do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with him' (3:2).

God was `with' the Lord Jesus Christ in the sense of meta, but that

is not the meaning here, for John does not use this word. Meta does

not imply so close and intimate a fellowship as some other prepositions

which we are to examine. Its root meaning is `after', as in the word

`Metaphysics', the treatise written by Aristotle `after' the one on

Physics. It denotes association, however, for one thing could not come

after another unless it were joined in some sort of sequence.

Next let us take the preposition sun. Was the Logos `with' God in

the sense that sun would indicate? Sun (syn, sym) indicates a closer

association than is implied by meta, and is used largely by the apostle

Paul in speaking of the fellowship that exists between the members of

the One Body and Christ, the Head. It only occurs three times in this

Gospel (12:2; 18:1 and 21:3) and is not used at all in John's epistles or

the Apocalypse. Since sun is not used here, we conclude that the Word

is not there represented as being merely `in fellowship' with God.

Another possible preposition could have been para. Was the Logos

`with' God in the sense that para would indicate? This word means

`beside' as in `parallel', and occurs in 16:27, `I came out from the

Father'- i.e. `from beside the Father'. Para can therefore be used, just

as meta can, to indicate certain relationships between the Father and

the Son, but neither meta nor para is used.

We will not go on to deal with the remaining possible prepositions,

but come at once to the positive teaching of the passage. The word

actually used by John is the preposition pros. The Logos, as revealed

by John was not simply `with God' in the sense of being coexistent,

einai meta (`He that was with thee beyond Jordan' 3:26); or united by

things held in common, einai sun (`This man was also with Him',

Luke 22:56); or in connection with local relations, einai para (`The

glory which I had with Thee before the world was', John 17:5); but in

a sense different from any of these, that could only be expressed by the

preposition pros.

At this point, let us turn for a moment to the fourth chapter of

Hebrews, where the same word pros is used.  It would seem

presumptuous for any one person, unless most fully qualified to speak,

to suggest that all existing translations of Hebrews 4:13 have missed

the mark; and yet, as we shall see, there is much to be said for a more