
John 1.1-5.
I’ve written previously about
John 1.1-5 KWL - 1 In the beginning is the word.
- The word’s with God,
- and the word is God.
- 2 This word is in the beginning with God.
- 3 Everything comes to be through the word,
- and not one thing, nothing, comes to be without him.
- 4 What came to be though the word, is life.
- Life’s the light of humanity.
- 5 Light shines in darkness,
- and darkness can’t get hold of it.
“The word” which the author of John wrote of, exists at the beginning of creation. Is with God. Is God. And is the means by which everything is created.
And round 7
Why’d the author of John (and for convenience we’ll just assume he’s John bar Zebedee; he probably is) use “word” to describe the pre-incarnate Jesus? You realize this passage is the reason so many Christians are hugely fascinated by the word “word” (and its Greek equivalent
This John passage tends to get translated in past tense.
Okay, now to the concept of
For centuries, Christians presumed lóyos comes from ancient Greek philosophy. Blame ancient
Instead they interpreted bible through the lens of their own culture. Which was wrong then, and is wrong now. Yet Christians still do it. But that’s a whole other rant; let’s get back to criticizing ancient Christian gentiles.
Ancient Greek philosophers had written a whole bunch of navel-gazing gibberish about the word lóyos. ’Cause they were exploring the nature of truth: What is it, how do we find it, how do we prove it, how do we recognize logical fallacies, and what’s the deal with words which can mean more than one thing? For that matter, what’s a “word” anyway? Is it just a label for a thing, or is it a substantial thing on its own? Maybe that’s why God can create things by merely saying a word.
Follow the Greek philosophers’ intellectual rabbit trails, and you’ll go all sorts of weird,
Now let’s practice some actual logic. John wasn’t a gentile; he was a Galilean Jew who grew up attending, and getting the equivalent of a middle-school education in, Pharisee synagogues. So let’s look at that culture: What’d Pharisees teach about what a memrá is and means?
Turns out Pharisees had a lot of interesting ideas attached to it.
The word of the Lord.
Synagogues were a Pharisee invention. They created the synagogue system because they feared their fellow Jews might forget
Sound like a plan? It did turn the Jews into a literate nation. But it actually didn’t make ’em any more devout. Mandatory religious education does what it’s always done, and created
Thing is, the bible was written in Hebrew, and from the sixth century
And, as people will, sometimes they got a little loose with their translations. They’d skip the
Likewise whenever God does something in the scriptures which is a little too manlike for the Pharisees’ comfort, it’d trigger them too. ’Cause Moses said God’s not a man.
Numbers 23.19 KJV - God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
I know; the scriptures describe God as sitting, eating, and physically interacting with his people in all sorts of ways. ’Cause he can. Who are we to say he can’t, if he so chooses?
But Pharisees were really uncomfortable with the idea. God’s not human, they insisted; plus
Hence whenever Pharisees thought the L
Psalm 33.6 KJV - By the word of the L
ORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.
Yep, exactly like John 1.3 has it—everything comes to be through the word, and not one thing comes to be without him.
“Word of God” and “Word of the L
But the apostle John did. And when he wrote his gospel, he reminded his readers about the word of God. It’s in the beginning. It’s with God. It is God. If you grew up regularly attending a first-century Pharisee synagogue, you’d know exactly what John meant.
Whereas if you were an ancient Christian gentile—or a medieval Christian gentile, a modern Christian gentile, or any present-day Christian who knows bupkis about history—you’ll think, “What’s this ‘word’ concept mean?” and start asking around. And probably find out from fellow Christian gentiles that the ancient Greeks had a whole lot of fascinating ideas. None of ’em actually help, though. Like I said, sour horsepiss. But they’ll sure keep you distracted.
The very beginning of John’s gospel wasn’t a radical idea at all to first-century Jews. They’d have totally agreed. The word in the beginning?—sure. The word with God and is God?—no problem here. But when John tells them a few verses down the word became flesh
Rhema-words and logos-words.
In the Old Testament,
Ancient Greek has more than one word for “word.” (As do we: Term, name, saying, expression, designation, noun, prompt, utterance.) The more concrete of them is the word
So it’s totally fine to think of lóyos and ríma as interchangeable. ’Cause the bible certainly does.
- Blessed are those who hear and keep the lóyos of God.
Lk 11.28 - We don’t live by bread alone, but by every ríma of God.
Mt 4.4 - The lóyos of God is living, active, and sharper than a sword.
He 4.12 - And the sword of the Spirit is the ríma of God.
Ep 6.17
Getting the idea? The writers of the bible didn’t care which word they used. Neither should we. Both words mean “word.”
The word of God, and the WORD OF GOD .
Unfortunately, some Christians are a little too quick to frappé together all the biblical ideas of “word”—the lóyos who’s with and is God, and is Jesus; and every other “word of God” they find in the bible. I’ve heard Christians actually claim the word of God (i.e. the bible) and the word of God (i.e. Jesus) are one and the same. After all, they’re both “words.” Perhaps the same word?
No. Don’t be a moron.
John’s description of “word of God,” found in both his gospel and Revelation, refers to the Pharisees’ memrá Elahín—the person of
Confusing the scriptures with Jesus will of course lead to worshiping the bible instead of God.
Anyway, because of this and many other reasons, “word” has become a popular term in Christianese. “A word from the Lord” is how Christians will describe a sermon, a prophecy, a particularly cool bible passage, or any Christian message. “Speaking the word” will do the same. “Trusting the word” can mean trusting the bible, a prophecy, or even Jesus (if by “word” we mean him). In our hands, “word” is a really flexible term.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. God can communicate to us any way he wants, and we can share him with others all sorts of ways. God has truths to share with us which are beyond our ability to even imagine yet. When the writer of Hebrews described the word as living and active, that’s really under-representing everything God wants to share with us. It’s too great for words. (Pun unintended.)
Now let’s strive to find the right words.

