Trinity DebateWhat about John 1:1?Alpha wrote:
Keep in mind also, that biblicalunitarian.com would say,
Although context is the final arbiter, it is almost always the case in the New Testament that when “God” refers to the Father, the definite article appears in the Greek text (this article can be seen only in the Greek text, it is never translated into English).
Yes, context is very important. There cannot be two God's.
Since the definite article is missing from the second occurrence of “theos” (“God,”) the usual meaning would be “god” or “divine.”
That's nice and all, but there's one problem:
"No indication for an indefinite article is presented, therefore the correct rendering is 'The Word was God.' (Quoted earlier as well).
I am not Greek by the way. How do you suppose we resolve this problem of he said, she said?
http://www.jesus-christ-forums.com/home/viewtopic ... 3717f465bf
We resolve this problem by putting John's prologue in the full context of John's Gospel as well as in the full context of the Scriptures and put your quote from Biblical Unitarian in its full context. The renowned Trinitarian scholar, John Lightfoot, writes:
The word logos then, denoting both “reason” and “speech,” was a philosophical term adopted by Alexandrian Judaism before St. Paul wrote, to express the manifestation of the Unseen God in the creation and government of the World. It included all modes by which God makes Himself known to man. As His reason, it denoted His purpose or design; as His speech, it implied His revelation. Christian teachers, when they adopted this term, exalted and fixed its meaning by attaching to it two precise and definite ideas: (1) “The Word is a Divine Person,” (2) “The Word became incarnate in Jesus Christ.” It is obvious that these two propositions must have altered materially the significance of all the subordinate terms connected with the idea of the logos. [17]
Have you studied Proverbs 8, and if you have do you interpret "wisdom" as a female goddess that created the world?
Proverbs 8:22-31
22 "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23 "From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
24 "When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
25 "Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
26 While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.
27 "When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
28 When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
29 When He set for the sea its boundary,
So that the water should not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
30 Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.
NAS
By interpreting John's prologue to mean the "logos" is a person and not God's "reasoning" and "predetermined plan", Trinitarians introduce contradiction into this Gospel since Jesus plainly states in John 17:3 that the Father is the only true God.
Also Unitarians would say that Satan is the god of this "age", not that Satan is the god of this "world". Here we have another case where Trinitarian translators have redefined a Greek word. NT:165
aioon, aioonos, ho
In Greek authors:
A. age
B. an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity,
Hence, in the N.T. used:
1. forever
a. universally: forever, John 6:51,58
with a negation: never, John 4:14
b. in hyperbolic and popular usage: from the most ancient time down (within the memory of man), from of old, Luke 1:70
2. the worlds, the universe, i. e. the aggregate of things contained in time
3. this age Matthew 13:22; the future age Luke 20:35; i. e., the age after the return of Christ in majesty, the period of the consummate establishment of the divine kingdom and all its blessings
(from Thayer's Greek Lexicon, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 2000 by Biblesoft)
Another contradiction that "logos" = "divine person" is that the Father explicitly tells us that He and He alone created all that exists and is the only God (see this thread: "My sheep hear My voice").
Peter's sermon in Acts 2 supports "logos" as God's "predetermined plan" for the salvation of mankind. Acts 2:23 ".. this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. NAS
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