The Trinity - John 1:1-3

The Trinity

Common
Trinity
Personality
   of the Spirit
Christ
   Preliminary
  Strategy
  Genesis 1:26
  Genesis 3:22
  Isaiah 9:6
  Matthew 1:23
  Matthew 28:19
  John 1:1-3
  John 3:13
  John 5:23
  John 6:33,38,51
  John 6:62
  John 8:23
  John 8:58
  John 10:17,18
  John 10:30
  John 14:9
  John 20:28
  Romans 9:5
  Philippians 2:6
  Col. 1:15,16
  Eph. 4:8-10
  Hebrews 1:2
  Hebrews 1:8
  Hebrews 1:10-12
  Hebrews 7:3
  Hebrews 10:5
  1 John 4:3
  1 John 5:20
  Revelation 3:14
Soul
Heaven
Hell
Satan/Demons
"Saved"
Baptism
Resurrection
Antichrist

Unique
Catholic
Mormon
SDA
JW
British Israel
Church
of Christ
Pentecostal
Islam

Science
Miracles
Evolution
Creation
Carbon Dating

Inspiration
Partial
Contradictions
& Inaccuracies

John 1:1-3: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."
Problem:: This passage is usually the chief reference on which the pre-existence and deity of Christ are argued.
Solution:

Christ was not literally the Word. He was the word "made flesh". (vs. 14). The Greek word "logos" translated "Word" expresses the divine intention, mind, or purpose.¹ Young defines "logos" as "a word, speech, matter, reason."² In the A.V. "logos" is translated by more than 20 different English words and is used for utterances of men (e.g., John 17:20) as well as those of God (John 5:38).
"In the beginning was the Word . . . all things were made by him."³ "Logos" does not in itself denote personality. It is personified by the masculine gender in the A.V., The Diaglott avoids confusion by translating the pronouns in the neuter - "through it every thing was done."⁴ An Old Testament parallel to the personification of logos is the personification of wisdom: "The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." (Prov. 8:22, 23). In this passage, wisdom is personified as a woman. (vs. 1, 2).
"All things were made by him" - John is apparently alluding to the creation recorded in Genesis. God spoke, and it was done (e.g. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Gen. 1:3. Notice another allusion - John 1:7, 8). But this creation was not accompanied by Christ, but by the "logos" of God. This is indicated by several passages:
1. "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." "For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." (Psa. 33:6, 9). See also Psa. 107:20; 147:15, 18, 19; Isa. 55:11.
2. " . . . by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water . . . But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." (2 Peter 3:5, 7).
3. See also Hebrews 11:3 cf. Jeremiah 10:12, 13.⁵
Angels, prophets and Christ have been vehicles by which God has expressed his logos. Christ is the complete manifestation of the logos - "in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." (Col. 2:9). It was the "logos" which was in the beginning with God, not Christ. When the "word was made flesh" (John 1:14) then, and then only, Christ became the "Word". Christ is called the Word (Rev. 19:13 cf. 1 John 1:1; Luke 1:2) since his doctrine and words came from his Father (John 7:16; 17:14). He was the logos lived out in speech and action, not merely written on scrolls.

Footnotes:

This can be supported by evaluating all references to "logos" in the New Testament and the Septuagint. Return
Robert Young, Analytical Concordance to the Holy Bible, (London: Lutterworth Press, 1965). Return
It is sometimes argued that the "beginning" referred to in John 1:1 is the beginning of Christ's ministry. 1 John 1:1 is offered in support of this interpretation. It should be noted, however, that John's allusions in John 1 are drawn from Genesis 1 as point 3 outlines, thereby implying that the beginning refers to the same narrative and not to the ministry of Christ. Return
Benjamin Wilson, The Emphatic Diaglott, (Brooklyn: International Bible Students Ass., Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1942). Return
It is also noteworthy that although the writer to the Hebrews speaks in exalted terms of Christ (e.g. "express image of his {God's} person" - Hebrews 1:3), "logos" is used of God's message, and not of Christ himself. See Hebrews 2:2; 4:2, 12; 7:28; 12:19 and 13:7, 22. Return