In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-5, 141
Most of the time, the phrase “Word of God” refers to the written words we have in the Bible. But interestingly, John used the phrase to describe something else. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” By this we now know that “the Word” refers not to Scripture, but to God. We still don’t know much about this Word, however. Not until verse 14 do we read, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
This Word—who is God—took on humanity. He “became flesh and dwelt among us.” Christ is the only trinitarian member who fits this description. Hebrews echos this: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, [Jesus] likewise partook of the same things.”2 This Word is not only divine, but it is Christ Himself.
This is sometimes confusing for us. How can Jesus be the Word if He is a person? A look at the Greek word John used helps us out. The word is logos, “which basically means ‘the expression of a thought.’ Logos can be thought of as the total message of God to man. Jesus embodied that total message, and that is why He is called the ‘Logos,’ or ‘Word,’ of God.”3
Hebrews 1 helps clarify this a bit more; “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”4 God spoke to us through Christ. Christ is the culmination—the fullness—of God’s communication with man.
Jesus is the epicenter of Scripture—the source of it all and the point of it all. He said, “The Scriptures…bear witness about me.”5 Logos reminds us that Jesus is the fullness of the Word of God—the divine Word in human flesh.
- The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2011.
- Hebrews 2:14a
- “How Can Jesus and the Bible Both Be the Word of God?” Got Questions, accessed January 25, 2019, www.gotquestions.org.
- Hebrews 1:1
- John 5:39