Day 10- The Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [John 1: 1]

"In the beginning..." I think I've heard that line before. Echoes back to another "in the beginning" that we find in Genesis 1: 1. In this first Old Testament book, we get a front seat at the beginning of created history. Now, in John 1: 1, we get a sneak peak behind the curtain to that which existed before our created history, the triune God- the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son, whom we see described in this verse and some of the following verses as "the Word."

The word that we find in this verse for "Word" in Greek is logos. This word/concept was common in Greek philosophy and Jewish thought at the time John was writing. Several Old testament passages such as Psalm 33:6 and Psalm 147: 15-18 personify the word of God as an instrument for the execution of God's will, so when John uses logos with his Jewish audience, he is calling them back to the Old testament association with the personification of God's revelation. For his Greek audience, he is pointing the Grecian use of logos which typically described the intermediate agency by which God created material things and communicated with them. In this philosophy, the logos is the bridge between God and the material world, a mediator of sorts. Let's just say that John knew something of putting spiritual truths in a familiar cultural context that people can understand. He'd be deemed a tremendous missional strategist within our church body today.

While both the Jewish and Grecian understandings of logos apply to Christ and His mission, John uses their familiarity with this concept to lead them to a deeper understanding of Christ as the logos. He is not simply a mediating principle as the Greeks thought. He is a personal being, fully divine and fully human. He is also not only a personification of God's revelation to man, but was, in actuality, God's perfect revelation of Himself in the flesh. Jesus highlights this truth in his conversation with Philip in John 14: 9. To see Jesus was to see the Father. He is the logos, the full expression of God in thought, word, deed, character, and nature.

So, what do we know about this Word?
As we read in John 1, we know that He was present in the beginning. We also know that He was WITH God and yet WAS Himself God. At one time a distinct being and yet a part of the one Godhead. Welcome to the mystery of the trinity. Try and explain it and you'll find yourself dumbfounded. Try and deny it and a plethora of Scripture become impossible to explain.

Further on in John chapter 1, we find that through Him all things were made. In fact, not one thing that has been made was made without Him. This makes sense when you refer back to Genesis 1 and you see that God created with His spoken Word. Who is the spoken word? Christ!

Christ speaks and stars appear in the heavens. He says, "Waters, separate from the sky!" and they do it. Herein lies further evidence for Christ as the almighty. It also shows why Christ says that if we tell mountains to move in His name, it will be done. History has proven it. He told mountains to move and they did!

And again, why does any of this matter??

The fact that Christ is the Word has huge implications for our understanding of who He is. First of all, because He bears this title, we can know that we can trust His representation of the Father. His life, words, and deeds testified perfectly to the character and nature of the Father. Though no one has ever seen the Father and lived, many had the privilege of living alongside Jesus Christ as He ministered on earth. In seeing Him, Jesus told Philip that He had seen the Father too. In the same way, if we do not recognize Jesus as the exact representation of the Father, we cannot say that we know the Father because we have not recognized His Son.

Knowing that Christ is the spoken expression of the Father should lead you and me to pay a lot closer attention. Christ said that He always did what He saw the Father doing. So, what should we be doing? That which we saw Christ doing in the gospels.

I place a tremendous value upon words as a means of expression. I would even go so far as to say that I love and delight in words and being able to express my heart, life, and character through them. (hence the blog :-)) When I think of Christ as the Word that expresses God, I realize that I have not paid enough attention.

How do we come to know the Father? Through coming to know Christ the Son. And how do we do this? Well, it certainly means taking time to fellowship with Him in prayer, learning from/being mentored by more mature believers, listening to the teaching of those who have walked with God for decades. But most of all, I think the importance of knowing Christ and a major means of coming to know Him can be found in the fact that we have been given four separate gospels that focus on his life. It's like reading four biographies about the same person. As we soak in these gospels (or in the titles of Christ we are learning through this study), the Lord will give us greater discernment and open our eyes to see the living Christ at work in our own lives so that we can come to know Him in a personal relationship where we experience Him too.

Christ is the Word. And for the rest of my life, I want to hear Him speak.

Our study tomorrow will be on Christ as "wonderful counselor" in Isaiah 9: 6. We will study this verse for three days afterward as well so I'd love to hear your insight!