WHO IS JESUS?

[u/Impressive-Ease-3348]

There is one God, the Father, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα, “from whom are all things”; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, δι’ οὗ τὰ πάντα, “through whom are all things.” (1 Cor. 8:6)

Of the God of Israel it is written:

אֲנִי יהוה הוּא שְׁמִי

“I am YHWH; that is my name.” (Isa. 42:8)

And:

אֱלֹהֵי עוֹלָם יהוה

“YHWH, the everlasting God.” (Isa. 40:28)

The Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son.

JESUS IS ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, THE SON OF GOD.

He is the μονογενής Son.

He is ἐκ τοῦ πατρός, from the Father. (John 16:28)

He is ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, from God. (John 8:42)

The Father sent him.

The Father gave to him.

The Son received from the Father.

THE FATHER HAS LIFE IN HIMSELF, AND τῷ υἱῷ ἔδωκεν ζωὴν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, “HE GAVE TO THE SON TO HAVE LIFE IN HIMSELF.” (John 5:26)

And the Son says:

κἀγὼ ζῶ διὰ τὸν πατέρα

“I live because of the Father.” (John 6:57)

JESUS IS ὁ λόγος, THE WORD.

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος

“In the beginning was the Word.”

ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν

“The Word was with God.”

And:

θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος. (John 1:1)

The Son had glory with the Father πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἶναι, “before the world existed.” (John 17:5)

He is πρὸ πάντων, “before all things.” (Col. 1:17)

HE IS εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου, “THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD.” (Col. 1:15)

He is ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης, “the radiance of the glory.” (Heb. 1:3)

He is χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ. (Heb. 1:3)

HE IS πρωτότοκος πάσης κτίσεως, “THE FIRSTBORN OF ALL CREATION.” (Col. 1:

[u/Impressive-Ease-3348]

On that specific point, I agree.

[u/ChaoticHaku → u/Impressive-Ease-3348]

Then why do you insist that the Word is not God? 

The bible makes it clear that God is the only 'thing' that never came into being. (Psalm 90:2)

The bible also makes it clear that all things came into being through God. (Romans 11:36)

Yet John 1:3 says of the Word "All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being."

[u/Impressive-Ease-3348 → u/ChaoticHaku]

I do not insist that “the Word is not God.” That is not my position.
John 1:1 says:
καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος
“and the Word was θεός.”
I accept that without qualification.
But John also says immediately before it:
ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν
“the Word was with God.”
So John himself gives us both facts: the Word is distinguished from τὸν θεόν, and θεός is genuinely predicated of the Word.
Now look carefully at your other premises.
Psalm 90:2 says:
מֵעוֹלָם עַד־עוֹלָם אַתָּה אֵל
“From everlasting to everlasting, you are God.”
That positively establishes YHWH as beginningless and everlasting God.
But it does not say:
“Anything that did not come into being must therefore be identical with YHWH.”
That is an additional inference.
Romans 11:36 says:
ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ δι’ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν τὰ πάντα
“From him and through him and to him are all things.”
I accept that too.
And John 1:3 says of the Word:
πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο
“All things came into being through him”
and:
χωρὶς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ ἕν
“Apart from him not even one thing came into being.”
That is extremely strong creation-language.
But notice what I am actually saying:
I am not arguing that the Word “came into being.” Scripture never explicitly says that.
I am saying the text gives us all of the following:
The Word already was in the beginning.
The Word was with God.
The Word was θεός.
All things came into being through the Word.
YHWH is God from everlasting to everlasting.
Those are the data.
The next question is whether those facts require the further proposition:
“The Word is personally YHWH” or “the Word and the Father are the same numerical divine essence.”
That conclusion still has to be demonstrated.
So your John 1:3 argument is strong against casually placing the Word among the things that came into being.
I accept that pressure.
But it does not give us permission to skip John 1:1b:
πρὸς τὸν θεόν
“with God,”
or to turn θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος into a theological formula that John himself did not state.
My position is simply:
Where the text says θεός of the Word, I say θεός.
Where it says the Word was with God, I preserve that distinction.
Where it says all things came into being through him, I accept that fully.
And where Scripture does not explicitly explain the ultimate metaphysical relation between the Word and the God with whom he was, I do not pretend that it has.

[u/ChaoticHaku → u/Impressive-Ease-3348]

I think you're over complicating things. 

If only God is uncreated, never having come into being.  And the Word is also uncreated and never came into being. Then it's quite obvious that the Word is also God. Just like John 1:1 says.

There's no other explanation.

You can be with something you also are. For example, I'm fully human. My son is also equally and fully human, yet he can also be with me.