It must be observed that John never represents Jesus as God but always as the Son of God. The whole purpose of his writing, he declares, is” that ye may believe that Jesus is, the Christ, the Son of God.” So the separation of Father and Son is always observed and the Song of Solomon always appears as subordinate to the Father: it is, for example, the Father Who sent the Son into the world. Again Jesus never proclaims himself as God but deliberately emphasises his dependence upon God in all things. He can do nothing of himself, and he does not speak of himself but as he has been commanded by the Father; when he claims to reveal that Father to men, it is as the Son of God: and, when he affirms his unity with God, it is a unity which can be enjoyed also by those who become his disciples. The only possible exception to this is the language occasionally used by Jesus which suggests some sort of pre-existence.
Thus, addressing the Jews, Jesus claims “Before Abraham was, I am” immediately after he has spoken of himself as the true bread which came down from heaven, he speaks of ascending where he was before; he prays to God to glorify him with the glory which he had with the Father before the world began; he speaks of the love which the Father bore to him before the foundation of the world. But here it is suggested that Jesus is thinking of himself as the embodiment of the glory of the Word. In this connection we may conclude with a quotation from Sir Edwyn Hoskyns, not only because it is relevant to this one point, but also because it sums up the thought of John’s gospel:—
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: E. J. Newman
Keywords: Logos, Word made flesh, Jesus is the Word, Trinity, Tri-unity, Pre-existent word, Pre-existence, Pre-existent, Jesus is God, God the Son, Three in one, God in three persons, Deity of Jesus, Deity of Christ, Three gods, Three persons, Three persons in one god, Christ's preexistence, Jesus' preexistence, Jesus preexisted, Jesus existed before he was born, Jesus's preexistence, word personified
Bible reference(s): John 1:1-3, Joh 1:14, John 8:58
Source: “The Person of Jesus,” The Testimony, Vol. 17, No. 195, March 1947, pp. 97-8.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.