"As 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)
“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. "
"C. H. Dodd is another scholar who sees in the logos the meeting of the divine, God’s communication of Himself, with the human, the man in whom God most clearly revealed Himself. The logos is the “final concentration of the whole creative and revealing thought of God” in “an individual who is what humanity was designed to be in the divine purpose.” (C. H. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, (Cambridge, 1953), p. 282.) In other words, Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, is what Man was intended to be, the perfect representative of God."
“If Jesus is not identical to the logos, what exactly is the relationship between them? The relationship of Jesus to the logos of God can best be described as intimate and prophetic, two important characteristics of the entire Gospel of John. Jesus was conceived in the mind of God “in the beginning,” and was in view when God created the present heavens and earth. God knew His plan, and throughout the Old Testament communicated it through a body of prophetic language that pointed toward Christ’s coming. Jesus refers to this plan in his prayer on the eve of his death:
John 17:24
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Peter communicates this same truth in his first epistle:
1 Peter 1:20 (NASB)
For he was foreknown before [pro] the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.
John is not propounding a mystical process by which a pre-existent spirit being became clothed in flesh. Rather, it is asserting that the prophetic plan and purpose of God has become a true man, “in the flesh,” and that as the “purpose of the ages,” even creation itself is organized around him. “
"The logos was not “made flesh” through a metaphysical or mystical process by which a pre-existent spirit being transmigrated his eternal consciousness into a temporal human zygote at the moment of conception. The logos was “made flesh” through a process that began when God fulfilled His Word to His people by creating the long awaited Seed of Promise, the seed of the woman, the one who would be just like his Dad, the “chip off the old Rock.”
Ephesians 3:9
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 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,2nd only to his father's!
Did John write the gospel to let us know Jesus preexisted or was the 2nd person of a triune philosophical homoousios (substance)?Apparently not.
John 20:31But 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.
And is calling him the son of God a declaration he's also True God?(John 17:3) Apparently not!
Luke 1:35: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."
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!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
John 1:1 and my "crisis of conscience" about my Arian view of Jesus Christ
I am going to readily articulate a blog disclaimer here..I am in no way certain at this point of either an Arian OR a Socinian view of Jesus Christ.I could argue convincingly,while actually BEING convinced,either view.I see both sides so clearly and hence am in a dilemma.It all started when I began seriously contemplating if Jesus was currently an angel or a man or back and forth or what.In other words,I had a "crisis of conscience" with my tradition,as I recognized for the first time I had a split personalitied Christ like the trinitarians.. I always knew Jesus was UTTERLY perfectly HUMAN,like the first Adam,while he walked this earth,with no further natures on top of his flawless humanity.But because of my question about who Jesus is NOW though, I decided to consider the view of those who don't think he preexisted to find out if there is something I might have missed because previously,I thought their arguments were special pleading with explicit texts.I have since discovered that isn't really the case.Though I still have questions a'many,because of my big mouth and my journey here,I have decided to share my ponderings with whoever stumbles upon this.Any advice,thoughts,or questions would be appreciated.Thanks to all.This is only the very first part of my journey into this and there will be more I will write about John 1:1 and far beyond,so stay tuned and let me know if you've ever seen both sides to an issue so clearly that your head spun in confusion?;)..This blog is written almost as if I'm CERTAIN Christ didn't preexist.That isn't the case but I am writing as a Socinian would here to explore this view and to see if it registers with my reason as I write about and research it.Let me know what you think.Especially if you're a unitarian of any kind.My email is biscuitpouncer@hotmail.com.Would love to hear from any of you on this issue!
The Word of God is NOT *just* Jesus Christ.The reason Jesus is called the Word of God,in my opinion,is for multiple poignant and important reasons:
*His 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 again,said nothing of his own initiative but in all things looked to his own God and father for what to do and say.
*He fulfilled all God's plans and intentions from the beginning,including what was prophecied at Genesis 3:15.Therefore,God's "word",or what would come to pass for the light and life of all mankind,was fulfilled perfectly and fully in Jesus the Christ of Yah,the Son of the Most High God.God's *Word* ,here,would be representative of God's will and plans for a coming savior who would make all God's purposes possible and of comforting 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 God's prophecies by his faithful life,fleeting death,and glorious resurrection.
You'll notice throughout the OT when the word of God is spoken of,it is about what God wills or says by his spirit.I used to read into those texts my personal theology that a preexistent Jesus was probably speaking on God's behalf as his "word" and hence "the word of God" "says."But does that have to be the case?I don't think so anymore.God making everything by his "word" would rather now seem to suggest to me that what God *spoke* came to be.It came to be by his will or speech,(his word) and then by his spirit which works in accord with his will and word and essentially becomes an unstoppable divine force and presence that God uses to create,inhabit chosen servants,and anything else at all that God wills (He may accomplish by his spirit either directly or through others.)This is very much like God's "Wisdom" being personified so vibrantly and often.God's "wisdom" also doesn't always have to be Christ,who once again demonstrated God's wisdom more fully than any other in that God inhabited Christ reconciling a world unto Himself and by living such an admirable and wise life,thereby being so termed "The Wisdom of God."Also,he reveals God's wisdom in his father's plans of salvation and redemption by his fulfillment of those as he finished all the work that needed to be done to ensure a restoration of all things unto glory.God's wisdom,however,can encompass more than Christ of course and,like God's *word* and God's *spirit*, is ofttimes personified and spoken of as a separate entity from God himself in that BECAUSE they ARE all God's attributes,their magnificence inspires poetic license.Just like our attributes and our "spirit" would even as mere human beings.We're talking about God here!
All this thinking made me reconsider the "Socinian" (those who do not believe Christ preexisted) view of John 1:1.Greg Deuble's book "They never told me THIS in Church" is a great one.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 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."
Interesting indeed that most of the English translations prior to the King James of 1611 identifies 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 makes some sense to me given that what God *spoke* by his "word" came to be(created.)These are perfectly acceptable translations that should at the very least be considered by truth seekers.After all,when "logos" is use in scripture,it isn't generally called a "him" but rather is clearly an "it."As Greg also points out in his book on page 189,the Gnostics were promoting that Jesus was a preexistent heavenly being,a mixture of flesh and spirit,rather than JUST a human.Therefore,John here could have very well been refuting their notions by emphasizing that the "Word" was poetically wrapped up with who GOD was and was not a SEPARATE person by his side,but rather his will and plan and purpose fulfilled by his spirit,that also BECOMES "flesh" in verse 14 when Jesus is born of a virgin womb by the spirit of God.What God has willed,wrapped up in what he purposes and speaks,becomes the Last Adam fulfilling all things,from the fatal blow to Satan to the positive promise of an eternal heavenly kingdom with Messiah as Lord and king by the will and purpose of God.More evidence that John was here refuting the Gnostics and not saying Jesus was an eternal deity always with God in heaven:
1 John 4:2 every inspired expression that confesses Jesus Christ as having come in the FLESH originates with God
Could John here have been repudiating as antichrist ANY confession that goes beyond Christ having come as the Last Adam,a fully flesh man born by the power of God's spirit through a virgin womb?In other words,any confession that Christ was ALSO "fully something else" or ANYTHING else on top of or instead of flesh?Worth at least a consideration!
Examine also:
1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
To quote Deuble(p. 189):"Four times John says that which was from the beginning was a "what"!Here the relative pronouns are neuter and not masculine.And to avoid all confusion as to his meaning he even says it was the "word of life" which was in the beginning with God."
So was the "word of life" which correlates with the "word" of John 1:1 Jesus Christ in a preexistent state OR was it God's spoken will and purpose,plan and word,that BECAME Jesus in the flesh through a human genealogy?With discernment,I would say the latter.Discerning here that John identified it as a "what" and not a "who" or a "him" and also that the bible speaks of Christ as having been concealed within God from the beginning and not revealed till he came in the flesh.God purposed his birth for the redemption and salvation of mankind and so it came to be.What God *spoke" by his *word of life* was fulfilled in the Christ.Amen to that!Hebrews 1:2 says in the LAST days he spoke to us through his Son,so logic would dictate not before.
Colossians 1:25:I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
The *word of God* here fully known was a *mystery hidden for ages*.Was this *mystery* a preexistent Christ waiting to reveal himself in the flesh OR God's purpose to bring about a savior that THEN later came to exist and so was able to redeem us according to God's wisdom,words,plans,and purpose?
1 Corinthians 2:6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
So here in Corinthians Paul says the *wisdom*(which also became Christ in the flesh for our redemption!) was DECREED.Implying it wasn't "always existing" but rather "would come to pass."Meaning it was always God's plan and purpose for Jesus to fulfill all things for his glory,for the Lord's glory,and for our eventual glory as the free and imperishable sons of God,in the pattern of his firstborn and chief and unique one who was our forerunner and redeemer,the one who guaranteed God's plans by his inspiring and heartfelt obedience and gifted exaltation.
1 Corinthians 1:30: And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
This text says Jesus BECAME to us wisdom from God and doesn't in any way communicate Jesus was ALWAYS
alive to be wisdom from God.This makes sense because he was DECREED,as God made evident in what he said in Genesis 3:15,the first Messianic prophecy.
To quote Karen Armstrong,who Greg quotes in his book(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 Himself.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."
So the "word of life" that was in the beginning with God didn't become manifest till the latter times when Christ fulfilled it and became flesh to dwell with and die for us.My theory is that God foreknew how man would abuse his free will and how man could never learn exactly how disobedience to him would be to humankind's utmost detriment without actually experiencing the inevitable consequences of such ignorant rebellion! He in his wisdom planned for us to suffer now a world not theocratically divinely ruled in justice so that we MAY learn and appreciate his kingdom when it DOES come.Never will we have an excuse to willfully disobey again.Never will we wonder what a world would be like without God in ultimate control,but rather rebellious creatures working outside his will.We know now and God is good to have educated us!How else would we have known?God also knew how easy it would be for man to misuse and abuse the awesome gift of free will and so what has happened,with Adam and Eve doing so and subsequent humanity under their curse via inheritance,was what would NATURALLY occur.Due to God's grace,wisdom,and mercy,we can be redeemed from the curse but must NOW LEARN that to live in a peaceful God-ruled kingdom requires our willful obedience to the one who clearly knows what is best for us because he created us and knows all things.To willfully,after having learned all we know now with the world's downfall because God allows men and fallen angels to have temporary control of world affairs,disobey and rebel against our loving and all knowing life giver would be inexcusable,ignorant,and death dealing.How could we live in his upcoming perfect, peaceful, blissful,& flawless kingdom if we don't love or obey him?Hence some HAVE to be destroyed but only those who don't free-willfully love and obey God.My purpose in mentioning these things is to tie in to the reader how, because of God's foreknowledge of all this, that he purposed & planned,via his spirit,will,wisdom and word to bring about a means of redemption which became Christ in the flesh for 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.It's a beautiful thing indeed!The redeeming blood of the perfect and holy Lamb of God accomplishes for us what God's will purposed.God's "word of life" ,that spoken of in John 1 and 1 John 1 was God's divine wisdom,plan and purpose(and hence was poetically described in John 1:1 as being divine or wrapped up with God Himself) was fulfilled when Christ became flesh.(John 1:14)
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:"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)
But was God's revelation of Christ a revelation of Christ as the second person of his being or a preexistent archangel OR as the one who via his spirit and a virgin womb came to be flesh to dwell among us as savior of the world in latter times(who wasn't ever born before he was born as a perfect man)?
From biblicalunitarian.com where they have generous excerpts from their book "One God & One Lord: Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith"
The site says"Logos is the term that God uses to represent His purpose for this new creation, which was eventually realized in the person of Jesus."It also quotes from Anthony F. Buzzard and Charles F. Hunting from their book "The Doctrine of The Trinity: Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound":
"What was it that became flesh in John 1:14? Was it a pre-existing person? Or was it the self-expressive activity of God, the Father, His eternal plan? A plan may take flesh, for example, when the design in the architect’s mind finally takes shape as a house. What pre-existed the visible bricks and mortar was the intention in the mind of the architect. Thus, it is quite in order to read John 1:1-3a: “In the beginning was the creative purpose of God. It was with God and was fully expressive of God [just as wisdom was with God before creation]. All things came into being through it.” This rendering suits the Old Testament use of “word” admirably: “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)"
"The true background to John’s thought and language is found not in Greek philosophy but in Hebrew revelation. The “Word of God” in the Old Testament denotes God in action, especially in creation, revelation and deliverance."scholar F.F.Bruce, op. cit., John, p. 29.
There will be more to come.
The Word of God is NOT *just* Jesus Christ.The reason Jesus is called the Word of God,in my opinion,is for multiple poignant and important reasons:
*His 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 again,said nothing of his own initiative but in all things looked to his own God and father for what to do and say.
*He fulfilled all God's plans and intentions from the beginning,including what was prophecied at Genesis 3:15.Therefore,God's "word",or what would come to pass for the light and life of all mankind,was fulfilled perfectly and fully in Jesus the Christ of Yah,the Son of the Most High God.God's *Word* ,here,would be representative of God's will and plans for a coming savior who would make all God's purposes possible and of comforting 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 God's prophecies by his faithful life,fleeting death,and glorious resurrection.
You'll notice throughout the OT when the word of God is spoken of,it is about what God wills or says by his spirit.I used to read into those texts my personal theology that a preexistent Jesus was probably speaking on God's behalf as his "word" and hence "the word of God" "says."But does that have to be the case?I don't think so anymore.God making everything by his "word" would rather now seem to suggest to me that what God *spoke* came to be.It came to be by his will or speech,(his word) and then by his spirit which works in accord with his will and word and essentially becomes an unstoppable divine force and presence that God uses to create,inhabit chosen servants,and anything else at all that God wills (He may accomplish by his spirit either directly or through others.)This is very much like God's "Wisdom" being personified so vibrantly and often.God's "wisdom" also doesn't always have to be Christ,who once again demonstrated God's wisdom more fully than any other in that God inhabited Christ reconciling a world unto Himself and by living such an admirable and wise life,thereby being so termed "The Wisdom of God."Also,he reveals God's wisdom in his father's plans of salvation and redemption by his fulfillment of those as he finished all the work that needed to be done to ensure a restoration of all things unto glory.God's wisdom,however,can encompass more than Christ of course and,like God's *word* and God's *spirit*, is ofttimes personified and spoken of as a separate entity from God himself in that BECAUSE they ARE all God's attributes,their magnificence inspires poetic license.Just like our attributes and our "spirit" would even as mere human beings.We're talking about God here!
All this thinking made me reconsider the "Socinian" (those who do not believe Christ preexisted) view of John 1:1.Greg Deuble's book "They never told me THIS in Church" is a great one.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 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."
Interesting indeed that most of the English translations prior to the King James of 1611 identifies 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 makes some sense to me given that what God *spoke* by his "word" came to be(created.)These are perfectly acceptable translations that should at the very least be considered by truth seekers.After all,when "logos" is use in scripture,it isn't generally called a "him" but rather is clearly an "it."As Greg also points out in his book on page 189,the Gnostics were promoting that Jesus was a preexistent heavenly being,a mixture of flesh and spirit,rather than JUST a human.Therefore,John here could have very well been refuting their notions by emphasizing that the "Word" was poetically wrapped up with who GOD was and was not a SEPARATE person by his side,but rather his will and plan and purpose fulfilled by his spirit,that also BECOMES "flesh" in verse 14 when Jesus is born of a virgin womb by the spirit of God.What God has willed,wrapped up in what he purposes and speaks,becomes the Last Adam fulfilling all things,from the fatal blow to Satan to the positive promise of an eternal heavenly kingdom with Messiah as Lord and king by the will and purpose of God.More evidence that John was here refuting the Gnostics and not saying Jesus was an eternal deity always with God in heaven:
1 John 4:2 every inspired expression that confesses Jesus Christ as having come in the FLESH originates with God
Could John here have been repudiating as antichrist ANY confession that goes beyond Christ having come as the Last Adam,a fully flesh man born by the power of God's spirit through a virgin womb?In other words,any confession that Christ was ALSO "fully something else" or ANYTHING else on top of or instead of flesh?Worth at least a consideration!
Examine also:
1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
To quote Deuble(p. 189):"Four times John says that which was from the beginning was a "what"!Here the relative pronouns are neuter and not masculine.And to avoid all confusion as to his meaning he even says it was the "word of life" which was in the beginning with God."
So was the "word of life" which correlates with the "word" of John 1:1 Jesus Christ in a preexistent state OR was it God's spoken will and purpose,plan and word,that BECAME Jesus in the flesh through a human genealogy?With discernment,I would say the latter.Discerning here that John identified it as a "what" and not a "who" or a "him" and also that the bible speaks of Christ as having been concealed within God from the beginning and not revealed till he came in the flesh.God purposed his birth for the redemption and salvation of mankind and so it came to be.What God *spoke" by his *word of life* was fulfilled in the Christ.Amen to that!Hebrews 1:2 says in the LAST days he spoke to us through his Son,so logic would dictate not before.
Colossians 1:25:I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
The *word of God* here fully known was a *mystery hidden for ages*.Was this *mystery* a preexistent Christ waiting to reveal himself in the flesh OR God's purpose to bring about a savior that THEN later came to exist and so was able to redeem us according to God's wisdom,words,plans,and purpose?
1 Corinthians 2:6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
So here in Corinthians Paul says the *wisdom*(which also became Christ in the flesh for our redemption!) was DECREED.Implying it wasn't "always existing" but rather "would come to pass."Meaning it was always God's plan and purpose for Jesus to fulfill all things for his glory,for the Lord's glory,and for our eventual glory as the free and imperishable sons of God,in the pattern of his firstborn and chief and unique one who was our forerunner and redeemer,the one who guaranteed God's plans by his inspiring and heartfelt obedience and gifted exaltation.
1 Corinthians 1:30: And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
This text says Jesus BECAME to us wisdom from God and doesn't in any way communicate Jesus was ALWAYS
alive to be wisdom from God.This makes sense because he was DECREED,as God made evident in what he said in Genesis 3:15,the first Messianic prophecy.
To quote Karen Armstrong,who Greg quotes in his book(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 Himself.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."
So the "word of life" that was in the beginning with God didn't become manifest till the latter times when Christ fulfilled it and became flesh to dwell with and die for us.My theory is that God foreknew how man would abuse his free will and how man could never learn exactly how disobedience to him would be to humankind's utmost detriment without actually experiencing the inevitable consequences of such ignorant rebellion! He in his wisdom planned for us to suffer now a world not theocratically divinely ruled in justice so that we MAY learn and appreciate his kingdom when it DOES come.Never will we have an excuse to willfully disobey again.Never will we wonder what a world would be like without God in ultimate control,but rather rebellious creatures working outside his will.We know now and God is good to have educated us!How else would we have known?God also knew how easy it would be for man to misuse and abuse the awesome gift of free will and so what has happened,with Adam and Eve doing so and subsequent humanity under their curse via inheritance,was what would NATURALLY occur.Due to God's grace,wisdom,and mercy,we can be redeemed from the curse but must NOW LEARN that to live in a peaceful God-ruled kingdom requires our willful obedience to the one who clearly knows what is best for us because he created us and knows all things.To willfully,after having learned all we know now with the world's downfall because God allows men and fallen angels to have temporary control of world affairs,disobey and rebel against our loving and all knowing life giver would be inexcusable,ignorant,and death dealing.How could we live in his upcoming perfect, peaceful, blissful,& flawless kingdom if we don't love or obey him?Hence some HAVE to be destroyed but only those who don't free-willfully love and obey God.My purpose in mentioning these things is to tie in to the reader how, because of God's foreknowledge of all this, that he purposed & planned,via his spirit,will,wisdom and word to bring about a means of redemption which became Christ in the flesh for 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.It's a beautiful thing indeed!The redeeming blood of the perfect and holy Lamb of God accomplishes for us what God's will purposed.God's "word of life" ,that spoken of in John 1 and 1 John 1 was God's divine wisdom,plan and purpose(and hence was poetically described in John 1:1 as being divine or wrapped up with God Himself) was fulfilled when Christ became flesh.(John 1:14)
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:"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)
But was God's revelation of Christ a revelation of Christ as the second person of his being or a preexistent archangel OR as the one who via his spirit and a virgin womb came to be flesh to dwell among us as savior of the world in latter times(who wasn't ever born before he was born as a perfect man)?
From biblicalunitarian.com where they have generous excerpts from their book "One God & One Lord: Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith"
The site says"Logos is the term that God uses to represent His purpose for this new creation, which was eventually realized in the person of Jesus."It also quotes from Anthony F. Buzzard and Charles F. Hunting from their book "The Doctrine of The Trinity: Christianity’s Self-Inflicted Wound":
"What was it that became flesh in John 1:14? Was it a pre-existing person? Or was it the self-expressive activity of God, the Father, His eternal plan? A plan may take flesh, for example, when the design in the architect’s mind finally takes shape as a house. What pre-existed the visible bricks and mortar was the intention in the mind of the architect. Thus, it is quite in order to read John 1:1-3a: “In the beginning was the creative purpose of God. It was with God and was fully expressive of God [just as wisdom was with God before creation]. All things came into being through it.” This rendering suits the Old Testament use of “word” admirably: “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)"
"The true background to John’s thought and language is found not in Greek philosophy but in Hebrew revelation. The “Word of God” in the Old Testament denotes God in action, especially in creation, revelation and deliverance."scholar F.F.Bruce, op. cit., John, p. 29.
There will be more to come.
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