The Forgotten Trinity by James R. White Read Free Book Online Page B

little verb? Because it tells us a great
deal. When we speak of the Word, the Logos, we must ask ourselves:
how long has the Logos existed? Did the Logos come into being at a
point in time? Is the Logos a creature? John is very concerned that we
get the right answer to such questions, and he provides the answers by
the careful selection of the words he uses.
    Above we noted that John gave us some very important information about the time frame he has in mind when he says "in the beginning." That information is found in the tense of the verb en. You see,
as far back as you wish to push "the beginning," the Word is already
in existence. The Word does not come into existence at the "beginning," but is already in existence when the "beginning" takes place. If
we take the beginning of John 1:1, the Word is already there. If we push
it back further (if one can even do so!), say, a year, the Word is already
there. A thousand years, the Word is there. A billion years, the Word
is there.' What is John's point? The Word is eternal. The Word has
always existed. The Word is not a creation. The New English Bible puts
it quite nicely: "When all things began, the Word already was."
    Right from the start, then, John tells us something vital about the
Word. Whatever else we will learn about the Word, the Word is eter-
nal.4 With this John begins to lay the foundation for what will come.
    WITH GOD
    The next phrase of John 1:1 tells us something new about the Word.
The Word is eternal, but the Word was not alone in eternity past. "The
Word was with God (rtpbS toy 9e6v)." Yes, it is the same word "was," again pointing us to an eternal truth. The Word has eternally been
"with God." What does this mean?

    Just as Greek verbs are often more expressive than their English
counterparts, so too are Greek prepositions. Here John uses the preposition npoS (pros). The term has a wide range of meanings, depending
on the context in which it is found. In this particular instance, the term
speaks to a personal relationship, in fact, to intimacy. It is the same term
the apostle Paul uses when he speaks of how we presently have a
knowledge comparable to seeing in a dim mirror, but someday, in eternity, we will have a clearer knowledge, an intimate knowledge, for we
shall see "face to (pros) face" (1 Corinthians 13:12). When you are faceto-face with someone, you have nowhere to hide. You have a relationship with that person, whether you like it or not.5
    In John I: 1b, John says the Word was eternally face-to-face with
God, that is, that the Word has eternally had a relationship with God.
Immediately, questions about how this can be pop into our minds, but
for the moment we must stick with the text and follow John's thought
through to its conclusion. He will answer our question about the identity of "God" in due time. For now, we note it is the normal word for
God, 9eov (theon).6 It is the word any monotheistic' Jew would use to
describe the Almighty God, Yahweh, the Creator of all things. Someone
such as John would never think that there were two eternal beings.
John will explain himself soon enough.
    WAS GOD
    The third clause of John 1:1 balances out the initial presentation
John is making about the Word. We read, "and the Word was God
(9E6S rlv o Xoyog)." Again, the eternal en. John avoids contradiction
by telling us that the Word was with God, and the Word was God. If
John were making this an equation, like this:
    All of the "Word" = All of "God"
    he would be contradicting himself. If the Word is "all" of God, and
God is "all" of the Word, and the two terms are interchangeable, then
how could the Word be "with" himself? Such would make no sense. But John beautifully walks the fine line, balancing God's truth as he is
"carried along" by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21, NIV). John avoids
equating the Word with all of God through his use of the little Greek
article, the equivalent of our word "the" (o).

    It may seem