Genesis 1:1 - ‘In the beginning GOD created [all things]…’
John 1:1 - ‘In the beginning [THE WORD] created all things’
You all know the full verses … But clearly there is a problem - the two claims do not agree!
Who, exactly, is ‘God’?
Where did the WORD come from?
We know the ALMIGHTY word spoken BY God that created a things in the beginning, don’t we? What was it? Was it not: ‘Let there be light!’
Specifically, who are these words attributed to: God, or The Word…
Or is it sensibly just, ‘The word of God’, that created all things?
Reading further in Genesis, you will find absolutely no reference ‘The Word’… (as in ‘Son of God’ / Jesus)… is that strange seeing that certain Christian groups clearly claim that it was ‘Jesus’ who created all things (‘God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.’ (John 1:3)
Not only does that verse alter the creation story in Genesis but it puts in place an entity that was never mentioned in Genesis. In fact, never mentioned in any verse anywhere in the whole of the Old Testament.
Here, in John 1: 1-3 we have an entirely new ‘person’ who is also claimed to be GOD… ‘The Word’.
But, again, nothing of ‘The Word’ is stated in the Old Testament. And even after Jesus does appear as the messiah, he himself says nothing about having created anything (carried out the greatest event in the whole of world activity!)
I do ponder, though, that the term, ‘Father’, means: ‘Creator, Bringer into being, Giver of life’, yet Jesus (or ‘the word’) is not attributed to this term. Instead, an entity of God, exactly called, ‘The Father’, is attributed to creation!
In fact, BOTH ‘GOD’ and ‘The Father’ are stated as ‘Creating all things’, which logically the two go together!! AND, Jesus, on appearing as a man on earth (that it’s claimed he created by some Christian groups) clearly states that he can do nothing except what he sees God (or the Father) doing first. In fact, he, Jesus was ‘Taught by God/The Father how and what to do and say’.
So, how is it that Jesus/The Son is supposed to have carried out the greatest event of all time (!!) and yet has to be taught how to exist in that event? This is a problem when we are expected to believe that Jesus pre-existed, and is therefore a Spirit (that’s a problem in itself as the only spirits we know of at the time of creation are God and the angels - and we know God created the angels - or did Jesus/the Son/the word?) and not a man (human/flesh being).
Can anyone throw light on this huge anomaly - a conundrum of almighty importance in Christian scriptural matters?
In my opinion…
Who created all things: God or the Son? The Supreme Being (God), the one and only true God. The only begotten Son of God did not preexist. So, he wasn't involved.
Who, exactly, is ‘God’? This is an unknowable question. The bible gives us some hints, but human minds are not capable of knowing this. We can only grasp some of the things related to our universe, not those beyond it (no matter what some may claim).
Where did the WORD come from? Since, the word is a part of God or an attribute of God, we cannot know this.
We know the Almighty word spoken by God that created a things in the beginning, don’t we? What was it? Was it not: ‘Let there be light!’ Maybe! But, to believe this we would seem to be suggesting that God needed something (light) to see…If, this was the case, God wouldn't be the Supreme Being.
Or is it sensibly just, ‘The word of God’, that created all things? Since, it is my position that God's word is only "one" of the unlimited attributes of God, I would say: No.
Can anyone throw light on this huge anomaly - a conundrum of almighty importance in Christian scriptural matters? This topic is so embedded in the various beliefs of Christian groups that any questions or issues related to it won't even be considered! But, I will give my opinion…
John 1:1: The most important issue that needs to be addressed is grammatical considerations
. Such as: personal pronouns, capitalization and descriptive nouns. So, the Greek term "logos" has been translated into the English term "word." It is used over 300 times in the N.T. and is not intended to be capitalized or used as a pronoun. The O.T. equivalent is used
about 1
500 times and also is not intended to be capitalized or used as a pronoun…When we review what the word logos means it addresses logic and reason (N.T.). As well as, wisdom and speech (O.T.)
. Not a personage. Thus, it is my opinion that translators made an exception for the fourth gospel's prologue of chapter 1 and 1 John 1, when they deviated from the other approximately 1,800 occurrences by capitalizing the “w” in “word,” thus leading the reader to believe that the
logos of God is a pre-existent person. This seems to be an example of translator bias. Additionally, the text does not say: “
In the beginning was the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was God.” Neither does it say:
“In the
beginning was God the Son, and God the Son was with God, and God the Son was God.” Further, it does not say: “
In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.” In spite of this, it has been taught, with the help of others, to read the text with these substitutions. Something that Dr. Colin Brown
, senior professor of systematic theology at Fuller Seminary, says is a “patent misreading” of the text:
It is a common but patent misreading of the opening of John’s Gospel to read it as if it said: In the beginning was the Son and the Son was with God and the Son was God. What has happened here is the substitution of Son for Word, and thereby the Son is made a member of the Godhead which existed from the beginning.