The Word

[CuriousM]

Ok, so I got to the point in the Catechism where it talks a bit about Jesus being the Word.
I can’t believe I am asking this, I would think that I would get this, but I don’t.

How is Jesus the Word and the Bible is the Word of God?
Is Jesus the same Word as the Word of God?
If so, :banghead: I’m loooossssst!

Could someone please explain this a bit better. Or well, not better, just explain it. Please.

How is Jesus the Word, and the bible is the Word of God.

I think these paragraphs are the ones that basically caused the confusion:

102

Through all the words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word, his one Utterance in whom he expresses himself completely:64

You recall that one and the same Word of God extends throughout Scripture, that it is one and the same Utterance that resounds in the mouths of all the sacred writers, since he who was in the beginning God with God has no need of separate syllables; for he is not subject to time.65

103
For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord’s Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God’s Word and Christ’s Body.66

Uhm help.

 

[Marquette]

John 1:1,2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”

I don’t know if that helps, but that is what John says about it.

Marquette

 

[CuriousM]

Oy, no, I’m still confused.

I understand that verse. (too well almost after being a jw, then leaving )

I just don’t understand how the Word is both Jesus and the Bible at the same time if God only “spoke one word” etc.

I think my brain is philosophically challenged or something.

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Well, it helps if you remember that God operates in many ways, and that He is many faceted.

If also helps if you remember that there is not just the “written Word of God” which is sacred Scripture. There is also the spoken word of God, which is Sacred Tradition.

Now, encompassing both fountains of the verbal word of God, Scripture and Tradition, and more, is God Himself, the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Living, Breathing, Embodiment of the Word; the eternal Word, the God who has given us what we can understand in the written and spoken Word but Who Himself is the ‘source spring’ which feeds those two fountains.

 

[Mannyfit75]

Oy, no, I’m still confused.

I understand that verse. (too well almost after being a jw, then leaving )

I just don’t understand how the Word is both Jesus and the Bible at the same time if God only “spoke one word” etc.

I think my brain is philosophically challenged or something.

The Bible is the written Word of God. It is written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit.

John 1:1,2 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God”

Let’s break this down.

In the beginning was the Word. This means God was there at the very beginning before time itself. When God spoke it is His Word that comes out. For example, “Let there be light, and there was light.”

So we see right there, the Word was with God, and when God spoke the Word was God. Later in John’s Gospel, this Word became flesh. This flesh is Jesus Christ.

 

[ABostonCatholic]

Read Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Teaching/On Christian Doctrine/On Teaching Christianity)

Christ is the Word in that he is the source of all of our understanding. He was present with the Father in the beginning of the world to order the world. Christ is our Teacher and teaches us with His words, through the power of the Holy Spirit in Sacred Scripture.

 

[CuriousM]

Ok.
a) I need to meditate on this a bit. Some excellent posts and my wee brain is starting to get it (I supose that’s a good thing )
b)

In the beginning was the Word. This means God was there at the very beginning before time itself. When God spoke it is His Word that comes out. For example, “Let there be light, and there was light.”

So we see right there, the Word was with God, and when God spoke the Word was God. Later in John’s Gospel, this Word became flesh. This flesh is Jesus Christ.

Why didn’t the Word become Flesh when he first spoke? I mean, why did the Word become flesh centuries or eons later?
(Does that make sense? I hope so!_

Great responses, now let’s get my brain to respond

 

[CuriousM]

Read Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Teaching/On Christian Doctrine/On Teaching Christianity)

Is this available online or do I need to hit the Catholic Store to get it? Or would they even have it, as they are fairly small.

 

[Mannyfit75]

Ok.
a) I need to meditate on this a bit. Some excellent posts and my wee brain is starting to get it (I supose that’s a good thing )
b)
Why didn’t the Word become Flesh when he first spoke? I mean, why did the Word become flesh centuries or eons later?
(Does that make sense? I hope so!_

Great responses, now let’s get my brain to respond

Only God know why the Word became flesh until centuries later. As you know the OT foreshadow the NT.

I think I might have an answer. In OT, God promised a Messiah to save us from our sins. He must first establish a covenant first to Abraham, the second was the another covenant with Moses, then the kingdom of David was establish. From David line a messiah shall arise. This Messiah is Jesus.

I hope that clear it up. All those have to be establish first to make the path for the Lamb of God.

 

[dylanschrader]

Word is a proper name of the Second Person of the Trinity. In other words, it describes his unique relationship in the Trinity. Thus, the Son can also properly be called the Word. In what way? Well, with the name “Son” we understand that the Father eternally begets the Son–that is the unique relationship that the Son has to the Father, begotten to the one who begot him. The Second Person is also properly named the Word because he is the Father’s eternal self-knowledge. God the Father knows himself completely. Being infinite in nature and also having this absolutely complete self-knowledge, his knowledge of himself is a unique Person: the Word.

Thus, Jesus is God’s complete self-revelation because he is God’s complete self-understanding in the flesh. God could never tell us enough about himself, he had to give us himself. Thus, because of the Second Person’s unique relationship in the Trinity, it was fitting that he be the one (rather than the Father or the Holy Spirit) to become man for our redemption.

 

[Della]

b)
Why didn’t the Word become Flesh when he first spoke? I mean, why did the Word become flesh centuries or eons later?
(Does that make sense? I hope so!

St. Paul expressed it this way:

Galatians 4:
[1] I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no better than a slave, though he is the owner of all the estate;
[2] but he is under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father.
[3] So with us; when we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe.
[4] But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
[5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

What he is saying is that God revealed his plan over time until the time was right, in God’s eyes, to send his Son to redeem us. As Manny pointed out, God did this in stages, setting up the right time and circumstances for the birth, ministry, redemptive death and resurrection of his Son, the final Word of God to men. The NT is but the life/teachings of Christ written down as the need for such writings arose in the early Church.

 

[Verita]

How is Jesus the Word, and the bible is the Word of God.

This is the thought that occurred to me. Jesus said that He is the Truth and He also said that He came to witness to the Truth. Whenever God’s Word is spoken it is Truth. There is only one Truth. Perhaps The Word = Truth?

So Jesus is called the Word because He is Truth. There is no Truth that is separate from Him. However, the Bible can be called the Word of God because it contains Truth.

I probably haven’t expressed that very well and I’m probably completely wrong.

 

[ricmat]

When God brought all creation into being, the “word” he uttered was “Jesus.” Through him all things were made. Through him we reach our perfection, and communion with the Trinity.

Jesus is also the pefection of the Law (also words) as existed at the dawn of creation (as Wisdom), as written in our hearts as natural law, and as written in stone to Moses, and as written in the Wisdom books of the bible. Jesus is the perfect incarnation of the words of the Law.

 

[Zooey]

A word expresses a meaning. (When I say “cat”, people know what I mean).
Jesus=Word, because Jesus expresses Who God is, & what He is like. He can do this, only because He is God.
I think we may have lost sight, in these days of education being so widely available, what tremendous power “word” had in the days when the NT was being written. Words were almost a magical thing to the ancient mind…When American Indians first saw books, they called them “talking leaves”. That is the closest I can come, to explaining the power of words to the modern mind.
The Scriptures are made up of God’s words. But Jesus** is** the Word. It is His very nature to express, to show forth to us, the one & only God.

I hope this helps, & I thank you for asking the question, as it has been an inspiration for me, thinking through these things.
God bless all here.

 

[ABostonCatholic]

Is this available online or do I need to hit the Catholic Store to get it? Or would they even have it, as they are fairly small.

I don’t know if it is available online as an e-text. But it is available through amazon.com. It may or may not be available at your Catholic bookstore or at your B&N, Borders, etc.

If you’re not trained in theology or philosophy, it can be dense. The main subject is how we are to interpret Scripture and words within Scripture.

As far as Christ being the “Teacher” Augustine’s “The Teacher” is where he talks about that. I think it might be online at www.newadvent.org. It is written like a classical dialogue.

 

[Lazerlike42]

Remember in the other thread on the Trinity, how we discussed how God knowing Himself perfectly is the Son? Well, knowledge is expressed in words. However, since God is eternal, having no past or future, He does not utter Words - He utters a Word.

 

[JimG]

Remember in the other thread on the Trinity, how we discussed how God knowing Himself perfectly is the Son? Well, knowledge is expressed in words. However, since God is eternal, having no past or future, He does not utter Words - He utters a Word.

Yes. The eternal Word spoken by the Father is the Son. This is John’s meaning when he says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The Son is the Eternal Word spoken by the Father.

But the Eternal Word took on humanity. He became incarnate at a particular time and place.
So John adds that “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”

The eternal Word is also called the Logos.

Jesus is the Divine Word of God–the 2nd Person of the Trinity.

The Bible is the word of God spoken through humans inspired by the holy spirit. But the bible is not the second person of the Trinity.