The Word Made Flesh

Why does John call Jesus "the Word" in the first chapter of his gospel?

1. Jesus is the Word because he is the fullness of God's effectual work in His creation. When God speaks, things come into being (Gen. 1:3, Ps. 33:6, Isa. 55:10-11). Everything was created through Jesus (Jn. 1:2); God's people were redeemed through Jesus (Jn. 1:12); creation will be restored through Jesus (e.g., Rev. 5).
2. Jesus is the Word because he is the fullness of God's relating to his people (John 1:14-18). By speaking, God relates personally to his people (e.g., Gen. 15:1).
3. Jesus is the Word because he is the fullest revelation from God to the world (John 1:18, Hebrews 1:1-3). He is the fulfillment of all the revelation prior to his coming (the Old Testament bears witness about him, Jn. 5:39) and the cornerstone of all the revelation since (the New Testament is the word of Christ communicated by the Spirit to the apostles, Jn. 16:13-15).

And how does this understanding of Jesus as the Word of God relate to the actual words of God in Scripture?

Kevin DeYoung provides a helpful explanation: "The words of the Bible and the Word made flesh are distinct, but they are also inseparable. Every act of redemption—from the exodus, to the return from exile, to the cross itself—is also a revelation. They tell us something about the nature of sin, the way of salvation, and the character of God. Likewise, the point of revelation is always to redeem. The words of the prophets and the apostles are not meant to make us smart, but to get us saved. Redemption reveals. Revelation redeems. And Christ is both. He is God’s full and final act of redemption and God’s full and final revelation of himself" ("Is God's Word Enough?").

God gave his words to give eternal life in the Word. Through the words of Scripture, the Holy Spirit illumines our hearts and opens the eyes of our minds to the spiritual reality of Jesus Christ the Son of God, that we may believe, and by believing have life in his name. John 20:30-31 illustrates this clearly: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name" (ESV).

It follows, then, that eternal life in Christ comes not from a human understanding of the Scripture itself, but from a spiritual sight and sense of the divine realities of Christ imparted by God alone through the Scripture. Jesus acknowledges this truth in Matthew 16:17, responding to Peter's belief in him as the Son of God: "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven" (ESV). Paul also expounds on this truth in 2 Corinthians 4:3–6: "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. [4] In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. [5] For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. [6] For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (ESV). God alone gives spiritual knowledge of himself through the revelation of Christ in the Scriptures.

Jonathan Edwards preached an entire sermon on this subject based on Matthew 16:17, and he further explains the distinction between a human understanding of the Scripture, and divinely revealed spiritual knowledge of it. He argues, "Indeed a person cannot have spiritual light without the word. But that does not argue, that the word properly causes that light. The mind cannot see the excellency of any doctrine, unless that doctrine be first in the mind; but the seeing of the excellency of the doctrine may be immediately from the Spirit of God; though the conveying of the doctrine or proposition itself may be by the word. So that the notions that are the subject matter of this light, are conveyed to the mind by the word of God; but that due sense of the heart, wherein this light formally consists, is immediately by the Spirit of God" (A Divine and Supernatural Light).

This explains why so often the Pharisees, who knew the Scriptures thoroughly, failed to obtain eternal life. Even though they were as enlightened as any man could be in the knowledge of Scripture, yet they were spiritually blinded by their unbelief in the true Word. Without the Spirit's revealing the truth of Christ by the Father's will, the Scriptures are powerless to save. Jesus makes this point clearly in John 5:39-40: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life" (ESV). 

So let us not be deceived like the Pharisees to believe that we can understand the glorious truths of Christ in Scripture apart from the grace of the Father and the power of the Spirit. Let us prayerfully humble ourselves as we approach the Bible, admitting our absolute dependence on God and pleading in desperation for his Spirit to open the eyes of our heart to the truth. Let us thank him continually for his revelation of redemption and reflect on his utter goodness at giving a saving knowledge of Christ to helpless, foolish creatures such as we. And let us never fail to stand in awe at the wondrous things we see in Scripture, because we are not only saved but also sanctified by the sight of his glory.