UMC20220522 The word of God

UMC20220522 - The word of God¶

A theological reflection on John chapter 1

When we think of Jesus, we often think of a single moment in history. God sending His son into the world just over 2000 years ago. Yet, in John 1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word” and, “the Word was with God, and the Word was God” and later we read, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” These are profound statements about the nature of Jesus and who Jesus actually is.

The Greek word Logos is translated into English as Word. As is often the case when translating from one language to another, single word-for-word translations don’t capture the full meaning of a concept. If you are at all familiar with Afrikaans, you will know that gees is often translated into English as spirit. Which is right, but not really. Similarly, Word doesn’t encapsulate the full meaning of the concept of Logos.

Logos has multiple different meanings, but the specific meaning that John is referring to in these passages originates from Greek philosophy. Logos was considered as the universal divine reason or intelligence, the universal driving force behind the cosmos. And according to Greek philosophers, to achieve freedom, happiness and meaning in life, one would need to align themselves with this Logos.

So back in John 1 when we read about Jesus as “The Word became flesh”, we are reading that Jesus embodies or incarnates a force or energy that has been with God since the beginning of time and continues to permeate the world around us. When we read that “Through him all things were made” and “In him was life”, we are reading about Jesus as essence, without whom we would not exist.

I find this incredibly inviting. A bit difficult to conceptualise sometimes, but inviting non-the-less. We are invited into a relationship with a very big God.

Love,

Cliff