Logos as Creator
The De-Mystified Logos by Phil Maxwell July 2000; Revised August 2003
Up↑ | Introduction | Definitions and Usages | Poetical Structure | Unoriginal Thoughts | Grammar Considerations | Logos as God | Logos as Creator | Logos as Flesh | Conclusion | De-Mystified Logos (MS Word format) | De-Mystified Logos (PDF version) | Trinitarian-Unitarian Debate
   
The
assumption that the logos represents a second literal person apart from God
naturally leads to the misinterpretation that this person was a secondary agent
in creation, as is commonly taught. The
actual text, however, indicates no such thing. Compare, for instance, how the NAS text for verse 3
reads in contrast to how it appears with “the word of God” inserted in place
of the pronoun “Him”:
1. All things came into being by Him, and apart from
Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
2. All things came into being by [the word of God],
and apart from [the word of God] nothing came into being that has come into
being
The
obfuscation caused by this subtle difference is remarkable!
Clearly the logos, the word of God, was the instrument of God's creation,
but nothing in the original Greek text of this verse implies any thought beyond
the long before established fact that all things were created by and through
Yahweh’s word. There is certainly not any justification in the Greek text
for the interpretive perversion of what it says by using capitalized personal
pronouns in reference to the word of God. What
it literally means, according to the UBS scholars (who even capitalize
“Word” themselves) is:
…The Greek text indicates clearly that the Word was
the instrument or agency employed by God in the creation," and suggest,
"God used the Word to make all things" as an alternative reading.3
I must stop short on this sub-topic, however, because just
as the deity of Christ doctrine goes well beyond the scope of this presentation,
so does the related teaching of Christ as the Creator.
Thus, the point here is merely that the text of John 1:3 portrays only
the logos, the word of God, as Yahweh’s implement of creation, not the person
of Christ. The fact that
translations and teachings subsequent to its writing portray otherwise does not
change that. Again, to use text
skewed with that bias to argue towards the same conclusion is circular
reasoning.
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