John 1:1says,“In the beginning was the Word [logos], and the Word [logos] was
with God, and the Word [logos] was God.”The word logos can have two
meanings which are different yet closely related. It can mean a thought or idea, but
it can also mean the expression of a thought or idea.
The Greeks used the term“Interior Logos,”which means an idea, a concept, a
mental image, and the term“Exterior Logos,”which refers to the expression or
actualization of an idea or concept. In the Bible, the Logos was God’s plan. In the
beginning was the Plan, and the Plan was with God [in His mind], and the Plan was
God [that He would make Himself known].
What did God plan? 1 Peter 1:18-21describes His plan this way:“Knowing that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your
aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was
foreordained before the foundation of the world [Interior Logos], but was manifest
[Exterior Logos] in these last times for you.”
God foreordained [planned in advance] the shedding of Christ’s blood before the
beginning. In other words, He planned to come into His creation as a man and
shed His own blood. This is how Paul can say in Acts 20:28 that God purchased
the Church with“His own blood.”
Galatians 4:4-5 says,“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth
His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”At the exact time He
planned, the Son came forth. Ephesians 1:3-4 tells us that God chose us in Christ
before the beginning. Romans 8:29-30 tells us that God foresaw the whole
company of believers in Him. 2 Timothy 1:8-10 reveals that God gave us grace
before the beginning. Titus 1:1-3 says that God promised us eternal life before the
beginning. And John 17:5,24 tells us that God loved His plan before the beginning.
Nothing is more important to God than the accomplishment of His plan. So in the
beginning God had a plan. And that plan was“with God.”It was in His heart. It
was in His mind. He was thinking about it, considering it, envisaging it. And that
plan“was God.”The plan was that God would reveal Himself to man—that the
invisible God would make Himself known, that the Interior Logos would be14
transformed into Exterior Logos. The interior is the mystery concealed. The exterior
is the mystery revealed. Therefore John 1:14 says,“And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth.”
According to 1 Timothy 3:16, the mystery is that God [the invisible Father of the
Christ] was manifested [rendered visible] in the flesh [not just in a body, but in a
human being]. 2 Corinthians 5:19 says,“God [the invisible Father of Christ] was in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”God’s own image of Himself became
flesh and bone and dwelt among us. We call this the Incarnation. This is Jesus of
Nazareth, the uniquely begotten Son of God.
This is why the Son is called“the image of the invisible God”(Colossians 1:15).
He is that aspect of God which can be seen. So we can see that to bring us
salvation, there had to be a Son. The term“Son”always relates to the Incarnation.
It always refers to one who was born. Speaking as the Son, Jesus never said,“I am
the Father.”Why? It’s because He was more than the Father. He was the Father in
the Son. He was God manifested in the flesh.
Who was the Father of the Son of God? Luke 1:35 says,“And the angel answered
and said to her,‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One [holy thing] who is to
be born will be called the Son of God.’”Matthew 1:20 says,“That which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”When the Spirit of God brought forth the
conception of the Son in Mary, God became the literal Father of Christ.
