Logos

What does it mean that the Son of God is the Word of God? What does it mean to be The Word? What is a word?

A word is meaningless in itself. A word is something that points to something else, it is a sign that evokes in the person encountering it the idea or person that it signifies.

Applied to the Logos, however, we see the perfect embodiment of a word. I'm pretty sure I once heard someone point out that we do not say "the words of God," we say "The Word of God." Only one word is needed because it is The Perfect Word. This single Word is something -- someone -- who not only points us to God the Father perfectly, who not merely calls to mind, or shows us God the Father, but who in fact unites us to God the Father.

A word is used to communicate. The Word, the Perfect Word, the Eternal, Incarnate, Perfect Word communicates so perfectly that is effective, bringing about an actuality rather than a potentiality. That is to say that it does not merely evoke an image of the Father in our mind, but it makes the Father Himself present in our souls! The Word is the means to union with the Triune God!

As profound and compelling as this realization is, I am reassured of the truth of it by the simple fact that it is stated nearly directly in the opening of the Gospel of John. How dense I have been never to have noticed it. This basic truth that most Christians understand has taken me so long to appreciate.

I wrote it down because I fear my perfidious memory will not retain it.