Thursday, February 20, 2020

The "Word" in John 1: The Person of Jesus, not the "Idea" of Jesus


Some proponents of Socinian Christology (e.g., Christadelphians) argue that the “word” in John 1 is not the person of Jesus but the creative force of the Father who becomes “embodied” in the person of Jesus. While popular among apologists for such a theology, it is problematic. The following comes from Harry Whittaker, himself a Christadelphian, in his Studies in the Gospels, no. 13: The Word (John 1:1-5):

1. This interpretation of the Word has to fall back for support on such remote passages as Ps. 147:15, 18 and 107:20, Pr. 8:22, 23. These, and no others. John's own usage-and this should prevail-is quite different. It should be very evident from this list that in the New Testament the normal meaning of logos is word. To insist on any other is precarious. Yet the commonly-heard interpretation of John 1:1 calls for confident dependence on a remote and very occasional meaning of logos: "reason, purpose, intent . . .

2. "The Word was with God". The vague (and pointless!) significance attached to this phrase gives no value whatever, or else a wrong value, to the Greek preposition "with".

3. It is necessary to insist on the reading: "all things were made by it (the impersonal divine Purpose) . . . That which hath been made was life in it . . .", and so on. Logically, until one comes to "the Word was made flesh" in v. 14, there can be no allusion to the personal Jesus, and "life in It (the Purpose)" is a poor insipid substitute for "life in Christ", the normal New Testament expression everywhere else.

4. The reference in v. 6, 7 to John the Baptist require that v. 7 should also allude to Jesus the Man, not to Jesus the Idea. Verses 11, 12 similarly require to be read with reference to Jesus the Man. How then does verse 14 "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" come in as indicating the climax of Divine Revelation, when clear references have already been made to Jesus to Man . . .

The Word is Jesus

Thus, John refers to The Word in three other places, and in each case his allusion is to Jesus the Man. “His name is called the Word of God” (Rev. 19:13). “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 Jn. 1:1); that is, they heard his preaching, they saw his miracles, they looked upon him crucified, and they handled him when risen from the dead (Lk. 24:39). “Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw” (Rev. 1:2). Even this passage, which at first sight seems to require a different meaning for “the word of God” lines up with the others when it is realised that this is the first of a series of triads which meet the reader in Revelation 1 (compare verses 4b, 5a, 7). In fact, “the testimony of Jesus and all things that he saw” is the exact equivalent of 1 John 1:2.

The tentative conclusion concerning “the Word” in John 1:1 would therefore appear to be that it means Jesus the Man, and not Jesus the Idea or Purpose.

Elsewhere, in the notes for the chapter, Whittaker wrote:

The Word. The use of Logos as a title for Jesus is not restricted to the writings of John. Besides Mk. 1:1,2; Lk. 1:1,2 there are also:Heb.4:12;Rom. 10:8; 1 Pet. l:23;Jas. 1: 18; Acts 19: 20.

There is certainly no reference to Greek philosophy or any form of Gnosticism, such is unthinkable in the writings of a man like John. If there were, what connection would this prologue have with the rest of the gospel? John’s gospel is Jewish through and through (see Study 14).This fact is decisive.

John Lighfoot suggests a parallel with Targum usage; e.g. “And Moses brought forth the people (at Sinai) to meet the Word of the Lord” (Ex. 19:17). And in Gen. 26:3, for “I will be with thee”, Targum has: “My Word shall be thy help”; and many such examples. Can it be doubted that in such passages allusion is intended to the angel of the Lord? In these places the rabbis had no use for a vague divine “Purpose”.