Expert: Ernie Laurence, Jr. - 5/5/2011

Question
Hi Ernie,

In John1:1 why does john refers to Jesus as the word.

Regards,
Praywin

Answer
This has to do greatly with the identity of God's saving Grace.  Most people in the world, I would argue that 99.9% of those in denominations, and about 90% within the church of Christ do not know what God's Grace really is.  They will tell you that it is God's unmerited favor or unearned gift, but that is the definition of the word "grace", not what it is.  Those who do answer the question often say that grace is salvation itself, but that is entirely wrong.  Grace causes salvation according to Eph. 2:5, 8.  It is not the effect.

The correct identity of Grace is the plan of salvation which has two parts Christ and the gospel and the two are so intertwined as to be spoken of often as the same thing.  John 1:1 is the perfect example of this.  Jesus is the will of God in the flesh (1:14).  It is the plan that God had before the kosmos was created, come to fruition in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus saves, of that no claimant to Christian doubts.  But the engrafted word also saves (James 1:21; John 6:63; John 17:17).  Through Jesus life, the example that He gave to us in the way that He lived, we see how we are to live.  Through His teachings, we hear and understand what He did.  Without Christ, the gospel is meaningless, a fake religion.  Without the gospel, Christ would have died but no one outside of those who witnessed the event first hand would know what happened or have the opportunity to respond to it, especially not correctly.  The two are halves of a whole.

We are sanctified through the word of God which is truth.  Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6).

The gift that mankind could never have earned, could never have even conceived of, was God giving His Son Jesus Christ to us, Jesus' life, example, teachings, death, burial, resurrection, and Kingship.  That is the gift that saves through obedient faith.  That is God's Grace.

In Truth and Love,

Ernie