The Word Which is God
By John R. Gavazzoni

That's how John begins the prologue to his gospel. While the KJV pretty much has it right, a bit of probing of the Greek text unveils a note of intimacy in re: to the Word being with God. Quite literally, the Word is with God, as in, "face to face." The Word is with God face to face. In a context covering chapters two and three, following John's inspired thought, and then his recording of Jesus' own words in the third chapter, what John introduces to us is a Divine Interface, specifically an interface between God, as Father, and God, as Son, for:

In chapter three, the God of chapter one, is revealed to be the Father, for that God is the God by whom the Son is begotten. A picture forms in the mind as one is drawn into that Divine Interface. Behold: the Son looks into the face of the Father, beholding the Father's glory, His face aglow with the confirmation He sees of His own begotten glory, He turns to the world, so that we all, each in our due time, will "see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," and in that "face" we will find confirmation of our own sonship, and "we shall know as we are known." A doctrine of sonship won't reveal that to us. It's found, with God, face to face.

Now, to the matter of "....the Word was God." Yes! That's what the Greek text says. It does not say, "the Word was a god." That postulation is rank deception. The Word was God, and having been God, the Word continues to be God, and the Son is the Word: "In times past, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, He has spoken to us in a Son." There was a certain veiling of the Son in the message of the prophets. They "desired to look into the things that the Spirit of Christ in them did indicate," but what the Spirit of Christ was indicating to them, "in the fullness of time, born of a woman, born under the law," God spoke in that Son, so that John could say, "and the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory; the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." And, "it pleased the Father, that in Him all fullness should dwell."

The whole of what God had to say, He said, and continues to say, in that Son. The Bible's part in that speaking of God is that it is the normatively-inspired record (by which all other claims of inspiration are to be judged) of the One who IS the Word of God. Jesus is the speaking of God. In His Son, God speaks to us, and by that speaking He conveys to us His very Person, in all His glory. God's Word; God's speaking, is not about God teaching us things about Himself. When we receive the Word of God, we receive God, for the Word which was face to face with God was God.

I remember it clearly: 1:00 A.M., Oct. 10, 1953, at my bedside having come from hearing the testimonies of other teenagers caught up into a revival sweeping through Johnstown, PA, mostly among teens, I "sought the Lord," for peace in my soul, deeply troubled by the ungodly course my life had taken as an increasingly wild gang member. Suddenly, He whom I sought came. The peace OF God, enveloped me, and I knew, I knew, God was OK with me, and He loved knowing that I knew He was OK with me. That peace was not something God gave me. It was the peace OF God. He gave Himself to me to be my peace. "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," because He has become our peace.

I am full of passion to drive home this point to you reading this. God gives Himself to us in His Son: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son..." He wants us to have HIM: "He that hath the Son, hath life." Paul's prayer for believers is that we "might be filled with all the fullness of God," and all fullness dwells in Christ, our Lord. Nicely laid out doctrines about God won't cut it. You need the Son in the Father, and the Father in the Son, and having Them, you share in their relationship. What glory is there. What peace is there. What righteousness is there. What wholeness and wellness of being is there......there, possessing God by the Word which He is.

Imagine, having the Son, and with the Son, having the Father, and being joint-heirs with Christ of all that the Father is to the Son. God is determined that we should have Him in all His glory. The more fully we realize that possession, the more we withhold nothing of ourselves from Him. God will not settle for anything less than this.