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The Word was with God

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in John, What’s new?.

What does it mean that the Word was with God (John 1:1)?

The opening verses of John’s gospel are perhaps the most theologically packed writings in all the Bible: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1–2). These words and the concepts they express form the foundation for John’s entire gospel, which was written to prove that Jesus Christ is God’s incarnate Son.

The term translated “Word” is Logos in the Greek language. John uses it here as an unmistakable reference to Jesus Christ. The Hebrews often referred to God in terms of His powerful word (Psalm 33:6; 107:20). With a few simple statements, John declares that Jesus, like His heavenly Father, has always existed since the beginning of time. Jesus was with God in the beginning because He is God, and He always has been.

Right out of the gate, John presents the doctrine of the deity of Christ and affirms His co-eternal nature with God as Creator of the universe (John 1:3). To his first-century, Greek-speaking audience, John communicates straightforward truths that don’t require explanation. But for current-day Bible readers, the expression the Word was with God hides a vital truth about the relationship between God and Jesus. No single English equivalent exists to better express the full meaning of the word with in the phrase.

In English, we typically understand the preposition with to mean “near” or “beside.” But the original Greek term expresses a living, active union in the closest, most intimate sense. When John said, “The Word was with God,” he meant that the divine Word—Jesus Christ—was not only present alongside God from all eternity but was in a living, dynamic, co-equal relationship of close communion with Him. The Holman New Testament Commentary explains, “The Greek word is pros which literally means ‘toward,’ implying a face-to-face relationship” (Gangel, K., Broadman & Holman, 2000, Vol. 4, p. 9).

The relationship between God and Jesus is eternal and intimately personal. The works of Christ are the works of God. The words of Jesus are the words of His heavenly Father. Because they are one, Jesus reveals the heart and mind of God to us (John 14:9–10). The author of Hebrews explains: “In these last days he [God the Father] has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:2–3, ESV).

Jesus, who is the Word, was with God in every sense of the word. Not only is Christ the image of the invisible God (2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15), but He and the Father are one nature and essence (John 10:30). Jesus prayed for His followers to share in this same inseparable, face-to-face union: “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one” (John 17:21–22, NLT).

When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” (John 8:58), He was claiming to be God. There was no doubt among the Jewish people that these words were a declaration of deity, for they reacted by picking up rocks to stone Jesus for blasphemy according to Mosaic Law (Leviticus 24:16).

English readers may have to dig under the surface to understand the apostle’s statement that “the Word was with God” expresses the deity of Jesus Christ and His inseparable oneness with God the Father. But in John’s first epistle, his meaning couldn’t be more evident: “And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life” (1 John 5:20, NLT).

Credits To: Got Questions Ministries

the Word was God

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in What’s new?.

What does it mean that “the Word was God” in John 1:1?

In John 1:1, the apostle John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In this statement, John reveals three things about the Word (Gk. Logos): that in the beginning, when the world was created, He existed; that He existed with God; and that He was in fact God and therefore made all things. In other words, the Logos existed eternally, distinct from the Father, yet equal to the Father.

In the beginning reminds every reader of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Both in Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1a, the word beginning refers to the origin of all things, and it is by the Word of God that all things came to be (Genesis 1; John 1:3–4). John uses the word Logos to refer to God’s “divine self-expression” (cf. Hebrews 1:3). If the Word created all things, then it follows that the Word is uncreated. By definition, God is the only uncreated being. Therefore, the Word is God (John 1:1c).

Some have argued that John 1:1c should be translated as “and the Word was a god” because the Greek text lacks a definite article before theos (“God”). They reason, therefore, that the Word was divine but not God. This is unacceptable for the following reasons:

  1. The Greek word for “divine” is theios not theos.
  2. There are many New Testament passages where a definite article does not precede a subject and yet the subject is specific. For example, in John 1:49 (“you are the King of Israel”), there is not a definite article before King in the original text.
  3. In John 1:1b, theos clearly refers to the one true God. Therefore, 1:1c must also refer to the one true God rather than a lesser god.
  4. In John 1:1c, the Word is the subject of the sentence, and God is part of the predicate complementing the subject. The word was is a linking verb, or an equative. Thus, the Word is equal to God.

The question arises that, if the Word is God, how can He be with God? Does this mean that there are two gods? The Greek text gives the answer. In John 1:1b, the preposition for “with” is pros, which means “to” or “towards.” The same preposition is used elsewhere in the New Testament (Mark 6:3; 14:49; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philemon 1:13; 1 John 1:2). In these passages, pros shows the relation of two persons who are with each other, usually in a close and intimate way. Hence, the Word is inseparable from God yet distinguishable from God (John 17:5). In other words, God the Son has the same essence as God the Father, but they are not the same person. As the Athanasian Creed says, “We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being.”

The Word of John 1:1 is plainly identified as Jesus in John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” In this way, God’s ultimate self-expression made His way to the cross to lay down His life for ours (John 10:11, 15).

Credits To: Got Questions Ministries

Christ is the end of the law

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Romans, What’s new?.

What does it mean that Christ is the end of the law (Romans 10:4)?

In Romans 10:4, the apostle Paul writes, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (ESV). The Greek word translated as “end” means “aim or purpose.” Christ is the aim and purpose of the law not because He abolished it but because He fulfilled it: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17, ESV). By fulfilling the law, Christ guarantees the imputation of His righteousness to everyone who believes.

Apart from Christ, no one is righteous (Romans 3:10). The prophet Isaiah bluntly says, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (Isaiah 64:6, ESV). Unfortunately, Israel had deluded itself into believing that righteousness could be obtained through the law. Paul argues, however, that the law cannot make us righteous. He says, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by the works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:19–20, ESV). The law effectively reveals our sinfulness, but it cannot justify or make us right before God.

Elsewhere, Paul says, “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:23–24, ESV). The law, then, was a promise of things to come. Nay, it was a promise of the One to come. Christ, in perfect obedience to the Father’s will (John 8:29), fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law and became the end of the law. Those who trust in Christ have received His righteousness; not because we have earned it, but because of His grace: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:23–25, ESV). Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Israel should have known that the law pointed to Christ: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39, ESV). However, they were “ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Romans 10:3, ESV). Here, we have a biblical definition of sin. It is failure to submit to God’s righteousness. This is a spiritual and moral failure rather than an intellectual one (see John 3:19–21). To overcome this failure, God “gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, ESV). In Christ, we graciously receive His righteousness, a righteousness that could not be obtained through our own law-keeping (2 Corinthians 5:21). In this way, Christ is the end of the law.

Road to Emmaus

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Luke, What’s new?.

What happened on the road to Emmaus?

The events on the road to Emmaus are discussed in Luke 24. In this final chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we read of two disciples (Cleopas and one unnamed) of Jesus who were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the day that Jesus rose from the dead. As they traveled, a man joined them—the resurrected Jesus, although they did not recognize Him. The man asked, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” (Luke 24:17).

The two disciples were surprised that the man had not heard of the recent events that had Jerusalem in turmoil. They proceeded to tell the stranger of Jesus’ crucifixion and the report of His empty tomb. Jesus responded, “‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27).

So, as they walked, Jesus taught what the Old Testament had predicted about Himself. When they arrived in Emmaus that evening, the two disciples stopped to eat, and they asked Jesus to join them. He did, and as He broke the bread and blessed the meal, “their eyes were opened” (verse 31), and they recognized Him. Jesus then vanished.

Their response? Luke reports, “They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, ‘It is true! The Lord has risen’” (verses 33-34).

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus gave a lesson on the prophecies of the Old Testament which were fulfilled in His death and resurrection. What a lesson that would have been! The Author of the Book explains His work, making connections from Scripture to the events they had recently experienced.

The disciples’ reaction to Jesus’ lesson was one of deep conviction of the truth of what He was teaching. “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked?” they ask each other (verse 32). Their physical eyes were blinded to the identity of Jesus, but their eyes of faith were being opened as Jesus opened the Scriptures to them.

Following this account, Jesus appears to His other disciples, removing all doubt that He was alive. Jesus had promised that He would show Himself to those who love Him (John 14:21), and this is exactly what He does on the road to Emmaus.

The story of the disciples on the Emmaus Road is important for many reasons. It provides an emphasis on the Old Testament prophecies related to Jesus, evidence regarding an additional appearance of Jesus, and a connection regarding the many eyewitnesses of the resurrected Jesus. Luke 24 is often seen as a model of the journey that Jesus makes with many of us today, as He opens our eyes, points us to the Word, and reveals Himself along life’s walk as the resurrected Savior and Lord.

Passion Week, Holy Week

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in The Christian and Holidays, What’s new?.

Passion Week (also known as Holy Week) is the time from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday (Resurrection Sunday). Also included within Passion Week are Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Spy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. Passion Week is so named because of the passion with which Jesus willingly went to the cross in order to pay for the sins of His people. Passion Week is described in Matthew chapters 21-27; Mark chapters 11-15; Luke chapters 19-23; and John chapters 12-19. Passion Week begins with the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday on the back of a colt as prophesied in Zechariah 9:9.

Passion Week contained several memorable events. Jesus cleansed the Temple for the second time (Luke 19:45-46), then disputed with the Pharisees regarding His authority. Then He gave His Olivet Discourse on the end times and taught many things, including the signs of His second coming. Jesus ate His Last Supper with His disciples in the upper room (Luke 22:7-38), then went to the garden of Gethsemane to pray as He waited for His hour to come. It was here that Jesus, having been betrayed by Judas, was arrested and taken to several sham trials before the chief priests, Pontius Pilate, and Herod (Luke 22:54-23:25).

Following the trials, Jesus was scourged at the hands of the Roman soldiers, then was forced to carry His own instrument of execution (the Cross) through the streets of Jerusalem along what is known as the Via Dolorosa (way of sorrows). Jesus was then crucified at Golgotha on the day before the Sabbath, was buried and remained in the tomb until Sunday, the day after the Sabbath, and then gloriously resurrected.

It is referred to as Passion Week because in that time, Jesus Christ truly revealed His passion for us in the suffering He willingly went through on our behalf. What should our attitude be during Passion Week? We should be passionate in our worship of Jesus and in our proclamation of His Gospel! As He suffered for us, so should we be willing to suffer for the cause of following Him and proclaiming the message of His death and resurrection.

Sheep in the midst of wolves

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Matthew, What’s new?.

What does it mean to be sheep in the midst of wolves (Matthew 10:16)?

As Jesus readied His twelve disciples to go out and minister, first He gave detailed guidelines for their early mission (Matthew 10:5–15), and then He prepared them for opposition and persecution: “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16, ESV).

Jesus knew that His messengers would encounter fierce resistance, so He immediately dismissed any idealistic notion of what it meant to be His servant. He told them that persecution and betrayal would come from unexpected places and all kinds of people, even family and friends (Matthew 10:21–22, 34–36). Jesus also knew that many would respond to the disciples’ message, so they had to go. To be as “sheep amidst the wolves” is the Lord’s fitting imagery portraying how we obey His call and take the message of salvation to receptive souls scattered amid a crowd of hostile challengers.

Reflecting the character of meek and gentle sheep, our message is one of love and compassion. Luke 10:3 uses the language of “lambs among wolves,” emphasizing the dedicated vulnerability that ought to exemplify Christ’s servants, messengers, missionaries, and evangelists. We are to go out clothed with grace, mercy, kindness, and humility—“innocent as doves”—but also with wisdom, truth, and integrity—“wise as serpents.” We keep our attitude and actions pure and harmless and our eyes wide open, “alert and of sober mind” because our “enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

The future peaceful reality of sheep and wolves living together in harmony (Isaiah 11:6; 65:25) is not yet our reality. The apostle Paul testified to church leaders, “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock” (Acts 20:29). To His disciple Timothy, Paul wrote, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Jesus desires that we be fully prepared to be hated and treated poorly just as He was (Matthew 10:25). Yet we can find comfort and encouragement in our struggles, knowing such ill-treatment is a sign of our close fellowship with Jesus (Acts 5:41; 2 Corinthians 11:16–33; 12:1–10; Philippians 3:10–11).

Sheep are defenseless animals. Unless they stay near their shepherd, these animals have no hope of surviving against a pack of wolves. Jesus, who is “the great Shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20), assured His disciples repeatedly that He would care for His sheep, leading, guiding, protecting, and laying down His life for them (John 10:1–16, 26–30).

Even though we will face persecution in our mission to follow and obey Christ, He encourages us not to fear: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:28–31).

Matthew 10:16 was not the disciples’ first exhortation to expect persecution as servants of God’s kingdom. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10–12). Honor in God’s kingdom is a blessing reserved for those who actively seek to advance His righteousness and serve the King.

Initially, the “wolves” in Jesus’ analogy included the Pharisees and Jewish religious teachers who violently persecuted the early church. But the caution to be like sheep amidst the wolves is relevant to believers in every age who must live as Christ’s ambassadors in a dark and unreceptive world. Without our Shepherd, we are defenseless and in danger. But with Jesus, we are promised protection and peace (John 14:27; 16:33; Psalm 3:5–6; Matthew 6:25–34; 11:28; Romans 8:28, 35–39).

Sheep without a shepherd

Written by LWOM Amsterdam on . Posted in Matthew, What’s new?.

What is the significance of sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36)?

The role of a shepherd is to watch over, feed, protect, guide, comfort, and sustain the flock under his care. Spiritual leaders have a similar responsibility toward the people entrusted to their oversight. While Jesus traveled the countryside ministering to the crowds, He felt deep concern for the people because they lacked spiritual guidance and pastoral care from their leaders: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

A shepherd theme twines throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, the Lord’s people, the Israelites, are portrayed as a flock of sheep, and God is their loving, caring Shepherd (Psalm 23; 100:3; Jeremiah 23:3; 31:10). God expected Israel’s leaders to be spiritual under-shepherds to His flock (2 Samuel 5:2; Numbers 27:17). Sadly, they failed at their duty (see Ezekiel 34). The prophets declared, “I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master’” (Kings 22:17; see also Isaiah 56:11; Jeremiah 10:21).

The shepherd theme continues in the New Testament, with Jesus portrayed as the “Good Shepherd” (John 10:11; cf. Isaiah 40:11) and the “Great Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4). The people swarming toward Jesus are like sheep without a shepherd because their spiritual overseers, Israel’s religious leaders, have harassed and abandoned them. In Matthew 9:36, the verb translated as “harassed” (skyllomai in the original Greek) means “to be afflicted, troubled, grieved, bothered, annoyed.” “Helpless” comes from a verb that means “to be thrown down, rejected; thrown away, cast off.” This word speaks of the utterness of the people’s abandonment by their leaders and its thoroughly damaging effect. Jesus was profoundly moved when He looked into their faces because He saw people who were wholly disheartened, demoralized, and discouraged.

In Matthew 9:36, Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Ezekiel 34:2–6: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. . . . You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them” (NLT).

Sheep without a shepherd scatter easily, wander into dangerous territory, and become lost (Isaiah 53:6; Zechariah 10:2; 13:7; Matthew 26:31; John 10:12). Like sheep, we all need a shepherd to guide us along the right path (Psalm 23:3). Without a shepherd we will eventually starve and die. Therefore, a truly good shepherd never leaves his flock unattended (John 21:15–19). And if even one of his sheep goes astray, he will “leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost” (see Matthew 18:12–14). Jesus, the perfect Shepherd, lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:15).

In sharp contrast with the biblical depiction of a good shepherd, Israel’s leaders received this scathing indictment from Jesus: “They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. Everything they do is for show. . . . And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues” (Matthew 23:4–6, NLT). Jesus goes on to call them “hypocrites” who “shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces” (Matthew 23:13, NLT). Instead of shepherds, they are “blind guides” only looking out for themselves (Matthew 23:16).

The apostle Paul instructs church leaders: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood” (Acts 20:28). Instead of leaving people as sheep without a shepherd, God’s Word calls true spiritual leaders to “care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example” (1 Peter 5:2–3, NLT).

Shepherds patterned after the example of Jesus Christ are self-sacrificing servants, willing to lay down their lives for the sheep (John 15:13; 1 John 3:16). They provide spiritual nourishment and guidance and rule people justly and with love.