Friday, March 11, 2022

Andrew Perry (Christadelphian) on the ην argument from John 1:1

  

A silly argument here focusing on the very ‘to be’ is that the Word was in the beginning and before that beginning and timeless and eternal. However, all that we have is a statement of fact about the beginning and nothing from which to infer propositions about timeless and eternal existence. It would be just as ‘valid’ to infer the creation of the Word in the beginning. John sees ‘the beginning’ as having duration ‘in’ which there was the Word and we have to determine which beginning he means. (Andrew Perry, John 1:1-18 [1st ed. [7th revision]; Staffordshire, U.K.: Willow Publications, 2022], 27 n. 1, emphasis in original)