doctrine Scripture path
Follow the Word from God’s eternal self-expression and creative action into the genuine humanity of Jesus Christ.
The Word in John 1 is God’s own eternal self-expression and revelation; that Word became flesh in Jesus Christ.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John begins before creation. The Word is oriented toward God and is fully God, not a second lesser deity.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Everything created comes through the Word. The Word is on the Creator side of the Creator-creature distinction.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
The heavens are made by the word of the LORD and by the breath of His mouth. God creates through His own utterance.
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
God’s word proceeds from Him, carries His will, accomplishes His purpose, and does not fail.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The Word becomes flesh. John does not say an eternal Son-person became a fetus; he says God’s Word entered genuine human existence.
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
At the fullness of time God sends His Son, made of a woman and under the law. Sonship is expressed in the incarnation.
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
The angel ties the title Son of God to the miraculous conception and birth of the holy child.
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Paul identifies the incarnation as God’s manifestation, keeping divine identity and real flesh together.
Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Jesus is the image in which the invisible God is seen and known.
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
The God who formerly spoke by prophets now speaks climactically in the Son, the radiance and exact expression of His being.
Choose the question the conversation raises next
John also says the Word ‘was God.’ Old Testament word-language lets God’s word proceed from Him and accomplish His will without becoming another God beside Him.
The Word is God’s own eternal self-expression. In the incarnation the Word became genuine flesh, and the Son is the holy child born as God’s visible revelation.
