Christ is the Word of God means that Jesus Christ is God’s eternal self-revelation—the divine Son who was with God, is God, created all things, and became flesh so that God could be known personally. John does not describe Jesus as merely bringing a message from God. Jesus Himself is the eternal Word.
What Does John Mean When He Calls Jesus the Word?
John begins his Gospel before Bethlehem, before Abraham, and even before creation.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
John makes three statements at once.
The Word already existed in the beginning. The Word was with God. And the Word was God.
That means Jesus did not begin to exist when He was born in Bethlehem. His human birth took place in history, but the Person who took on that human nature is eternal.
John also distinguishes the Word from the Father without making the Word less than God. The Word was with God, showing personal distinction, while the Word was God, establishing His deity.
Jesus is not merely a prophet who speaks God’s words. He is the eternal Son who perfectly reveals God because He shares God’s divine nature.
Was the Word Present Before Creation?
Yes. In fact, John says creation came into existence through Him.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:2-3)
Christ is not part of creation. He is the Creator.
Everything that was made came into existence through Him. That places Christ on the Creator’s side of the distinction between God and everything God made.
This also helps explain why the title Word means far more than a spoken sentence. John is identifying an eternal divine Person.
Before there was a universe to hear a word spoken, the Word already was.
Why Is Jesus Called the Word?
Words reveal what is otherwise hidden inside a person. You cannot see someone’s thoughts simply by looking at them. When that person speaks, what was unseen becomes known.
That comparison helps us understand John’s language.
Jesus makes the unseen God known.
No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18)
The Son declares the Father. He makes God known.
Jesus did not merely come with information about God. In His Person, character, words, and works, He revealed the Father.
That is why Jesus could later say:
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. (John 14:9)
Jesus was not saying that He and the Father are the same Person. He was saying that He reveals the Father perfectly. If you want to know what God is like, you look to Christ.
The Word expresses God because the Word is God.
What Does It Mean That the Word Became Flesh?
John’s description becomes even more remarkable a few verses later.
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)
The eternal Word became flesh.
John does not say that Jesus stopped being God and became only a man. The eternal Son took upon Himself true humanity.
The One through whom the world was made entered the world He had made.
He became a real man without ceasing to be God.
This is why Jesus Christ is not simply another messenger in a long line of messengers. The prophets could say, in effect, “God has spoken.” Christ could stand before men as the One in whom God had personally come near.
God’s revelation was no longer only a message delivered through another servant. The Word Himself had come.
Does Calling Christ the Word Mean Jesus and the Bible Are the Same Thing?
No. Christ and Scripture are closely connected, but they are not identical.
Jesus Christ is the eternal, living divine Person John calls the Word. The Bible is the written Word of God given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The distinction matters.
The Bible did not create the world. The Bible did not become flesh. The Bible did not die at Calvary or rise from the dead. Jesus Christ did.
At the same time, Scripture faithfully reveals Him. God has given us His written Word so that we may know the truth about the living Word.
Jesus told religious leaders who searched the Scriptures:
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39)
Scripture points beyond itself to the Person it reveals.
That does not lessen the authority of the Bible. It explains its purpose. The written Word tells us truthfully who Christ is, what He has done, what God has promised, and how we are to place our faith in Him.
Because Scripture reveals Christ and what He accomplished, God’s redemptive plan cannot be separated from the truth God has given in His Word.
Is Jesus Still Called the Word of God After His Incarnation?
Yes. The title is not limited to the opening chapter of John’s Gospel.
Revelation uses it again when describing Christ in glory.
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. (Revelation 19:13)
Jesus is still called the Word of God.
The title belongs to who He is, not merely to what He did during His earthly ministry.
The baby born in Bethlehem was the Word. The Man who walked through Galilee was the Word. The Christ who died and rose again was the Word. The glorified Lord whom John sees in Revelation is still called the Word of God.
His identity has not changed.
Does the Word of God Mean Jesus Is God’s Spoken Creation?
No.
John 1:1 rules that out immediately.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
The Word did not come into existence in the beginning. He was already there.
Then John says everything that was created was made through Him.
If all created things were made by Him, Christ cannot Himself belong to the category of created things.
He is eternal.
This is one reason John’s opening is so important. He does not leave Jesus’ identity open to the idea that Christ was merely a great teacher, an exalted angel, or the first being God created.
- The Word was with God.
- The Word was God.
Why Does This Matter for Knowing God?
If Christ is the Word of God, then God has not left us trying to discover Him through human imagination.
He has revealed Himself.
Jesus makes the Father known. What God is like is not ultimately determined by philosophy, religious tradition, personal feelings, or speculation. We look to Christ as He is revealed in Scripture.
Hebrews describes the same truth from another angle.
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son. (Hebrews 1:1-2)
God spoke through the prophets, but His revelation reaches its fullness in His Son.
The prophets carried God’s message.
Christ is the Son through whom God has made Himself known.
So when John calls Jesus the Word, he is telling us something about both Christ and God: Jesus is the eternal Son, fully divine, through whom God created all things and through whom God has revealed Himself to mankind.
The Word became flesh so that the God whom no man has seen could be made known.
That is what it means that Christ is the Word of God.
