The Forgotten Trinity (7 page)

I wonder how long it took. Surely it wasn't something that was
written carelessly, without planning, without thought. He must have
spent a good deal of time and energy on it. I refer to the prologue of
John, the first eighteen verses of the Gospel that bears his name. Some
people are a little uncomfortable with the idea of one of the writers of
Scripture working hard on a particular passage, a special section. There
are others that think the writers of the Bible must have gone into some
kind of "trance" while being led by the Holy Spirit to speak God's
truth. But such is not a truly biblical idea. These holy men indeed
spoke from God, but that does not exclude at all the use of their highest
efforts to present God's truth (2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The prologue of John is a literary masterpiece. Its balance is almost
unparalleled. It is a carefully crafted work of art, a revelation that has
inspired believers for almost two thousand years. The brightest minds have been fascinated by it and have always marveled at its beauty. It is
an inexhaustible treasure.

Few passages of Scripture are more important to our study of the
Trinity, and in particular, of the person of the Son, than the prologue
of John. You see, John clearly intended this passage to function as a
lens, a window of sorts, through which we are to read the rest of his
Gospel. If we stumble here, we are in danger of missing so much of
the richness that is to be found in the rest of the book. But if we work
hard to grasp John's meaning here, many other passages will open up
for us of their own accord, yielding tremendous insights into the heart
of God's revelation of himself in Jesus Christ.

I live in Arizona, and we have a number of old abandoned mines
out in the desert, including the famous, though not yet located, "Lost
Dutchman Mine." Most of these mines required a tremendous amount
of work to open and run. But the hoped-for reward, the precious commodity of gold, was worth the effort on the part of the miners. In the
same way, the prologue of John calls us to do some work, to stretch
ourselves beyond what might be our "comfort zone," but the reward
is more than worth it.

As you scan through the next few pages you will see some Greek
terms. Don't let them stop you. I will explain what each one means,
and for the person who is intent upon reaching the goal and truly entering into the treasure John has placed in these verses for us, they are
necessary. No one studies Shakespeare solely in German or Frenchthe subtleties of Shakespeare's language, his turning of a phrase, his
use of synonyms or double meanings, can be lost in translation. So it
is with John. John didn't write the prologue in English, and the person
who wishes to delve deeply into his meaning will seek to hear him
speaking as he once spoke in the beautiful Greek language.

'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. '-He was in the beginning with God. 3A11
things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing
came into being that has come into being. (John 1:1-3)

Here is the translation with the important Greek terms provided. The Greek term follows the English term that translates it.

(John 1:1-3) In the beginning [iv apxrl] was [rlv] the Word
[o XoyoS], and the Word was with God [epos Tov OEOv], and the
Word was God [6EOS Tv o ?,oyos]. 'He was in the beginning with
God. 3All things came into being through Him [navTa 61 a'rro
EyEv ,ro], and apart from Him nothing came into being that has
come into being.

Each of the terms provided above is very important, and as we work
through the prologue, you will see how each word reinforces the truth
of the Christian belief in the inspiration of the Scriptures as well as in
the deity of Jesus Christ.

IN THE BEGINNING

"In the beginning" should sound somewhat familiar. Many see this
as a purposeful reference to Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created
the heavens and the earth." Just as Genesis introduces God's work of
creation, so John 1:1 introduces God's work of redeeming that people,
and that work has been going on just as long as creation itself. Yet we
do not need to focus solely upon the same point of origin in creation
that is found in Genesis 1:1, for John is yet to give us some very important information about the time frame he has in mind.

THE WORD

We must keep foremost in our thinking the purpose of John's prologue. It can be summed up rather simply: Who is the Word? From
verse 1 through verse 18, John is telling us about the Word. We dare
not take our "eye off the ball," so to speak, and miss the fact that
throughout this passage, the identity of the Word is at issue. Right at
the start we must ask why John would use such a term as "the Word."
What is he attempting to communicate?

The Greek term translated "Word" in this passage is logos. It is certainly not an unusual term. It appears three hundred and thirty times
as a noun in the Greek New Testament alone. It has a wide range of
meanings, from the basic "word" to merely a "matter" or a "thing." So why would John choose such a word for such an important task?

The Greeks had used the term logos in their philosophical explanations regarding the functioning of the world. The logos was for them
an impersonal ordering force, that which gave harmony to the universe. The logos was not personal in their philosophy, but it was very
important.

In the Old Testament there are dim reflections upon a similar concept. The "Word of the Lord" came to have deep significance to the
Jewish people. Such passages as Psalm 33:6, "By the word of the LORD
the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host,"
lent themselves to the idea that there was more to the "word" than one
might see at first glance. During the few centuries prior to the coming
of Christ, Jewish theologians and thinkers would see in such phrases
as "word of the Lord" and in the "wisdom of God" references to a
personal rather than an abstract concept.

But John went beyond everything that came before in his use of
the term logos. In fact, as we proceed, we will see that it would be better
to write Logos than logos, for John is using the word as a name, not
merely a description. He fills the impersonal logos that came before
him with personality and life, and presents to us the living and personal Logos, the Word who was in the beginning.

THE LITTLE WORD "WAS"

The English word "was" is about as bland a term as you can find.
Yet in Greek, it is most expressive. The Greeks were quite concerned
about being able to express subtleties in regard not only to when something happened, but how it happened as well. Our little word "was" is
poorly suited to handle the depth of the Greek at this point. John's
choice of words is deliberate and, quite honestly, beautiful.

Throughout the prologue of the Gospel of John, the author balances between two verbs. When speaking of the Logos as He existed in
eternity past, John uses the Greek word rlv, en (a form of eimi). The
tense' of the word expresses continuous action in the past. Compare this
with the verb he chooses to use when speaking of everything elsefound, for example, in verse 3: "All things carne into being through Him," eyeve ro, egeneto. This verb2 contains the very element missing
from the other: a point of origin. The term, when used in contexts of
creation and origin, speaks of a time when something came into existence. The first verb, en, does not. John is very careful to use only the
first verb of the Logos throughout the first thirteen verses, and the second verb, egeneto, he uses for everything else (including John the Baptist in verse 6). Finally, in verse 14, he breaks this pattern, for a very
specific reason, as we shall see.

Why emphasize the tense of a little verb? Because it tells us a great
deal. When we speak of the Word, the Logos, we must ask ourselves:
how long has the Logos existed? Did the Logos come into being at a
point in time? Is the Logos a creature? John is very concerned that we
get the right answer to such questions, and he provides the answers by
the careful selection of the words he uses.

Above we noted that John gave us some very important information about the time frame he has in mind when he says "in the beginning." That information is found in the tense of the verb en. You see,
as far back as you wish to push "the beginning," the Word is already
in existence. The Word does not come into existence at the "beginning," but is already in existence when the "beginning" takes place. If
we take the beginning of John 1:1, the Word is already there. If we push
it back further (if one can even do so!), say, a year, the Word is already
there. A thousand years, the Word is there. A billion years, the Word
is there.' What is John's point? The Word is eternal. The Word has
always existed. The Word is not a creation. The New English Bible puts
it quite nicely: "When all things began, the Word already was."

Right from the start, then, John tells us something vital about the
Word. Whatever else we will learn about the Word, the Word is eter-
nal.4 With this John begins to lay the foundation for what will come.

WITH GOD

The next phrase of John 1:1 tells us something new about the Word.
The Word is eternal, but the Word was not alone in eternity past. "The
Word was with God (rtpbS toy 9e6v)." Yes, it is the same word "was," again pointing us to an eternal truth. The Word has eternally been
"with God." What does this mean?

Just as Greek verbs are often more expressive than their English
counterparts, so too are Greek prepositions. Here John uses the preposition npoS (pros). The term has a wide range of meanings, depending
on the context in which it is found. In this particular instance, the term
speaks to a personal relationship, in fact, to intimacy. It is the same term
the apostle Paul uses when he speaks of how we presently have a
knowledge comparable to seeing in a dim mirror, but someday, in eternity, we will have a clearer knowledge, an intimate knowledge, for we
shall see "face to (pros) face" (1 Corinthians 13:12). When you are faceto-face with someone, you have nowhere to hide. You have a relationship with that person, whether you like it or not.5

In John I: 1b, John says the Word was eternally face-to-face with
God, that is, that the Word has eternally had a relationship with God.
Immediately, questions about how this can be pop into our minds, but
for the moment we must stick with the text and follow John's thought
through to its conclusion. He will answer our question about the identity of "God" in due time. For now, we note it is the normal word for
God, 9eov (theon).6 It is the word any monotheistic' Jew would use to
describe the Almighty God, Yahweh, the Creator of all things. Someone
such as John would never think that there were two eternal beings.
John will explain himself soon enough.

WAS GOD

The third clause of John 1:1 balances out the initial presentation
John is making about the Word. We read, "and the Word was God
(9E6S rlv o Xoyog)." Again, the eternal en. John avoids contradiction
by telling us that the Word was with God, and the Word was God. If
John were making this an equation, like this: