CHRIST THE WORD, DISTINCT FROM GOD, IN HARMONY WITH GOD

 "And the Word was with God..."  John 1v1

We have established that the Word was eternal that He pre-existed all things.  What we learn, now is that:

Christ is distinct from, and in harmony with, God   

“And the word was with God…”   The Greek preposition is pros which literally translated is towards or “face to face”.  There are two important things here.  Firstly, the Word and God are two distinct persons.  This gives the lie to Unitarianism which falsely claims that God is one person, and many other co-called Christian cults which deny the Deity of Christ.  The Godhead, consisting of three distinct persons are one in thought and action but they are distinct in personality.  As far back as the very first verse of the bible the term God(Elohim) is in the plural, indicating distinctive persons.  This is further verified by later statements-“Let us make man in our image, Genesis 1v26; “Behold the man is become as one of us…” Genesis 3v22; “Go to let us go down and confuse their language…”, Genesis 11v7; Isaiah 6v8 “Whom shall I send, who will go for us?”  Additionally, the plural title for God occurs approx. 4000 times in scripture, and the numerous references to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, shew beyond any doubt the truth of the Divine Trinity.  Secondly, they are in absolute harmony with each other.  When they act, they act as one, as is evident from Genesis 1v1 where the plural is used for God but the action of creation is in the singular!  Three distinct beings acting as one; Jesus confirms this in many scriptures indirectly, and directly in John 10v30, 14v11, and 17v21.

Secondly, the Greek preposition is pros which literally translated is towards or “face to face”.  This means that the Word, while distinct from God, was in harmony with God, in fellowship with God, one with God, indeed, in happy co-existence as is made clear in the wisdom hymn of Proverbs 8. Verse 30 says “Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.”  Even when He condescended to earth, that close relationship was maintained as is evident in the rest of the narrative.  The extent of this distinctive, but close, fellowship will be clear as we proceed.

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