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authoritative decisions . Till then Imust beg leave , with duedeTei rence , both to his opinion , and to the learning and honesty of kirn * James ' s translators , to judge for myself , which ^ out of the various interpretations of learned and inquisitive men ^ appears to be the most probable ^ and most agreeable to the connexion . 1 shall therefore now proceed to examine the texts cited in the order in
which they stand . I . John i . l „ ' * In the beginning was the Word , and the Word was with Godj and the Word was God /' Here my friend himself condescends to comment , C ( The Logos or Word is said to have existed in the beginning and to have been with God , which argues his pre-existence . " p . 163 ; But I beg to know what proof can be produced that the expression , * in the beginning / ' must necessarily signify before the creation *" , or even before the birth of Christ . I am not sure
that the word agxP , is ever used in the formersense in the whole [ New Testament , and I am very confident that the sense in which it is commonly used by this writer is that of the beginning of Christ ' s ministry and of the gospel dispensation . Johnxv . 27- Ye have been with me from the beginning . See also John
vi . 64 . xvi . 14 . iJohn i . 1 . n . 7 « 8- iii -11 . In this sense therefore , without any pretension to great ingenuity , or any laboured criticism , I shall take leave to understand it here : and upon this interpretation the declaration of the evangelist is , that at the beginning of his ministry , the Word ., the teacher of truth , Jesus
'Christ , was with God ^ i . e . he had access to him to receive di- » "vine communications . " And the Word was God / ' Crellius ingeniously conjectures that the reading should be 0 sa : the Word was God ' s : the teacher was divine : he had his commision from God , I , however , have no objection to the common reading ; the Word was God , or a God : for our Lord teaches us , Johnx . 35 , that " ¦ they are called gods , to whom the word of God came /* If there-r fore , ( he Jewish prophets are called gods , much more is Jesus , the greatest of the prophets , to whom the spirit was communicated without measure , entitled to that high and honourable appellation .
* Probably the principal reason why the words , " in . the beginning , are so currently understood to signify " before the creation , or . when time began , " is that they happen to coincide with the words with which Moses begins his account o £ the creation , Gen . i . I . Had proper attention beine ; paid to the sense in which this jtvangeiist almost uniformly inscs the word a ^ % n , thi ^ mistake could never have been committed , ai ; d had the words been trunskited " at the first / ' as they mig ht havt > been ., the English reader would not have been so easily misled .
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£ 44 Mr . Behham $ Strictures on Carpenters * L * etture £ .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1807, page 544, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2385/page/36/
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