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”