01-09-2011, 05:32 PM
Aramaic, I have learned, has unique idioms.
In James 1:4, it says "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything,? or ?But let patience have her perfect work...? In this verse, patience is given a personality. It is referred to as a she. Now no one would believe that this verse in any way is implying that patience is an actual person, divine or otherwise. It is just a figure of speech, giving personality to a concept or set of ideas.
Another example is Proverbs 1:20. "Wisdom cries out in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares... in the gateways of the city she makes her speech.? Here wisdom is given a personality, a female one, and it is even implied that she is given movement and a voice in the rest of the passage.
So is the opening of John chapter one also an example of the use of such figures of speech?
?[1] In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God. [2]He existed in the beginning with God. [3] God created everything through him.? John chapter 1 (New Living Translation).
The Word in the beginning - There is no timeline on the existence of the soul; it is eternal. Our souls were not created at a certain point in time like our human form - they were imparted unto man after he was created. Our souls were there in the beginning because in the beginning they were still in God before he breathed His spirit or breath of life unto man. Humanity was not there at the beginning but our true selves (our souls) were because they had not yet ?left?. So, the Word [Jesus] was with God and was God in the beginning, but it also applies to us. Does anyone agree?
God created everything through His Word. It does not say in Genesis that the commands of God were fulfilled or executed by Christ when He created the Universe. So as I interpret it, ?he? and ?him? is the Word given a personality in a figurative sense. Everything was created or fulfilled with through the Word. The Word is the miltha, the way in which God promulgates His will.
After the section concerning John the Baptist we have:
?So the Word became flesh and made his home among us.? John 1:14 (New Living Translation).
I believe this verse specifically applies to Jesus. Doesn?t this mean that God?s miltha is flesh instead of a burning bush, etc.? In the prophesies about Jesus Christ we hear that God said he would ?put his words in his [Jesus?] mouth?. (Interestingly, in Islam Jesus is revered as ?Kalimatullah? meaning a word from God.)
I do not believe in the Trinity, nor do I believe that Jesus was the totality of God existing in one human form. God is omnipotent and omnipresent, He also said that we cannot see Him in Exodus. God is too vast to fit in one person and too beautiful to describe or fathom. Jesus was God?s miltha but not the totality of God Himself. If he was, why did He pray to God? So to me, ?the Word became flesh? does not mean that God manifested Himself totally as Jesus. The material form is limitation, God sees all, knows all and is omnipresent because He is not localised in one form.
Also, can ?the Word became flesh? also apply in a general sense to the fulfilment of God?s command? Just as He said, ?Let there be light,? and there was light, so did He call us all to be. So ?the Word became flesh? = the Word is fulfilled? ?The Word became light? = the Word is fulfilled?
In James 1:4, it says "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything,? or ?But let patience have her perfect work...? In this verse, patience is given a personality. It is referred to as a she. Now no one would believe that this verse in any way is implying that patience is an actual person, divine or otherwise. It is just a figure of speech, giving personality to a concept or set of ideas.
Another example is Proverbs 1:20. "Wisdom cries out in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares... in the gateways of the city she makes her speech.? Here wisdom is given a personality, a female one, and it is even implied that she is given movement and a voice in the rest of the passage.
So is the opening of John chapter one also an example of the use of such figures of speech?
?[1] In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God and the Word was God. [2]He existed in the beginning with God. [3] God created everything through him.? John chapter 1 (New Living Translation).
The Word in the beginning - There is no timeline on the existence of the soul; it is eternal. Our souls were not created at a certain point in time like our human form - they were imparted unto man after he was created. Our souls were there in the beginning because in the beginning they were still in God before he breathed His spirit or breath of life unto man. Humanity was not there at the beginning but our true selves (our souls) were because they had not yet ?left?. So, the Word [Jesus] was with God and was God in the beginning, but it also applies to us. Does anyone agree?
God created everything through His Word. It does not say in Genesis that the commands of God were fulfilled or executed by Christ when He created the Universe. So as I interpret it, ?he? and ?him? is the Word given a personality in a figurative sense. Everything was created or fulfilled with through the Word. The Word is the miltha, the way in which God promulgates His will.
After the section concerning John the Baptist we have:
?So the Word became flesh and made his home among us.? John 1:14 (New Living Translation).
I believe this verse specifically applies to Jesus. Doesn?t this mean that God?s miltha is flesh instead of a burning bush, etc.? In the prophesies about Jesus Christ we hear that God said he would ?put his words in his [Jesus?] mouth?. (Interestingly, in Islam Jesus is revered as ?Kalimatullah? meaning a word from God.)
I do not believe in the Trinity, nor do I believe that Jesus was the totality of God existing in one human form. God is omnipotent and omnipresent, He also said that we cannot see Him in Exodus. God is too vast to fit in one person and too beautiful to describe or fathom. Jesus was God?s miltha but not the totality of God Himself. If he was, why did He pray to God? So to me, ?the Word became flesh? does not mean that God manifested Himself totally as Jesus. The material form is limitation, God sees all, knows all and is omnipresent because He is not localised in one form.
Also, can ?the Word became flesh? also apply in a general sense to the fulfilment of God?s command? Just as He said, ?Let there be light,? and there was light, so did He call us all to be. So ?the Word became flesh? = the Word is fulfilled? ?The Word became light? = the Word is fulfilled?