In The Beginning Was The Word
In the Beginning Was The Word
The beginning of the Gospel of John states,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.
Notice there are three usages of the word “word”
in verse 1.
John 1:2:
The same was in the beginning with God.
Logos means “word” or “communication.” God
is spoken of as the logos because He is The Word.
Christ is the logos, God’s Word in person; while the
Bible is the logos, God’s Word in writing.
Which logos is John 1:1 speaking of? “In the
beginning was the logos, and the logos was with
God, and the logos was God.” The word used in this
verse is both the written Word, which we speak of
today as the Bible, and Christ, The Word in person.
The key to understanding John 1:1 and 2 is the
word “with.” If any other Greek word were used for
the word “with” except pros, the whole Bible would
crumble. The word pros means “together with, yet
distinctly independent of.” That is exquisite seman-
tic accuracy. Jesus Christ in the beginning was
together with God, yet He was distinctively
independent of Him. The written Word was
originally with God, yet distinctively independent
of God. This is its remarkable usage because it
refutes the erroneous teaching that in the beginning
Jesus Christ was with God to start everything. This
is not what The Word says. It says that He was with
Him, but the written Word was also with Him.
How? In what you and I would express as “in the
mind of God.” God in His foreknowledge knew of
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew of the
prophets to whom He could give The Word, and of
their faithfulness in writing and speaking The
Word. This was all with God because of His
foreknowledge. Do you know that you were with
God from the beginning if you are a born-again
believer?
Ephesians 1:4:
According as he [God] hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world....
If you were chosen before the foundation of the
world, where were you? Do not tell me that you
already have lived in eternity with Him. No, but in
the foreknowledge of God, God knew that some
day you would believe, you would be born again of
God’s Spirit. That is why The Word says that He
chose you and that you were in Him before the
foundation of the world.
Observe another corroborating Scripture.
II Thessalonians 2:13:
...God hath from the beginning chosen you to
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth.
We were with Him from the beginning as Jesus
Christ was with Him, as the written Word was with
Him, and yet distinctively independent of Him. This
explains the importance of the use of pros.
By deductive logic, if God is perfect, then the
logos, Jesus Christ, has to be perfect. If God is
perfect and Christ is perfect and The Word is given
as holy men of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Spirit, then God’s Word must be perfect
also.
God is perfect, so Jesus Christ is perfect, so the
revealed Word of God is perfect. Consequently the
words which make up The Word must also be
perfect. This is why if any other word had been
used than the preposition pros in John 1:1 and 2 the
whole Bible would fall to pieces because of
imperfect usage of words. To have a perfect Word,
the words must be perfect and the order of the
words must be perfect.
Have you ever asked yourself why John 3:16 is
placed exactly where it is? Why is Galatians 5:4
exactly where it is? Why is I Corinthians 12 where
it is? Why is I Corinthians 14 where it is? If they
were at any other place the order of the words
would be imperfect. A chain is no stronger than its
weakest link. This is true of The Word too. If The
Word can be broken at any one place, The Word
crumbles from Genesis to Revelation. Either the
whole Bible is God’s Word from Genesis 1:1 to
Revelation 22:21 or none of it is God’s Word.
Someone may say, “I believe John 3:16, but I do
not believe I Corinthians 14, where Paul says, ‘I
would that ye all spake with tongues....’” If one can
believe John 3:16 and throw out I Corinthians 14,
then I can believe I Corinthians 14, and throw out
John 3:16. What have we got? Nothing. Men’s
opinion. All must be God’s Word or none of it is.
God is perfect, The Word is perfect, and,
therefore, The Word means what it says, and says
what it means. God has a purpose for everything He
says, where He says it, why He says it, how He says
it, to whom He says it, and when He says it.
At one point I believed that the Word of God was
full of myths. At one point I could have quoted you
numerous theologians, but I could not have quoted
the accuracy of God’s Word. There was a time in
my life when I did not even believe the words
“Holy Bible.” I did not believe in the miracles, I did
not believe in the second coming. I was just a rank
unbeliever. I learned my unbelief in the schools I
attended which taught that the Bible is full of errors,
that the Word of God is full of myths, that it has a
lot of forgeries in it. If a minister does not believe
that the Bible is God’s Word and if he thinks that it
is full of myths and forgeries, what would be the
man’s actions if he followed what he believes? He
would get out of the pulpit if he were honest with
himself.
I have very little respect for those who stand in
the pulpits or stand behind podiums and declare,
“This verse is all right, but that one is an
interpolation, and that other one is a myth.” Men
want to teach us that the book of Genesis had four
or five different writers in the first few chapters.
That is a presumptuous teaching when the Word of
God declares that holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit. Which are you
going to believe – God’s Word or men’s opinions?
We should be concerned about the integrity of
God’s Word.
We have failed to walk in deliverance in this our
day and time because The Word is not real, it is not
alive, it is not dynamic to or in us. Consequently
most people are spiritual cripples, spiritual
hitchhikers. They ride along on somebody else’s
beliefs. Many people today would much rather read
and study the literature of the hour than the
literature of eternity. Why? Because the word of
man has had preeminence over the wonderful Word
of God. If what man says contradicts what The
Word says, they stick to man’s word rather than
The Word. If we want deliverance, if we want to tap
the resources for the more abundant life, then God’s
Word demands that we study and live by this
matchless Word.