Kaka D. Iralu
Last Christmas eve, as I sat in the church listening to the Scripture reader reading the speaker’s text, I was suddenly struck by the text of the scripture. The text being read was from John 1:1-14. It began with the words:
“In the beginning was the Word and the word was with God, and the word was God…all things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” It concluded with the words: “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.”(V;14)
On hearing that word,” WORD, “I was suddenly transported into a theological and philosophical world where I was lost in deep thought for the next forty five minutes. To be honest, not one sentence from the speaker’s sermon was ever registered in my mind because I was so deeply lost in the profound meaning and implications of the word “WORD.”
To begin with, WORD means communication or expression. It means literature and poetry and songs. Now, all these ecstatic activities of mankind are all expressed through words. Word also means law, science, theology and philosophy because all these disciplines that govern human society are also explained or expressed through words.
On the other hand, the opposite of words is SILENCE. Silence! What a chilling and lonesome feeling that word evokes in the minds of mankind who have been gifted with the ability to communicate one’s deepest and most intimate feelings through words. Now, a symbol of silence can be symbolized with that of a stone. A stone will never communicate any feelings to you. Even if you sit in front of a stone for all your life and tell it that you love and care for it, it will never reciprocate your love with expressions of words or feelings. That is the chilling and deadening implications of silence as opposed to words.
But having contrasted the difference between words and silence, we must now turn to the meaning of the word- “Word.” Strictly and scientifically speaking, a word is just a sound if the meaning of a word is not explained. For example the word “blah” or “blah, blah, blah” is a word that has no meaning in the dictionary. Similarly, if the word “Word” is not explained, then it is just another sound like “Blah.” Such a meaningless sound will come under the scientific field of Physics and not under the discipline of etymology which is the study of the origin of words and their meanings. (Etymology is in turn related to morals, ethics and law).
But contrary to the laws of Physics where words can just be sounds representing nothing, the word “Word” which comes from the Greek word “Logos” means- “A concept and the expression of that concept.” Now, a concept cannot be thought out by, say- an impersonal and inanimate object like a stone. A concept- scientific, theological or philosophical- needs a personal thinker to think out the concept.
When the word “Logos is comprehended in the light of all these facts, one realizes that when the revealed word of God said in John 1:1 that- In the beginning, there was the word and that the word was with God and also God and that everything was created by him, one suddenly understands who he or she really is. One realizes that he or she is not just an inanimate physical object purposelessly drifting in space and time. On the contrary, suddenly realizes that one is indeed a person of value created by a loving and “Personal” God. One also understands from the word of God, that this personal God is a God of love who sent his only begotten son into the world to die for our sins and save us for all eternity if we believe in him. (John 3:16).
This concept of “The Word” being a concept of love is made clearer in John 17: 24 where Jesus, praying for his disciples and all who would believe him through their testimony, prayed thus: “Father I will that they also, whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory; which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”
This means that before the word became flesh, and even before the world was created, there was love within the concept of the word Logos or “The word.” It also means that everything created through the word is not just meaningless sounds of Physics but words that can convey emotions of love, concepts of law, justice and also volumes of poetry and prose to declare God’s glory and His creation.
