What's in a Word?
In the opening words of his gospel, John takes us by the hand and marches us out of time and space and into eternity. In doing this, he challenges us to think deeply about God, who He is, and how He relates to us.
And what is so absolutely amazing, and makes John’s gospel so unique, is how he is able to communicate to the two very different cultures of his day - Jews and Greeks. Jewish philosophy and world view and Greek philosophy and world view could not have been more different. But both Jews and Greeks were familiar with the phrase “the Word.” And John takes this familiar phrase and explains it to both Jews and Greeks through the One whom John calls the “Word that became flesh.”
In today’s post, I want us to reflect on the depth of spiritual meaning found in this phrase, “The Word.” This will set the stage for understanding how John is able to communicate to both Jews and Greeks.
“In the beginning,” John tells us, “was the Word.” Who is this Word? Where is this Word? John tells us: “The Word was with God.” The literal translation of the Greek is - “The Word was face to face with God.” And then, just to be sure we clearly understand what he is saying, John continues - “. . . and the Word was God.”
Two persons, one God. Add the reference to the Spirit in this passage, and we see the Trinity in John’s opening chapter.
When I taught this passage at Seoul International Baptist Church, I called my wife, Sherri, to the front. Together, we stood before the congregation face to face, nose to nose. I reminded our people of the opening words of Genesis. The exact same words John uses to begin his gospel - “In the beginning.” I also reminded them of the words found in Genesis, chapter two, about husband and wife who “become one flesh.”
It was a human illustration of a divine truth and pales in comparison to what John is saying, but it served a purpose and pointed to the higher truth. Sherri and I are one. But our oneness is human, not divine, imperfect, not perfect. But the Father and Son! Two, yet one!
I want to ask you a question - what happens when husband and wife come together intimately as one? Life! Creation! Babies!
Now, take that truth and lift it high into the heavens. Strip away from it any finite, earthly, limited thinking that reduces it to something less than the eternal reality it is. Do that, and you have the beginning of the Christmas story - “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (1:14)
These words describe the birth of Jesus, not as Matthew or Luke, from a historical perspective but from John’s deeply spiritual perspective. And unlike Matthew and Luke, John goes on in this first chapter to link the physical birth of Jesus with the spiritual birth of all who, in his words, “believe in his name.” These, John says, are “children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (1:12-13)
Jesus was born of the flesh so that we might be born of the Spirit. Reborn. Remade. Recreated. The brokenness and curse of the Fall we read about in Genesis, chapter three, is removed through the Word who became flesh.
And here’s an aside, but one that relates to what John is saying. In John 20:15, Mary mistakes the resurrected Jesus for who? The gardener! This is another example of the deeply spiritual nature of this gospel. John describes both the birth and resurrection of Jesus using words and images from the opening chapters of Genesis.
Paul describes it this way in I Corinthians 15:45: “The first Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.”
Tomorrow, our focus will be on the two-fold meaning of the “Word” as understood by Jews and Greeks. And we will see how God’s Son fulfills both philosophies, but in a way neither Jew nor Greek could imagine or understand from a human perspective. And here’s a heads up - we wrestle with these same misunderstandings today.
In Christ,
Dan
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