Is Jesus Christ God In John 1:1 And 14 ? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (New American Standard Bible). Proponents of the belief that Jesus Christ is God cite John 1:1 and 14 as their basis in believing that He is God who became man. They call this concept as the “Incarnation” of God. Wayne Grudem, a Protestant Theology Professor, explained this concept in his book Systematic Theology: “Although the word does not explicitly occur in Scripture, the church has used the term incarnation to refer to the fact that Jesus was God in human flesh. The incarnation was the act of God the Son whereby he took to himself a human nature” (p. 543). Admitting that the doctrine of the Incarnation is not “explicitly” taught in the Bible, proponents of this concept can only resort to erroneous interpretations of some biblical texts as their bases, two of which are John 1:1 and 14. Why do they use these verses as proof-texts even though there is no explicit statement that Christ is God in these texts? How do Catholic theologians understand these verses? They say that Jesus Christ is the “Word” in John 1:1 and since the third clause of the verse says “the Word was God,” they conclude that Christ is God. By substituting the term “Word” with the term “Christ,” they suppose that the third clause could then be rendered as “[Christ] was God.” Since they believe that Christ is God in John 1:1, then they would cite verse 14 as a proof that God became a man. The Jerome Biblical Commentary points this out: “ 14. the Word became flesh: … This is the tremendous mystery of the incarnation, by which the eternal Word took on our exact human nature, becoming one with us in everything except sin (Heb 4:15); in everything, that is, except what was incompossible with divinity. . . . That the Word became man in the fullest possible sense is the very essence of the incarnation and of the redemption that is its result” (p. 423). However, this concept is erroneous. Why is it that the proponents of this doctrine are wrong in their understanding of these two verses? Because if Christ is the Word and He is God, then John 1:1 would be teaching not just one but two Gods. Take note that the second clause says, “and the Word was with God.” If the Word were Christ Himself and that He were God and the verse says that “the Word was with God,” then the obvious conclusion would be that another God was with the true God. The aforementioned idea goes directly against the teaching of the Bible that there is only one true God.[emphasis ours] The biggest dilemma for the proponents of this doctrine is how to reconcile their view with the biblical truth that there is only one true God while maintaining a position that there is another God who was with the true God. How could another God be with this one God if He were that same God? The plurality of persons in the godhead might be a tempting justification but this only creates another serious paradoxical situation for them. As the saying goes, “a mistake could not be corrected by another mistake.” Trinitarians, when confronted with this obvious dilemma, would resort to the so-called “mystery” of the Trinity, hoping that they could extricate themselves from the theological quagmire they’ve got in. But beyond cavil, their teaching is untenable. What is the meaning of the term “Word” in John 1:1? It should be noted that the equivalent of the English term “Word” in John 1:1 is logos in Greek. What is the meaning of the term logos? Greek lexicographer G. Abbott-Smith, in his book, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, defines the term as: “1. a word, not in the grammatical sense of a mere name … but a word as embodying a conception or idea” (pp. 270-271).[emphasis ours] Catholic authorities conform to this definition given by Abbott-Smith and other Greek scholars. In the footnote of John 1:1 of the Douay Version of the Bible, it says: “1, 1: … St. John employs the term Word. It is so used only by St. John … and designates the Son as a kind of intellectual emanation from the Father.” Therefore, in view of the definition given above, what was with God in the beginning was His concept, a plan or an idea (logos) about the Christ who would be coming into the world. The term logos does not refer to someone who was co-existing with God in the beginning. The Word or logos is not another God but the idea about Christ, which was “with God” or in God’s mind in the beginning. Thus, the clause, the logos was with God, indicates that the logos is different or distinguished from God. This position does not undermine the biblical doctrine on the absolute oneness of God. On the other hand, if we accept the position of the Trinitarians that the logos is a being who, although is distinguished from God, is also God, we face the prospect of accepting an unbiblical position that there are two Gods. What does it mean that the logos was “with God?” About what was this concept or idea that intellectually emanated from Him? I Peter 1:20 tells us that: “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you” (NASB). God has foreknown Christ before the foundation of the world. To foreknow means to know something before it happens: to have knowledge or awareness that something is going to happen. The Greek word used in this verse is Greek word , proginōskō which is defined in Perschbacher’s The New Analytical Greek Lexicon as “to determine on beforehand, to fore-ordain” (p. 345). However, proponents of the incarnation doctrine also use this to point out that Christ allegedly existed before He was born on earth because he was “foreknown.” If that were the case, then the true Christians would also have prior existence because Apostle Paul declared that “just as He [God] chose us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love (Eph. 1:4, NASB). Will our Trinitarian friends admit that we also had prior existence because we were chosen by God before the foundation of the world? Of course, not! When did Christ, who was a plan or word in the beginning, come into existence? When He was born of a woman. The Bible says: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Gal. 4:4, New King James Version). The Bible did not say that God became the Son. God sent forth His Son, born of a woman. Therefore, Christ existed only when he was born. He had no prior existence. In the beginning, it was not Christ Himself who was with God; it was the concept or idea (logos) that was in the mind of God, for God had destined Christ to play an integral part in His master plan of salvation. Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of-infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. May he be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of his master plan of salvation for the Church through Jesus Christ (Eph 3:20-21 TLB). The Third Clause: ‘and the Word was God’ In the third clause of John 1:1, it says “and the logos [word] was God.” By equating the term logos with the term Christ, Trinitarians render the clause to read something like, “and Christ was God.” This assertion stems from the wrong understanding that the term God in the third clause functions as a noun. The word “God” in the third clause of John 1:1 is not functioning as a noun but as an adjective. And this is attested to by Greek grammarians, such as R. H. Strachan. In his book The Fourth Gospel: Its Significance and Environment, Strachan explains:3rd greek “The closing words of v. I should be translated, ‘the Logos was divine’. Here the word theos has no article, thus giving it the significance of an adjective” (p. 99). William Barclay, another Greek grammarian, agrees with Strachan in classifying the term theos in the third clause of John 1:1 as an adjective. In his book The Gospel of John he points out: “Finally John says that the word was God. This is a difficult saying for us to understand, and it is difficult because Greek, in which John wrote, had a different way of saying things from the way in which English speaks. When Greek uses a noun it almost always uses the definite article with it. The Greek for God is theos and the definite article is ho. When Greek speaks about God it does not simply say theos; it says ho theos. Now when Greek does not use the definite article with a noun that noun becomes much more like an adjective. (p. 39). The same understanding could be gleaned from the book The Person of Christ written by Vincent Taylor. He testified that the term God in John 1:1c should be translated as divine: “The Word, he says, was ‘in the beginning’, distinguished from God (‘with God’) and divine …” (p. 109). 2nd greek Even Bible translators recognized that the term in the third clause of John 1:1 is an adjective as reflected in theirgreek 4translations. Below are some English translations that rendered the verse as: “In the beginning the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was divine” (Goodspeed’s Translation). “The Logos existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine” (Moffatt’s Translation). What does it mean that the logos or the Word was divine? Since the term is an adjective, it modifies the term logos (word). So why does it say that the logos was divine? Because the greek 4word of God is with power (Luke 1:37, American Standard Version) and the true God who has spoken the word is powerful (Gen 35:11). Since God is Almighty, He alone has the ability to plan something and the power to bring it to completion as He testified in Isaiah 46:11: “Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass, I have planned it, surely I will do it” (NASB). God’s plan of bringing His Son into the world was fulfilled when Jesus was born of his mother Mary. His birth is the fulfillment of what John wrote that “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14, King James Version). Contrary to what some have postulated that Christ took a different form, i.e., from being God into being human, Christ never transformed Himself from being a pure spirit into an infant. He was conceived in Mary’s womb through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Luke the Evangelist reports: “And Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:34-35, NASB). The angel said that it is through the power of the Most High [God] that Mary shall conceive and bear a child. The angel did not say that God will turn Himself into a human being in the person of Jesus Christ. Immutability is an inherent attribute of God The concept of incarnation grossly violates the biblical teaching concerning the immutability of God. “I am the Lord, and I do not change.” (Mal 3:6 NLT) “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” (James 1:17 NKJV) The Bible is clear in its teaching that God does not change, even a shadow of turning. Since God is unchanging, the concept of Incarnation grossly contradicts this biblical doctrine. To prove to us that there is an immutable God, our Lord Jesus Christ emphatically taught through his mediatory prayer while He was looking toward heaven as John narrated: After saying all these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you . . . And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” (John 17:1, 3 NLT) Christ emphatically declared while praying that the Father in heaven is “the only true God” while at the same time, He introduced Himself as the one that was sent to earth by God. Christ likewise taught that knowing the Father as the only true God is the way to have eternal life. In view of these things, John 1:1 and 14 do not support the concept that Christ is God. Selected References Abbott-Smith G., A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T. T. Clark, n. d. Barclay, William, The Gospel of John, Volume 1, Revised Edition. Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press, 1975. Grudem, Wayne, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994. Strachan, R. H., The Fourth Gospel: Its Significance and Environment. London: SCM Press Ltd., n. d. Taylor, Vincent, The Person of Christ: In New Testament Teaching. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd., 1958. The Jerome Biblical Commentary, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1968. The New Analytical Greek Lexicon, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1990. Social Share
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 13:47:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015