In this episode I give some tips on discussing John 1 with Trinitarians. The man Jesus the Christ is called the Word in John 1:1 because through him God is bringing about new human life, the renewed creation. "The beginning" of John 1:1, while being a parallel to Genesis creation, is not directly describing the Genesis creation. The topic of the Gospel is not the creation of the heavens and the earth, dry land and seas, etc., but the redemption and renewal of humans that comes through the man Jesus Christ. There is no need to speculate about another “second” divine figure present and involved with the Genesis creation.

Notes for this episode:

“In the beginning”

In the Gospel of John “the beginning” refers to the beginning of the ministry of Jesus (John 8:25, 15:27, 16:4).

The other Gospels have a “beginning” that is also associated with the beginning of Jesus and his ministry (Mark 1:1, Luke 1:1-2, Matthew 1:1, cf. Acts 1:1, 1:22-23)

The phrase “in the beginning” must be interpreted in its context. Other places where the exact same phrase, “in the beginning” is used in the NT but in which is does not refer to the Genesis creation:

Acts 11:15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at/in the beginning.”

Phil. 4:15, “in the beginning of the Gospel, when I left Macedonia”.

In 1 John 1:1 the beginning concerning the word of life involved something and someone the apostles heard, saw and touched, the man Jesus.

It makes sense that God is doing something with and in Jesus that has continuity with what God has done in the past, but is “new” with Jesus.

New beginning, New Creation

John 1 is about the coming to be of new life, new individual and corporate human life, not about the creation of the heavens and the earth, the seas, dry land, plants and animals. In John 1, the man Jesus Christ is the one through whom new life comes to be, through whom new men and women are born.

Evidence that John 1 is not about Genesis creation, but about God’s bringing about new life in the man Jesus:

1. “that which came to be in him was life (1:3b-4a). The subject of what came to be is not seas, dry land, plants, animals, planets, stars, sun, etc. But human life, individually and corporately. “corporately” because the word “world” in 1:9-10, is not planet earth. It is a word which means a segment of human society. John 1 is about life for humans, how a person can be “born of God”, and to be part of the family of God (1:12-13).

2. “life was the light of men” Although Genesis creation language is being intentionally used, this is not Genesis creation life and light. In Genesis, light comes first and then life. In John 1:4, life comes first, in which is light for all men.

3. John the Baptist in vs. 6-9, 15, and a comparison in vs. 1-2. The whole prologue can be understood as a clarification of the relationship between the man Jesus and John the Baptizer. The rest of John 1 as well clarifies the relationship of John the Baptizer and Jesus.

4. Parallels with other Gospels “beginning”, and with Paul (Col. 3:12-18) and Revelation (1:5, 3:14) describing Jesus as being “the firstborn from the dead, the beginning of God’s creation”.

If John 1 is about the redemption, the new beginning that God is bringing about in and through the man Christ Jesus, there is no need to speculate about a second divine figure or second God who was involved in the Genesis creation.

Next episode we plan to look at how to interpret statements like John 1:1 “the Word was God” from the new creation interpretation perspective.

Links:

UCA Conference, October 13-15, 2022, Lawrenceville, OH

https://www.unitarianchristianalliance.org/conference/

#newcreation, #gospelofjohn, #deityofchrist, #unitarianchristianalliance, #biblicalunitarian, #billschlegel