A competent writer needs to pitch his message so that his readers can, at least with some effort, discern his meaning.
Did the author of the fourth gospel do this? I think he did!
This post is a portion of a handout I gave to the audience at my 2021 lecture “What John 1 Meant.” Here I illustrate how earlier and contemporaneous literature would have enabled this gospel’s original recipients to understand what was being taught about God and Jesus in John 1:1-18. (Most but not all of the references here pre-date the gospel; all are ancient.)
| John 1 (NRSV) | Ideas and Texts |
| 1 In the beginning was the Word [logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God [theos]. 2 He was in the beginning with God. | “Someone” with God in the beginning who is really just him. Proverbs 8:27-30; Wisdom 9:4,9; Sirach 1:9, 24:3 (Wisdom personified: Proverbs 1:20,22; Proverbs 4:6-9; Wisdom 8:2. God’s word personified: Psalm 147:15; Isaiah 55:11; Wisdom 18:14-16) |
| 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. | God creating through “another.” (Genesis 1:1-3; Psalm 33:6,9; Psalm 148:5; Dead Sea Scrolls 1QS 11:11; Proverbs 3:19-20) Wisdom 9:1-2,4; Wisdom 7:21-22. But it’s really just God. Isaiah 45:12; Isaiah 44:24; Genesis 1:26-27; Mark 10:6; Mark 13:19; John 17:24; Romans 1:20; Acts 4:24, 14:15, 17:24-31; Hebrews 11:3; Ephesians 3:9; 1 Timothy 4:3-4; Revelation 4:11, 10:6, 14:7. |
| What has come into being 4 in him was life, | God’s word or wisdom as source of life. Proverbs 8:35; Sirach 4:12. John 14:24; John 6:67-68; 1 John 1:1-3. |
| and the life was the light of all people. | God’s word or wisdom as source of light. (Genesis 1:3-4; Psalm 36:9); Psalm 119:105,130; Wisdom7:25-26; Isaiah 49:6; Philo On Dreams I.75; Targum Neofiti, “Homily on the Four Nights”; John 5:35, 8:12, 9:5. God’s word or wisdom as source of light and life. Baruch 4:1-2; John 12:44-50, 11:25, 3:16, 4:41, 6:63. For all people. Proverbs 8:4; Wisdom 7:23-24; Sirach 24:4-6; John 11:25, 3:16, 4:41, 6:63. |
| 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. | Light shines in darkness, darkness doesn’t overcome (or comprehend) the light. Wisdom 7:29-30; Matthew 5:14; Ephesians 5:8; Luke 1:76-79. |
| 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. | (This is a sort of historical interlude, an interruption of the recounting of the career of God’s personified Word/Wisdom.) |
| 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. | God’s word or wisdom is in the world. Wisdom 8:1. But they don’t know her. Proverbs 1:22-31; Sirach 24:5-7. |
| 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. | God’s word or wisdom comes to his own people. Sirach 24:8-10; Baruch 3:37-4:1. With limited success. Enoch 42:2, Psalm 105:24-25, John 3:19-21, 9:38-40. |
| 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. | God’s word or wisdom as able to make children of God. Wisdom 2:12-13,16; Wisdom 7:27. |
| 14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, | Non-literal incarnation of “someone” to live with us on earth. Sirach 24:23; Baruch 3:35-4:1; Wisdom 18:14-16; Philo Life of Moses I.162. God tabernacles/tents among us. Exodus 40:34; Numbers 9:15; 2 Samuel 7:4-6. God tabernacles/tents among us. Exodus 40:34; Numbers 9:15; 2 Samuel 7:4-6; Sirach 24:10. |
| 15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before [protos] me.’”) | God’s Son > John because the Son is “before” John. John 1:20-34; Matthew 3:11 (Mark 1:7-8; Luke 3:15-16). |
| 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. | Abundant grace from the Son’s “fullness.” Colossians 1:17-19, 2:9-10; Ephesians 1:22-23. |
| 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son [or: the only Son], who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. | Christ >Moses: glory. Exodus 33:18. Christ > Moses: closeness to God. Exodus 33:23. Christ > Moses: seeing God. Exodus 33:20; Sirach 43:31; Proverbs 30:4; John 3:11-13 |
Here is a colorful, printable pdf version.
We know that trinitarian, oneness (modalist), and logos-theory readings would not have been available to the original recipients. And it seems to me that we can’t show that they would have understood this passage in a “Socinian” way either.
You’ll have to view the lecture to weigh my arguments for this sort of interpretation. But here is the interpretive paraphrase that I offer at the end:
When the world was created, God’s Word was with him; not that “he” was someone else. All things came into being through him; not a single thing came into being apart from God’s Word. He was the source of life, a guiding light for all people. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness didn’t overcome it. God sent a man named John, who came as a witness to testify to that light, so that all might trust in God through his Word. John came to testify to the light, but isn’t himself the Light. The True Light which enlightens everyone was yet to come. Then God’s Word, so to speak, turned into a man and lived with us. And we’ve seen his glory, that of the unique Son of the Father, one who is full of grace and truth. (John the Baptist testified to him, proclaiming, “It was about him that I said, ‘The one coming after me surpasses me, because all along he’s been greater than me.’ ” All of us have benefitted from Jesus’ fullness, grace on top of grace. God gave us the law through Moses, but now he’s given us grace and truth through Jesus the Messiah. You can’t see God, but his unique Son who’s close to his heart has shown him to us.
Dale,
As a Christian and former paper trinitarian preacher, I have embraced unitarian theology (definitely influenced by your work) and I have been eating up the literature I can find. I came across something in the books of the late Eric Chang from following a link on the UCA website and something struck me as odd. I was wondering if you have some insight on this. Here are a few quotes about the word “Word” in John 1 from his book “The Only Perfect Man”:
We now see that “Word” is the primary metonym of God in Genesis 1. A metonym of God points to a specific aspect of His character, attributes, and works (pg. 198).
God’s Word and God’s Spirit are not two hypostases (persons) distinct from God, but are two aspects and expressions of God (pg. 155).
The Word of Yahweh is integral to the very person of Yahweh; hence “the Word” is a familiar metonym of God. The Word of Yahweh is the means by which Yahweh speaks to humankind, communicating His will, His love, His intentions, His salvation. The Word is the channel by which He reveals Himself to us (pg. 152).
I agree with his take on this, that the Word is the expression/plan/attribute (or something similar) of the Father, but it is the statements below that made me scratch my head:
John’s Prologue culminates in the statement, “And the Word became flesh”. This is poetic language and is not meant to be taken literally to mean that God changed into flesh (I agree, but then he wrote….), but that He came into the world “embodied” in Jesus the Messiah (Pg. 214).
And….
Once we see that it was Yahweh Himself and not the second person of the Trinity who “became flesh and tabernacled among us” (Jn.1:14)—similar to Yahweh’s declaration, “My tabernacle that is among them” (Lev.15:31)—we will see Yahweh’s glorious indwelling presence in the man Christ Jesus through whom Yahweh worked and spoke (pg. 216).
He seemed to switch and say that Yahweh himself came into the world and became flesh, rather than his Word becoming embodied in the Lord Jesus (and his presence indwelling him). That strikes me as modalist or trinitarian language (or something, since he rejected trinitarianism and made a distinction between Yahweh and the Messiah. I don’t know what to make of it. And he seemed to reel it back in during the second quote). Was this just less than ideal wording on his part? Or what was he getting at? I think I read something like this in his book the One True God too. I know you are busy and I don’t expect a long response, but I was curious about your take on this.
Thanks
Greg
“Logos” is not mere knowledge “log os” suggest communication between distinct minds where there is no communication or at least a realistic attempt at communication there is no “logos” “logos” is knowledge/wisdom communicated.
Wisdom at proverbs ch.8:22-30 Cannot be an abstraction as she was brought forth ,created abstractions can neither be created nor destroyed merely expressed/instantiated or the reverse so the expressed wisdom at proverbs ch.8:22-30 must refer to a concrete reality the the obvious result of JEHOVAH’S Wisdom expressed rather than JEHOVAH’S Wisdom in an abstract sense.
Comments are closed.