Jesus is the human embodiment
of God’s creative and informing nature.
Jesus as God the creator, of all that was and is,
AND our informing light.
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It is recommended that readers should first gain a quick overview of Christianity by accessing the lead article of this section of the website, “Christianity explained”, before reading this one.
The theologically complex opening verses to the Gospel of John makes use of the term, “the Word” as an alternative title for Jesus. The actual title (i.e. as used by John) “The Word” – is based on the Greek “Logos” – firstly refers to the creative power of God. As such it is making a DIRECT connection between God and his Son, Jesus.
As well as explaining that Jesus pre-existed everything – i.e. Jesus IS actually God, and as such, everything was created through him – it also explains Jesus’ role in ‘informing’ us as the “light of humankind”.
Just as God spoke through the Old Testament prophets to enlighten us, he also existed in our world as a human being. He did it to personally provide vital statements to us. Essentially, through Jesus’ life, God made it clear that he:
- loves each of us and endured an agonising death to ‘redeem our sins‘;
- wants each of us to enter into a loving and unending relationship with him;
- wants each of us to treat his other children (our fellow human beings) in the same, caring way that he would.
Of course, we Christians believe that God in the ‘person of Jesus’, within the Holy Trinity, literally lives on within us and our world. As a result Jesus is also referred to as “the living Word.”