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Living thought as Logos
What was before the beginning? Nothing.
What came after the beginning? Nothing.
The beginning is a constant, now, in active thinking.
That which lies outside of active thinking is an abstraction, i.e. nothing.
Why did the beginning happen when it did, e.g. 6000 years ago for the Bible literalists, or x billion years ago for the Big Bang theorists?
The question asks about an abstraction, i.e. nothing, because the beginning is not fixed at any one discoverable time, the beginning is now in active thought, or it is nothing, an abstraction.
Taking my cue from Garth D. Wiebe’s work on the translation to the opening of John’s Gospel, I now add John 1:1-5.
1 Inthe beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it.
Wiebe points out that Hellenistic Greek, from which the Bible was translated,had no past tense. Also ‘Word’ was not the result of a direct translation into English. A better translation from the Greek might be ‘expression’ or, my preference, ‘living thought’, taking it above merely the idea of a verbal utterance.
In the light of the above, let me rework the translation.
1 Inthe beginning is the living thought, and the living thought is with God, and the living thought is God. 2 He is with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things are made; without him nothing is made that is made. 4 In him is life, and that life is the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness is not overcoming it.
This might allow us to think of the Word, almost universally understood to mean the Logos, the Christ, as living thought.
Weibe also notes how the typical English translation, 'the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory,' brings to mind only an image of the incarnation and ministry of Jesus in the past, whereas the actual text brings to mind the word become flesh that dwells in, rather than amongst us.
Following my argument, we might then consider The Logos, the Cosmic Christ, as living thought, in rather than amongst us.
This notion of in, rather than amongst, recalls:
He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.’ (1 John 4:16)
(Pictured: Blessing Christ by Hans Memling, late 15th century)
© John Dunn.
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