That the "the Word [the Son] was with (apud, πρὸς) God [the Father]" means that the Father and Son are distinct Divine Persons yet inseparably united (since God is supremely simple/one). St. Thomas Aquinas writes (De veritate, q. 4 a. 2 s.c. 2):
In the Gospel according to St. John (1:1) we read:...
And the Word (the Son) was with God (the Father) and the Word (the Son) was God (...). What would belong in the last parenthesis? It cannot be the Father.
@MikeBorden That means the Son is consubstantial (has the same Divine Essence) with the Father. Sometimes God means God the Father (1st Person of the Trinity); sometimes it means the Divine Essence.
@MikeBorden Why does something have to be in your "parenthesis?" That's the end of the verse. (And this not a criticism). However, one can surmise that the Son is definitely God the Son. Also, verse 2 says "He/This one, meaning Jesus Christ was in the beginning with God and verse 3 explains what the Son was doing with His Father before the beginning of time and space. Just my two cents!
@Mr.Bond So Jesus was with his father before time and space began. ✅. But we don’t know when time and space began.✅ but in the beginning the heavens and earth were created ✅ and that was when the angels in heaven applauded. Job 38:5-7 So the angels were created before the beginning in gen 1:1. If time and space began to exist with the creation of the physical universe then all angels existed before the beginning of time.
@Kris Time and space were created for our benefit, what does it matter that the angels were there before the beginning of our existence? Where do you place Jesus in all of this and what was he doing?
@Mr.Bond in the past you have said that John 1:1 beginning and gen 1:1 beginning is same . That nothing was created before this beginning. It seems now you are open to the angels having been created before this beginning.
@Kris No, I "NEVER" said that. I said and I have always said that Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 start out with the same words, "in the beginning." I also said that the Genesis 1:1 beginning is what HAPPENED in the beginning. The John 1:1 beginning is stating who "EXISTED" in the beginning. John 1:1-3 back up what I stated. You know, vs3, "All things came into being by Him." Who's the "Him?"
@Kris Here is what I said and have been saying for well over 50 years, when you were about 10 years old sitting on a teeter totter. hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/73231/… You have a habit of mis-reading and mis-understanding what I say.
@Kris Your still missing my point. I know there are not two beginnings. I'm explaining that the "in the beginning" at Genesis 1:1 is what happened, God creating etc. The John 1:1 "in the beginning" is abut WHO existed in the beginning. Do you agree that Jesus Christ pre-existed the Genesis 1:1 beginning?
We agree that Jesus existed with Jehovah when creation of the universe commenced. We agree that Gen 1:1 is referring to the start of the creation of the universe.
Do we agree that at that beginning in John 1:1 and gen1:1. The heavenly host had already been created?
Discussion on answer by Geremia: What…
Discussion on answer by Geremia: What…