Jesus Christ, The Spokesman for God
by Robert Rosskopf

"I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true;
and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him."
(John 8:26)

Jesus is refering to God, his Father. Jesus, by his own testimony, describes himself as a spokesman for God. There isn't a hint that he identifies himself with God in any way. His testimony is simply that God spoke to him and sent him to relay the message.

The Greek word for spokesman is Logos. Jesus was the Logos of God. John starts his gospel with an introduction to Jesus Christ:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him
was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."
(John 1:1-5)

Our modern King James Version owes much to Jerome, who translated the Holy Bible from the Greek to Latin, from which much of the King James Version was again translated. When faced with the word Logos, he had many choices. He chose the simplest, most basic meaning of the word: "word". Thus we have the oft read, if somewhat nonsensical "In the beginning was the Word".

A better translation might be:

"In the beginning was the spokesman, and the spokesman was with God, and the spokesman was a god."

Suddenly a rather mystical and enigmatic phrase makes perfect sense. John was introducing Jesus as a spokesman for God, who was in the beginning with God, and who was a god, and who also created the world.

One quickly wonders if Jerome might have made other mistakes of a similar nature.

"And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God."
(Revelations 19:13)

"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost: and these three are one."
(1 John 5:7)

This last verse is used as the classic argument to support the creed of the Trinity. Many have understood this scripture to mean that God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost are the same person, despite the assertion that these three witnesses are in heaven. I believe a better translation would be "united" and not "one". It seems like the core doctrines of most of modern Christianity lie in the correct translation of a couple of words.