This essay continues a sequence. Read the previous one here.
The Word of Christ presents a direct knowing of God. All other scripture, biblical or otherwise, is a knowing-of. Keep a sharp distinction between the two.
Click here to receive new essays from The Word, (Re)Discovered every week
Our last few essays have been exploring the question “What Is The Word?“.
It is impossible to understand The Word, which reveals the Nature of God, if in the first place our basic assumptions about His Nature are entirely wrong.
We will consider a few aspects of that issue in this and the next few essays.1
Can Man Understand God?
No man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father;
— KJV, Luke 10:22
and who the Father is, but the Son,
and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
The Son knows the Father, directly.
We know the Father through the revelation given in and by the Son i.e. the Word of Truth.
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.
Every one that is of the Truth heareth my voice.
Because our knowing is a knowing-through-the-Word, we could also say that the Son knows the Father, while we know of the Father.
Knowing-of instead of knowing is a natural outcome of human nature in relation to the Infinity that is God.
Can Animal Understand Man, or Plant Understand Animal?
A plant has life but not consciousness (or, at least, not in the sense we typically use the term). The animal has consciousness.
It is impossible for the plant to “understand” the nature of the animal, because the plant lacks the capacity for this.
The animal has consciousness but not self-awareness. The human being has self-awareness.
It is impossible for the animal to “understand” the nature of the human being, because the animal lacks the capacity for this.
Click here to receive new essays from The Word, (Re)Discovered every week
Humanity in its true sense is incomprehensible to the animal, but the animal can be made to understand specific instructions from the human being that are adapted to the nature of the animal.
It is only within the limits of these instructions, and the limited expectations that the human has of the animal, that the animal can be said to “understand” its owner.
So we can aspire to an “image of understanding” of God. We have a God-given spirit, which can arrive at this image of understanding, this knowing-of, through living The Word (ref. “On Human Words“):
If ye continue in my Word,
— John 8:31
then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the Truth,
and the Truth shall make you free.
In the process of understanding, we also come to “know” the Son, because The Word is in The Son.
Can Created Understand Eternal?
It is worth bearing in mind that The Word existed before human words and human concepts were created:
In the beginning was the Word,
— John 1:1-2
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God
Logically, It must stand above human conceptions. We are able to receive The Word only because the Son incarnated on earth and transmitted The Word through His Being and in human words.
Don’t Confuse The Word With The Bible
It is impossible for a human being to directly transmit The Word Itself. What a blessed or spiritually-gifted human being can transmit is a human-level image of The Word.
Therefore The Word of Christ is superior to the various prophets and other biblical writings (including the interpretations of His Word in the New Testament), however good these teachings may be.
The Word is in God and also in the Son, and the human-level understanding of It is achieved by accepting and living the human words which the Son used to transmit It.
Today’s Resolution
- We shall hold strongly to humility in all our considerations of God and of His Word.
- We shall remind ourselves of the great gulf between our nature and that of the Son and the Father, which is only bridged through understanding The Word.
Click here to receive new essays from The Word, (Re)Discovered every week
- For the curious reader the book “Thinking About God” by Stephen Lampe provides interesting perspectives on some of the issues raised here. ↩︎
Leave a Reply to Mercy Over Sacrifice: Cultivating Love in Our LivesCancel reply