In the beginning was the
word and the word was with God and the word was God. John 1.1
This is usually the first verse a Biblical Greek student learns. The word for
"word" is one of those wonderful Greek words that packs a lot into a little
space. The word is Logos. We see this word's influence in the English
language. An organization's graphic symbol is often called a logo and people
who study words are called logographers. But in Greek, the word is especially
important when you consider that Jesus is identified with the Word of God.
Logos is simply translated word in most translations of the Bible, but
it means more than simply a word, like the words on this page. It has sense of
meaning the total communicative power of a person, the essence of
communication itself. It also has the meaning of logic, rationality, and
reason. In fact, those of us who study philosophy and rhetoric are familiar
with the word as being synonymous with rational argument.
How fitting that Jesus, the Son of God should be identified in this manner. He
certainly is the communication of God to man. In His life we saw what God was
like. For 33 years God walked the earth as a man. He taught us by words and
actions about His nature. He showed us His power and authority up close. When
He rose to calm a storm He did locally what He had been doing globally for
eons, and what He would continue to do until He makes an end to storms
altogether. When he healed the sick, he told us that no one ever recovered
from illness except that He healed them. When he hung on a cross and died, He
told us how much He loved us and had always loved us. And when He rose from
the dead, He told us that death itself turned aside when face to face with the
essence of Life Eternal.
Yes, how fitting it was for Christ to be called the living Word of God. As the
writer of Hebrews observed in the first three verses of that book: "God who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the
brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
You might say when the Lord of the Universe speaks, you'd better listen.