The Orthodox Study Bible, New Testament and Psalms, (1993) Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy,Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee.
Purchased from my employer, the Canadian Bible Society @ Cafe Logos, Vancouver. This text review continues...
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| Page 209 |
John 1 New American Standard Bible (NASB)(My preferred version)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 [a]He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not [b]comprehend it.
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This Orthodox Study Bible correctly documents that the Word as God, existed in the beginning, and existed without a reference to a starting point. (209). This documents the eternal nature of the Word of God, also known in the New Testament as God the Son, incarnated as Jesus Christ.
God the Son, existed eternally with God the Father, without a beginning (209).
Hypothetically, if there was a beginning, as opposed to an entity existing prior to and at the beginning, this would be a finite entity, as opposed to infinite. The Word of God (God the Son, in this context) existed before the beginning of creation. Therefore within New Testament based theology, God the Son, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit can be reasoned as three distinctions (also named persons) within an eternal, infinite nature.
As this texts notes, there is oneness in essence. (209). Oneness within the triune God.
However, there is a distinction, as God the Son, the Word is with God the Father. (209). There is a communion. (209).
This text correctly negatively critiques any attempts at rendering 'a god' from John 1, as being false, heretical theology. (209).
I will add that a finite god, would be no God at all, as there is only one infinite God within the Hebrew Bible (Isaiah 43-45, as examples) and as noted, in the New Testament via John, as example with this article.
