Jesus As The Word Of God

That last reference is particularly insightful. Here, in the very first verse of John’s first letter, he speaks of the “Word of life” not as a mere concept but as a man “from the beginning”, physical and tangible, capable of being heard and seen and touched. Surely this is a significant pointer for how we ought to read the first verse of John’s Gospel also. Continuing with John’s first letter:

“I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him [that is] from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one [better, ‘evil’ as a human characteristic]. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him [that is] from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you” (1 John 2:13,14, KJV).

Notice in this last passage that the phrase “that is” (twice, and shown in brackets) is italicized in the KJV, indicating the words were added by the translators, supposedly to enhance the meaning. In fact, they are unnecessary. It was not only Jesus who existed from John’s “beginning”, but the “fathers” also — the original disciples, who first heard Jesus speak. These “fathers” were with him “from the beginning”. By contrast, notice that the “young men” and “little children” are not described as having known Jesus “from the beginning”, since they would have become believers later. We see that John’s “from the beginning” is specific, but it is specifically not about the Genesis creation.

This special meaning of “the beginning” seems to be generally consistent in John’s writings (see also 1 John 2:7,24; 3:11; 2 John 1:5).

As John uses the phrase in his Gospel and letters, “the beginning” is obviously patterned after “the beginning” of Genesis. As a consequence, there is great similarity of language, and connection of ideas. And undoubtedly John wished his words to be read as alluding to, and echoing, the Genesis creation — but not actually referring to the Genesis creation. By using such language, he implied that the principles by which the LORD God worked at the very beginning — separating light from darkness, love from hate, life from death, Spirit from flesh, and order from chaos — would also be the principles by which He would work in the next stage of His ongoing “creation”. The apostle John’s “beginning” is not the Genesis “beginning” but the beginning of a new, or spiritual, “creation” in Christ.

In the Genesis-beginning, God ordained the Sun in the heavens when He decreed, “Let there be light.” So likewise, “In the (new, spiritual) beginning”, God testified of Christ: “Let there be light” (cp Gen 1:3 with 2Cor 4:6; Matt 4:16,17; Mark 1:1; Luke 1:1,2; Acts 10:37), and this time a new spiritual Light came into the world. So God ordained His Son Jesus Christ, and from that “beginning” — from that first act — comes God’s new spiritual creation (Rev 3:14).

It is significant that not only John’s gospel but all four Gospels begin, quite sensibly, with a “beginning”:

“A record of the genealogy [‘generation’: KJV; Greek ‘genesis’] of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1).

“The beginning [‘arche’] of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1).

“Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first [‘the beginning’: KJV; ‘arche’] were eyewitnesses and servants of the word… I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning [‘anothen’: from the top, or the beginning]” (Luke 1:1-3).

The beginning of Luke’s Gospel has a wonderful connection with the first verses of John’s Gospel: Luke writes of himself and his companions, who were “from the beginning [Greek ‘arche’] eyewitnesses… of the Word [Greek ‘ho logos’].” This combination of words (“arche… ho Logos”) is identical to the very first phrase of John 1:1: “beginning… the Word.”

It is useful to note that Luke also puts the “beginning” and “the Word” firmly in New Testament times. For him and his fellow-believers, the beginning was not a nebulous one, or even a very ancient one, long before their births. It was in their own time and place, the first-century Greek and Roman world; there they became eyewitnesses of “the Word of God”, Jesus of Nazareth. And it was at that extraordinary “beginning” that they heard his words and touched him as well. Luke’s words are a perfect match for John’s in 1John 1:1:

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.”

The “beginning” described by Luke in Luke 1:1-3 and also by John in 1John 1:1-3 offer us pointers for understanding and explaining that “the Word” which was “in the beginning” (John 1:1) refers to Jesus Christ.

None of these “beginnings” have to do with the early part of Genesis, except in that Genesis was a pattern for this new “beginning” in Christ, to which all the New Testament passages allude. Instead, the Genesis references in the Gospels describe the “beginning” of the Father’s new spiritual “creation”, of which the cornerstone is His Son. In short, they are all about Jesus the man, and not Jesus the “pre-existent god”, or Jesus the “idea” or “purpose”!

2 A. “Creation” and the “New Creation” in the New Testament

Many times in the New Testament the Greek “ktisis” (creation) signifies, not the material, physical creation of Genesis, but the new spiritual creation in Christ. This is a creation — more specifically, a new creation — in and through Christ, by which men and women who bear his name are forgiven and regenerated.

In the New Testament, the “ktisis” family of words is found in nine passages where the literal “creation” of Genesis in plainly intended (Matt 19:4; Mark 10:6; 13:19; Rom 1:20,25; 1 Cor 11:9; 1 Tim 4:3,4; 2 Pet 3:4; Rev 8:9; 10:6). While these passages may have far-reaching implications for other matters beyond Genesis, they are statements firmly grounded in the LORD God’s original creation. So we will set these passages to the side as not relevant to this discussion.

However, another fifteen passages in the New Testament just as plainly refer not to a literal creation but to a new or spiritual “creation” of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. This spiritual aspect is blurred by the KJV which sometimes renders the word as “creature”. This spiritual “creation” describes those who have believed and thus become part of God’s ongoing spiritual “creation”, as well as those who have the potential to do so (Mark 16:15; Rom 8:19-22; 2Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; Eph 2:10; 2:15; 3:9; 4:24; Col 1:15,16; 1:23; 3:10; James 1:18; Rev 3:14; 4:11; 5:13). We shall take a further look at several of these: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation [‘creature’: KJV]; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2Cor 5:17).

Paul speaks of God reconciling unto Himself those who had been separated, and thereby beginning to bring order back to a frail, futile world. God does this through Christ in a second “creation” which is patterned after the first. This is clearly shown by the wider context: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

Elsewhere, Paul again speaks of God as the Creator, but also points to Christ as Creator too, unique in his own work of creation:

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do… [Christ’s] purpose was to create in himself one new man” (Eph 2:10,15).

The phrase “to do good works” defines the purpose for which we are being created anew in Christ, through belief and baptism.

“[Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation [‘every creature’]. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him” (Col 1:15,16).

Christ is the “image” and the “firstborn” of all his creation, because all believers are created by him (v 16). This must be the “new creation”, since Christ is “before all” in point of time (Col 1:17), and all are made out of him (v 17). These figurative expressions are explained by the more literal ones of verse 18: “He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead” (cp also 1Cor 15:20,23). In these last passages particularly, Jesus himself is the One who “creates” — an act which is only possible in the sense of a new, spiritual “creation” of believers — created in him.

Another five passages might seem to fit in either list, since they refer to a literal creation, but with a strong spiritual element also (Rom 8:39; Heb 4:13; 9:11; 1Pet 2:13,14; 4:19). Referring to Heb 4:13: “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (KJV).

The NIV translates a key phrase as “God’s sight”, but that is plainly wrong. While it is true that God knows the thoughts and hearts of all people, it is hardly relevant to this passage, because the word theos does not occur here. The “his” and “him” refer to Jesus Christ as the antecedent, for he is “the Word of God” who “judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb 4:12), especially the hearts of believers.

These last five passages may reinforce the other fifteen listed earlier. This complete listing of “creation” passages gives us only nine passages which are primarily about the literal creation, but at least fifteen and possibly twenty passages which deal to some extent with the spiritual creation. Thus, more than two-thirds of all New Testament “creation” passages are seen to deal, not literally with Genesis, but with the “new creation” in Christ.

Bible “beginnings” are accompanied by “creations”. There could have been no “beginning” in Genesis 1 without the awesome creative activity of the LORD God in and through His angels. And there can be no “beginning” in the New Testament, i.e., the Gospels, without the even greater and more far-reaching creative work of our heavenly Father in and through His Son.

An understanding of such a “new creation” helps to explain John 1:1-18, as well as a number of other supposed “problem passages” in the New Testament. These passages are alleged to teach that Christ had a literal existence with the Father before his conception and birth (i.e., that he had a “pre-existence”), and/ or that Christ was personally responsible for the Genesis creation. But when read properly, such passages are set in the context of a spiritual “creation”, the beginning of which is chronicled in the Gospels.

The man Jesus, who is also “the Word of God”

In the context of such a “beginning” and such a “creation”, “the Word” of John 1:1-18 can scarcely be a vague, philosophical idea. In fact, there is much evidence that “the Word” and “the Word of God” refer to Jesus Christ and are especially appropriate titles for the man who embodied the will of his heavenly Father and communicated that will to the world.

Jesus was a man (Acts 2:22; 1 Tim 2:5; Rom 8:3; Heb 2:14) who spoke God’s words (John 7:16; 8:28; 12:48,49). Thus, one of his names is “the Word of God”. In addition to John 1:1 (where it appears three times), the apostle John uses the phrase “the word of God” and “the word” 14 times in his New Testament writings. Of these uses, at least eight are significant for our discussion, since they appear to use the phrase as a title:

“He called them ‘gods’, to whom the word of God came — and the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35).

“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched” (1 John 1:1). This we proclaim concerning the Word of life”: The “Word of Life” was, according to John, a visible, tangible, physical human being: the Lord Jesus Christ.

“I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you” (1 John 2:14). Here “the Word of God” appears to be parallel to “him (who is) from the beginning”, i.e., Jesus Christ. To “know Christ” is equivalent to having “the Word of God” [i.e., Christ’s influence] living in yourself.

“[John] testifies to everything he saw, that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:2).

“I, John, your brother and companion in the su_ffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Rev 1:9).

“When [the Lamb] opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls [or ‘lives’] of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained” (Rev 6:9).

“I [John] saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God” (Rev 20:4).

Once again, “the Word of God” seems to refer to Christ himself. He was not only “the Word of God made flesh”, but “the flesh of Jesus Christ made God’s Word”. The two were one and the same!

These last four passages from Revelation use “the Word of God” as roughly equivalent either to Jesus Christ or to the saints’ testimony of Jesus Christ. To early believers, “the Word” and “the word of God” were not just literal words, written or spoken. They were a memory — a living, breathing testimony by men and women willing to die for the one great reality in their lives: a living, eternal Son of God who embodied in himself the fullness and perfection of Divine revelation.

“[Jesus Christ] is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God” (Rev 19:13). Here the verse is perfectly plain: Jesus Christ is “the Word of God”!

The use of the “word” (Greek “logos”) as a title for Jesus is not restricted to the writings of John. In the remainder of the New Testament, another half dozen passages, at least, may be interpreted in the same way (Luke 1:1,2; Acts 19:20; Rom 10:8; Heb 4:12,13; James 1:18; 1Pet 1:23). Try reading each one as though it refers to Jesus Christ personally by his title, “The Word of God”.

Luke 1:1,2 and Heb 4:12,13 have already been considered earlier, so we will look at each of the other four: “The Word of the Lord [‘kyrios’] spread widely and grew in power” (Acts 19:20).

When Luke describes this “Word”, he does not mean God’s Truth but especially “the name of the Lord [‘kyrios’] Jesus Christ”, which “was held in high honor” (v 17). “The Word is near you” (Rom 10:8).

The context here is clear, and distinctive: “The word” Paul describes is Christ, who is “the end, or fulfillment, of the Law” (Rom 10:4). And now, Paul says, this personal “Word” need not be sought by ascending into heaven (that is, to bring Christ down) (v 6), nor in “the deep” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead) (v 7), but rather “the Word” is near you, in your mouth and your heart — where the confession is framed that “Jesus is Lord” (vv 8,9).

“[The Father] chose to give us birth through the Word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created” (James 1:18).

“For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God” (1 Pet 1:23).

In the first of these two passages, God’s “new creation” is conceived through the implanted “Word of Truth”, and is born as “a kind of first fruits”. And in the second, the same believers are “born again” by the imperishable seed of the “Word of God”. The “Seed” of God is Jesus Christ, and his titles include “the Word of God”, “the Word of Truth”, and the “Word… made flesh” (John 1:14, KJV). His “precious blood” has been the means of redemption (1 Pet 1:19) for those who in faith (v 7) understand his “sufferings” and “the glories that would follow” (v 11), and seek as “obedient children” (v 14) to follow in his footsteps.

Conclusion

All of John’s Prologue may be read as a statement about Christ — the Logos or “Word” of God in human form and expression — and the work of a new, spiritual Creation which God is carrying on through Christ. Indeed, this is a “Creation” which is far from finished — but one at which the Father and His Son continue to work to this very day. It will not be finished until every last redeemed one has been gathered into the great multitude standing before the throne of God.

Indeed, so far as we know, it may not be finished even then.