The Word. The Light.

Today I read the first chapter of John…one of my favorite chapters in the New Testament. It starts off…

“In the beginning was the Word.”

The Word.

I have a Study Bible, so I have side notes and explanations of every verse. The explanation I read for John 1:1 was that “The Word” is God’s creative word, his wisdom, and his “instrument of creative activity”. In my opinion, though, that interpretation is not entirely accurate…

The chapter continues, “And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” At this point I’m questioning the analysis I had read from my Study Bible. If The Word is God than God is creativity? God is HIS creative power? God is His own instrument of creative activity? Then I realized, God is not creativity…he HAS creativity. He is Creator not creativity. Creativity is one of the great and many characteristics that are encompassed by God.

So, what is The Word?

I believe it’s simple to answer that question if we continue to read the chapter. Sometimes not reading enough can lead to misinterpretation…Anyway.

“He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:2-5

“…And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

If you haven’t gotten it by now… The Word is Jesus Christ.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is…well, it says in the first chapter of John that Jesus is the Light. All Christians know this, as we call him the “Light of the World” and “The light that shines in the darkness”…

Now if we go back and read the first few lines of Genesis, we understand that God the Father made the light before he made anything else. He saw how good the light was and continued to create the world.

What I was thinking is could this light be The Light?

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You’re currently reading “The Word. The Light.,” an entry on sarah binette

Published:: March 15, 2008 / 3:56 am

Category:: Uncategorized

Tags:: creativity, creator, genesis, god, jesus, john, light, word

Hi Sarah,

I refer you to Victor Alexander and his most excellent translation of the Aramaic Scriptures for a more complete understanding of “The Word”.

1. In the beginning [of creation]
there was the Manifestation*;
And that Manifestation was with God;
and God was [the embodiment of] that Manifestation.
2. This was in the beginning with God.
3. Everything was within his power*,
[otherwise] nothing would ever exist.*
4. Through him [there] was Life*
and Life became the spark* of humanity
5. And that [ensuing] fire* lights the darkness
and darkness does not overshadow it

1:1 “Milta,” in Aramaic: the essential connotation for a person or thing.
There is no true English equivalent for this concept.
1:3 Literal Aramaic idiom [Lit. Ar. id.]: “[In his] hand.”
1:4.1 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: “And without his hand, not one [thing that] became would have become.”
1:4.2 “Lives,” whenever it represents: “life everlasting” is stated in the plural. When used in this sense it will always be capitalized in this translation and appear as “Life.”
1:4.3 Lit. Ar. id.: “Light.”
1:5 Lit. Ar. id.: “Light.”

Now compare this with Colossians 1 (in this instance from the New Living Translation).

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.
21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.
So you see, then, that there is only God expressed in Christ and you as a reflection of Him. All else is vanity and grasping (gasping?) after air.

Blessings,

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sarah binette

The Word. The Light.

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