John1 beautifully teaches the concept of God manifest in flesh. In the beginning was the Word (Greek, Logos[/i]). The Word was not a separate person or a separate god any more than a man"s word is a separate person from him. Rather the Word was the thought, plan, or mind of God. The Word was with God in the beginning and actually was God Himself. (John 1:1). The incarnation existed in the mind of God before the world began. Indeed, in the mind of God the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world (1Peter 1;19-20; Revelation 13:8).
In Greek usage, logos [/i]can mean the expression or plan as it exisits in the mind of the proclaimer-as a play in the mind of a playwright-or it can mean the thought as uttered or otherwise physically expressed-as a play that is enacted on stage. John1 says the Logos existed as the mind of God from the beginning of time. When the fulness of time was come, God put His plan into action. He put flesh on that plan in the form of the man Jesus Christ. The Logos is God expressed. As John Miller says, the Logos is "God uttering Himself." In fact, TAB translates the last phrase of John 1:1 as, "The Word was God Himself." Flanders and Cresson say, "The Word was God"s means of self disclosure." This thought is further brought out by verse 14, which says the incarnated Word had the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, and by verse 18, which says the Son has declared the Father.
In Greek philosophy, the Logos came to mean reason or wisdom as the controlling principle of the universe. In John"s day, some Greek philosophers and theologians influenced by Greek thought (especially by the Jewish thinker Philo of Alexandria) regarded the Logos as an inferior, secondary deity or as an emanation from God in time. Some Christian heresies, including an emerging form of Gnosticism, were already incorporating these theories into their doctrines and therefore relegating Jesus to an inferior role. John deliberately used their own terminology to refute these doctrines and to declare the truth. The Word was not inferior to God; it was God (John 1:1). The Word did not emanate from God over a period of time; it was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-2). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was none other than the Word, or God, revealed in flesh. Note also that the Greek word pros[/i], translated "with" in verse 1, is the same word translated "pertaining to" in Hebrews 2:17 and 5:1. John 1:1 could include in its meanings, therefore, the following: The Word pertained to God and the Word Was God," or "The Word belonged to God and was God."
__________________ And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
The Word
