John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word as with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. 1:3 All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made. 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Fascinating enough, few people apparently understands these passages. Trinitarians will tell you that it says Jesus is God! Totally ignoring that the passage as seen in John 1:4 deals with God’s wisdom which CAN NOT be a person, totally ignoring that it doesn’t say that the Word was God, but that the word was God and with God.
What John 1:1 expresses is that this word of wisdom came from God. The capital ‘W’ is misleading indeed and isn’t present in older Bibles nor does the Greek give ground for a capital letter. It’s a word, a word is not a person. However as said in John 1:14 it became a person, flesh. Matthew 1 details the creation of Jesus. He was a man and created as such.
Here are ways to express John 1:1 and 1:14 by some scholars: “In the beginning there was the divine word and wisdom. The divine wisdom and word was there with God and it was what God was.” (The Complete Gospels, Annotated Scholars version, Revised, Ed Miller, Harper, San Fran. 1994).
“In the beginning there was the Message. The Message was with God and the Message was deity. He was with God in the beginning” (Simple English Bible).
“At the beginning God expressed himself. That personal expression, that word, was with God and was God, and he existed with God from the beginning” (Philips New Testament in Plain English).
“In the beginning was God’s purpose, and this purpose was revealed in a historical encounter.”
(The Early Christian Doctrine of God, R.M. Grant, D.D., Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, Divinity School, University of Chicago).
“The Word,” said John, “became flesh.” We could put it in another way — “the Mind of God became a person"
William Barclay, Gospel of John, Saint Andrews Press, 1957, Vol. 1, 14. God’s wisdom became flesh in the man Jesus.
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The EMPHATIC Diaglott Original Greek NT Text Interlinear Footnotes, p. 313 Re: John 1:14 reads: -
14. Newcome in his Translation of the New Testament remarks, "Jesus the Son of God, is called the Word, because God revealed himself or his word by him." The following singular Eastern custom may perhaps illustrate the phraseology of the first part of this chapter. "In Abyssinia, there is an officer named Kal Hatze ; the word or voice of the king, who stands always upon the steps of the throne, at the side of a lattice window, where there is a hole, covered in the inside with a curtain of green taffeta. Behind this curtain the king sits; and speaks through the aperture to the Kal Hatze, who communicates his commands to the officers, judges, and attendants .- Bruce's travels (My Bold Text)
(Composer writes: Thus we can see that Story book jesus was not "the Word" but rather his Story book god's word was "made manifest / manifested / reflected / revealed" THROUGH Story book jesus.)
