Christ's Name – Word

There are 12 words in the 1^st Chapter of the book of John that are used to refer to Christ.  Each has a significance.  The first word that is used is the word, “Word.” Twice in this chapter the name for Christ, “Word,” is found as follows: 

1.  John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

2.  John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”   

Elsewhere in the scriptures the name Word is used to depict the Lord Jesus Christ: 

1.  Heb. 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  Heb. 4:13 “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.” Some have thought this to teach the written word or the preach word.  However, notice that the “word” here discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart and is depicted by the pronouns his and him.  He is also said to discern our thoughts and intents of our heart and see all things.  Certainly this could not be the written word or the preach word. 

2.  1Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” Again, some make the word here to be the preached word.  However, once again, this “word lives and abides” forever.  Moreover, he is incorruptible.  This cannot be said about either the written word or the preached word. 

3.  Rev. 19:13 “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. Rev. 19:14 “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”  

4.  1John 5:7 “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”  

Clearly the “Word” identified here is Jesus Christ.  But what is the significance of using the word, “Word,” as a name for Jesus Christ? Words are used to communicate and manifest thoughts and ideas.  By using the name “Word” as a name for Jesus Christ, God is manifesting and communicated himself to us.  The following scriptures speak to the fact that Jesus Christ was manifesting God to us as the Word of God: 

1.  1Tim. 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”  

2.  Col. 2:9 “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”  

3.  Col. 1:15 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:” 

4.  John 14:9 “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” 

Thus, Jesus Christ as the Word, manifested God to us in his flesh.  There were many ways that He manifested God to us.  Certainly we can see power of God manifested in the miracles and wonders in which he did.  He showed God’s mighty power in all the healings and especially in his raising the dead back to life.  He manifested God in his omniscience as he told different ones even the thoughts of their heart and of things that happened to them of which he had not witnessed with his natural eye.  He manifested the great wisdom of God in confounding the wise and prudent and all that came to him trying to trap him in breaking the law of God through their sly tricks.   

Moreover, there were many other ways in which he manifested God to us and became the perfect example to us of those things we should do as the disciples of the Lord: 

1.  In the following passage he manifest God’s faith to us and thus showed us that we too should be faithful: Rom. 3:21 “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Rom. 3:22 “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:” This speaks of the faith of Jesus Christ.  Some have thought that it was not possible for God to have faith as he knows all things before they ever come to pass.  However, this passage shows us that Christ was faithful to the covenant promises of God and fulfilled them.  Likewise, we are to be faithful to the teachings of the word of God. 

2.  The following passages speak to us of the meekness of the Lord: 

a. Matt. 11:29 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”  

b. John 13:12 “So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?  John 13:13 “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. John 13:14 “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.” John 13:15 “For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”  

c. Phil. 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Phil. 2:6 “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:” Phil. 2:7 “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: Phil. 2:8 “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”  

In all of these passages we see the meekness of the Lord Jesus Christ and subsequently the meekness of God.  They also teach us that we are to make ourselves of no reputation as he did.   

    3.   The love of God is manifested by the Word of God in the following passages: 

              a. John 15:13 “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” 

              b. Rom. 5:6 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Rom. 5:7 “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.” Rom. 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

               c. Eph. 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,” Eph 2:5 “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” 

I cannot think of a greater example of manifest love than Christ sacrificial atonement for his people and His miraculous work of the new birth on those people who were totally unworthy that such should be done.  This teaches us that we should manifest love through sacrificing self and our selfish desires for the benefit of others. 

4.  Christ as the Word manifest forgiveness when he forgave us of our sins unconditionally: teaching us that in like manner we are to forgive others: Col 3:13 “Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” 

5.  Christ manifest the joy of obedience as recorded in the following passage: Heb. 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Christ experienced the joy of accomplishing what he had set out to do by suffering in the room of his elect people at the cross. This teaches us that we will experience joy by doing what the Lord has taught us that we ought to do.  An example of this is found in the parable of the talents where the one with the five talents used his talents and gained five other talents and the one with two talents gained two other talents, whereas, the one, with one talent, hid his talent.  The ones with the five and the two talents were blessed to enter into the joy of their Lord, whereas the one who did not use his talent was cast into outer darkness.    

6. The Word is our example of longsuffering as set forth in the following passage: 1Tim. 1:15 “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” 1Tim. 1:16 “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.”  As the Lord was longsuffering with Paul, so we should be longsuffering with others. 

This is just a small sampling of the examples of both being fruitful in the service of God and walking obediently in our lives that Jesus as the Word of God communicated to us and is an example to us.  May God be glorified.

Christ's Name – Lord

We read of Christ being referred as Lord in John 1:23: “He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”  The name “Lord” is not to be confused with the name “Master.”  The difference in usage is depicted for us in the following three verses: 

1.  Matt. 10:25 “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”  

2.  John 13:13 “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.”  

3.  John 13:14 “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.” 

From the above verses we conclude that the use of both names, Master and Lord, indicate they have a different meaning.  Notice that the word, “Master,” is used in connection with the disciple and the name, “Lord,” is used in connection the servant.  Throughout the New Testament the name, “Lord,” carries with it the thought of a lord/servant relationship.  Likewise, the word, “Master,” carries with it a master/disciple relationship.   

In the New Testament the word, Lord, comes from the Greek word, “kurios,” meaning “supreme in authority.”  Thus, the lord/servant relationship.   

A disciple of Jesus is also a servant of the Lord as the following verses show:

1.  1 Cor. 6:20 “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”  

2.  1 Cor. 7:23 “Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”  

3.  2 Pet. 2:1 “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” 

Seeing as how we are bought with the precious blood of Jesus, we should think of ourselves as being his servants and therefore, he our Lord over us.  As servants we should desire to serve him and do his bidding in our lives.