Subject: Proverbs 3:5 |
Bible Note: Bradk, I agree with everything you said but one single point. Nouns in greek can be one of three stripes when it is not accompanied by the article. These are indefinite, definite, or qualitative. Definite is when even though the article is not present it still has the force of a singular thing. For example when you see the word Paul without the article you don't translate it as "a Paul." Indefinite is when you see the word book and you do infact translate it as "a book." Qualitative is when you make a statement about the thing itself. Now the way that phrase in John 1, "and the Word was God" is a contruction where overwhelmingly the second noun is a qualitative noun when we see that construct in greek. So what this means is that almost certainly what John is trying to say is that this word is qualitatively God. However, to take this to mean that the Word was just a god is dead wrong. That is missing the point of how John is using Theos completely. The idea of Theos here is not just a divine being. It is essentially what God the Father is. What John is saying is that there was God the Father and this Word was with Him from all eternity; and exactly what God the Father was, so also this Word was too. This "Word" was of essence the very same thing as God in every way. The phrase does not mean "the quality of being a God" it rather means "the quality of being the very same thing as the very God the Father being referred to in the verse." So I believe it is qualitative, but at the same time it fits perfectly with our trinitarian understanding of God. Isn't this what we teach? Jesus was with God in the beginning, and of his very essence He was the exact same thing as God the Father. This passage thoroughly refutes any notion that Jesus Christ was a created being, or that there was any time prior to His existense. I'll say one other point. Whoever tries, upon the basis of Greek grammer, to deny that this "Word," Jesus Christ, is in fact the one true eternal God is so blind that I pity them. You do not need to know greek grammer to see this. Why do I say that? How can we conceive it any other way? Look at what John is doing here. He takes a phrase that is so burned into the very fiber and soul of every Jewish man that it is a phrase undeniably reserved for Yahweh(Jehovah) alone and gives it to Jesus Christ. Genesis1:1 In the beggining God... John1:1 In the beggining was the Word... Is there any question that this was intentionally done by John here? This great being that was eternal and The One who created everything, this majestic God of creation is in fact our Lord Jesus Christ! To deny that Jesus is so is clear evidence false teaching. In Christ, Beja |