George Sayour

July 10, 2023

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

– John 1:1-5

John begins his Gospel with a hearkening back to creation. He begins in the beginning. Creation was dark, a formless void, and God’s breath (Spirit) hovered over the chaos. Then God speaks light into existence.  John then goes on to tell us that the spoken word in Genesis 1 is none other than the ever-present, ever-existent Son of God, Jesus Christ, who is one with God. He is the source of life and light and all reality.

John masterfully writes this into a Jewish context as his allusions to Genesis 1 indicate. He is also taking on the Greek conception of the LOGOS, translated as WORD here.  Reason, rationality, logic, the organizing principle in creation and even the rational soul of man are all various conceptions of the Greek concept of the logos.  However, John’s logos is not an impersonal force or reality; nor is it simply reason. The logos in John’s Gospel is communication that brings about an intended purpose. The logos is personal and powerful. In fact, He is a person. He brings life through illumination.

The Word is also used for the written word. Paul, bringing us back to the creation paradigm, writes that all Scripture is God-breathed.  Just as the breath of God was hovering over the chaos and the spoken word brought order, the written word which is living and active is useful to bring that order into our lives (2 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews  4:12). 

The Word is also used to describe the message and content of the Word. There is the Word of the cross, the Word of life, the Word or Truth, the Word of the kingdom, the Word of the Gospel and the Word of God. We are a people of the Word!

To be “faithful to the Scriptures,” a PCA distinctive, is to be faithful to the Word. That is the word that brings order out of chaos, life out of death, and discerns hearts. That is the word who John writes, became Flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as from the Father, who has brought grace and truth. 

We live in a world where the postmodern use of language and the rejection of logocentrism is all around. As a people of the Logos, we must reject the rejection of logocentrism. We must speak with clarity to our people and to the world living in darkness. We must bring the life-giving word to them so that word will do what only the word can do. A decaying, orderless, and dying world living in darkness needs the clarity of the Word. Will we bring it to them?

He created us through his spoken word;

He revealed his will to us through his written word;

He redeemed us through the work of his incarnate word;

and he is renewing us after himself by placing in our hearts his living word.

Let us be a people of the Logos, for indeed we are.

George Sayour is senior pastor of Meadowview Reformed Presbyterian Church in Lexington, North Carolina