John Chapter 1

mavie

I am wondering how those who believe Jesus is the Almighty Lord God reconcile the following passages in Chapter 1.

John 1:1 - ..."the Word was God."

John 1:14 - "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. "

John 1:18 - "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."

If one believes that the Word, or Jesus, was God, then how can the apparent conflict found in verses 14 and 18 be resolved? If the Word became flesh and dwelt among us then he certainly was seen by many people on the Earth. However, verse 18 states that no one has seen God.

lovelylil

Mavie,

some like myself do not believe that Jesus is Jehovah but rather that according to John, when he says Jesus was God, he was saying in Nature, Jesus is divine like Jehovah. Not that he is God but he is in nature God. The Jewish religious leaders understood this. That is why when Jesus said he was the SON of God, they wanted to stone him for blasphemy. They knew he was saying he was equal in NATURE. No in position as the father is greater than the son.

If you read the NT you will see many accounts where Jesus was prayed to and worshiped. Why was this excepted if you are only supposed to do this to Jehovah? It is becuause the father allows it but only for his son. The bible says to honor the son with the SAME honor you give the father. Jesus is unique. He was not created but was always with the father.

At colossians 1:15 - the word firstborn does not mean first created.It also is not used to literally mean the first one born but rather means Christ is the heir or owner of all creation because he is the preeminent son.

John 5:18

For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but also, he was even

Calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Philippians 2:5-7

5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God , did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness

Keep reading the NT because you will see that Jesus excepted worship, prayer, and titles that in the OT applied to Jehovah. Not because he is Jehovah, this is one mistake trinitarians make. He is equal only in the fact that in nature he is equal. Not in position. For example, if you are a father and have a son, you are in position higher than your son but by nature you are both humans. So, by his nature Jesus was Divine. The pharisees knew he was saying that and that is why under their laws, he was deserving of death. They did not want to believe who he really was. I hope this helps.

M.J.

mavie

Lil, thanks for the explanation. My first thought after reading this is that the NWT has the rendering of John 1:1 correct. Jesus was in nature like God. He was 'a God'.

He also stated 'he that has seen me has seen the Father also', showing how perfectly he reflected God's qualities.

John 5:18 is interesting, I need to research that more.

Shazard

Read John 1:18 fully

Narkissos

In the perspective of John Gospel, "seeing God" does happen -- for the Son and through him.

1:51: "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

3:3: "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

5:19: "Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise."

5:37f: "You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent."

6:46: "Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father."

8:38: "I declare what I have seen in the Father's presence."

11:40: "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

14:7ff: "If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"

stillajwexelder

andyetanothertrintythreadbutindisguisethistime

Leolaia

The wording in John 1:1 is a familiar pattern in John and 1 John that emphasizes the quality and nature of the entity; it is very similar to 1 John 4:8 which states that "God is love," emphasizing the nature of God...it does not mean that God is love in an inferior sense, but that everything love is, God is. Similarly, I think John 1:1 has the sense of "everything God was, the Word was"....he is not a lesser god but just as divine as God himself (as his Logos). This is compatible with John 5:18 suggesting the equality of Jesus with God. At the same time, the Word is distinguished from God, thus he can be "with" God (1:1), and be designated as his revealer (1:18), such that one who sees the Son has seen the Father. The distinctly Johannine notion is that believers can experience God through Jesus and that God is in him just as he is in the believers. What is not clearly distinguished in John is whether the relationship between God and the Word is one of simple ditheism (i.e. as two seperate equal Gods) or binitarianism (i.e. as two beings in one God). The language is less binitarian than conceiving a mutual intercourse between the two (i.e. the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father, 10:30, 38, 14:11, 17:21), yet since the Logos language is likely dependent on Philo of Alexandria, it may also be relevant to consider how Philo conceived of the Logos as a "second God" (deuteron theon) (Quaest. in Genesis 2.62) but not as a separate being altogether but as one of the two powers of the one God (cf. Quaest. in Ex. 2.68, Mos. 2.99).

lovelylil

Leolaia,

You explained John 1:1 in a very good way. Thanks. I also do not believe Jesus is a lesser God. To say he is "a god" means he has to be a false God since Jehovah is the only true God. John clearly understood the nature of Christ.

to try and prove there are many gods, some try to quote from psalm 82 to say even men are considered "gods" but it is clear that this term god is not used as divine but rather they are mere men given any authority they have as gods representatives by God himself.

Thanks again for your post.

M.J.

Ok so there's theory and there's application. John 5:23 is the application for those not wishing to go round and round on the theory.

John Chapter 1

John 5:18

Philippians 2:5-7

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