‘When John uses “Word” in the opening verses of his Prologue, he means simply this: the divine Word, which all Jews understood on the basis of Genesis to have been active in the creation of all things. Moreover, there was no question of this Word being something or someone created. As God’s own Word, it was intrinsic to God’s own unique identity. To say that all things were created by the word did not compromise the belief that God alone was the Creator of all things, since his Word belonged to his own identity. In fact, to say, as John does, that all things came into being through the Word is precisely to categorize the Word as belonging to the identity of God rather than to the creation.’
Richard Bauckham, ‘Monotheism and Christology in the Gospel of John,’ in Contours of Christology in the New Testament, ed. Richard N. Longenecker (Grand Rapids, MI: 2005), 150.
1 comment:
Great quote Mike. The next lines in John address the 'immanent' side, i.e., that this divine and transcendent Word "took on flesh"...almost as if John was anticipating our categories...
NTW's categories of Word, Torah, Wisdom, Spirit, Glory, and Word seem to be helpful ways of categorizing early Jewish understanding of God's work in the world, as well as explaining how Christians began to see Jesus as divine (contra The Da Vinci Code). In each case, all five are not created, and can be said to belong to God's identity.
Of course, that doesn't lesson the shock of enfleshment...
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