It felt a little off-kilter getting back to school after a weekend and two snow days all in a row. But Father I am grateful for Your watch-care over us all. Roads this morning were not in the best condition, but we had no accidents, and no one got stuck. All praise to You!

John 1:1 (<<click here to read the passage)

I’m not sure how to even ask this but have you ever heard the term “word” used as a slang addition to a statement? It’s been around for a few years. A couple of examples would probably be helpful.

It can mean okay or just to acknowledge that you heard someone.

“I’ll be there in 5 minutes.” “Word.”

“I’m going to the store; I’ll be back later.” “Word.”

It can also mean cool, like:

“I got an A on my test.” “Word.”

I realize for many of us its use is a little strange but it’s a part of our culture. From a little reading I did “word” is actually a shortened form of the phrase: “my word is my bond”. Eventually, it was shortened to “word is bond” before becoming simply “word”. It basically means “truth” or “to speak the truth.”

In one more thought from verse 1 of John chapter one, let’s look at what John meant when he used the phrase, “the Word.”

Right off, he didn’t use it to communicate “okay” or acknowledgment and he wasn’t trying to be cool. But…he was most definitely expressing truth. In fact, he was proclaiming the Truth, as in the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) Jesus Christ Himself!

One of my Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation’s notes on this verse reads,

What does John mean by “the Word”? The Word was a term used by theologians and philosophers, both Jews and Greeks, in many different ways. In Hebrew Scripture, the Word was an agent of creation (Psalm 33:6), the source of God’s message to his people through the prophets (Hosea 4:1), and God’s law, his standard of holiness (Psalm 119:11). In Greek philosophy, the Word was the principle of reason that governed the world, or the thought still in the mind, while in Hebrew thought, the Word was another expression for God…To Jewish readers, to say this man Jesus “was God” was blasphemous. To Greek readers, “the Word became human” (John 1:14) was unthinkable. To John, this new understanding of the Word was the Good News of Jesus Christ. [If you’d like to read any of these passages just click on them.]

In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. John 1:1 AMP

And that, my friends, is the Good News proclaimed! Word!

Feb 3rd, 2021, Wed, 7:14 pm