The Word of Life

In Jesus, the creative word by which God made all things is manifested for all men to see.

The Gospel of John identifies Jesus as the ‘Logos’, the word through which God made the Cosmos. This theme is prominent in John’s Gospel and is derived from the Hebrew Bible. God created the world, especially life, through His spoken word. Jesus of Nazareth is the living expression of that same creative word.

Jesus is also the Messiah who bestows the Gift of the Spirit on us when we turn to him in repentance and faith, and God’s Spirit is the source of all life, especially everlasting life in the New Creation – (Acts 2:38-39).

Through his words and deeds, Jesus radiates the nature of God, and God vindicated him by raising his Son from the dead and exalting him to the Divine Throne.

Jesus is the living and life-giving Word of God.  But what is truly revolutionary in the Gospel of John is the claim that this “word became flesh” in Jesus, a man from the insignificant village of Nazareth.

[Rainbow and Waterfall - Photo by Laila on Unsplash]

The Psalmist wrote, “By the word of Yahweh were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth <…> For he spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” This same idea is expressed elsewhere in the New Testament – (Psalm 33:6-9, Hebrews 11:3, 2 Peter 3:5).

The opening clause of John echoes the first words of the Book of Genesis, as does the Apostle Paul in his second letter to the Church of Corinth:

• “In the beginning, God made the Heavens and the Earth. <…> And God said, Let there be light, and there was light” – (Genesis 1:1-3).

• “In the beginning was the Logos. <…> All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that has been made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men” – (John 1:1-4, alluding to Genesis 1:1).

• “Seeing it is God who said, Light will shine out of darkness, who illuminated our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” – (2 Corinthians 4:6. Note the allusion to Genesis 1:3).

God created all things through His spoken word. We meet this same “word” in the flesh and blood man of Nazareth. He alone reveals the glory and nature of God:

• “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only born from a Father, full of grace and truth” – (John 1:14).

John uses the word ‘flesh’ in the same manner as the Hebrew Bible. The term refers to man in his weakened and mortal state. Jesus was a genuine human being who shared the same mortality as the rest of us, only without sin. He is the ‘Logos’, the Word of the Living God, and we find this idea elsewhere in the New Testament:

• “Since the children are partners in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death, he might disarm him who possessed the tyranny of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all those who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to slavery. <…> Wherefore, he was obligated in all things to be made like his brethren that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God” – (Hebrews 2:14-18).

• “For we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” - (Hebrews 4:15.  Compare Philippians 2:7-8).

This is why the words of Jesus are alive and life-giving. They determine whether we receive everlasting life and the gift of the Spirit. In his teachings and actions, men heard and saw the creative word of God in action – In the flesh!

Jesus is the Messiah who provides everlasting life to his followers and pours out the gift of the Holy Spirit on his Church. It is the Spirit of God that generates life, and Christ is the exalted Lord who has the authority to grant the Spirit to whomever he desires:

• “It is the spirit that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life” – (John 6:63).

• “This Jesus did God raise up, of which we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this, which you see and hear” – (Acts 2:32-33).

THE SOURCE OF LIFE

The words of Jesus give life, and this theme is developed in detail by John’s Gospel:

• “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he will” – (John 5:21).

• “I am the light of the world. He that follows me will not walk in the darkness, but he will have the light of life” – (John 8:12).

If we embrace Christ’s words, we will receive everlasting life. As Jesus declared:

• “He who hears my word, and believes him that sent me, has everlasting life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” - (John 5:24. Compare John 5:38, 8:31, 8:51).

Moreover, Jesus of Nazareth is the source of grace, truth and life. Not just more truth or the reaffirmation of the Mosaic Law, but something far beyond anything that came before him:

• “For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him” – (John 1:17-18).

God is manifested fully in the life and words; therefore, if anyone has seen or heard the Nazarene, he has seen the Father. Only in Jesus can we begin to understand the nature and real glory of the Living God, and only through him will we receive life and the Spirit of God.

[NOTE: Text printed in small capital letters represents quotations and allusions from Old Testament passages] 

[PDF Copy]

SEE ALSO:

• Unlocking Mysteries - (Jesus is the key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures and reveals the nature and redemptive purposes of the God of Israel)

• Jesus, the True Tabernacle - (Jesus is the Greater Tabernacle in which the presence and glory of God dwell and manifest for all men to behold – John 1:14)

• God's Fullness - (The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found only in the Word made Flesh, namely, Jesus of Nazareth)

• God has Spoken! - (God has spoken His definitive word in His Son. All previous words given by the prophets were preparatory, promissory, and partial)