The Communication of God

January 17, 2021 Speaker: Joel Scott Series: Light, Life & Love: A Journey through the Gospel of John

Topic: Light, Life & Love: A Journey through the Gospel of John Passage: John 1:1–5, Genesis 1:1, Isaiah 55:8–9, Hebrews 1:1–3, Colossians 1:15–20

John’s approach stirs questions like:

  • Who is the Word?
  • Wait a second … this Word was with God and was God? How does that work?!?!

(Engaging scripture well) is not judged by how much you read but by the way in which you read. If you read quickly, it will benefit you little. You will be like a bee that merely skis the surface of a flower. 

Instead, in this new way of reading with prayer, you must become as the bee that penetrates into the depths of the flower. You plunge deeply within to remove its deepest nectar.

- Madame Guyon (17th Century)

Might John be saying  a new creation is coming   forward in the   arrival of Jesus?

The Greek term logos (translated Word here) has a wide range of meanings. It resonates with Jewish traditions about the power and wisdom of God as well as with (Greek) philosophical teachings concerning the energy that shapes the universe.

 

Logos – a 1st Century Buzz Word

Jews would hear  à  God’s ability and grandness.

Greeks would hear à the reason that structures the world. The ultimate    rational ideal.

 

But the term is often used for the spoken ‘word’ too. A word is a form of address, a means of engagement. To say, ‘in the beginning was the Word’ is to say (here starts God’s act of) communication.

 

Without communication God remains unknown and unknowable. For the Gospel to say anything about God means that God must first disclose something of himself. -Craig Koester, Word of Life

God is speaking through the Word.

God speaks about new creation, about wisdom, power and the structure of the universe by coming himself.

Jesus is God’s chief communication of himself.

Jesus is the Word – the message of God.

 

Summarize –

- A new creation has dawned

- Through the eternal one

- God’s chief communication is Jesus.

 

More in Light, Life & Love: A Journey through the Gospel of John

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