Why is Jesus the Word?

[simonpeter]

Shalom!

Why is Jesus referred to as the Word? What is the significance? I can understand 'son of god' and such, but what does it mean to be the Word, and how exactly is the world created through the Word?

Simon

 

[jeffweeder]

Shalom!

Why is Jesus referred to as the Word? What is the significance?
Simon

God spoke the word.

 

[christianmomof3]

God spoke the word.

That is what I was thinking.
Our words express us.
Christ is God expressed.
And in the beginning, God spoke everything into being.
(And when He did, He spoke in Hebrew - just a tidbit I learned in my Hebrew class.)

 

[ivebeenshown]

We are made in the image of the living God. Do you know this?

Genesis 9
6Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

We are made in the image of the living God, in that we have a forehead and a right hand with which we bear a mark, which would be either the mark of the beast which is the mark of slaughter, or the seal of God which is the Holy Spirit that grants us life eternal. We are a forehead, a right hand, and a spirit which is unclean or clean.

The forehead is will and the right hand is works, and they are co-dependent and inseparable. Likewise, each must bear a sort of spirit or they are not truly living. The Father and his right hand have never bore any spirit but that Holy Spirit, and the living God is YHWH, the great I AM, that was and is and is to come.

For instance, James writes that a man can say he has faith (forehead), but without any works (right hand) to show for it, the faith is dead. Likewise, the Father is nothing, he is dead, unless there is his right hand to do his works. And these are both nothing without the Holy Spirit sealing them as holy for all of eternity, Alpha to Omega.

 

[elopez]

Shalom!

Why is Jesus referred to as the Word? What is the significance? I can understand 'son of god' and such, but what does it mean to be the Word, and how exactly is the world created through the Word?

Simon

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" - John 1:1.

"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" - John 1:14.

The word "word" in Greek is translated to "logos." Christ is the logos, meaning Christ is the Word and the Word is God, so therefore Christ is God.

 

[Fireinfolding]

I love these together as well

Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

2Cr 4:6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We are a city too...

Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

 

[cyberlizard]

God spoke the word.

so are you saying that until God spoke, the Word did not exist?


Steve

 

[cyberlizard]

That is what I was thinking.
Our words express us.
Christ is God expressed.
And in the beginning, God spoke everything into being.
(And when He did, He spoke in Hebrew - just a tidbit I learned in my Hebrew class.)

I actually like this kabbalistic concept. When I am not a nerd or bible teacher, I enjoy physics (sad I know) and this construct reminds me of string theory. The idea that everything is made of 'musical' vibrating subatomic strings. I think in this orchestra there are probably 22 notes with multiple octaves. But I am starting to ramble so I will shut up now.

Messiah plays the strings and hold them together with the power of His word.


Steve

 

[simonpeter]

Thanks for the replies. I am not asking for references in the Bible, for I know where they occur. I wonder why the specific word "WORD"? Why not 'light' or something else?

 

[Kristos]

the eternal tao

 

[heymikey80]

Thanks for the replies. I am not asking for references in the Bible, for I know where they occur. I wonder why the specific word "WORD"? Why not 'light' or something else?

Well, they did use other words.

But the obvious reason is that ... "WORD" isn't the word they used. They used a very deep word in its time: "logos".

It's tough to characterize its depth of meaning. First, it's the Stoic concept of the all-Creative God. The word itself has shades of meaning for "concept", "meaning", "talk", "communication", "creativity", "actualization", "reality" ...

The word stem itself appears again & again in conversation, too. So it's also thought at the time to permeate all communicative action.

It's an expansive thought.

 

[Fireinfolding]

He is called the light, the life, the Word

Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world

The light = the life


John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.



John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.

1John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

John 1:9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

The light = the life


1John 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)

 

[Der Alte]

Here from the Jewish Encyclopedia, part of the article on “Memra.” מאמר/memra which in Aramaic means “word.” The Targums were Aramaic translations of the O.T., began during the Babylonian captivity about 700 BC.

In this citation, which is only representative not comprehensive, there are at least eighty examples where the name יהוה/YHWH was replaced, in the Targums, with” מאמר/memra.” When John, the Jew, said to his Jewish audience, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God.,” he was not saying anything strange or new.

Remember this is not a Trinitarian source, it is the Jewish Encyclopedia prepared by Jewish scholars showing the faith, beliefs, and practices of the ancient Jews. Some interesting quotes from the below article, all from the Targums, before the Christian era, note the parallels with the N.T..

“The Word brings Israel nigh unto God and [The Word] sits on [God’s] throne receiving the prayers of Israel.” cf. Re 3:21 Re 22:3, N.T. ca. 70 AD.

“His Word has laid the foundation of the earth.” cf. John 1:3, N.T. ca. 70 AD.

“So, in the future, shall The Word be the comforter.” cf. John 14:26, N.T. ca. 70 AD.

“In The Word redemption will be found.” cf. Luke 21:28, N.T. ca. 70 AD.

“My Word shall be unto you for a redeeming deity.” cf. Col 1:14, Heb 9:12, Heb 9:15, N.T. ca. 70 AD.​

More complete citation.

Jewish Encyclopedia Memra-In the Targum:

In the Targum the Memra figures constantly as the manifestation of the divine power, or as God's messenger in place of God Himself, wherever the predicate is not in conformity with the dignity or the spirituality of the Deity.

Instead of the Scriptural "You have not believed in the Lord," Targ. Deut. i. 32 has "You have not believed in the word of the Lord"; instead of "I shall require it [vengeance] from him," Targ. Deut. xviii. 19 has "My word shall require it." "The Memra," [The Word] instead of "the Lord," is "the consuming fire" (Targ. Deut. ix. 3; comp. Targ. Isa. xxx. 27). The Memra "plagued the people" (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxxii. 35). "The Memra smote him" (II Sam. vi. 7; comp. Targ. I Kings xviii. 24; Hos. xiii. 14; et al.). Not "God," but "the Memra [The Word]," is met with in Targ. Ex. xix. 17 (Targ. Yer. "the Shekinah"; comp. Targ. Ex. xxv. 22: "I will order My Memra to be there"). " I will cover thee with My Memra, [My Word] " instead of "My hand " (Targ. Ex. xxxiii. 22). Instead of "My soul," "My Memra [My Word] shall reject you" (Targ. Lev. xxvi. 30; comp. Isa. i. 14, xlii. 1; Jer. vi. 8; Ezek. xxiii. 18). "The voice of the Memra, [The Word] " instead of "God," is heard (Gen. iii. 8; Deut. iv. 33, 36; v. 21; Isa. vi. 8; et al.). Where Moses says, "I stood between the Lord and you" (Deut. v. 5), the Targum has, "between the Memra of the Lord and you"; and the "sign between Me and you" becomes "a sign between My Memra [My Word] and you" (Ex. xxxi. 13, 17; comp. Lev. xxvi. 46; Gen. ix. 12; xvii. 2, 7, 10; Ezek. xx. 12). Instead of God, the Memra comes to Abimelek (Gen. xx. 3), and to Balaam (Num. xxiii. 4). His Memra aids and accompanies Israel, performing wonders for them (Targ. Num. xxiii. 21; Deut. i. 30, xxxiii. 3; Targ. Isa. lxiii. 14; Jer. xxxi. 1; Hos. ix. 10 [comp. xi. 3, "the messenger-angel"]). The Memra goes before Cyrus (Isa. xlv. 12). The Lord swears by His Memra (Gen. xxi. 23, xxii. 16, xxiv. 3; Ex. xxxii. 13; Num. xiv. 30; Isa. xlv. 23; Ezek. xx. 5; et al.). It is His Memra that repents (Targ. Gen. vi. 6, viii. 21; I Sam. xv. 11, 35). Not His "hand," but His "Memra [His Word] has laid the foundation of the earth" (Targ. Isa. xlviii. 13); for His Memra's or Name's sake does He act (l.c. xlviii. 11; II Kings xix. 34). Through the Memra God turns to His people (Targ. Lev. xxvi. 90; II Kings xiii. 23), becomes the shield of Abraham (Gen. xv. 1), and is with Moses (Ex. iii. 12; iv. 12, 15) and with Israel (Targ. Yer. to Num. x. 35, 36; Isa. lxiii. 14). It is the Memra, [The Word] not God Himself, against whom man offends (Ex. xvi. 8; Num. xiv. 5; I Kings viii. 50; II Kings xix. 28; Isa. i. 2, 16; xlv. 3, 20; Hos. v. 7, vi. 7; Targ. Yer. to Lev. v. 21, vi. 2; Deut. v. 11); through His Memra Israel shall be justified (Targ. Isa. xlv. 25); with the Memra Israel stands in communion (Targ. Josh. xxii. 24, 27); in the Memra man puts his trust (Targ. Gen. xv. 6; Targ. Yer. to Ex. xiv. 31; Jer. xxxix. 18, xlix. 11).

Like the Shekinah (comp. Targ. Num. xxiii. 21), the Memra is accordingly the manifestation of God. "The Memra [The Word] brings Israel nigh unto God and sits on His throne receiving the prayers of Israel" " (Targ. Yer. to Deut. iv. 7). . . So, in the future, shall the Memra [The Word] be the comforter (Targ. Isa. lxvi. 13): "My Shekinah I shall put among you, My Memra [My Word] shall be unto you for a redeeming deity, and you shall be unto My Name a holy people" (Targ. Yer. to Lev. xxii. 12).

The Memra is "the witness" (Targ. Yer. xxix. 23); it will be to Israel like a father (l.c. xxxi. 9) and "will rejoice over them to do them good" (l.c. xxxii. 41). "In the Memra [The Word] the redemption will be found " (Targ. Zech. xii. 5).

JewishEncyclopedia.com - MEMRA​

 

[cyberlizard]

i love reading the Targums, they are really helpful.


Steve

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

God spoke the word.

And the Word was with God

Young) John 1:1 In [the] beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;

Textus Rec.) John 1:1 en arch hn o logoV kai o logoV hn proV ton qeon kai qeoV hn o logoV

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3056&t=KJV

Strong's Number G3056 matches the Greek λόγος (logos), which occurs 331 times in 316 verses in the Greek concordance of the KJV

 

[CryptoLutheran]

In the Greek philosophical tradition the Logos was the order behind the cosmos, for Heraclitus the Logos was was the agent of change in the cosmic order--for him all was in a state of flux, and the Logos was this logic or reason behind that flux. For the later Stoics it took on a deeper meaning. For the Stoics the Logos was the logic, the reason, behind all things, permeating the cosmic order and sustaining it.

In Philo the Greek Logos was reconciled into a more Jewish context, the Logos was the Platonic demiurge, the agent through which God created the world, this Logos was identified with "The Angel of the LORD" mentioned many times in the Old Testament.

In John, the Evangelist identifies this Logos--this logic, reason, and sustaining word--with the pre-incarnate Christ. The reason behind all things, through which God created all things, who is (in fact) identified with God Himself "was with God ... was God"; this Divine Word, this Logos was united with human nature, He "became flesh", as Jesus Christ, the only-begotten of the Father "full of grace and truth".

For John, the very Word of God which upholds and sustains the universe, through which the universe was made, became a human being: Jesus. Therefore Jesus is God's Logos made flesh.

This Logos was also, in the writings of some of the early Fathers, identified with the Wisdom of God,

"I shall give you another testimony, my friends, from the Scriptures, that God begot before all creatures a Beginning, [who was] a certain rational power [proceeding] from Himself, who is called by the Holy Spirit, now the Glory of the Lord, now the Son, again Wisdom, again an Angel, then God, and then Lord and Logos;" - Dialogue with Trypho, 61

The Apostle Paul at least seems to hint at the same, when He calls Christ "the Power and Wisdom of God".

"The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him..." - Proverbs 8:22-30

The point being that Christ is identified as being far more than just a creature, He is above and beyond every creature, He is actually, in some sense, identified with God Himself, "the Logos was God" and is also with God. He is the Word, the creative and sustaining reason, order, logic and word of and from God through which everything was made and which sustains the entire universe; He is the Wisdom of God, the Power of God.

For this reason He can be called God and with God; as Christian theology developed and the Church wrestled with these issues further, we came to ultimately articulate Trinitarianism: God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three Hypostases and one Being. Christ is the Son and Word, the Word through whom all things were made and in whom all things are sustained; and the Son, begotten before all ages, uncreated, begotten not made, of one nature with God the Father: He is God of God, Light of Light.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Chesterton]

Thanks for the replies. I am not asking for references in the Bible, for I know where they occur. I wonder why the specific word "WORD"? Why not 'light' or something else?

It helps to look into the Greek understanding of the Greek word "logos" which English translates as "word". It is a bit of a deep concept (for me anyway) but you can Google it and find several discussions about it.

 

[solarwave]

The word is the eternal wisdom of God and pattern of the universe. Since Jesus expresses Gpod totally fully in human form, Jesus is everything the universe should be.

 

[truth76]

A title often describes the function served or the duty performed by the bearer. So it was with the title Kal-Hatzé, meaning “the voice or word of the king,” that was given an Abyssinian officer. Based on his travels from 1768 to 1773, James Bruce describes the duties of the Kal-Hatzé as follows. He stood by a window covered with a curtain through which, unseen inside, the king spoke to this officer. He then conveyed the message to the persons or party concerned. Thus the Kal-Hatzé acted as the word or voice of the Abyssinian king.

Recall, too, that God made Aaron the word or “mouth” of Moses, saying: “He must speak for you to the people; and it must occur that he will serve as a mouth to you, and you will serve as God to him.”—Ex 4:16.

In a similar way God’s firstborn Son doubtless served as the Mouth, or Spokesman, for his Father, the great King of Eternity. He was God’s Word of communication for conveying information and instructions to the Creator’s other spirit and human sons. It is reasonable to think that prior to Jesus’ coming to earth, on many of the occasions when God communicated with humans he used the Word as his angelic mouthpiece. (Ge 16:7-11; 22:11; 31:11; Ex 3:2-5; Jg 2:1-4; 6:11, 12; 13:3)

Showing that Jesus continued to serve as his Father’s Spokesman, or Word, during his earthly ministry, he told his listeners: “I have not spoken out of my own impulse, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to tell and what to speak. . . . Therefore the things I speak, just as the Father has told me them, so I speak them.”—Joh 12:49, 50; 14:10; 7:16, 17.

 

[razeontherock]

This is awesome!

We are made in the image of the living God. Do you know this?

Genesis 9
6Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

We are made in the image of the living God, in that we have a forehead and a right hand with which we bear a mark, which would be either the mark of the beast which is the mark of slaughter, or the seal of God which is the Holy Spirit that grants us life eternal. We are a forehead, a right hand, and a spirit which is unclean or clean.

The forehead is will and the right hand is works, and they are co-dependent and inseparable. Likewise, each must bear a sort of spirit or they are not truly living. The Father and his right hand have never bore any spirit but that Holy Spirit, and the living God is YHWH, the great I AM, that was and is and is to come.

For instance, James writes that a man can say he has faith (forehead), but without any works (right hand) to show for it, the faith is dead. Likewise, the Father is nothing, he is dead, unless there is his right hand to do his works. And these are both nothing without the Holy Spirit sealing them as holy for all of eternity, Alpha to Omega.

And a three-fold cord is not quickly broken.