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GOD BECOMING MAN IS A LOGICAL NECESSITY

The Greek notion of the Logos was an impersonal force; for the Jews, the Logos was a creative divine force. However, the term Logos effectively served John’s purpose in raising Christ, not as mere “reason” or “wisdom” or “Sophia,” but as a “person in the flesh.” John’s writing is distinctively peculiar because of the way John portrays Jesus as preexistent as well as the life-giving Logos. 

GOD BECOMING MAN IS A LOGICAL NECESSITY

   When I say that God becoming man is a logical necessity, I am not implying that God is obliged to become human. Instead, I am highlighting that the transition of the Logos, which embodies physical life or bios, involves a series of deterministic and irreversible steps essential for its realization. Can anyone force God to become a human? No! It’s not a matter of coercion or external force compelling God to undertake this act; rather, it pertains to the fundamental dynamics within the divine essence. From a logical standpoint, the incarnation can be perceived as necessary for bridging the gap between the divine and the human. Through the incarnation, God can enter the human condition, experience its joys, sorrows, and complexities firsthand, and relate to and comprehend on a more tangible level. Only through the incarnation does the infinite transform into the finite, the eternal transitions to evanescent, the immortal becomes the mortal, and the intangible manifests as tangible, thus making the incarnation a logical necessity and a profound demonstration of divine love and compassion toward humanity.  there exists the necessity of divine intent—an inherent purpose within the divine essence to engage with humanity tangibly and experientially. This intent emerges from the very nature of God's omniscience and omnipotence, embodying an understanding and will that seeks to commune with creation.

 

   Secondly, the process involves the divine decision to manifest within the confines of human existence, necessitating a voluntary descent from the divine realm into the realm of mortality and materiality. This decision reflects the depth of divine love and compassion, compelling God to bridge the ontological gap between the divine and the human. Thirdly, the incarnation entails the assumption of human form, marking a profound transformation wherein the divine essence becomes intertwined with human nature. This union is not merely symbolic but entails a genuine embodiment within the limitations and vulnerabilities of human existence.

 

   Finally, there is the irreversible act of dwelling among humanity, wherein the divine presence manifests in the person of Jesus Christ, living a life that exemplifies both divinity and humanity. These four essential steps—divine intent, voluntary descent, assumption of human form, and dwelling among humanity—form the logical framework through which God becomes man, reflecting the intricate interplay between divine sovereignty and compassionate engagement with creation. This direct encounter allows for a more profound empathy and connection between God and man, enabling a more profound comprehension of human nature and a more meaningful avenue for divine intervention.  By incarnating as a human, God provides a tangible manifestation of the divine that humans can relate to and comprehend on a more tangible level. This embodiment bridges the infinite and the finite, offering humanity a more accessible means of encountering and understanding the divine. In this way, the incarnation becomes a logical necessity and a profound expression of divine love and compassion towards humanity.

 

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    In Greek, “Logos” is translated as “Word.” I would call the Logos, Intelligent Information. Five hundred years before the coming of Christ, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus proposed Logos as a “Universal force of reason” or “creative force” that controlled the world and concluded that things happen in the world according to the creative force of the Logos. Subsequently, the Stoic philosophers also held on to the assertion that Logos represented “reason” through which everything came into being. Similarly, the same idea of “reason” was embraced by Plato (429–347 B.C.) and Aristotle (384–322 B.C.) to mean “rational explanation.”Nevertheless, Plato and Aristotle believed that not all animate objects can “reason.” Philo of Alexandria (c.20 BCE—40 CE), a Hellenized Jew from Alexandria, gave a Hellenistic interpretation of Messianic Hebrew thought for Logos. Philo interpreted Mosaic writings in light of the Greek philosophical system. Philo’s conception comes from Plato’s Timaeus, according to which the Logos is the direct “agent of creation,” not God Himself. Philo believed the Logos was the shadow of a man of God or an instrument of creative activity. The Logos converted the unshaped, unqualified, preexistent matter of disorder and confusion into primordial elements and out of this essence, God created everything by the agency of his “incorporeal powers” or “ideas.” 1

   

   In the early part of the first century A.D., the Jews used the Aramaic word “memra” in the Targums (interpretation of religious passages) as a personal expression of God. When Moses brought the Israelites out of the camp to meet Jehovah God (“Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain” Exodus 19:17), the Targums interpreted it when Moses brought them to meet the Word (memra) of the Lord. ²

   

   The Greek notion of the Logos was an impersonal force; for the Jews, the Logos was a creative divine force. Greek philosophers could not elevate “reason” to personification because, in their minds, the impersonal God appearing in person was unrealistic. John’s writing addressed the Jewish audience who would not admit Christ's deity (they believed He was born of fornication). Yet John follows the way the Jews viewed the Logos (as the divine force). John uses a variety of examples to make sure that the Jews know whom he is talking about. For instance, John mentions the seven “I AM” statements of Jesus and the Old Testament Genesis account that begins with the phrase “In the beginning God created.”

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   Hence, the term Logos effectively served John’s purpose in raising Christ, not as mere “reason” or “wisdom or Sophia, but as a “person in the flesh.” John’s writing is distinctively peculiar because of the way John portrays Jesus. John could have penned, “In the beginning was Jesus.” Rather than directly saying Jesus was in the beginning, he starts with the phrase, “In the beginning was the Word.” John continued, “The word was with God, and the Word was God.” In 2 Timothy 3:16, we read, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

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   The inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives every Scripture. The Holy Spirit instructed John to specifically mention Jesus as the Word because Jesus existed at the beginning as the Word, not in the flesh. John clarifies that the Logos is neither reason nor Sophia (wisdom) nor idea but a person. John also distinguishes the personified Logos from God the Father as well. That is why John’s conception of the Logos is unique (more towards the Hebrew thought of memra) in that He personifies the Logos. John’s Logos is pre-existing as well as life-giving. When the invisible life-giving Logos became the physical living Logos, He was destined to “give up life” as a ransom for many.

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   However, the Jewish understanding of the Word does not have a “Messianic relevance,” still, John’s personification of Jesus is thought, not merely in the setting of a redemptive Messianic expression in thought but physically manifesting in the form. From a genetic perspective, manifesting in the flesh refers to constructing the DNA in the physical, living Word “ATGC.” The material, visible written DNA Word, ATGC is the image of the spiritual, invisible Logos or Word. Without the expression of this written physical word, the incarnation would not get to a realization. That which is hidden as Logos in the invisible spirit form in John 1:1 is conceived in a virgin womb and expressed as the visible DNA Word ATGC in John 1:14.

 

   John’s writing focuses on two significant aspects of the Logos: 1. The preexisting Logos is a life-giving Word (Creator of life or instrument of creation); 2. The pre-existing Logos became the physical life through the DNA Word ATGC (amalgamating with matter).

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1.www.iep.utm.edu/phil
2. Kyle Pope. A Study of the Logos Doctrine: www.bible.ca/ef/expository-john-1–1-

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LETTING HUMANITY KNOW HOW JESUS CHRIST FULFILLED

THE ETERNAL QUEST OF MAN AS REVEALED IN THE HUMAN

GENOME/THE BOOK OF LIFE.​

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