Skip to main content

Jesus is the word of God

By
I've been thinking about Jesus and his title 'The Word of God', for a while now...here's some notes.

I was first introduced to this as a serious angle of study and major theme of the New Testament ( rather than a nice verse in John 1 ) when I read 'Prayer' by a German theologan named Hans Urs von Balthasar.  http://www.amazon.com/Prayer-Hans-Urs-von-Balthasar/dp/0898700744  This is probably as difficult a book as I've ever read - but it was transformative for me in a variety of ways.  I need to go back and find a copy and see if it stands up after 10 years.

Jesus is represented in scripture as the Word of God - a title that needs to be understood 'as the scripture says', not from the definition our church culture has put on it.  Good evangelical protestant types tend to worship the Bible like it's part of the trinity (usually replacing Holy Spirit).

When we say 'The Word of God' we usually are referring to the Bible.  Now, the Bible is a great gift to us, but if we pay attention to how the Bible uses that phrase 'The Word of God', it's not used as a reference to scripture anywhere (that I'm aware of, at least.  I'm probably wrong...)

Word of God often refers to the spreading of the Gospel, but it's highest, most important usage is in reference to Jesus himself.

Two major passages unpack Jesus identity as the Word - Everyone knows John 1, but Hebrews ch. 1 and 2 are a parallel rendering of the same thoughts.  Hebrews expands upon and elaborates what is a pretty compact presentation of these ideas in John 1.

Here's a map of the relationship between those two passages:

Jesus is the Word, God's primary means of communicating to us
John 1:1
Hebrews 1:1-2

Jesus is God, and the Son of god
John 1:1
Hebrews 1:3

Jesus made the universe
John 1:3
Hebrews 1:2
Note - God SAID let there be light...and it's implied in John, Hebrews, and elsewhere that Jesus was the one that went and did it, performing the activity of creation.

Jesus came to bring many sons into the kingdom.
John 1:12-13
Hebrews 2:10-15

Jesus was God, but came as a man...
John 1:14
Hebrews 2:14

There's lots of cross-references that might inform this topic - Colossians 1:17 is one, another , 
Posted via email from dsayswhat's posterous

Comments

Will De Hart said…
You gotta watch out for those crazy Germans...:D (Did I ever mention I'm a German/Scottish mix?)
September 4, 2010 at 12:57 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pursuing Peace Through Prayer

By
Reflecting on the current state of the world, and particularly of the struggle that my friend Jerad's family is facing , it seems like a good time to write down some thoughts about the Bible and prayer. Jerad mentioned in a recent blog post that he was collecting scriptures for encouragement, and I thought not only about the scriptures I hold on to, but also to how I use them. It seemed to me that unpacking the process of internalizing and living within the truths of scripture might be worthwhile. Hopefully it's either interesting or encouraging to Jerad, and anyone else that ends up reading this. So my Big Question to ponder is how do we thrive despite the circumstances we each face, and how can we take a proactive stance in prayer to resist the sense of impending doom that surrounds us, at a moment when so many other things are outside our control.  Thinking on that, one of the key scriptures that comes to mind is what Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4-8. Philippians 4...
3 comments
Read more

the one they have pierced...

By
I'm a bit interested in Eschatology. For those of you who don't know what eschatology is, it's the study of eschat . Really, no, I'm just kidding. I don't even know what eschat is... But I heard some fairly convincing stuff from a preterist this last week. Preterists believe that the last days described in the Bible happened in the first century, and that it's all done. Well, I don't think that's right. So I've been thinking on that. Here's a bit of it: Preterists take the time words very seriously - the statements that are made in Matthew 24, Revelation 1-3, and elsewhere, where Jesus says that 'this generation' would see the kingdom, or that 'the time is near', or 'these things must soon come to pass'. I was challenged to take those seriously as well - I had not given them as much thought as other elements of those same passages...but I find the strict preterist interpretation simplistic, as I understand it. Ba...
5 comments
Read more

Bread.

By
  The smell itself had a powdery sweet reek that seemed to suggest mold – but I wasn’t sure.  It was Monday, and the fresh start of a new work week seemed like a good time to clean out the cabinet. So I steeled myself.  As I peered into it’s dark recesses of the break room cupboard, two or three possibilities caught my eye: a nondescript, unmarked tin of something, a box of bran cereal, and a half-eaten loaf of bread.  I chose the bread. The plastic bag was neatly twist tied, and the printing on the bag helpfully obscured the contents inside.  So I reached up and grabbed it to get a better look.  Perhaps this was the source, perhaps not... The inch of bread crust visible through the bag was fairly innocuous.  It looked bread-ish enough.  Still, I was suspicious.  So I opened the bag to see what was inside. To my surprise, it was not green, spotted or otherwise obviously moldy.  I was initially concerned that it didn’t look quit...
5 comments
Read more