Who Is the Word?
Who is the Word?
John 1:1-18
Since the early centuries after Christ, Christian doctrine
in many instances has taught that Jesus was co-existent
with God—Jesus either in spirit or in some other form
was with God from the beginning. The doctrines which
hold or have held this idea that God is Jesus and Jesus
is God substantiate their beliefs by isolating bits of Biblical
texts. Genesis 1:26 is their initial point of departure
where God says, “Let us make man in our image. . . .”
“Us” and “our” are interpreted to mean God and Jesus
Christ.
This Scripture is no proof of Jesus’ existence in the
beginning. The first person plural pronouns, “us” and
“our,” are used to indicate the magnitude of the incident
to which God related Himself. A monarch often uses the
plural pronoun when speaking of himself in his official
position. For example, to this very day Elizabeth II uses
the expression “we” when speaking of herself. Elizabeth
is not a “we” but yet she speaks of herself in her official
position in the plural. In this same grammatical sense God
employs the plural pronouns. “Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness. . . .”
The Bible teaches that there is only one true God, that
God was in Christ,* that God is Spirit,† and that God
is eternal whereas Jesus was born. Matthew 1:18 says,
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. . . .”
The word for “birth” is gennēsis, genō meaning “beginning”
and nēsos meaning “island, or something separate
from the main body.”**
The first chapter of the Gospel of John has been misread
and interpreted as follows: “In the beginning was
Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ was with God, and Jesus
Christ was God.” This is not what the verse says.
John 1:1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God.
The question of John 1:1 is: Who is “the Word” or
what is “the Word.” Genesis 1:1 plainly states, “In the
beginning God. . . .” God alone was from the beginning,
therefore, it is God who is “the Word” of John 1:1.
How does God who is Spirit communicate Himself as
“the Word” with man who is flesh? Human beings communicate
with each other by way of symbols, be they
spoken words, pictures or sign language. These symbols
communicate ideas and thoughts. But Spirit cannot communicate
with mind, senses or reason as they are two
separate and well-defined categories. Spirit and flesh are
in two different realms and each one must stay within its
own boundary. Spirit can communicate with spirit only,
and flesh by way of its senses can communicate only with
the senses or the material realm. How then does God
overcome these communication barriers?
God who is Spirit manifests Himself to men in the
flesh in three ways: (1) by His Spirit which was upon
special people in the Old Testament and which is in those
born again during our administration; (2) by His only begotten
Son, Jesus Christ; (3) by His written Word,
including the spoken words of the prophets.
God, to manifest Himself in the world of the flesh,
had to use a concrete form for the senses to recognize.
God gave the revealed Word so that man by his natural
faculties might be able to understand the communication
from God. When John 1:1 says, “. . .and the Word was
with God,” it refers to both (1) the written Word which
has come to us as the Bible and (2) His created Word
which is known as Jesus Christ. If in John 1:1 the word
“revealed” were placed before “Word,” the verse would
be precise and Biblically accurate: “In the beginning
was the Word [God] and the [revealed] Word was with
God. . . .”
How was this revealed Word with God? The Word
was with God in His foreknowledge. God is omniscient,
knowing all things: He knew from before the foundation
of the world that the formed, made and created man
would sin; He knew from before the foundation of the
world that Jesus Christ would redeem man; He knew
from before the foundation of the world that it would be
possible for man to be born again; He knows our end as
well as our beginning. This is what John 1:1 literally says.
The revealed Word was with God in His foreknowledge;
the revealed Word was later to be manifested in writing
as the Bible and in the flesh as Jesus Christ.
How was Jesus with God in the beginning? In the
same way that the written Word was with Him—in God’s
foreknowledge. God knew that Jesus Christ would be
born and that He would redeem man. From the beginning
Jesus Christ was with God in His foreknowledge,
as we the chosen of God were called in Him in His foreknowledge.
Ephesians 1:4 says, “According as he [God]
hath chosen us in him [God] before the foundation of
the world. . . .” We were in God’s foreknowledge.
God, who is Spirit, to manifest Himself in concretion,
necessitated revealing Himself and His will in words and
in His human Son. He revealed Himself through The
Word, logos. God’s communication of Himself as the
logos came into manifestation when “. . .holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”***
And, when the fullness of time came, Jesus Christ who
was God’s communication of Himself in the flesh, was
born.††
“And the word was God” means that the written Word
was as much God speaking as the words of Jesus Christ
were God speaking.
John 1:2:
The same was in the beginning with God.
“The same” is this revealed Word which was with God
in His foreknowledge from the very beginning. Verse 2
is a repetition of what we just noted in verse 1.
Why the repetition? To establish what has been said.
Whenever God doubles a statement in The Word, the
absoluteness is established.‡ This truth concerning the
revealed Word is so great, so magnificent and so wonderful,
that God had it written twice just to emphasize it
and to indicate the definite establishment of the truth of
John 1:1.
The preposition “with” in verses 1 and 2 of John 1
further confirms this whole truth: “. . .and the Word was
with [pros] God. . . . The same was in the beginning
with [pros] God.” There are a vast number of different
Greek prepositions translated “with,” but only pros could
fit here. Pros means “together with and yet having distinct
independence.” The revealed Word was together
with God and yet distinctly independent of Him. This
removes the guessing from John 1:1 and 2 and makes it
logical and in order with the laws used in language as
well as with the whole Word of God.
John 1:1, 2:
In the beginning was the Word [God], and the [revealed]
Word was with [pros] God [with Him in
His foreknowledge, yet independent of Him], and
the Word was God.
The same [revealed Word] was in the beginning with
[pros] God.
Verse 2 could literally read, “The same [the written
Word which is the Bible and the Word in the flesh which
is Jesus Christ] was in the beginning with God [in His
foreknowledge].”
The following Scriptures enable us to more fully understand
God’s communication to man by way of the
prophets who gave us the written Word and by His Son
Jesus Christ who was sent by God.
Psalms 107:20:
He [God] sent his word [by way of the prophets],
and healed them. . . .
John 5:36:
. . .the same works that I do, bear witness of me,
that the Father hath sent me.
John 5:38:
And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom
he hath sent, him ye believe not.
John 17:3:
. . .that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Verse 3 continues the information divulged in the first
two verses of John 1.
John 1:3:
All things were made by him [God]; and without him
[God] was not any thing made that was made.
We must always remember that only God was in the
beginning as stated in Genesis 1:1. God was the sole
mover.
John 1:4:
In him [God] was life; and the life was the light of
men.
What was this life which was in God and which was
the light of men? This life was the Spirit of God which
is the light of God given in concretion. This spirit of
God was upon all the prophets who spoke and wrote
God’s mind and will. Finally it was upon Jesus Christ
Himself.**** The spirit of God was spiritual revelation from
God to men of God. Not everything that God revealed
to the prophets was written down. Prophets frequently
spoke the Word of God and then did not write it down.
Other times the prophets wrote down what they spoke.
Some of the spoken Word of the prophets we do not have,
but the Word we do have in writing was and still is “the
light of men.”
II Peter 1:21:
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man: but holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost.
Not everything that God has revealed to man is recorded
in the Bible, but that which is needed for salvation and
for our learning is recorded. This is the meaning of the
record in John 1:4, “. . .and the life was the light of men.”
The revelation came to men of God who spoke as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit; they either uttered it
verbally and/or made it known by way of writing, thus
“holy men of God spake.”*****
John 1:5:
And the light [God, I John 1:5] shineth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not.
How did the light shine in darkness before the coming
of Jesus Christ? By way of the men of God who
spoke or wrote God’s mind and will. The written Word
continues today to shine in the darkness of this world.
Darkness cannot bring forth light, neither can darkness
overcome light. One small candle is powerful enough to
penetrate and dispel darkness. So also is God’s revelation
of Himself in His Word—“the darkness comprehended
it not,” the darkness could not quench the light.
John 1:6-8:
There was a man sent [commissioned] from God,
whose name was John.
The same [John] came for a witness, to bear witness
of the Light [God], that all men through him [John]
might believe.
He [John] was not that Light [God], but was sent to
bear witness of that Light [God].
The ministry of John is given in these three verses.
God commissioned John for a special purpose of bearing
witness. He came specifically to carry forth the sender’s
message.
John 1:9:
That was the true Light [God], which lighteth every
man that cometh into the world.
God is the “true light.” How does God “light” every
man who comes into the world? By His revealed Word.
God’s revealed Word continues to light every man, even
the unbeliever. Without the “true light,” there would be
total, impenetrable darkness in this world.
The focal point of these opening verses in the Gospel
of John sets before us with utmost clarity the centrality
of God. We note the added emphasis on God in the verses
following.
John 1:10-12:
He [God] was in the world [by the revealed Word],
and the world was made by him [God], and the world
knew him [God] not.
He [God] came unto his own [to Israel by the revealed
Word spoken and written, and later in Jesus
Christ], and his own [Israel] received him [the revealed
Word both spoken and written, and later Jesus
Christ] not.
But as many as received him [God, by the revealed
Word spoken and written, and later in Jesus Christ],
to them gave he [God] power [exousia, to exercise
the privilege] to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on [unto] his name [namesake, Jesus
Christ].
A literal translation of verse 12 would be, “But as
many as walked according to the revealed Word given
to the prophets and later the revealed Word, Jesus Christ,
to them God gave the privilege of adoption as sons of
God, to those who continued believing unto the name
of Jesus Christ.” The word “on” is the preposition eis,
meaning “unto.” Euclid, the mathematician, used the word
eis, meaning motion along a line from a starting point
to the point at which one wished to arrive. This is its
usage in this verse: “. . .to them who continue believing
unto [continuously continue to believe on] his name. . . .”
Israel remained as adopted sons only so long as they
continued believing. The Israelites were not sons of God
by birth but when Israel believed “unto [eis] His name,”
God adopted them as sons.
“Even to them that believe on his name” refers to the
name of Jesus Christ which is above every other human
name. He, Jesus Christ, was the “namesake” of God,
which name relates back to the source of all life, God.
John 1:13:
Which were [who was] born [conceived], not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God.
The first word, “which,” must be the word “who,”
referring to the “namesake” of verse 12, Jesus Christ. The
word “born” is the same word as “begotten”: “Who was
born [begotten], not of blood. . . .” You and I are born
of blood. All Israel was born of blood. Hebrews 2:14
says, “. . .children are partakers of flesh and blood. . . .”
The only one who did not partake as the natural man in
the life of the flesh, which is in the blood, was Jesus
Christ. Therefore, John 1:13 refers only to Jesus Christ.
It was Jesus Christ “who was born, not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Jesus Christ’s existence began when He was conceived
by God’s creating the soul-life of Jesus in Mary. God
created, brought into existence, this life in an ovum in
Mary’s womb.
There are a number of different Greek words used in
the Bible for “will.” Thelēma is the Greek word used in
this verse: “nor of the will [thelēma] of the flesh.” Thelēma
means “to desire or anticipate but not to determine.”
In this verse thelēma is a wonderful usage, far beyond
what we realize when we first read it. “Which were
[Who was] born not of blood, nor of the will [thelēma]
of the flesh, nor of the will [thelēma] of man. . . .” Man
might desire or anticipate the Christ, but man could not
will, determine, Jesus Christ’s birth. Man could never say,
“Now I am going to produce the Christ,” because Jesus
Christ was not born according to the will [thelēma] of
the flesh. . . .” Every woman had the physical potential
to bring forth Jesus Christ, but the will of a human
being could not determine this bringing forth of Jesus
the Christ because He was born by the will, the determination
of God.
John 1:14:
And the Word [revealed Word—Jesus Christ] was
made flesh [the conception], and dwelt among us
[His birth nine months later], (and we beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth.
We beheld [intently observed] his [Jesus Christ’s]
glory [greatness]. Jesus Christ always did the will of the
Father.****** Jesus Christ in the flesh declared God unto man-
kind.‡‡ Jesus Christ, the promised One, was the only begotten
of the Father because God created soul-life in
the womb of a woman only once.
John 1:18:
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared [exēgeomai, made known] him.
“In the bosom” is an Oriental idiom meaning love,
comfort and rest.††† Jesus Christ was in the bosom of the
Father, in the foreknowledge of God. Jesus Christ, the
only-begotten Son was in the bosom, in the love, comfort
and in the rest of the Father who knew all from the
beginning. Jesus Christ then made known the Father.
In a study on “Who Is the Word,” in addition to the
opening verses in the Gospel of John, we must also consider
the following Scriptures.
As noted previously, Jesus Christ’s existence began
when God created soul-life in the womb of Mary.
John 3:13:
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that
came down from heaven, even the Son of man which
is in heaven.
“Came down from heaven” was the conception or creation
of life in the womb of Mary for the Son of man.
Colossians 1:14-18 contains a figure of speech which
must be carefully noted for a clear understanding of God’s
Word.
Colossians 1:14, 15:
In whom [Jesus Christ] we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness [aphesin, remission]
of sins:
Who [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of every creature.
God is invisible because He is Spirit. Jesus Christ was
visible; He was the image spiritually of the invisible God;
and, being in concretion, He did declare the Father who
is God.
Verses 16 and 17 of Colossians I are a parenthetical
phrase, a figure of speech which is an explanation. When
a parenthesis is employed, one must proceed in reading
from the last word preceding the parenthesis to the first
word after the parenthesis. No thought continuity is lost,
and the truth is quickly evident.
Reading from the last word of verse 15 directly on to
verse 18 without reading the parenthesis of verses 16
and 17 will give the following statement.
Verse 15:
Who [Jesus Christ] is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of every creature:
Verse 18:
And he [Jesus Christ] is the head of the body, the
church. . . .
The parenthetical verses, 16 and 17, refer to what God
did.
Colossians 1:16, 17:
For by him [God] were all things created, that are
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers: all things were created by him
[God], and for him [God]:
And he [God] is before all things, and by him [God]
all things consist [cohere, were created].
The people who say that all things were created by
Jesus Christ contradict the first verse of the Bible: “In
the beginning God created. . . .”
Another example of a stumbling block is found in
John 10:30 where Jesus says, “I and my Father are one.”
It has already been established that Jesus and God are
not one and the same. Jesus and God were not one from
the beginning, but they were one in purpose as shown
in the context of this verse as Jesus declared His Father
on earth. God and Jesus Christ’s unanimity of purpose
is poignantly shown in that Jesus Christ always did the
Father’s will‡‡‡ and finished the work for which God had
sent Him.††††
Hebrews 1 contains another erroneously interpreted
passage which must be “rightly divided” in our study.
Hebrews 1:1, 2:
God, who at sundry times [various times] and in
divers [varied] manners [ways] spake in time past
unto the fathers by the prophets.
Hath in these last days [in this last time] spoken unto
us by his Son, whom he [God] hath appointed heir
of all things, by [for] whom also he made the worlds.
Originally God created all things to His own satisfaction,
knowing in His foreknowledge that His only begotten
Son would enjoy those things which God had
created for Himself and for His appointed heir. “Worlds”
is the Greek word aiōn meaning “ages.” It is for Him,
the Son, that the ages are made, not by Him.
Ephesians 3:9:
And to make all men see what is the fellowship [oikonomia,
administration, in all texts except Stephens]
of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things
by [on account of, or for] Jesus Christ.
The words “by Jesus Christ” are only in one critical
Greek text—Stephens. With these words in the text the
preposition “by” would have to be rendered “for.” The
usage then would be precise.
Christians who believe the Bible and who rightly
divide The Word have the true Word, and as such they
will know that God is the Word, whom Jesus Christ
declared. When we study The Word closely, we see
how emphatically The Word corroborates itself. Instead
of stumbling over Scriptures, we see by careful scrutiny
the precision with which God has revealed Himself to
us in His Word. All Scripture, especially Genesis 1:1;
John 1:1-18; 10:30; Colossians 1:14-18; Hebrews 1:1, 2;
Ephesians 3:9, reveals the light of Truth which dispels
darkness.
“In the beginning was the Word [God], and the [revealed]
Word [spoken and written, and later in Jesus
Christ] was with God [in His foreknowledge], and
the Word was God.”
*II Corinthians 5:19: “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
† John 4:24: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth.”
Hebrews 9:14: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
** “Acts 13:6; 28:1, 7, 9, 11.
*** II Peter 1:21: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost.”
†† John 1:14: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
‡ Genesis 41:32: “And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh
twice: it is because the thing is established by God, and God will
shortly bring it to pass.”
**** Mark 1:10: “And straightway coming up out of the water, be saw
the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him.”
Who Is the Word?
***** II Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God
[theopneustos, God-breathed]. . . .
Galatians 1:11, 12: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which
was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
****** John 4:34: “Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me, and to finish his work.”
John 6:38: “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.”
John 8:29: “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not
left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”
Luke 2:49: “And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me?
wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?”
‡‡I John 1:2: “For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and
bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with
the Father, and was manifested unto us.”
†††Note II Samuel 12:3; Isaiah 40:11; Luke 16:22; John 13:23.