Jesus Christ God Incarnate?
PROPONENTS OF THE belief that Jesus Christ is God uphold a concept which they have termed the “Incarnation” of God. Wayne Grudem, a Protestant Theology Professor, explained this concept in his book Systematic Theology:
“Although the word does not explicitly occur in Scripture, the church has used the term incarnation to refer to the fact that Jesus was God in human flesh. The incarnation was the act of God the Son whereby he took to himself a human nature.” (p. 543)
Admitting that the doctrine of the Incarnation is not “explicitly” taught in the Bible, proponents of this concept can only resort to erroneous interpretations of some biblical texts as their bases, two of which are John 1:1 and 14. The verses read:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(Reference: New American Standard New Testament)
How do Catholic theologians understand these verses? They say that Jesus Christ is the “Word” in John 1:1 and since the third clause of the verse says “the Word was God,” they conclude that Christ is God. By substituting the term “Word” with the term “Christ,” they suppose that the third clause could then be rendered as “[Christ] was God.”
To augment their position that Christ is God who became a man, they then cite verse 14. The Jerome Biblical Commentary points out:
“14. the Word became flesh: … This is the tremendous mystery of the incarnation, by which the eternal Word took on our exact human nature, becoming one with us in everything except sin (Heb 4:15); in everything, that is, except what was incompossible with divinity… That the Word became man in the fullest possible sense is of the very essence of the incarnation and of the redemption that is its result.”
(Reference: The Jerome Biblical Commentary, p.423)
Are the proponents of this doctrine correct in their understanding of these two verses? Definitely not. Why? If Christ were the Word and He were God, then John 1:1 would be teaching not just one but two Gods. Remember that the second clause says, “and the Word was with God.” If the Word were Christ Himself and that He were God and the verse says that the Word was with God, then the obvious conclusion would be that another God was with the one true God. The aforementioned idea goes directly against the teaching of the Bible that there is only one true God.
The biggest dilemma for the proponents of this doctrine is how to reconcile their view with the biblical truth that there is only one true God while maintaining a position that there is another God who was with the true God. How could another God be with this one God if He were that same God? The alleged plurality of persons in the godhead might be a tempting justification but this only creates another serious paradoxical situation for them. As the saying goes, “a mistake could not be corrected by another mistake.” Trinitarians, when confronted with this obvious dilemma, would resort to the so-called “mystery” of the Trinity, hoping that they could extricate themselves from the theological quagmire they’ve got in. But beyond the petty objection of the so-called “mystery”, their teaching is untenable.
THE MEANING OF THE WORD
It should be noted that the original Greek equivalent of the term “Word” in John 1:1 is λoyos-logos. What is the meaning of the word logos? Greek lexicographer G. Abbott-Smith, in his book, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, defines the term as:
“1. a word, not in the grammatical sense of a mere name … but a word as embodying a conception or idea.”
(Reference: A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, pp. 270-271, Emphasis Mine)
Besides “conception or idea,” what other meanings does the Lógos have:
LÓGOS
“Greek: ‘reason,’ or ‘plan’.” (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica)
LÓGOS
“its use as respect to the MIND alone; reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating.” (The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon)
“A Greek philosopher named Heraclitus first used the term Lógos around 600 B.C. to designate the divine reason or plan…” (Ibid.)
“Word (Greek: lógos). Lógos means word, thought, concept, and the expressions thereof.” (Ryrie Study Bible, p. 1599)
(Reference: Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica; The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon; Ryrie Study Bible, p. 1599, Emphasis Mine)
Furthermore, Catholic authorities conform to this definition given by Abbott-Smith and other Greek scholars. In the footnote of John 1:1 of the Douay Version of the Bible, it says:
“1, 1: … St. John employs the term Word. It is so used only by St. John … and designates the Son as a kind of intellectual emanation from the Father.”
(Reference: Douay-Rheims, Footnote, Emphasis Mine)
Therefore, in view of the definition given above, what was with God in the beginning was His concept or plan or idea (logos) about the Christ who would be coming into the world. The term logos does not refer to someone who was co-existing with God in the beginning.
The Word or logos is not another God but refers to the idea or plan about Christ, which was “with God” or in God’s mind in the beginning.
Thus, the clause, the logos was with God, indicates that the logos is different or distinguished from God. This position does not contradict the biblical doctrine on the absolute oneness of God. On the other hand, if we were to accept the position of the Trinitarians that the logos is a being who, although is distinguished from God, is also God, we would face the prospect of accepting an unbiblical position that there are two Gods.
What does it mean that the logos was “with God?” About what was this concept or idea that intellectually emanated from Him? I Peter 1:20 tells us that:
“For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.”
(Reference: New American Standard, Emphasis Mine)
God has foreknown Christ before the foundation of the world. To foreknow means to know something before it happens; to have knowledge or awareness that something is going to happen. The Greek word used in this verse is προγινωσκω, proginôsko which is defined in Perschbacher’s The New Analytical Greek Lexicon as “to determine on beforehand, to foreordain” (p. 345).
However, proponents of the incarnation doctrine also use this to point out that Christ allegedly existed before He was born on earth. If that were the case, then the true Christians would also have prior existence because Apostle Paul declared that “just as He (God) chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him…” (Eph. 1:4, NAS). Will our Trinitarian friends claim that we had a corporeal prior existence because we were chosen by God before the foundation of the world? Of course not!
When did Christ, who was a plan or word in the beginning, come into existence? When he was born of a woman. The Bible says:
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.”
(Reference: Gal. 4:4 New King James Version)
Christ existed only when he was born. He had no prior existence. In the beginning, it was not Christ Himself who was with God; it was the concept or idea (logos) that was in the mind of God, for God had destined Christ to play an integral part in His master plan of salvation (Eph. 3:20- 21, Living Bible).
THE THIRD CLAUSE: 'AND THE WORD WAS GOD'
In the third clause of John 1:1, it says “and the logos was God.” By equating the term logos with the name Christ, Trinitarians render the clause to read something like, “and Christ was God.” This assertion stems from the wrong understanding that the term God in the third clause functions as a noun.
The word “God” (in Greek, θεὸς – theos) in the third clause of John 1:1 is not a noun but an adjective. And this is attested to by Greek grammarians, such as R. H. Strachan. In his book The Fourth Gospel: Its Significance and Environment, Strachan explains:
“The closing words of v. I should be translated, ‘the Logos was divine’. Here the word THEOS has no article, thus giving it the significance of an adjective.“
(Reference: The Fourth Gospel: Its Significance and Environment, p.99, Emphasis Mine)
William Barclay, another Greek grammarian, agrees with Strachan in classifying the term theos in the third clause of John 1:1 as an adjective. In his book The Gospel of John he points out:
“Finally John says that the word was God. This is a difficult saying for us to understand, and it is difficult because Greek, in which John wrote, had a different way of saying things from the way in which English speaks. When Greek uses a noun it almost always uses the definite article with it. The Greek for God is theos and the definite article is ho. When Greek speaks about God it does not simply say theos; it says ho theos. Now when Greek does not use the definite article with a noun that noun becomes much more like an adjective. John did not say that the word was ho theos; that would have been to say that the word was identical with God. He said that the word was theos without the definite article which means that the word was, we might say, of the very same character and quality and essence and being as God.”
(Reference: The Gospel of John, p.39, Emphasis Mine)
The same understanding could be gleaned from the book The Person of Christ written by Vincent Taylor. He testified that the term God in John 1:1c should be translated as divine:
“The Word, he says, was ‘in the beginning’, distinguished from God (‘with God’) and divine (θεὸς, but not ó θεὸς)…”
(Reference: The Person of Christ, p.109, Emphasis Mine)
Even Bible translators agree that the term “theòs” in the third clause of John 1:1 is an adjective. Below we can read this in an English translation of the Moffat Bible that rendered the verse as:
“THE Logos existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine.”
(Reference: Jn. 1:1 The Bible James Moffatt Translation, Emphasis Mine)
In case our readers have an issue with the Moffat Translation, let us cite another two translations that support this; “Goodspeed’s An American Translation, 1939,” and “The Authentic New Testament, 1958, by Hugh J. Schonfield” which employs the third clause as “divine”:
“In the beginning the Word existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was divine.”
(Reference: GAAT 1939, Emphasis Mine)
“In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. So the Word was divine.”
(Reference: TANT 1958, Emphasis Mine)
What does it mean that the logos was divine? It means that the word of God is with power (Lk. 1:37, American Standard Version), for the true God who has spoken the word is powerful (Gen. 35:11). Since God is Almighty, He alone has the ability to plan something and the power to bring it to completion as He testified in Isaiah 46:11:
“…Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass, I have planned it, surely I will do it.”
(Reference: New American Standard Bible, Emphasis Mine)
God’s plan of bringing His Son into the world was fulfilled when Jesus was born of his mother Mary. His birth is the fulfillment of what John wrote that “the Word was made flesh” (Jn. 1:14, King James Version). Contrary to what some have postulated that Christ took a different form, i.e., from being God into being human, Christ never transformed Himself from being a pure spirit into an infant. He was conceived in Mary’s womb through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Luke the Evangelist reports:
“And Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.”
(Reference: Lk. 1:34-35 New American Standard, Emphasis Mine)
The “holy offspring” further shuts the door to any preconceived belief that Christ preexisted in spirit prior to his conception and demonstrates that the Logos (plan) was fulfilled when Jesus was born of a woman. “…the Logos was made flesh,..” (Jn. 1:14). Secondly, He will “be called the Son of God,” further demonstrating that He is God’s Son, “NOT God the Son.” Unless our trinitarian friends would like to insinuate that God is the offspring of Himself? This would be an absurdity in itself. Moreover, the concept of incarnation grossly violates the biblical teaching concerning the immutability of God. The Bible is clear in its teaching that God does not change (Mal. 3:6), even a shadow of turning (Js. 1:17, NKJV).
IN CONCLUSION
1
It is conclusive the incarnation of Christ is unbiblical and a heretical teaching against the pristine doctrines of Christ and His apostles.
2
The “Word” or “Logos” is not God Himself, but His “Logos” (plan) concerning Christ, because Christ is God’s masterplan of Salvation (Eph. 3:21 Living Bible), this is why “For He (Christ) was foreknown before the foundation of the world” ( I Peter 1:20). Therefore Christ had no preexistence before the Logos or plan was made flesh by God (Jn. 1:14). Just the mere fact that Christ was “foreknown” before the foundation of the world is quite significant and revealing; if Christ had already been existing before the foundation of the world, then there would not have been any need to “foreknow” Him, so to speak. In addition, just as Christ was foreknown, so were the true Christians, “just as He (God) chose us in Him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him…” (Eph. 1:4, NAS). Will our Trinitarian friends go as far as to claim that we too, had a prior existence because we were chosen by God before the foundation of the world? Of course not!
3
The opening of the first clause of John 1:1a, “THE Logos (plan) existed in the very beginning,” creates the very first problem for Trinitarians when they insist that God is the Word Himself. This would contradict Psalms 90:2, for God has no beginning or end; He is everlasting to everlasting.
4
The second contradiction Trinitarians face in their argument of this passage is the second clause of John 1:1b, “the Word was with God”; if God is the Word Himself and the Word was with God, that would make TWO Gods ― one “God” (the Word) who is with another God (the God who the Word was with). Consequently, their interpretation leaves us with two Gods. This false interpretation contradicts the words of God when He declared, “For I am the Lord God, and there is no other God beside me” (Is. 45:5 Brenton Septuagint Translation). and “I, and I alone, am God…” (Deuteronomy 32:39 GNT)
5
The third clause, John 1:1c, was employed as an adjective as attested by Greek Scholars and grammarians, which is why other English translations of the bible, render the third clause as “the Logos was divine.” God’s Plan was divine, for whatever God speaks will come to pass or will have fulfillment because God’s words are not void of power (Isa. 46:11 NASB; Luke. 1:37 ASV). What was so divine about God’s Logos or plan? When He (God) made His Logos (plan) flesh (Jn. 1:14). This was when Christ was born of a woman, God’s plan was fulfilled. (Lk. 1:27, 31 ) (Lk. 2:7,11).
6
WE KINDLY EXTEND our visitors an invitation to explore the pristine, unadulterated teachings of Christ and His apostles as they were taught in the first-century Church Of Christ. Therefore, do not be deceived, but investigate the truth and learn about “…the simplicity that is in Christ.” (II Cor. 11:3). These teachings presented in the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) is the path that leads to eternal life for all on that appointed day of Judgment:
The Truth about God and Jesus Christ
SUPPORTERS OF THE BELIEF in the divinity of Christ, also known as the Christ-is-God or the God-man doctrine, assert that God exists as a trinity consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Although they are three in nature and considered distinct beings, proponents maintain that they form a single God. The concept of the Trinity lacks explicit biblical endorsement; thus, proponents often argue that it represents a profound mystery beyond human comprehension and should be accepted by faith alone.
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