The Word As God Himself

THE WORD AS GOD HIMSELF
INTRODUCTION:
In the first place, we should know that all that the apostles taught and wrote, they
took out of the Old Testament; for in it all things are proclaimed that were to be
fulfilled later in Christ, and were to be preached, as Paul says in Rom. 1, 2: “God
promised afore the Gospel of His son Jesus Christ through his prophets in the Holy
Scriptures.”
1. That this Gospel may be clearer and more easily understood, we must go
back to the passages in the Old Testament upon which it is founded,
namely, the beginning of the first chapter of Genesis. There we read, Gen.
1, 1-3: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the
earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let
there be light, and there was light,” etc. Moses continues how all things
were created in like manner as the light, namely, by speaking of the Word of
God. Thus: “And God said, Let there be a firmament.” And again: “God said,
Let there be sun, moon, stars,” etc.
2. From these words of Moses it is clearly proved that God has a Word,
through which or by means of which he spoke, before anything was
created; and this Word does not and cannot be anything that was created,
since all things were created through this divine utterance, as the text of
Moses clearly and forcibly expresses it, when it says: “God said, Let there be
light, and there was light.” The Word must therefore have preceded the
light, since light came by the Word; consequently it was also before all
other creatures, which also came by the Word, as Moses writes.
3. But let us go farther. If the Word preceded all creatures, and all creatures
came by the Word and were created through it, the Word must be a
different being than a creature, and was not made or created like a
creature. It must therefore be eternal and without beginning. For when all
things began it was already there, and cannot be confined in time nor in
creation, but is above time and creation; yea, time and creation are made
and have their beginning through it. Thus it follows that whatever is not
temporal must be eternal; and that which has no beginning cannot be
temporal; and that which is not a creature must be God. For besides God
and his creatures there is nothing. Hence we learn from this text of Moses,
that the Word of God, which was in the beginning and through which all
things were made and spoken, must be God eternal and not a creature.
4. Again, the Word and he that speaks it, are not one person; for it is not
possible that the speaker is Himself the Word. What sort of speaker would
he be who is Himself the Word? He must needs be a mute, or the word
must needs sound of itself without the speaker. But Scripture here speaks in
strong and lucid words: “God said.” And thus God and His Word must be
two distinct things. If Moses had written: “There was an utterance,” it
would not be so evident that there were two, the Word and the Speaker.
But when he says: “God said,” and names the speaker and his word, he
forcibly states that there are two: that the speaker is not the word, and the
word is not the speaker, but that the word comes from the speaker, and has
its existence not of itself but from the speaker. But the speaker does not
come from the word, nor does he have his existence from it, but from
Himself. Thus, the words of Moses point conclusively to the fact that there
are two persons in the Godhead from eternity, before all creatures, that the
one has its existence from the other, and the first has its existence from
nothing but Himself.
5. Where else should it have been? There never was anything outside of God.
Moses says the same thing when he writes: "God said, Let there be light."
Whenever God speaks the word must be with him. But here he clearly
distinguishes the persons, so that the Word is a different person than God
with whom it was. This passage of John does not allow the interpretation
that God had been alone, because it says that something had been with
God, namely, the Word. If he had been alone, why would he need to say:
The Word was with God? To have something with him, is not to be alone or
by himself. It should not be forgotten that the Evangelist strongly
emphasizes the little word "with." For he repeats it, and clearly expresses
the difference in persons to gainsay natural reason and future heretics. For
while natural reason can understand that there is but one God, and many
passages of Scripture substantiate it, and this is also true, yet the Scriptures
also strongly oppose the idea that this same God is only one person.
6. Since there is but one God, it must be true that God Himself is the Word,
which was in the beginning before all creation. Some change the order of
the words and read: And the Word was God, in order to explain that this
Word not only is with God and is a different person, but that it is also in its
essence the One True God with the Father. But we shall leave the words in
the order in which they now stand: And God was the Word; and this is also
what it means; there is no other God than the One only God, and this same
God must also essentially be the Word, of which the Evangelist speaks; so
there is nothing in the divine nature which is not in the Word. It is clearly
stated that this Word is truly God, so that it is not only true that the Word is
God, but also that God is the Word.
Conclusion:
The Word was with God, and yet God was the Word. Thus the Evangelist contends
that both assertions are true: God is the Word, and the Word is with God; one
Nature of Divine essence, and yet not one person only. Each person is God
complete and entire, in the beginning and eternally. These are the passages upon
which our faith is founded and to which we must hold fast. For it is entirely above
reason that there should be three persons and each one perfect and True God,
and yet not three Gods but one God.
Written by
IYOR BARIEP DUM
Bioblography;
Martin Luther’s Sermon
Written by Dr. Martin Luther.

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