Section III
The Lord Jesus Christ was called 'The Word' in three important places:(A) (John 1: 1): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." In this verse the reference to Christ's Divinity is very clear.
(B) (1 John 5:7): "For there are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." Here also, the Divinity of Christ is clear. The term "the Word" in the above verse is in place of "the Son" in (Matt. 28:19).
(C) (Rev. 19:13): "He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God." The term "The Word" stands for "Logos" in Greek which conveys a linguistic, philosophical and terminological meaning. The word "Logos" is taken from the Greek verb legein from which the
word logic in English is derived. It means the rational principle expressed in words.
Hence the term "The Word" means the Logos or Reason, or Mind which is the position of the Person of the Son in the Holy Trinity.
Naturally, the Reason of God is inseparable from Him. God and His Reason are One Entity. If Jehovah's Witnesses see that Christ is a Junior God to God (who is Supreme), they do not understand the meaning of the term "The Word" which is "the Logos " in (John 1: 1), and (1 John 5:7).
If Christ is the Reason and the Logos of God, then He is God and He is Eternal, because the Reason and Logos of God existed with God since eternity. Therefore Christ is not created because any created being does not exist before his creation. Is it reasonable for anyone to think that there was a time when
God existed without Reason, then He created Reason for Himself? And with what Reason did He create Reason for Himself? The apprehension of the Trinity teaches us the Eternity of the Three Persons. The Person of the Word is of the same substance of God Himself and has existed in Him
since eternity.
Therefore, the Second Person, The Logos or The Word is the Person of knowledge, or of reason or wisdom, in the Holy Trinity. He is Christ "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:.3). He is the Wisdom in the Trinity, which is why St. Paul the Apostle said that the Lord Jesus Christ is "the Wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:24).
That is why when The Word was Incarnate, we saw God in Him, "No one has seen God at any time" (John 1:18). That is to say, no one has seen God in His Divinity, but when He was Incarnate, when He was manifested bodily (1 Tim. 3:16), we saw Him in the flesh, we saw Him Incarnate. That is why St.
John the Apostle says: "No one has seen God at any time. The Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (John 1:18). This means that Christ declared God to us, and through Him we are able to perceive God.
The same meaning is given in (Col. 1: 15): "He is the image of the invisible God", and in (Phil. 2:5-7): "Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men." This
means that if Christ appeared to be equal with God, He did not consider that robbery because He is verily so. But while being equal with the Father, He gave up all His glory, was Incarnate, taking the form of a servant and coming in the likeness of man ... and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8).
St. Paul the Apostle said about the Lord Jesus Christ in his Epistle to the Hebrews: "...through whom also He made the worlds,. who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down
at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels" (Heb. 1:2-4). The phrase 'the express image of His person' means the image in which God manifested Himself in the Incarnation, and thus we could see Him; in the Person of Christ. That is why Christ the Lord said:
"He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). He was Incarnate for our redemption to purge our sins. He gave up all His glory although He is the brightness of God's glory and the image of God (2 Cor .4:4) and had made the worlds.
Here the Apostle presents one of the Divine attributes of Christ, of His being the Creator. He created the world because He is the Logos: the Reason and Wisdom of God.
Source: Divinity of Christ by H.H. Pope Shenouda III
.....To be continued in the next section....
