In the beginning was The Word.
The Gospel of John, Chapter 1:
1 In the beginning the Word already existed.
The Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He existed in the beginning with God.
3 God created everything through him,
and nothing was created except through him.
4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,
and his life brought light to everyone.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never extinguish it.6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. 8 John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. 9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
I love the way the Gospel of John begins. Right up front he gets to the point, Jesus is God, but he also stresses another point in verse 14, Jesus is human.
I wrestled with this idea for a long time trying to understand if this meant there were two gods, God and Jesus, (and later three with the introduction of the Holy Spirit) or was Jesus like a different aspect of God. Trying to grasp the concept of The Holy Trinity has given lay people and theologians alike problems since the idea was proposed in the early Church.
It hasn’t been until recently that I think I’ve finally begun to understand this. John 1:1-2 finally gave me clue I needed when I discovered that the greek word that was translated to “the Word” was “λόγος” or “logos” which is a word that Socrates, Plato and Aristotle used to denote human reasoning. John, I believe, was using “logos” to mean “the mind of God” or “the Will of God”.
Jesus lived a perfect life we are told. Everything he did in his life he did for the glory of God. God was reflected in Jesus. In John 17:21 Jesus prays to God:
Just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.
Jesus seems to be praying that His disciples could share, at least a little, in God’s Logos. He’s praying that they, too, could know the mind of God. This gives me great comfort. Learning and knowing God’s mind, knowing His will in my life means that this knowledge isn’t reserved just for some elite clergy.
