The opening verses of the Gospel of John have proven to be, unfortunately, a veritable battleground and storm center of theological argument. Translators have often edited John to make him fit much later systems of theology. For instance, John, who was a Jew, had never heard of the term “trinity,” the proposition that God consists of three “persons.” Yet many of the church fathers made an appeal to such a doctrine by pointing to the opening verses of John. They managed there to contradict the witness of Jesus himself and present the reader with a second eternal “person” alongside the Father—giving the appearance of two “gods”. This error was achieved by first putting, incorrectly, a capital letter on the word “word” (translated from the Greek logos), giving it the appearance of “personhood.” Having altered the meaning of the Greek word logos by giving it personhood, the next move was to refer to logos with a masculine pronoun “him,” rather than a neuter “it.”
The Greek logos had appeared in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) some 1500 times but never was the word described as a person. Here are just a few (taken from the King James Version):
Judges 3:20 — And Ehud came unto him; and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message (logos) from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
2 Samuel 17:4 — And the saying (logos) pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. Nehemiah 6:12 — And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy (logos) against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
2 Samuel 18:13 Otherwise I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life: for there is no matter (logos) hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me.
2 Samuel 19:11 And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech (logos) of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house.
Psalms 119:105 — Thy word (logos) is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalms 147:15 — He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth: His word (logos) runneth very swiftly.
Isaiah 2:1 — The word (logos) that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
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Author: Philip P. Kapusta
Keywords: Homoousios, Homoiousian, Homoousion, homoiousios, Athanasius, Nicene Creed, Nicean Creed, Trinity, Holy Trinity, Trinitarian, Trinitarianism, Deity of Jesus, Divinity of Jesus, Nicaea, Council of Nicaea, 325 AD, Arius, Arian, Arian heresy, Arian controversy, Arianism, Athanasian, Athanasian Creed, Logos, Word made flesh, Jesus is the Word, Tri-unity, Pre-existent word, Pre-existence, Pre-existent, Jesus is God, God the Son, Three in one, God in three persons, Deity of Christ, Doctrine of the Trinity, trinitarian doctrine, God manifest in the flesh, God manifestation, Word incarnate, Incarnate word, God incarnate, Jesus is God incarnate, Incarnate, incarnation, consubstantial, cosubstantial, consubstantiality, christology, christological, Christological debate, debate trinity, trinity debate, trinitarian debate, three persons, god in the flesh
Bible reference(s): John 1:1-4
Source: Philip P. Kapusta.
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