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The Living Word.
The Written Word.
THE TRUTH (John 14: 6).
THE TRUTH (John 17: 17).
THE LIFE (John 11: 25).
THE LIFE (John 6: 63).
THE JUDGE (John 5: 26, 27).
THE JUDGE (John 12: 48).
SANCTIFIER (John 17: 19).
SANCTIFIER (John 17: 17).
These few parallels taken from John's Gospel could be supplemented from practically
every book in the N.T.
Two meanings that attach to the Greek word Logos which must not be missed, are
indicated by the translations "account", and "reason":
"I desire fruit that may abound to your account" (logos) (Phil. 4: 17).
"Be ready always to give an answer (apologia) to every man that asketh you a reason
(logos) of the hope that is within you, with meekness and fear" (I Pet. 3: 15).
Christ the Logos, speaks to man, that man may know the thoughts of God, Who in His
essence is beyond human comprehension. In Christ the Logos, we have God's reason
for all that He has planned and made, the logical account of the creation and the purpose
of the ages. This we shall see more fully when we come to verse 18, and its echo in
Col. 2: 2, 3.
Webster and Wilkinson's Greek Testament note at this point is worth recording:
"The indecision, instability and presumption of German Rationalists, in their criticism
on this term, are, whether intentionally or not, admirably satirized by Goethe, when he
makes Faust translate it first `the Word', then `the thought', then `the power', and lastly
by the Spirit's help, `the deed'."
Here for the moment we must stay. We have learned that before all things and before
all time, there "was", in timeless existence, the Word, the Reason, the Archetype,
the Mediator, the Revealer. The world is the destined sphere, and man the destined
recipient of the priceless revelation of God, not only as Almighty and Invisible, but,
through the Word become flesh, as the God Who is love, and the God Who is also Father.
"In the beginning was the Word."
"He hath declared Him."