In the beginning .... Jesus is God!
John 1:1-18
In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and the Jesus was God. Jesus was with God in the beginning. Through Jesus all things were made; without Jesus nothing was made that has been made. In Jesus was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. Jesus shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome Jesus.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning Jesus so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light (Jesus).
Jesus whom gives light to everyone was coming into the world. Jesus was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. Jesus came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive Jesus, to those who believed in Jesus's name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
Jesus became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John testified concerning Jesus. He cried out, saying, “Jesus is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) Out of Jesus's fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
You miss the point of John if you think the Word is Jesus or that Jesus is God. Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh but the word of God was not Jesus. What you have above is a blatant mistranslation of what the Bible actually says and teaches.
John says the word was with God. The word is God's word, His command, the expression of His mind, etc. It's a pretty deep topic without understanding the mind and language of the author but keep reading and searching.
1 John gives insight into what he is writing about here. The Word of Life, not a being.
I'm not following you. How can Jesus be the Word but the Word not be Jesus? Can you explain that a little more? When it says the Word became flesh how do you not equate that to being the Word became baby Jesus? I'm always careful when reading the Bible to try to use the most common sense approach to what it's saying unless it contradicts other verses. If Jesus is not God than whomever wrote this and the rest of the new testament was not very careful with their wording and almost blatantly attempted to lead people astray.
The Word is God's word.
"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
God sent Jesus to be His word and to accomplish His will. Jesus performed the work that God willed him and spoke the words that God gave him and He followed God's commandments perfectly. Jesus IS the living word of God.
All Bibles before the 1600's said "it", not "him" regarding the word. Even among trinitarians it is a new idea that the word was a pre-existing Jesus. The same exact word "Logos" or "word" is used many times in the Bible and is never a person.
Or perhaps the translators were. Though, I still believe the truth is clear.
But according to that definition of "the Word" then every profit is "the Word" as they all spoke God's words and not their own. But in John it clearly said John the Baptist was not the light and only came to testify about the light. There's also a very clear distinction through all the new testament between Jesus and the rest of the prophets.
No, perhaps you miss the point.
Put it this way, if you believe that Jesus is God and the Father is God and they are two distinct entities, that means that you have at least two gods. I know, you say they are one, but that really doesn't make sense, in which most trinitarians say, well God is a mystery. The Trinity is a mystery because it is not found in the Scriptures. God is not a mystery.
The Writers made it abundantly clear that Jesus is the son of God, a man. And God is the Father alone. No Biblical author believed otherwise. Jesus didn't come to make man aware of a new god concept after 1000's of years. He came to make the Father known.
Jesus is the image of God, not God.
Jesus is the mediator between God and man, not God.
Jesus is a man, not God.
Jesus died.
God raised him, God exalted him, God gave him power. None of this makes sense in your view.
Jesus is the last Adam, a man made in the perfect image of God to atone for mans sin. The Bible plainly teaches that through one man sin and death comes to all but through another man comes grace and life.
If you don't see it, then you probably won't. But it's right there. Accept the lies of men or the truth or God.
Sorry, one more thing. There are other references in the New Testament that show the apostles also believed Jesus was God. Titus 2:13 "waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ". And Colossians 1:15-16: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him." You'll also notice in the Bible that whenever someone saw an angel their first reaction was to bow down to them, yet the angel's were quick to rebuke worship. You do not see the same thing from Jesus. He accepted the worship of humans and did not rebuke people that worshiped Him.
There are actually no references in the Bible that show the apostles believed Jesus was God, quite the opposite. You may have been lead to believe that but it's just false.
Perhaps you are overthinking that one.
You chose a good verse here: Colossians 1:15-16
If Jesus is the image of God then it directly negates him from being God. An image is a likeness or representation of a person or thing. An image is never the person or thing itself. Jesus is a representation of God. He is a likeness of God. Also, consider that worshiping an image of God is idolatry and therefore you are guilty of idolatry if you worship Jesus as God.
Yes people bowed before Jesus in reverence to him but never did they worship him as God. Jesus is the chosen Messiah and worthy to receive glory, honor, and praise. This is what the Bible plainly teaches.