Written by Viner Hall

Brethren Of Christ Articles - Articles Expounding Biblical Subjects

“In the beginning was the Logos (Word) and the Logos was with Theos (God), and the Logos was God.” . . . . .  “And the Logos was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,” (John 1:1 & 1:14).

 Though John introduces two words into the text, he is careful to inform us that they are not representative of two Gods contemporary with the beginning, but of one only; for he expressly says that “Logos was Theos.”

 In this text then, there is ONE DEITY, and He is styled The Logos.  This word signifies, “the form by which the inward thought is expressed and made known; also, the inward thought or reason itself.  So that the word comprehends both the ideas of reason and speech,” (Eureka Vol.1, p. 90).

 The word that puzzles you in the first few verses of John’s  Gospel, has puzzled a good many people besides you.  The doctrine of the Logos (as it is called) as it is generally explained, is very difficult to receive, the chief reason for this being the lack of a word in our British language that could mean all the word Logos meant.  After trying to find such a word for years, we think we stumbled across it in the word Scheme.  For like Logos that word means both the thought itself, and the thing thought of.  For example, a man can say “let me show you this Scheme,” and produce it on paper, while when it is carried out, it is still referred to as the “Scheme.”  So it is both the thought and the thing.  Now take the words in the first verses of John’s Gospel, and put them thus: “In the beginning was the Scheme and the Scheme was with God (shut up in His mind undeclared, unmanifested), and the Scheme was God (His thought’s conception, the result of being what He was Himself).  The same was in the beginning with God (here you get the emphasis repeated again that the Scheme was with God, and the repetition shows that that is the point of the argument.)”  “But the only begotten of the Father, he hath declared him.”  In other words Jesus is the thought embodied that was shut up in the mind of God, and made plain to us, “and we beheld his glory.”  Perhaps if we illustrate this you will see it better.  Years ago lived a man with all sorts of ideas.  One of them was that he would like to build one of the most beautiful churches in the world, and this man could see with his mind’s eye the Church he wanted to build.  But it was not much use till he could show it to people, so he made a drawing of it and at last they gave him money to make something of his Scheme.  Then he gathered together stones, and bricks and mortar and his Scheme was made into a cathedral.  “And stayed among us,” and everybody can now see the glory of St. Paul’s Cathedral, which once was only a “Scheme” shut up in the mind of Sir Christopher Wren.  Another man used to live in Suffolk, who had wonderful eyes.  They used to take snapshots of beautiful scenes in fields, like a camera does now.  Of course he only saw the beauty in his own mind, but he could not show it to anyone.  At last the desire to show others what he saw made him take brushes and paints and he put that wonderful Scheme of colour on canvas, stroke by stroke, and the Scheme was made a picture. “And it stayed with us,” and in the National Gallery you can see some of those wonderful pictures by Constable, that once were only beautiful Schemes shut up in his mind.  There was another man who had wonderful ears.  Every one of you can hear the Band play, but his inside ear could hear music before it was played.  Everything he knew that touched or pleased him used to turn into music inside him, and one day he heard the story of the love of Christ, and it set itself to music in his mind, but while the music was only in his mind, it was only a Scheme.  So he wrote it out note by note, so that the man who played the organ, or the violin, or the big cello, or the trumpets or the drums could read what he wanted played and the Scheme was made music.  “And stayed with us” and we can all hear the glory of the “Messiah” that once was only a scheme shut up in Handel’s mind.

 Now you can understand how God once had a Scheme in his mind.  He saw in His mind’s eye the Scheme of a beautiful man who would embody His own thought, mind and disposition — a man who would reveal and manifest His own beneficent intentions towards the fallen human race and bring about their salvation conformable with His own righteous principles.

 But it was not much use so long as the Scheme was shut up in His mind.  So just as Sir Christopher Wren’s Scheme was made a building and Constable’s Scheme a picture, and Handel’s Scheme music, so God’s Scheme “was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we behold his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father full, of Grace and Truth.

 “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him”.