The Word, Part 2

The Word, Part 2

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things came into being through (the Word). What came into being through (the Word) was life, and the life was the light of all people. No one has ever seen God. It is (the Word) who has made (God) known.[1]

The belief that the Word of God is scripture is understandable since the Bible is comprised of words, and the Bible is considered by many as the primary source of Christian belief and practice. But the Bible, which may have been inspired by God but was written by fallible human beings like us, may not be the infallible, inerrant source some give it credit for being. In fact, the Word of God does not refer to the Bible but to something mysterious that cannot be contained in earthly, human words, even biblical words.Thus, our words and God’s Word are very different. God’s Word is dynamic and alive. Those of us who find the Bible inspiring and useful see this on a regular basis as we read the same teachings and stories, often finding new meanings and interpretations with each encounter. But the dynamism and aliveness of the Word does not come from the words on the page but from the spirit that inspired the words on the page as it moves within us. The written words are only a prompt for us to listen in new ways to what that spirit may be revealing within us.

It is also easy to believe that the Word of God is Jesus since the opening verses of the gospel of John seem to point to Jesus. And in a sense Jesus is exactly who the words refer to: not Jesus of Nazareth, however, but Jesus as One with the Christ of God. The difficulty with understanding the Word as Jesus arises when people do not make the important distinction between Jesus as a man from Nazareth and Jesus as the Christ. The former understanding leaves no place for us to enter the story as it only applies to an apparently magical being living in a time and place long ago and far away. There is no transformation for us in that narrative in that we can only worship that type of being. The latter – Jesus as the Christ – invites us to enter into the body of Christ with Jesus, in the timeless present moment. This narrative is an invitation to follow. We write ourselves into the eternal story through our conscious awareness that we, too, are a part of the same divine lineage as Jesus.

The concept behind the Word being spoken by God first appears in the opening chapter of the Bible where it is written that God spoke creation into being: “And God said, ‘Let there be…”[2] Some believe that God literally spoke the words, “Let there be light” and light appeared. Others of us, however, believe this to be a metaphorical telling of the unfathomable beginnings of the universe as we know it that cannot adequately or accurately be captured in our words. We accept that how the universe began is an unknowable mystery, regardless of whether we believe it began with a Big Bang or by the verbalizations of God or whether God said, “Let there be a Big Bang!” Those types of arguments miss the point. The creation story is just that – a story intended to inspire awe in us about the unfathomable nature of God manifesting in material form that cannot be understood. Our explanations are only conjecture for that which we cannot know in the same way we know lesser things about our world.

With regard to God’s Word, we simplify it to words on a page to our own detriment. Like God, God’s Word cannot be known, only experienced with humility and reverence. Hearing the Word of God, for those with ears to do so, can only be described as an encounter with mystery. The Christ of God – matter imbued with Spirit – is all around us, but once we recognize the Spirit within all of creation we can only be amazed at the depths to which we cannot know it. We can only live with it, love it, and stand in awe of our Oneness with it.

In the gospel of John, Jesus says, “You will know (the Spirit) because (it) abides with you, and (it) will be in you.”[3] When we encounter the Word of God we recognize it because it vibrates in harmony with something already inside of us, which is the Spirit of God. The apostle Paul says it this way: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”[4] The Word of God is alive in us via the Spirit of God planted within us.

This is the 41^st in a series titled Crucifying Christianity, Resurrecting the Way.Life Notes are my explorations into mysteries that interest me. They are invitations for readers to explore more deeply into life’s mysteries. Engage with me or explore contemplative spiritual direction at ghildenbrand@outlook.com.

---

[1] John 1:1,3-4,18

[2] Genesis, chapter 1

[3] John 14:17

[4] 1 Corinthians 3:16