"In the beginning there was God's grand design. and that declaration was with God, related to Him as His project, and it was fully expressive of God Himself." John 1:1
Footnotes: The NET Bible Commentary remarks on the meaning of "word" in Ps. 33:6-11: "The Lord's 'word' refers to the decrees whereby He governs His dominion." Only when logos in John 1:1 is made into a second Person, the Son, do all the problems arise. Jesus defined God in Mark 12:29. "The Lord our God is one Lord," not two or three! It would be a fatal contradiction to introduce a second "God, Person" in John 1. In John 17:3 Jesus was a strict monotheist declaring the Father to be "the only one {monos} who is true God {theos}." This is unitary not Trinitarian monotheism. Note Schonfield, Authentic New Testament: "In the beginning was the expressed concept." If we read "In the beginning was the SON" we make two who are GOD, and this breaks the fundamental and easy, express monotheism of Jesus (MK. 12:29; 1 Cor. 8:4-6) and the whole of the Bible. Sadly John 1:1 has been used to contradict Jesus in John 17:3 and the detailed birth narratives of Matthew and Luke, and the more than 1300 NT references to GOD the Father. There are thousands of references to God in Scripture as a single Person, defined by single personal pronouns. The moment someone else, the Son, is said to be God, two Gods are posited; the universe is "tinkered with" and idolatry is introduced (cp 1 John 5:20-21 for fair warning).
From: The One God, the Father, One Man Messiah Translation- New Testament with Commentary by Anthony Buzzard - Footnotes on John 1:1 Page 237
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ReplyDeleteIn Greek literature, "logos" may mean "plan or design", but I don't think it ever means that in the 1100 or so times that the word is used in the Bible. In the Bible, "logos" is always something that has been expressed, therefore, "word".
ReplyDeleteI think a better way to understand John 1 is that the beginning referred to is not a direct reference to the Genesis creation, only an intentional allusion and parallel, and that the Word is the man Jesus through whom God brings about a new beginning.