5-The Word of God
12/14/14
INTRO:
I.
II.
III.
BODY:
I.
WE
A.
B.
C.
D.
DO NOT LOOK AT ICONS, ICONS LOOK AT US
Never painted or “written” with diminishing perspective
They are a window for them to watch over us
Looking through the wrong end of a peephole
The Logos is not our idea of God that we made up,
It is the idea that God gave us about Himself
 John 1:1-14
THE LOGOS IN JOHN’S GOSPEL
A. An individual “word” was called a “lexis”
B. A “logos” was a philosophical idea, like a word to a thought
The Spoken Word of God
1 In the beginning was the [Logos], and the [Logos] was with God,
and the [Logos] was God. He was with God in the beginning.
A.
Himself.
The Logos is more than a word, He is God’s explanation of
1)
2)
3)
B.
For Aristotle, there are three rhetorical forms of persuasion:
a) Ethos—appealing to moral character and credibility
b) Pathos—appealing to one’s emotional state of mind
c) Logos—the appeal itself, the essence of the thought
Hebrews 1:1-2
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the
prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these
last days he has spoken to us by his Son . . . and through
whom also he made the universe.
THE MESSENGER WAS THE MESSAGE
Christ was not created as the Son, He is the Creator Himself.
1) Colossians 1:16-17
All things have been created through him and for him. He is
before all things, and in him all things hold together.
2) FOR PLATO, the Logos the cosmic mediator between God
and creation, the personification of God’s Truth and Wisdom
3) PHILO CONNECTED THE LOGOS TO THE ANGEL OF THE
LORD
a) To the Jews Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ
b) To the Greeks Jesus was the Logos of God
II.
The Radiant Word of God
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made
that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of
all mankind.
A.
about.
Every Greek philosopher knew what Logos John was talking
1)
Christianity
b)
c)
d)
e)
fire
2)
B.
III.
JUSTIN MARTRY CONNECTED THE LOGOS TO CHRIST
a) Was a Platonic philosopher who converted to
Wrote letters to the Emperor after Polycarps murder
Said that Plato owed everything to Moses
Said the Christ was the Logos they were looking for
He came from God and was God, like fire taken from
Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact
representation of his being, sustaining all things by his
powerful word.
The Spirit of God illuminates our hearts to see the light of Jesus.
2) 2 Corinthians 4:6
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made
his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the
knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
3) CLARK GRIZWALD GETTING THE LIGHTS PLUGGED IN
The Living Word of God
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We
have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came
from the Father, full of grace and truth.
A.
John took the Logos farther than any philosopher could imagine.
1) 1 John 1:1-2
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at
and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning
the Word of life.
2) “If God had just wanted to speak to our minds, he would
have had Mary write a book instead of having a baby.”—A.
J. Swoboda
B.
The Logos made God knowable, and made Him alive in our lives.
1) 2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory
of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (KJV)
2) Grk (katoptrizomai) seeing a refection in a window
3)
CHUY ABOUT LONDA—“I COULD SEE HER IN MY HEART”