Who is the “Word” in John 1:1?

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Do you believe that Jesus is God, because of what you have been taught regarding John chapter one verse one?  Have you been convinced that Jesus is God by preachers who use that Bible verse and present it as alleged evidence of the Trinity doctrine?

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The Bible: The basis of our faith in the Church Of Christ, which answers questions about proper worship, the right relationship with God, and most importantly, salvation. That’s in the Bible. 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: I’m Bob Pellien and welcome to the program, That’s in the Bible. It has become very clear to us, by your many social media comments and emails sent in to this program That’s in the Bible, that many of you are very interested in the writings of Apostle John, beginning with the very first chapter in the book of John, chapter 1 verse 1. Here are a couple of questions that you’ve sent in. Harry wrote:

If Christ is not God, then why is it explicitly stated in John 1:1? Numerous Christians claim that as proof that Christ is God in the flesh and that the Trinity is factual.
Harry 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: And Louis Ray asked: 

How do you explain John 1:1 saying the word was with and was God? So how can you say Jesus was created?
Louis Ray

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: And Darlene asked: 

…So how do you separate Him when you say that Christ was just a man after He descended here was born of Mary and, is He still not Holy, is He still not part of the Godhead?
Darlene Stuart

[2:04] What is recorded in John 1:1 and 14? 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Thank you all for your questions. Dear friends, what actually is recorded in the popular and often-debated Bible verse John 1:1? Let’s read it, and we’ll include along with it verse 14 because they’re often read together to support their belief in the trinity. So, John 1:1 and 14 reads like this: 

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, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
-John 1:1, 14 New King James Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: And then the conclusion mistakenly drawn by many is that this shows that Christ became God in the flesh, just like what Harry asked. 

So, let’s take a closer look at what Apostle John actually wrote and taught here in his letter. To do that, we’re going to break it down into these four questions:

1. Who is the “Word” in John 1:1 and 14?
2. How was the Word with God in the beginning? 
3. What does “the Word was God” refer to? 
4. Who is the true Jesus?

[3:36] Who is the “Word” in John 1:1 and 14?

Alright then, let’s start with: who is the Word in John 1:1 and 14? Let’s get right to the answer of the Holy Bible and to do that we turn to the book of Revelation 19:13, reads, I quote: 

He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
-Revelation 19:13 New King James Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Therefore, dear friends, we, members of the Church Of Christ, we do not disagree that the term “Word” in John 1: 1 really does pertain to our Lord Jesus Christ. What we do object to, however, is false preachers concluding that the “Word” is Christ as God that became flesh because the verse doesn’t say that. 

How was the  Word  with God in the beginning? First of all we are very sure that the term “word” is not referring to Jesus as God as some others teach, because if that were so then the word, or God, was with God? Wouldn’t that make two Gods and we all know that there is only one true God and that is the Father according to John 17:3 and 1. 

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And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
-John 17:3 New King James Version

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
-John 17:1 New King James Version

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Why then did the Apostle John write that phrase “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God”? Does that mean Jesus was present there as part of the trinity as many preachers teach in our time? No! In the first place, there’s no such thing as the trinity anywhere in the Bible. The Bible verse doesn’t teach that at all! But of course we must go to the Holy Bible which will now provide us the truth to believe in. Here are the writings of the Apostle Peter and specifically in 1 Peter 1:20 he wrote the following: 

He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you.
-1 Peter 1:20 English Standard Version

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, why then did Apostle John write that “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God”? Well, the Bible records the answer, Apostle Peter is the one who wrote it: Christ did not pre-exist in the beginning, but rather, just as he said here, was foreknown. God already knew, God already had the idea about Christ. Christ was the idea. God had that foreknown idea or plan about Him already in the beginning. However, it was in God’s mind, it was the plan of God as what? As a Word. So Apostle John recorded it correctly, the Word (or the plan) was with God since the beginning.  As we all know, the plan for His son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ it did not remain just a plan, just a word, just an idea, no. In fact, when did Christ, who was only a plan in the beginning, or a word with God in the beginning, no longer be simply a Word or a plan? When did it actually materialize and come into existence? The Bible answers that as well, for that answer we turn to the writings of Apostle Paul in Galatians 4:4 where it says:  

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
-Galatians 4:4 New King James Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: So clearly dear friends the plan of God for His son our Lord Jesus Christ was truly with Him in the very beginning, however only when the fullness of time had come, when Jesus was born of his mother Mary, that the plan of God was made flesh, or the word of God became flesh or materialized. Dear friends, it is important to understand that it was the Word which became flesh and not God who spoke the word that became flesh as some false teachers claim. 

And by the way, you know, does the Catholic Church agree that God who spoke the Word, and the Word itself, were different? The Catholic Church says this in John 1:1 in the footnote of the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible: 

To represent His eternal existence with the Father, 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.
-John 1:1 Footnote
Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: An intellectual emanation, or word, is different from the one who spoke it. God planned for the Savior, His begotten son, and Jesus then was born of His mother Mary. You know dear friends, this may help us understand it a bit further, it would be like saying you know “I am going to build a canoe.” When is it a canoe? At first it’s only a plan, a word, a plan to build a canoe. It becomes a canoe after it is already constructed and floats on the river, right? Then it is no longer a plan, it’s no longer a thought. It’s a canoe. The Word in John 1:1 is the plan of God concerning His son, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

[10:15] What does “the Word was God” refer to? 

What does “the word was God” though refer to”? Does it refer to Christ as God, which is what some false preachers insist? Or, does it describe the nature of God’s words? Consider Luke 1:37, what’s the nature of God’s words: 

For no word from God shall be void of power.
–Luke 1:37 American Standard Version

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: How does the Bible describe the nature of God’s word? It is not void of power, it’s all powerful, it’s almighty. How about God Himself? Does the Bible give that kind of description about God too? Well, going back to the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, let’s go to Genesis 35:11 where it says: 

Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; …
-Genesis 35:11 New King James Version

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: What does the Bible say concerning God and concerning His power? As we read here in Genesis 35:11 God is Almighty, He is all powerful just as we read from Luke 1:37 about the Word of God. The Word of God is all powerful, God Himself is all powerful. The Word is not void of power. God is Almighty, not void of power, all powerful. So it’s not shocking, right, that Apostle John made such a statement that the “Word was God”, describing the attribution of power to the word, not that the word is, in fact, God Himself. It’s an adjective, not a noun. And as an adjective it’s used to describe the term “word”, which is why in fact other Bible translators by the way translated it differently  such as, for example if we look at the James Moffatt translation of the Bible in John 1:1 it reads this way: 

The Logos existed in the very beginning, the Logos was with God, the Logos was divine.
-John 1:1 Moffatt Translation

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: Dear friends, Logos is the Greek term which many translators have translated into the English as “Word” which was also used in John 1:1. But logos simply means idea or plan. And “divine” here is an adjective used to describe the term “Word”. Where others translated it as “Word was God”, Moffatt translated it as “the Logos was divine.” And Edgar Goodspeed in his translations it’s rendered as “the Word was divine.” Why did they translate it differently? Because it was describing its power, never its nature. 

[13:48] Who is the true Jesus? 

So if Jesus is not God made flesh to dwell among us as so many false teachers teach and twist John 1:1 to their own understanding, then who is He? Who is the true Jesus then? Is He one third of a Trinity Godhead as others teach? There is no such teaching like that in the Bible! 

He is the son of God, not God the son. 

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And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
-Matthew 3:17 New King James Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: He is our Lord.

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“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
-Acts 2:36 New King James Version

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: He is our Savior.

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Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
-Acts 5:31 New King James Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: He is our only Mediator to the Father.

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For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
-1 Timothy 2:5 New King James Version 

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: His nature is that of a man.

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But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
-John 8:40 New King James Version

BROTHER BOB PELLIEN: This is our faith as members of the Church Of Christ, because that’s in the Bible. Dear friends, let’s review the questions we began with and let’s see what the Bible has revealed to us. We asked:

1. Who is the Word in John 1:1 and 14?Well, the Bible revealed to us today that the word in John 1:1, 14 refers to the plan of God in the beginning concerning His son our Lord Jesus Christ and not to Jesus as pre-existing with God in the beginning.
2. How was the Word with God in the beginning?   We also learned from the Bible that Christ was with God in the beginning because He was foreknown. He was with God as an idea that God had in the very beginning. Christ was in His mind, it was the plan of God as what? As a Word, which later became flesh. When? When He was born of His mother Mary.
3. What does “the word was God” refer to?We then also learned from the Holy Bible that the word of God is not void of power, just as God Himself is Almighty and not void of power. Therefore it is proper and correct for Apostle John to refer to the word of God as godly or divine for it has the power of God.
4. Who is the true Jesus?We also learned that Jesus is, well He’s not just merely a man as we are, no. He is Lord, Savior, Mediator, and the Son of God whom we should all listen to especially as He taught who the true God really is, which is His Father and our Father in Heaven.

We’d like you to continue learning about the teachings of the Bible taught here inside the Iglesia Ni Cristo, Church Of Christ, and to do so please visit us online and browse the different topics or set up an appointment to meet with a minister of the gospel. And if you have any questions about the Bible or salvation, please email them to us. I’m Bob Pellien. Thanks for watching. See you next time on That’s in the Bible!