John 1:1–5
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
The Challenge of Modalism / Sabellianism
Early in Christian history, understanding the nature of God — particularly how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate — became a significant theological challenge. One perspective that arose was modalism (also called Sabellianism).
In essence, modalism claims God is one person who appears in different “modes” or roles at different times: God is the Father at one moment, the Son at another, the Spirit at another. It presents God as a single individual simply putting on different “hats” throughout history.
This view became problematic because it undermines the distinct personhood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It cannot account for Scripture showing Jesus speaking to, praying to, and being sent by the Father as a distinct Person. It fails to uphold the full divinity and unique identity of the Son — distinct yet one with the Father — as revealed in Scripture.
The Challenge of Adoptionism
Beyond modalism, another misunderstanding arose early and persists today: adoptionism.
This view holds that Jesus was essentially a normal human being who, because of perfect obedience and exemplary life, was later “adopted” by God as His Son — perhaps at baptism or resurrection — on the basis of his human merit. In this framework, Jesus is not eternally God or God incarnate; he becomes God’s Son.
While adoptionism acknowledges Jesus’ unique character, it fundamentally misses the biblical truth that Jesus was not merely a human adopted into divinity — He was eternally God, the divine Logos, who became incarnate. It cannot reconcile His own claims of divine authority and pre‑existence with the idea of a human elevated to divine status.
The Enduring Mystery of God
Debates over who Jesus is in relation to the Father will continue until the end of the age. But the root difficulty is not a failure to “solve” the Trinity — it lies in God’s very nature: He is mystery, the incomprehensible Absolute Being. We can only know God as He reveals Himself.
This is exactly where John begins. He reaches back to Genesis 1 and revitalizes it with high Christology: the One who spoke creation into being and the Logos are one, acting together in the original creation — and now in the new creation.
Why Christology Matters
The mystery of God meeting us in Jesus is not something we can shrink to fit our comfort zones. How we understand Jesus shapes everything: how we see God, how we live, and what we believe is possible. Two pivotal moments make this clear:
First, the cross. In absolute agony, Jesus — the perfect human — cries out, “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?” This is unmistakeable human experience: the weight, perplexity, and horror of death itself. It confirms His full humanity.
Second, the Transfiguration. Jesus is revealed in glory, conversing with Moses and Elijah. This moment shows the intersection of heaven and earth: He is fully divine, yet fully human.
We cannot dismiss these events by slapping on simple labels. Jesus is both: fully human, sharing our suffering and death; and fully divine, possessing authority and glory no created being could claim. This tension is not a problem to fix — it is the heart of who He is.
The Logos: More Than “A Word”
What, then, is this Logos?
Translated often as “the Word,” the term means far more. Its roots reach into ideas of reason, purpose, order, and the very structure of all reality. The Logos is not merely a word — He is God’s reason, God’s intention, God’s whole purpose made personal. In a very real sense, Jesus is God’s divine logistics: the One who plans, executes, and brings to completion all of God’s will. He is the full solution.
In Jesus Christ, this is made flesh:
- In Creation: He is the voice of Genesis 1, bringing order out of chaos — the agent through whom all things were made.
- In Redemption: He enters our chaos of sin and death to bring restoration. He walks as God would walk among us; He enters death as the truly human Christ, and conquers death as the same Christ who is truly God — revealing His absolute right and authority over it.
Jesus is called the Logos because He is God’s own being, reason, purpose, and power revealed and active. All that God intends is accomplished in Him.
Embracing the Mystery
No simple summary can capture the Trinity, the Incarnation, or the truth that the Logos is both God and sent by God. Anyone who claims to have fully “figured it out” has only reduced God to something smaller than He is.
We naturally want to bring the unknowable down to something neat and manageable. But we barely understand ourselves — how could we fully comprehend the eternal God? We must not sacrifice mystery for the illusion of control. I am content to leave God as mystery — and as the God who makes Himself known.
The central mystery of Scripture is this: Jesus is fully human — and infinitely more. He is the Son of Man described in Daniel 7: brought before the Ancient of Days, seated amid flames of absolute holiness where nothing impure can stand — yet given universal dominion and glory, right beside the Father. This is no mere human or elevated servant; this is One who shares the very throne of God.
If we refuse this mystery, we will endlessly fight one another. I do not seek to argue anyone into a position — only to plead that we do not diminish who Jesus is, or dismiss the mystery of God. We must hold fast to both truths: His full humanity and His full divinity; His hiddenness and His self‑revelation. It may feel uncomfortable — but faithfulness demands it. We decide not out of fear or a need to simplify, but on the basis of what God has shown us.
Jesus Christ, therefore, as the Logos, is the mystery revealed to us. He comes as a babe, grows as a rabbi, suffers as the Messiah, rises as Lord, ascends as the Son of Man, and sits in divine union next to the Father. This is the Christ that shapes my understanding of God — and of God’s great love.
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