Logos: Word
"There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:4-6).
Psalm 33:6
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
"For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be on His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father [Hebrew: ‛ad 'âb],
The Prince of Peace.
There is no end of the increase of His government
and peace on the throne of David, and on His kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this."
-- Isaiah 9:6-7
Everlasting [‛ad] Father [âb]:
Throughout the Old Testament the word ‛ad means "forever and ever" or "everlasting", for example:-
Exodus 15:18; Numbers 24:20; Numbers 24:24; I Chronicles 28:9; Job 19:24; Job 20:4; Psalms 9:5; Psalms 9:18; Psalms 10:16; Psalms 19:9; Psalms 21:4; Psalms 21:6; Psalms 22:26; Psalms 37:29; Psalms 45:6; Psalms 45:17; Psalms 48:14; Psalms 52:8; Psalms 61:8; Psalms 83:17; Psalms 89:29; Psalms 92:7; Psalms 104:5; Psalms 111:3; Psalms 111:8; Psalms 111:10; Psalms 112:3; Psalms 112:9; Psalms 119:44; Psalms 132:12; Psalms 132:14; Psalms 145:1; Psalms 145:2; Psalms 145:21; Psalms 148:6; Proverbs 12:19; Proverbs 29:14; Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 26:4; Isaiah 30:8; Isaiah 45:17; Isaiah 57:15; Isaiah 64:9; Isaiah 65:18; Daniel 12:3; Amos 1:11; Micah 4:5; Micah 7:18; Habakkuk 3:6.
"No one has seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known." (John 1:18).
Psalm 78
35 And they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God was their redeemer.
1 Corinthians 10:2-4
And all were baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.
Both Isaiah 55:11 and Psalm 33:6 (each one quoted above) speak of the Word and of the Spirit proceeding forth from the mouth of God the Father.
One of the earliest Christians, Ignatius (30–107 A.D), wrote:
"There is but one unbegotten Being, God, even the Father; and one only-begotten Son, God, the Word and man; and one Comforter, the Spirit of truth; and also one preaching, and one faith, and one baptism. " -- The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians Chapter IV.
The following "Early Church Fathers" all taught the Trinity from way before the first Council of Nicea in 325 A.D (info from https://apostles-creed.org/):-
1. Ignatius a.d. 30–107
2. Justin Martyr a.d. 110–165
3. Ireneaus a.d. 120–202
4. Clement of Alexandria a.d. 153–217
5. Tertullian a.d. 145–220
6. Origen a.d. 185–254
7. Cyprian a.d. 200–258
8. Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria a.d. 200–265
9. Novatian a.d. 210–280
10. Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria a.d. 273–326
-- FIRST COUNCIL OF NICEA --- 325 A.D
11. Augustine of Hippo a.d. 354–430
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If God (the Father) did not exist, nothing would exist.
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The Logos (The Word of the Father)
"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? or who has first given to him, and it shall be rendered to him? For of him, and through him, and for him are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen." (Romans 11:34-36).
Logos (Strong's Greek Dictionary # G03056) means:
(a) something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse); and
(b) reasoning (the mental faculty); and
(c) motive; by extension a computation and
(d) specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (that is Christ):
The wisdom of God is a characteristic of Logos / The Word of God:
Proverbs 8:22-36
"The LORD possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was anointed from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth ever was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no springs heavy with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I travailed; before He had made the earth, or the fields or the highest part of the dust of the world.
When He prepared the heavens, I was there; when He set a circle upon the face of the deep; when He set the clouds above; when He made the strong fountains of the deep; when He gave to the sea its limit that the waters should not pass His command; when He appointed the foundations of the earth; and I was a workman at His side; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the world, His earth; and My delight was with the sons of men.
And now listen to Me, O sons; for blessed are those who keep My ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it. Blessed is the man who hears Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors. For whoever finds Me finds life, and shall obtain favour from the LORD. But he who sins against Me wrongs his own soul; all who hate Me love death."
The conception of Jesus
Matthew 1:20
"And as he thought upon these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take to you Mary as your wife. For that in her is fathered of the Holy Spirit."
Adam was created, he is creature, and all other humans born into the world were begotten of a son of Adam. We are creature. Jesus was not begotten of a son of Adam. He is fully God and fully Man, but not creature. He is the One by Whom God made the worlds, and He is "the shining splendor of God (the Father's) glory, and the expression, the image, of His essence" (Hebrews 1:3):
Hebrews 1:1-3
"God, who at many times and in many ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by HIS Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the shining splendor of His glory, and the express image of His essence (Greek: hypóstasis), and upholding all things by the word of His power, having made purification of our sins, He sat down on the right of the Majesty on high."
Prototokos
The Greek word prototokos is derived from protos, which signifies "in front of, prior". The word is also an alternative for tikto, which implies begotten (not created).
Colossians 1:15-16
"For all things were created by Him who is the image of the invisible God, the First-born (Greek: prototokos) of all creation, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist."
All creation was created by Jesus, and He is before all creation: The Word of God was with God from everlasting. Jesus was born into the creation that was created through Him, therefore He is the first-born of all creation.
Jesus is called the second man (1 Corinthians 15:47); the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45), and He is repeatedly called the Son of Man (example Matthew 12:8). Psalm 8:4-8 says,
"What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field; the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and all that pass through the paths of the seas."
As the son of man, Jesus fulfills God's purpose in His creation and the role appointed to Adam, but He is still the logos (Word) of God. He will reign until all enemies are under his feet, then He will hand the Kingdom back to God the Father, ending all (human) rule, authority and power (1 Corinthians 15:20-28), and so when John sees the vision of the New Jerusalem having come down out of from heaven from God, we are told,
"And a sanctuary I did not see in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, is its sanctuary, and the Lamb, and the city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they may shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp of it is the Lamb." (Revelation 21:22-23).
The Lamb is Jesus, the Word of God manifest in a human body. The Word of God is God.
Only one God, only one Savior
Isaiah 43:10-13
"You are My witnesses, says the LORD, and My servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me no God was formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, I am the LORD; and there is none to save besides Me. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says the LORD, that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am He; and no one delivers out of My hand; I will work, and who will reverse it?"
Isaiah 45:20-25
"Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, escaped ones of the nations; those who set up the wood of their graven image, and those that pray to a god that cannot save. They know nothing. Declare and bring near; yea, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this of old? Who has told it from then? Is it not I, the LORD?
And there is no other God besides Me; a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me.
Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
He says, Only in the LORD do I have righteousness and strength; even to Him he comes. And they are ashamed, all who are angry with Him. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."
Titus 1:1-4
"Paul, a servant of God (Greek: θεός theós) and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, in the acknowledging of the truth which is according to godliness on hope of eternal life, which God. who cannot lie,
promised before the eternal times, but revealed in its own times in a proclamation of His word, with which I was entrusted by the command of God (Greek: θεός theós) our Savior,
to Titus, a true child according to our common faith. Grace mercy and peace from God (Greek: θεός theós) the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior."
Philippians 2:5-11
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Jesus bore (our) sin for us:
1 Peter 2:24
"He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that dying to sins, we might live to righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed"
1 Corinthians 5:19-21
“Then we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as God exhorting through us, we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
1 Timothy 2:5
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus"
The Holy Spirit and the Logos
Psalm 33:6
"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath (Hebrew: ruach) of His mouth."
The Psalmist is speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, and using imagery that human beings will understand, and the word ruach seen in this verse is specifically referring to the Spirit of God.
Quite obviously, the Word of God and breath of God "proceeding from His own mouth" does not imply that the Word of God or Spirit of God was created of God.
Isaiah 11:1-2 (the Spirit of the Messiah)
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD."
Unless a man is born from above of the Spirit of God,
He cannot have everlasting life
John 3:5-8
"Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. The Spirit breathes where He desires, and you hear His voice, but you do not know from where He comes, and where He goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Some say that the Holy Spirit is a 'force', but a 'force' cannot be grieved:
Ephesians 4:30
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption."
Neither can a 'force' teach those who believe in Jesus all things and bring all things to their remembrance, whatever He said to them:
The Holy Spirit given to the disciples of Jesus
John 14:26
"Jesus said, "But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you."
A 'force' cannot bear testimony in the heart and mind of anyone:
John 15:26
"And when the Comforter has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He (the Spirit of truth) shall testify of Me."
1 John 5:10
"He who believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself. He who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he does not believe the record that God gave of His Son."
"There is to us only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we by Him." (1 Corinthians 8:6).
THUS THE NOTICEABLE BIBLICAL DISTINCTION
The Bible thus makes a distinction between God (the Father), the Son of God (Logos or Word) and the Holy Spirit of God - a distinction which is called "Trinity" by the churches (not in the Bible, but by the churches), but as it is written, "No one has seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:18).
1 Timothy 3:16
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among nations, believed on in the world, and received up into glory."
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