BIBLE
DIGEST - Number 33 Revised
2002
"THE
WORD" IN John 1:1
By Allon
Maxwell
|
"In the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
(John 1:1) This opening of
John's gospel is widely (and I believe, incorrectly) assumed to teach the
deity of Jesus Christ. "The
Word" in this verse is a translation of the Greek word "logos".
In the original Greek text, "logos" does not have the
capital first letter given to "Word", in the English translation.
It should properly be translated "word" (with a small
"w"). Further,
although in Greek "logos" is a masculine noun, this is no
proof of personality. Many words which are neuter in English, are either
masculine or feminine in Greek. For example, the word translated
"beginning" is feminine. No one would seriously claim that this
means that "beginning" should be regarded as having a feminine
personality! In the same way it is quite improper to give "logos"
a masculine personality, or make it into a proper name, as the translators
have done. This, unfortunately, reflects more of their theological bias than
it does strict accuracy. The Greek "logos"
simply means "a spoken word", "a saying", "a
communication", etc. According to
Liddell and Scott Greek Lexicon, it also means the inward thought which is
expressed in the spoken word. John tells us
five things about this "word”: - *
It was there in the beginning. *
It was with God. *
It was God. *
All things were made through it. *
This spoken "word"
became flesh when Jesus was born. It helps in
understanding these sayings, to know that John wrote his Gospel and his
epistles, to expose the falsehood of the Gnostic teaching that God was too
remote and too aloof from creation to have done the actual work Himself and
instead, did it through an agent. John is also
refuting the parallel false teaching, that Jesus was not really a man. Jesus was
claimed by these teachers, to be a pre-existent spirit who had come down from
Heaven, merely assuming the appearance of a man, but without flesh and blood
substance, and without the limitations of humanity. As a spirit He was said
to be unable to experience temptation and was therefore also unable to sin. What John says
firstly, about God as the creator who spoke the world into existence, and
later, about Jesus as the man who came into being by means of that same word
spoken by God, is to be understood against this background. "In the beginning",
of course, draws our attention back to the creation story and the spoken
word in Genesis, where the world is said to have been formed in
response to God's word of command. Nothing was
created in the beginning, until God SPOKE the WORD. When John says
that the word was with God, he means simply that the word spoken, had its
ORIGIN with God. What God said, expressed the thoughts and
intentions of God's heart. When John says
that the spoken word was God, he means that: - *
It was
God speaking -- not someone else. *
It was
God -- not aloof from creation, but directly involved. *
It was
God personally doing the work of creating the world -- not an
agent. Thus, in John 1:3, when John says that all things
were made through the word, he is describing HOW God made the world. "God SAID
..... and it was so." The translation
"made through him" reflects again, the
theological bias of the translators. We have already
briefly explained the peculiarities of Greek gender. The pronoun translated
"him", refers back to "logos". A proper
translation into English should recognise the impersonality of
the Greek masculine noun and render this phrase as, "came into existence
by means of it ". Without IT, (God's spoken word),
nothing came into existence. GOD commanded and all was created. (Psalm 33:6 & Psalm 148:1-5) Finally, John
says "the (spoken) word became flesh". All the Old
Testament words.....all the things that God had spoken of old to the fathers,
in many and various ways, by the prophets, (Hebrews
11:1), were fulfilled when Jesus came into being. The same
spoken word which foretold all the marvellous details of His person and
ministry, caused the virgin conception and birth which brought God's flesh
and blood Son into existence, as the pinnacle of creation. In this
chapter, John is not saying that Jesus is God, but that He is THE SON of God.
(John 1:34) He is not saying that Jesus
existed in the beginning, but that, like all the rest of creation, He came
into existence by means of the same spoken word which caused the things which
are seen, to be made out of things which are not seen. (Hebrews 11:3) Jesus is a REAL
man. However He is more, not in His nature or substance, but in the STATUS
conveyed by His unique origin as the only BEGOTTEN Son of God. He is THE
MAN who God had in mind as the final goal, when He spoke the word, "Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness".
(Genesis 1:26) He is THE
MAN destined by God's spoken word, (LOGOS) for dominion
over all the earth. (Genesis 1:26
& Hebrews 1:5-10) His is the name
above every name, at which every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 1:9-11) ****************************************************************************** This paper was written originally in June
1993. Minor editorial revisions were made in July 2002 |