Logos: The Beginning of the Creation of God

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth"
– John 4:23-24

Consider this question again: Since THE WORD was God, does that mean that the body of flesh was God?

No. The body of Jesus was as much human as any other man except that it was virgin born and sinless. The Apostle Paul stated that God prepared a body for THE WORD (Heb.10:5). The flesh was not God, but it was God's body – His abode.

God spoke the Word. All things came forth by THE SPOKEN WORD (Logos) of God. In Genesis, we read of how things materialized as soon as God spoke the Word: "Let there be light: and there was light" and so forth. THE SPOKEN WORD was creative (Heb.11:3). By the same token, the Almighty God spoke forth (created) a sperm cell and an egg cell, and fusing them, He planted the embryo in the womb of the virgin Mary. When the child was born, the spirit of Sonship, in the LOGOS, entered the child and He became a living soul. THE LOGOS would then be carried by this child when He came of age – a SON (cf. Isa.9:6). That which was manifested unto the holy men of old in different ways would then be made known to Israel and the world in a more tangible form, in the body of a MAN of flesh, born of a virgin woman. That MAN was Jesus Christ. He was the FULL REVELATION of God to mankind. He was the temple of the living God, without measure. It was not EMMANUEL by a THEOPHANY, but EMMANUEL by a BIRTH. The Man Jesus was a created being (man – Heb: ādām), the Theophany was not. See the difference? THE WORD came forth to take the nature of man, but the nature of man (Heb: ādām) is not an attribute of God, and GOD is not a MAN (Num.23:19a). The nature of man is the attribute of a created being (man – Heb: ādām). When Emmanuel came forth in the Theophany, the Theophany was not a created being; it was a Spirit (Word Body) being. But Jesus, the Son of God, was a created being (man – Heb: ādām) for He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born into the world.

The word "birth" comes from the Greek word "gennesis" meaning "beginning, origin, procreation". But notice that the birth (the beginning, the origin) of Jesus Christ was when the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary. The fact that Jesus was the Son of God when He was born is based upon ("therefore", on account of) the supernatural conception of the child.

[Note: Some denominations teach that Jesus was born of Mary's egg. The egg was sanctified by the Holy Spirit or fertilized by a sperm cell introduced by the Holy Spirit. They contend that it was necessary in order that Jesus could be a true earthly MAN. This teaching tears away the core of truth that Jesus was the ONLY BEGOTTEN (MONOGENE) OF GOD. The overshadowing of the Virgin (Lk.1:35) was not to purge or to sanctify her egg for fertilization by the sperm which was introduced by the Holy Spirit; it was the power of God coming upon her to bring about the genesis of the Manchild (Matt.1:20). She was chosen to be the 'mother' of the Child. As both the sperms and eggs of mankind hold the genetic traits of the fallen nature, and as the new creation of the fallen mankind can only take place by a spiritual rebirth, it would certainly be contrary for God to take one of Mary's eggs and rid it of its natural genetic traits for the conception of His Son. So, without doubt, both the sperm and the egg, which brought about the conception and birth of Jesus Christ, were totally the creation of God.]

Now, when the embryo was planted in Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit, it began to develop into a foetus and into a baby. The embryo was not God. The foetus was not God. The baby was not God. In the whole process of its growth from a cell, the baby received nutrients from the blood of its mother through the placenta, the same way as any human baby. The nutrients were the elements of the earth that provided the growth of the body. And God is not composed of matter. God is a SPIRIT.

The baby was a "holy thing" – a holy child. He was born the "Son of God" to express and fulfill all that was written of Him. Jesus said "the Scriptures must be fulfilled" (Mk.14:49; Mat.1:22). The shepherds gave their adoration to the child Saviour and the Magi paid their homage to the child King. [Note: Many Christians argued that the baby Jesus had to be God because the shepherds and the wise men "worshipped" Him. The word "worship" has more than one meaning. Read Revelation 3:9 – were the saints of the Church truly Gods because they were worshipped? Mark 15:16-19 – were the soldiers truly worshipping Christ as their God?] But as a baby, a child, and a man, Jesus (Heb: YAHSHUA – the redemptive name of God) was only potentially a Saviour and King. He was THE SAVIOUR only when He laid down His life on Calvary's Cross, and would be KING only when He comes again to rule over His Millennial Kingdom.

There was only ONE INCARNATION of God and that was at Jesus' water baptism. Therefore, during those 30 years of His life prior to His water baptism, Jesus was not the ALMIGHTY GOD INCARNATE (or the Word Incarnate) He was just a MAN, God's Son, as Adam was a man and God's son without sin before his fall. (The Spirit of Jesus is the Monogene from God but the spirit of Adam and the spirits of all redeemed children of God are genes from God.) And because He came directly from the Eternal God, Jesus was without sin; He was perfect. He had eternal life in Him. If He had not laid down His life at Calvary, He would still be alive on earth today and would be nearly 2,000 years old.

So, for the first 30 years of His life, Jesus was merely a Man among men. During this period He was tutored by the Holy Spirit of God as He walked in the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He grew; He learned.

Outwardly, there was nothing special about Him – "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him" (Isa.53:2b).

Even as a "Son of God", Jesus had to grow in the Word before He could be DECLARED the SON OF GOD.

Then came the day for his "adoption" (Grk: huiothesia – placing as SON, that is, sonship bestowed in distinction from a relationship consequent merely upon birth, usually performed in the open; cf. Gal.4:5). It was foreordained to be performed at His baptism when He was about 30 years old. On that day, the heavens were opened and the Almighty Spirit descended upon Him and abode in Him. GOD had incarnated in the MAN Jesus – EMMANUEL – God with us IN THE FLESH! [Note: It will soon come when Satan will also incarnate himself in a man, the antichrist, the man of sin.]

This "adoption" declared Who He was and the position placed upon Him by God, His Father. When God incarnated in Jesus, the Heaven was not completely drained of the Almighty Spirit of God into the body of Jesus. But those who believe otherwise support it with this scripture verse (and others similar scripture verses) without any understanding:

If God dwelled in Jesus, and that the Father was within Him, why then did Jesus lift His eyes to heaven whenever He prayed (Jhn.17:1; 11:41)? [Note: Some Christians actually believe that Jesus prayed to the Father within Him or to Himself, that is, He Himself is the (Everlasting) Father (misplacing the words of Isaiah 9:6).]

God is LIFE. There is no Life outside of God. As God is invisible (Col.1:15 cf. Isa.45:15), in His self-counselling, prior to the beginning of creation, He chose to reveal Himself in and through a visible form – the WORD, a BODY. And by this WORD were all things created because LIFE was in the WORD (Jhn.1:3-4). God had put His SPIRIT of LIFE in His WORD (cf. Jhn.6:63; Rom.8:2,10; 2 Cor.3:6; Phil.2:16; 1 Jhn.1:1). God's Life was in His Word. Hence, it was the fullness of the WORD of God that filled the Man Jesus. And where the WORD was, there was the SPIRIT of God, there was the LIFE of God. That is how the Spirit of God dwelled in Jesus Christ, and even in us because we have received His WORD.

The Spirit of God is in His Word but God dwells in His own Light in Heaven.

The Apostle Paul said that Jesus Christ was the "perfect tabernacle, not made with hands" (Heb.9:11). The Tabernacle of Moses was fashioned by the hands of the children of Israel. It took them about nine months to complete the building of the Tabernacle. (Read Exodus 25-29, 35-40.) And on the appointed day and time when everything was ready and the Tabernacle was erected, "a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Ex.40:34). The Shekinah Glory came down to dwell upon the Ark of the Covenant where the WORD of LIFE was stored – the two stone tablets of the covenant, the pot of manna, and Aaron's rod which budded (Heb.9:4). Likewise, Jesus was prepared and fashioned until the appointed day and time when He was water baptized in the River Jordan. As He rose out of the water and stood in the river, the Heavens were opened and the Shekinah Glory of God came down and tabernacled in Him (Mk.1:9-11; Jhn.1:14; cf. Mal.3:1).

Now, if Jesus, or the WORD, was a Second God Who co-existed with the Almighty Spirit (Whom we call the Father), and that He literally became flesh (that is, changed from Spirit to flesh) and was GOD even as a baby, then it must be concluded that GOD tabernacled in GOD. Is that Scriptural?

The Tabernacle of Moses was a foreshadow of a MAN that the Almighty God would tabernacle in – "GOD tabernacled in FLESH (MAN)" or as the Apostle Paul wrote "God was in Christ (the Anointed)" (2 Cor.5:19). Jesus Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit Who placed His Word in Him for the work of God.

John the Baptist did not see THREE PERSONS of God at that Baptism (as the Trinitarians imply he did). John heard the voice of God and saw the Invisible Spirit of God in the form of a dove coming down from heaven and abode in Jesus. Jesus was then FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITHOUT MEASURE, and ALL THINGS WERE PLACED INTO HIS HANDS BY THE FATHER (Lk.4:1; Jhn.3:34-35). And being the Lord's Christ, He was to be tested by the devil, and He was to express the Everlasting Father's Thought and Will.

[Note: Jesus was obviously full of the Holy Ghost before His Baptism (so were many other Saints of God) but that does not mean that He was God incarnate then, as some Trinitarians would argue. John the Baptist was said to be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born (Lk.1:15) but he was not God. Many believers after Pentecost were also "full of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 6:3,5; 7:55; 11:24) but they were not God. These verses – Luke 4:1 and John 3:34-35 – clearly emphasize Who and What Jesus was after His Baptism – 1) He was full of the Spirit of God without measure and 2) God gave all things into His hands.]

Christ Jesus possessed the full attributes of God, and He was to fulfill all that were written of Him. (Remember, He did not perform any miracles before His baptism.) And anyone who had really seen Christ had seen the Everlasting Father (Jhn.14:9), for the Everlasting Father dwelt in that flesh (Jhn.14:10; Isa.9:6). Jesus was God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim.3:16). God worked through Jesus. The work of Jesus declared that God dwelled in Him. He was the Expressed Thought (LOGOS) of God. He was the GOD-MAN, God incarnate. He has become our Saviour; therefore, we must believe in Him, in order to get a new heart, a new spirit, and be redeemed (cf. Ezek.36:26-27; Acts 16:31; Psm.2:12). "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life" (Jhn.3:36) because He was the WORD of God made manifest. The establishment of the Father-Son relationship (beginning in Bethlehem) has made it possible for us, born again believers, to be sons and daughters of the Living God through the Son of God Himself (cf. Psm.89:26-27; Eph.1:5; 2 Cor.6:18). The Fatherhood of God was manifested in the Son of God, hence the title, "the everlasting Father" (Isa.9:6).

Observe this closely. The Apostle John declared that "the Word was with God, and the Word was God...In him was life; and the life was the light of men" (Jhn.1:2,4). THE WORD which came forth from God WAS LIFE itself. The Life of THE WORD was the light of men. Life was not given to Him. He was Life Himself. However, it was not so with Jesus Who said,

Jesus did not have LIFE in Himself. It was God the Father Who gave Him power to have LIFE in Himself. Yes, Jesus was GIVEN the power of LIFE, the LIGHT of LIFE. Therefore, it is clear that THE WORD was God; THE WORD was not Jesus. But Jesus was THE WORD made manifest. The Light of Life came into the world in Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus was able to proclaim:

And the Apostle John confirmed that fact:

"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1Jhn.5:11-12).

At this juncture, let me call your attention to the usage of certain words in a few Scripture verses as laid down by the Spirit regarding Jesus' infancy, childhood, and His maturity:

Clearly, Jesus was not born a SON. He was born a BABY and grew as a Child and increased in wisdom as He learned.

As a SON, He was anointed with the full attributes of God and entrusted with everything by God. He was sent and given as a SON to be the Saviour of the world. Undoubtedly, the Truth is that Jesus the Christ was sent as a mature Man after His "adoption" as a Son – the Son of God and not as an infant Child (see 'Huiothesia', above). As a mature Son, well-tutored by the Spirit, so to speak, He was then able to carry out the works of God, to manifest His Name and to deliver His Words (cf. Jhn.17:3-8).

Likewise, when God saved us, we received the spirit of God's Son into our hearts that we might also receive the "adoption" of sons (Gal.4:4-7). But when will our "adoption" be realized? When we, the Body of Christ, are perfected (cf. Eph.4:6-11) and our bodies redeemed.

When this happens the "adoption" of the saints will take place with "the manifestation of the sons of God" (cf. Rom.8:19) as they are positionally placed in the Kingdom of God to rule with Christ on His Throne in the Age of Regeneration.

[Note: When the Tabernacle of Moses was completed and erected before the people, God descended and the ministry of the tabernacle began. When the Son of God was grown up and matured, He was water baptized. As He rose from the water and stood there before the people, God descended and the ministry of Christ began. When the collective Body of Christ (the Church) is perfected and the redemption of our body is done, Christ will gather together all His redeemed for the Father. After that Christ shall return with His saints to earth and present them as His Bride-WIFE in His Kingdom. The Almighty Spirit will descend to anoint the redeemed and "the manifestation of the sons of God" will begin as they reign with Christ a thousand years.]

Christ the LIVING WORD of God is personified in various ways throughout the whole Bible. In Proverbs 8:22, we see God possessed (created, procured, erected, brought forth; Heb: qanah) WISDOM to be His Master Workman Who was His daily delight (Prov.8:30). The WISDOM of God was His POWER in Mind, Word and Act. Paul called "Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor.1:24). God's WORD and His WISDOM are often used synonymously. WISDOM was the EXPRESSION of God's omnipotence in bringing forth life. That was THE LOGOS of God Who was the creative factor. It went forth as a SPIRIT in the form of a body as God had purposed that man should later be created in the same shape of that body form, after His likeness (Gen.1:26).

The following are a few particular expressions which show the Written Word being the PERSONIFICATION of Christ:

Thus, even the Scriptures of God are the literal expression of the Living Christ in Written Words.

The Hebrews, unto whom the Holy Writ was given, did not differentiate between word and deed. (For some examples, read Luke 4:32; Matthew 12:34; 2 Chronicles 29:30; Proverbs 10:19-21.) THE WORD of God was more often seen rather than heard. That was how God revealed Himself at different times and in divers manners unto certain chosen vessels during the Old Testament era. Undoubtedly, we can see that THE WORD (Heb: DABAR) of Jehovah that came, or was revealed to the servants of the Almighty God (Gen.15:1; 15:4; 1 Sam.3:7; 1 Chron.17:3; etc.) was the same WORD (Grk: LOGOS) mentioned in John 1.

As He had counselled in His Mind, it was God's purpose to express Himself in the form of a body – Word Body – like a 'PERSON' and not as mere words. Being an Invisible Spirit, He expressed His Personality in the visible form of a man by a THEOPHANY. All His Theophanies were but shadows of the real things to come. They foreshadowed the MESSIAH, the Promised Seed (Gen.3:15; 22:18; Gal.3:16,29) Who was to accomplish all that were spoken or written of Him. So, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His WORD into the world to express IT in a human form. IT was no longer expressed in a Word-Body (Theophany), but in real human flesh of a Man (not a baby or a child, as all Theophanies were manifested in the form of a Man) made a little lower than the angels, by a birth through the vessel of a virgin woman. As God had expressed His THOUGHT in human form in the THEOPHANY, likewise He expressed His THOUGHT in the same LIKENESS of a man, a human being (cf. Gen.1:26), in tangible physical flesh, by a birth. That MAN (Jhn.19:5) was the Full Expressed Thought of God, and was called THE WORD of God just as the Full Expressed Thought of God was expressed in and through the WORD BODY in the beginning. Jesus Christ was THE ONLY MAN Who had the FULLNESS of the GODHEAD dwelling bodily in Him.

In His creation of man, God gave life to man through His WORD. In His redemption of man, God recreates him for life eternal through the same WORD. "God was in Christ (THE WORD of God) reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor.5:19).

It should now be perfectly clear that, before His earthly sojourn nearly 2,000 years ago, the Man Christ Jesus did not pre-exist. He was that Hidden Mystery of God Which came forth from the Mind of God, before anything else was ever created, to EXPRESS the VERY PERSONALITY of God. Hence, Jesus was the LOGOS (WORD) of God made manifest in the flesh: "And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God" (Rev.19:13 cf. Col.1:19; 2:9). It was the WORD which pre-existed. It came forth out of the Almighty Spirit in the beginning as the "beginning of the creation of God" and as "the firstborn over all creations".

Regardless of whether they believe in one, two, or three Persons in the Godhead, the majority of Christians think that God is a PERSON. Because of the way the Scriptures are written and the various particular expressions used, the Trinitarians have wrongly concluded that there are three separate co-equal individuals of the same identical substance in the Godhead, thus making three Gods in three Persons. On the other hand, the Oneness believers have at times subscribed to the 'Two-Persons' doctrine which teaches that the LOGOS is one Person, and GOD is another Person, or that JESUS CHRIST is one Person and the Almighty GOD is another Person.

[Note: Some Trinitarians try to justify the use of the word "person" by substituting it with "persona". But the usage of the word "persona", which means "a mask used by a player, a character acted", apparently contradicts their own definition of the Three Persons of the Trinity as being separate, equal and distinct individuals, each of them possessing a personal will. Although God did manifest in the persona of Melchizedek to Abraham and also of the Angel of the Lord who wrestled with Jacob, He is still One God and not Three.]

For a better understanding, we have to examine the meanings of the two words, "person" and "personality". Most dictionaries give the basic meanings of the two words as follows:

It is undeniable that the Almighty Spirit has a PERSONALITY. We can see the various attributes of His PERSONALITY as He reveals Himself throughout the Scriptures. However, God is not a PERSON that a person is. God is a SPIRIT. It is clearly stated so in John 4:24 and Ephesians 4:4.

Let's take an illustration. We know that an animal is not a person; yet an animal, such as the chimpanzee, has a certain personality (that is, the sum of its qualities of mind and character).

The PERSONALITY of the SPIRIT of God is manifested in a PERSON – THE PERSON Jesus Christ – even as He manifested Himself in a form like 'Person' of the WORD (BODY) in the beginning. In Hebrews 1:3 it is stated that Jesus Christ was "the express image of His person". The word 'person' is a mistranslation. The Greek word is 'hupostasis' meaning 'substance; essence; real nature'. As such, Jesus Christ was the express image of God's substance or nature. Simply stated, our Saviour is THE PERSON of God, THE VERY PERSONALITY OF GOD revealed and manifested in Him.

[Note: The angels of God are not human beings, they are therefore not persons per se. They were created spirit beings (Psm.104:4; Heb.1:7). Even though they sometimes expressed themselves in the form of men, like when two angels and Elohim appeared to Abraham (in Genesis 18), they were not humans, not persons, period. God is Spirit. Angels are spirits.]