Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Word

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' " 16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

In Hebrew scripture the word was an agent of creation, (Psalm 33:6), the source of God’s message to his people through the prophets (Hosea 1:2), and God’s law.

In Greek philosophy the word was another expression for God.

John is clearly talking about Jesus Christ and is expressing the fact that he has been around since the beginning of time. He’s not a mythological creature and he didn’t just appear on the scene at the virgin birth. The “in the beginning” phrase used here is the exact same phrase we find in Genesis 1:1.

There isn’t a single thing in creation that was not made by God. Even man made things are made with the things of God. All around the world God’s creation cries out to His existence even though people go to extreme measures to deny Him.

The agents working against God is the darkness we find in verses 4 and 5. They are not necessarily evil and in some cases not even bad but the world’s standards. They are just simply absent from the presence of God.

God is often described as light and that is how you have light in Genesis 1 before the creation of the sun and moon. The light there is the presence of God and darkness is His absence. Some people just simply don’t understand God while others purposely don’t want to understand and yet still some are so ardently opposed to the concept of God that the hate Him and all things or religion.

Not everyone who hears the words of Jesus Christ is going to accept it but those who do will have all the rights of the Children of God including a Holy inheritance. The Word is so much more than just the bible. Jesus Christ makes the word come alive because he is the word became flesh.