John 1:1 introduces to the Word “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Greek word translated as “Word of God” is often personified as an instrument for executing God’s will. According to the Old Testament, it is associated with the personification of God’s revelation. In the Greek overview, the Word was construed as a bridge between the transcendent God and the material universe. Therefore, for his Greek readers, the use of the term would have likely brought forth the idea of a mediating principle between God and the world. John goes beyond the familiar concept and presents Jesus Christ not as a mere mediating principle like the Greeks perceived, but as a personal being, fully divine, yet fully human. Also, Christ was not simply a personification of God’s revelation as the Jews thought but was indeed God’s perfect revelation of Himself in the flesh. 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.”
He was with God in the beginning and, thus, became God’s agent in creation. “Through him, all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made.” The doctrine of creation grounds human responsibility and accountability. We are responsible before God because, in the first instance, He, the Word, made us.
John 1:4 says “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:5 “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. In John 8:12 Jesus says “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Thus, the light has come into the world. John 1:10-11 “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”
John 1:13-14 “But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Thus, there is Hope, which comes from the “Word”. 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.’ This Word that was with God and was God also now is human! He becomes human. He becomes what he once was not. The Word always was God. The Word was not always human. The Word now becomes human.
Finally, the Word reveals God to us and at the same time is the door to salvation. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Dr Ashwin Drummond
Laddertoheaven.co.in