The Spoken Word

'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'

Origen says about the first few words of the book of John: 'The Word does not COME to be. The same verb, "was" is predicated of the Word when he "was in the beginning" and when he "was with God." He is neither separated from the beginning, nor does he depart from the father.'

It is interesting to me that the earliest Christian scholars focused upon the word 'was' in this first chapter of John. They find it to be a word of permanence and transcendence, assuring us of the presence of Christ throughout time.

In a similar vein of thought, Ephrem the Syrian comments that: 'Our Lord is called the word because those things that were hidden were revealed through him, just as it is through a word that the hidden things of the heart are made known.'

This shift from the Old Testament, where God spoke through his created beings to speaking through his own son, is commented on at the beginning of the book of Hebrews:

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. ⁴ So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.