Continuing the study on Eternal Verities (Eternal Truths) -
I'm going to copy parts of a thought paper and we're going to delve into more about what I was talking about yesterday, the Godhead and eternal truths. I'll interject it with my own thoughts and probably end up breaking it up into digestable pieces, meaning give it bit by bit so it's not overwhelming and gives us time to think about what's being presented. If you're reading this you'll have access to the internet and as such it's easy to check various facts such as the meaning of Greek and Hebrew words. Don't hesitate to take time to check things for yourself. We are accountable for what we can do and that means seeking the knowledge where we can. In our time we live in something called the 'Information Age' and it is. Information is right at our fingertips and we have to avail ourselves of it.
May God bless us as we seek to understand more fully His will, His way, the truths that we need to know and believe as this world becomes more and more deceptive.
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John 1:1-3 In beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with the God, and God was the Logos. The same was in beginning with the God. All things through Him came into being, and without Him came into being not even one [thing] which has come into being. (Greek, literal translation)
(((Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Standard translation.))))
The Gospel of John was among the last books of the New Testament to be written, if not the last one. In the first eighteen verses of his Gospel, John gives a prologue, setting forth data of what was prior to the Incarnation, as well as what happened at the Incarnation.
From these verses, we can observe the following data:
1) There were Two Beings - the Logos (the Word) and God.
2) The Logos was of the same essence as God. He was as much God as God Himself. "God was the Logos."
((IMPORTANT)) --> The article is used to denote separate Beings; and omitted when defining the nature of the Logos.
((NOTE- Article definition-
4. Grammar. Any of a class of words used to signal nouns and to specify their application. In English, the indefinite articles are a and an and the definite article is the.
Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary))
Conclusions which can be drawn:
1) Since "God" is defined as "Spirit" (John 4:24 - no article, literally, "God is Spirit"), then the Logos was as God, also "Spirit."
We are "flesh" in our reality; God is "spirit" in His reality.
Paul could use the word, "form" to designate both the reality of God, and the reality of man. (Phil. 2:6,7)
Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men
2) The Logos created all things in conjunction "with the God." Paul states that "God ... created all things by Jesus Christ." (Eph. 3:9)
Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ
3) In John 1:1-2, the word "was" (hn ) is used 4x. This is in the Greek imperfect tense and denotes continuous action in past time. John is simply saying that there never was a time when the Logos was not.
p 4 -- Genesis 1:1-2, 26 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. ... And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. ... And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
The Hebrew for "God" in these verses is Elohim, plural in form.
It is used with singular verbs and adjectives, and thus perceived as the "pluralis majesticus" or majestic plural.
However, in verse 26, the Elohim concur in "Let us." The question arises - How do you obtain a singular force from a plural word?
Here is where the Shema of Israel enters the picture.
It reads - "Hear, O Israel: The Lord God our God is one Lord." (Deut 6:4)
The key word is the compound word (two words), Elohenu - "Gods" and the suffix, a plural pronoun, "our."
"The masculine plural [In this case Elohim] has before all suffixes the ending ay. ...
But certain modifications in the form of this ending take place, due to the character of the following consonants: ...
b. The original form ay is contracted to e before all plural Have no hebrew alphabet suffixes." (Elements of Hebrew, Wm. R. Harper, p.144)
This is the case in the Shema of Israel. Thus it reads literally, "Jehovah, our Gods is one Jehovah."
The word for "one" (Echad) expresses oneness in duality.
The word appears in Genesis 1:5 - "There was evening; there was morning, day one (echad)"
It is also used in Genesis 2:24 - "They [two] shall be one (echad) flesh."
This simply implies that both the Logos and God of John 1:1-3 are one Jehovah.
Let us return now to the text in Genesis 1:2 - "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."
The Hebrew word translated, "moved" is merahepheth - brooded. Gesenius in his lexicon, observes that this word in the Piel Hebrew form (as used here) implies "to cherish one's young, to brood over, as the eagle its young (Deut 32:11) ... of the Spirit of God as thus brooding over and vivifying the chaotic mass of earth. Gen. 1:2" (p.976)
Does this suggest the conclusion that the Spirit of God which "vivified" the mass at creation is the Logos of John 1:1-3, by which nothing was created except by Him?
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My thoughts--
The preceding calls for reading and re-reading until understanding comes- at least for me. I'm no scholar of Hebrew, I'm not even very adept at English grammar. I'm not always the brightest bulb in the bunch especially when it comes to these types of studies however I know that God would have us at least try and comprehend what is being said because knowledge of truth comes in many ways and we shouldn't believe that we can pick and choose what we learn, but learn all we can. Do I fully understand it all, no, but I'm trying, I'm praying for understanding and trusting in the Lord that I will be able to understand all that is necessary for me to understand.
It's hard for us to imagine Jesus as just Spirit. Even after He rose from the dead it was in the flesh- Thomas doubted and he was told to touch Jesus and see for himself the reality of Jesus' form.
Joh 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
Joh 20:25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Joh 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Joh 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
Joh 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Joh 20:29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
And Mary who saw him--
Joh 20:16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.
Joh 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.
Jesus as simply an ethereal being isn't something we easily believe, or rather comprehend. Jesus as spirit form before He became flesh isn't something we dwell on as a rule. Yet to be with God in the beginning, to create all things He had to be Spirit form. It's not a long stretch at all to be curious as to whether or not the Spirit that moved over the deep was in fact Jesus in Spirit form, is it? Or do we simple need to believe that it was the Holy Spirit, this Spirit, 'The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee'
Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Yes, this is a complex and very thought provoking study and that's just what is intended. We need to think, to study hard, to delve deep into the Bible.
I won't pretend to understand it all, or ask you to comprehend it all but if you do that is wonderful. I will continue this study until the article is completed and hope that full understand comes to me, to all of us. If not we just have to keep studying and of course leave to God the things that we don't fully know.
May God bless us and keep us in Him Always.
By the grace and the mercy of our Lord and our Savior, now and forever.
In His love.
Amen.
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