Monday 20 February 2012
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." (vv. 1-2)
Background
Apart from John's Gospel, no other New Testament writing refersto God as "Word". For today's audience this might seem a strangeterm to use for God. However, the term "Word" (from the Greek'logos') as used in
Nearly three centuries later the Stoic philosophers developed theirphilosophy around the logos, which was the principle of allrationality in the universe. The Stoics referred to God as 'seminallogos', which contains the seed, essence or idea of all that iscreated. With that sort of pedigree it should be no surprise thatEphesus has been considered the traditional site of John's Gospelwith its marvellous prologue "In the beginning was the Word...".
As complex as this might seem at first glance, there is a simplerside to it. Language and words are the very things which enable usto think. A word is the most basic building block in our thinking.With this basic building block we create our art, feats ofengineering, literature, music, as well as express our love andemotions.
Genesis 1 tells us that we humans are madein the image of our creator. Is it any wonder then that we shouldbe endowed with the creative and imaginative power of the Word?
To Ponder
Words, as we know, have the power to build up ortear down. Knowing now some of the background to God as 'Word', howare you more likely to weigh more wisely the words you use?
What difference does it make knowing that yourvery processes of reasoning are a gift of God?