If you're going to play the fool then I'll treat you like a fool. Please answer the question.
No stan, I was not playing the "fool" I was playing devils advocate. If you look under my name you will see the letters "pda" which means devil's advocate. The reason I have been so resistant in answering is because no matter what answer I give you will still make exucuses and your mind is already made up.
However, I will answer not for you but for the benefit of others around here like maybe lurkers. Now, I mentioned to you that there is in hermanutics such a thing as implicit and implied reasoning on any give issue. This is why I ask you how you would prove to somebody that the trinity is a true or a biblical teaching.
I will apply the same type of reasoning to your question as to how I know the Word is Jesus Christ. And btw, as a side note there are many, many people out there that say Jesus Christ is not God because He never said the exact words, "I am God." This is the same kind of flawed logic your using with your question.
So, starting at John 1:1 what do we know? We know that the "Word" was "WITH" God and the "Word" was God. It cannot mean the spoken word as you claimed because why would God's spoken not be with Him and is Him? Your spoken words are with you are they not? Your words are a part of you just like Gods words are a part of Him. Secondly, God used spoken words to create everything for our benefit. God can just "think" something into existence if He wants to and does not have to use spoken words. Again, He used His spoken words for our benefit and it also shows us that His spoken words are authoritative.
Now, starting a John 1:2 the Apostle John explains further and the first word under the inpiration of the Holy Spirt it says, "He!" That literally means in the Greek "This one was in the beginning with God. Again, if it's the spoken word why does John have to repeat that Gods spoken word is with Him? Vs3, "All things came into being by that one or by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
Vs4, In Him or In that one was life, and the life was the light of men." If you go to 1 John 1:1, "What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we behled and our hands handled, concerning THE WORD OF LIFE." Can you see or handle spoken words stan? Vs2, of 1 John 1. and the life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--"
Please notice that at John 1: how many times the word "Him" is used and how at John 1:14 the "Him" who is identified as the "Word" became flesh. From John 1:1-14 there are some verses which are "explicit" truths and some of the verses are "implicit" or implied truths. An example of an explicit truth would be vs3, "All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
Another example of an explicit truth would be Genesis 1:1, "God created the heavens and the earth." An example of implicit or implied truth would be, "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are a Trinity of three persons in one Godhead. How would I go about proving the Trinity to be true even though it's an implicit/implied teaching in the Bible?
We know the Father is called God explicitly at John 6:27, Romans 1:7, Galatians 1:1 or 1 Peter 1:2. Jesus is explicitly called God at Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8, John 20:28, Isaiah 9:6 and Revelation 1:8,17. The Holy Spirit is identified as God at Genesis 1:2, Exodus 31:3, Romans 8:9,14, Acts 5:4 and at other places. The point is that implicit truth must not contradic t any explicit truths or other legitimate implicit truths. There is also other ways to prove the Trinity as well which I can provide.
And yes, I know your asking me to prove that the Word is Jesus Christ which I did by using the same standard to prove the Trinity. I know you stuck on Matthew 1:20 but did you ever consider the words of Jesus Christ Himself at John 5:39? "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; AND IT IS THESE THAT BEAR WITNESS OF ME." Jesus is talking about the "Tanak" or the 39 books of the Old Testament where His goings forth are from eternity. Micah 5:2, which I already quoted to you in another post. Oh yea, there is also Luke 24:25-27.
And lastly, you ask me to prove the angel of the Lord is Jesus Christ. That I will do later and it is devastating to your position.
IN GOD THE SON,
bluto