Eternal Sonship: Difference between revisions

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 :''IN THE beginning'' [before all time] ''was the Word'' (Christ), ''and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself''. [Isa. 9:6.] ''He was present originally with God''. <ref>The Amplified Bible, John 1:1–2 (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1987).</ref>
-It is critical to understand in this passage the meaning of the simple word "was" (ἤν in the Greek).
+It is critical to understand in this passage the meaning of the simple word "was" (ἦν in the Greek).  The verb εἰμί (eimi) means "to be" and in its imperfect tense (ἦν or "en"), refers to ''continuous action in the past''.  You could compare this to saying "I was eating" in contrast to "I ate" or "I had eaten".  Specifically and most importantly in this context, the verb does not point to a specific point of origin or beginning in the past.<ref>James White, The Forgotten Trinity, Bethany House Publishers, 1998
-There never was a time when the Word was not. There never was a thing that did not depend on him for its existence. The verb “was” is most naturally understood of the eternal existence of the Word: “the Word continually was.”9 We should not press the tense unduly, but certainly the verb denotes neither a completed state nor a coming into being. It is appropriate to eternal, unchanging being. John is affirming that the Word existed before creation, which makes it clear that the Word was not created. It is of the utmost importance to grasp this. Others, particularly among the Jews with their emphasis on the one God as the source of all things, had thought of the Word as of excellent dignity, but as subordinate, as a created being. It is fundamental to John that the Word is not to be included among created things. “In the beginning” (with all the fullness of meaning that these words can hold) the Word “was.” “He is seen as greater than all things, greater than time, changeless as eternity” (Guthrie).<ref>Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, 65-66 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995).</ref>
+There never was a time when the Word was not. There never was a thing that did not depend on him for its existence. The verb “was” is most naturally understood of the eternal existence of the Word: “the Word continually was.”  John is affirming that the Word existed before creation, which makes it clear that the Word was not created.  It is fundamental to John that the Word is not to be included among created things. <ref>Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, 65-66 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995).</ref>
+Since the late 4th century, commentators have recognized that each of the three uses of “was” in John 1:1 has a different connotation: existence, relationship, and predication respectively. “The Word was” is akin to the “I am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel proper. There can be no speculation about how the Word came to be, for the Word simply was.<ref>Raymond E. Brown, vol. 29, The Gospel According to John (I–XII): Introduction, Translation, and Notes, Anchor Yale Bible, 4 (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008).</ref>