Page 28 - New English Book L

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so forth; for love is the action of the lover and not the
lover himself, just as knowledge or word is the action of
the knowing person and not himself.

I particularly insist on this point because of the
error into which have fallen those who maintain the
eternity and distinct personality of certain attributes
of God. The Verb or the Word of God has been held to
be a distinct person of the Deity; whereas the word of
God can have no other signification than an expression
of His Knowledge and Will. The Qur-án, too, is called
“the word of God,” and some early Muslim doctors of
law asserted that it was eternal and uncreated. The same
appellation is also given to Jesus (pbuh) Christin the Qur-
án - Kalimatun minho, i.e. [1] “the Word from Him (3:45)”.
However, it would be very unreligious to assert that the
Word or Logos of God is a distinct person, and that it
assumed flesh and became incarnate in the shape of a
man of Nazareth or in the form of a book, the former
called “the Christ” and the latter “the Quran”!

To sum up this subject, I insistently declare that the
Word or any other imaginable attribute of God, not only
is it not a distinct divine entity or individuality, but also
it could have no actual (in actu) existence prior to the
beginning of time and creation.

The first verse with which St. Johns Gospel
commenced was often refuted by the early Unitarian
writers, who rendered its true reading as follows: “In the
beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and
the Word was God’s.”

[1] Quran, 4:171. “O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion:
Nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus the son of Mary was (no more
than) an apostle of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit
proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and His apostles. Say not «Trinity»!
Desist, it will be better for you, for Allah is one God Glory be to Him (far exalted is
He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth; and
enough is Allah as a Disposer of affairs.” (Editors)