Jesus is the Word of God verse

  • John 1:1-3
    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
     
  • John 1:14
    And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
     
  • John 14:10
    Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.
     
  • John 4:34
    Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
     
  • John 5:30
    I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
     
  • John 6:38
    For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
     
  • John 6:57
    As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
     
  • John 6:63
    It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
     
  • John 8:28
    Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.
     
  • John 8:56-57
    Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
     
  • John 17:8
    For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.
     
  • 1 Corinthians 8:6
    yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
     
  • Philippians 2:9-11
    Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
     


Question

Answer

The answer to this question is found by first understanding the reason why John wrote his gospel. We find his purpose clearly stated in John 20:30-31. “Many other signs therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” Once we understand that John’s purpose was to introduce the readers of his gospel to Jesus Christ, establishing Who Jesus is (God in the flesh) and what He did, all with the sole aim of leading them to embrace the saving work of Christ in faith, we will be better able to understand why John introduces Jesus as “The Word” in John 1:1.

By starting out his gospel stating, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” John is introducing Jesus with a word or a term that both his Jewish and Gentile readers would have been familiar with. The Greek word translated “Word” in this passage is Logos, and it was common in both Greek philosophy and Jewish thought of that day. For example, in the Old Testament the “word” of God is often personified as an instrument for the execution of God’s will (Psalm 33:6; 107:20; 119:89; 147:15-18). So, for his Jewish readers, by introducing Jesus as the “Word,” John is in a sense pointing them back to the Old Testament where the Logos or “Word” of God is associated with the personification of God’s revelation. And in Greek philosophy, the term Logos was used to describe the intermediate agency by which God created material things and communicated with them. In the Greek worldview, the Logos was thought of as a bridge between the transcendent God and the material universe. Therefore, for his Greek readers the use of the term Logos would have likely brought forth the idea of a mediating principle between God and the world.

So, essentially, what John is doing by introducing Jesus as the Logos is drawing upon a familiar word and concept that both Jews and Gentiles of his day would have been familiar with and using that as the starting point from which he introduces them to Jesus Christ. But John goes beyond the familiar concept of Logos that his Jewish and Gentile readers would have had and presents Jesus Christ not as a mere mediating principle like the Greeks perceived, but as a personal being, fully divine, yet fully human. Also, Christ was not simply a personification of God’s revelation as the Jews thought, but was indeed God’s perfect revelation of Himself in the flesh, so much so that John would record Jesus’ own words to Philip: "Jesus said unto him, 'Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, "Show us the Father"?'" (John 14:9). By using the term Logos or “Word” in John 1:1, John is amplifying and applying a concept with which his audience was familiar and using that to introduce his readers to the true Logos of God in Jesus Christ, the Living Word of God, fully God and yet fully man, who came to reveal God to man and redeem all who believe in Him from their sin.

Return to:

Questions about Jesus Christ

What do John 1:1,14 mean when they declare that Jesus is the Word of God?

Subscribe to the

Question of the Week

Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox!

Is Jesus the Word of God or the Bible?

It is Jesus, and not the bible, that is the word of God. A definitive feature of the word of God is that it has and gives life. John says of the word: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4).

Who is the word of God?

Scripture speaks of “the Word of God,” meaning “the things God has said.” But Scripture also uses the phrase “the Word of God” as a name. Specifically, as a name for Jesus Christ.

What Scripture says God is the word?

Bible Gateway John 1 :: NIV. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

What is the message of John 1 1 14?

God became incarnate in Jesus, but Jesus—though uniquely God's child and God's incarnate Word—makes it possible for all of us to become God's children who embody God's word. Through Christ, our ordinary human lives can become places where God's glory shines. The Word became flesh to bring us all into God's family.