These essays are written in sequence and build on each other. Read the preceding essay here.
The Word versus human words
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
— KJV, John 1:1
As already discussed in earlier essays, The Word is in God.
Therefore in its real sense It exists infinitely far above the human level.
Therefore The Word, which is Divine Truth, has to be translated into human words in order to become comprehensible to man.
This translation is Christ’s Message – the human words that Christ used while on earth. That is how we access The Word.
To this end was I born,
— John 18:37
and for this cause came I into the world,
that I should bear witness unto the Truth.
Because of the Source of these words, their essence is different from words used by mere mortals.
They may sound like everyday words, but together they transmit spiritual knowledge that cannot be immediately grasped by the human brain.
Even with human words we distinguish between the essence of words and their linguistic meaning. Thus we pay attention to the tone of a speaker, or how someone said something.
If the speaker is Christ, this effect is vastly more far-reaching.
When man listens to Christ’s words, he will know the words but not The Word. He will have learnedness but not knowledge.
It is only when the man that has listened to Christ’s words seeks to put them into practice that he will begin to experience the essence of the words, which is The Word.
This is so because of the nature of The Word:
In him was life;
— John 1:4
and the life was the light of men.
Life can only be appreciated by the living of it.
Human words are not alive – they do not contain life of themselves. They can be immediately grasped by the brain, which also does not have life of itself.
But Christ’s words contain life, and therefore are not primarily grasped by the brain but by the living spirit of man.
This speaks to a principle of Homogeneity, which we shall address further at an opportune time.
As we will discuss in more detail in a later essay, the living spirit of man grasps such living words through experiencing i.e. living activity.
In practicing his growing understanding the Christian will gain life experiences.
These life experiences will give him true knowledge and allow The Word to work in him, refining his inner nature. This is a process of being born anew.
If any man will come after me,
— Luke 9:23
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily,
and follow me.
When a man allows these life experiences to educate him and to refine his innate nature so as to make him a more spiritual being he can be said to “know” The Word, and not merely the words.
Today’s Resolution
- We shall seek to understand The Word, not by mere book study but by daily application.
The Word, (Re)Discovered 