Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
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The Questions
1) How do we know for sure that this “Word” is actually Jesus if He isn’t named? What impact does that truth have on Jesus Christ’s identity?
2) How does reading Scripture relate to Jesus being called the Word and having the attributes of creator, life, and light?
3) In what ways does John the Baptist’s actions give us a model for when we read Scripture?
John 1:1-18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”) 16 Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, 17 for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side — he has revealed him.
Original Intent
1) How do we know for sure that this “Word” is actually Jesus if He isn’t named? What impact does that truth have on Jesus Christ’s identity?
In John’s writings, both in this gospel as well as in Revelation, he refers to Jesus as the Word of God. Like King Solomon who personifies “Wisdom” in his writings in Proverbs (Proverbs 8:22-31), John personifies “Word” with the same intention. Both divinely inspired writers, though centuries apart, point to Jesus, the eternal God the Son, co-equal with God the Father. In Revelation, John paints an incredibly graphic picture of the coming Rider on the White Horse. His robe dipped in blood, His name Faithful & True, crowned with all crowns, ruler of all, the prophesied one to rule with an iron scepter, born of a woman, and having the name “Word of God”. This glorious One is our own coming King, the Lord Jesus Christ! The Greek for “Word” is “logos” and is used in every instance in John 1 where it refers to a Being with actions, thoughts, and wisdom. This same word is used in the Revelation passage as well as in Hebrews 4:12, which Sara referenced in yesterday’s Journey Study as she shared of the Scriptures as God’s powerful words. Jesus identity is the Son of the Living God, existing eternally before Creation. Jesus is God, yet He is His own person, having the identity of the begotten Son and He exists to make the Father known. The Father sent the Son, to make Himself known to us, that we might love Him as the Son loves the Father and that we might experience the love the Father has for us just as the Father loves the Son. (John 1:18)
2) How does reading Scripture relate to Jesus being called the Word and having the attributes of creator, life, and light?
God the Father sent God the Son, Jesus, into the world for the supreme purpose of making the Father known to us that we might be redeemed, brought back from the grip of Sin and Death into the eternal love of our Father God. Jesus is the exact representation of God the Father, because He Himself is God. (Hebrews 1:3, John 1:18) It is significant that the Holy Spirit inspired writers to use “logos” to describe both Jesus and Scripture as both reveal God, His character, and the way of redemptive salvation. When we engage with Scripture with the aid of the Holy Spirit, the Word becomes alive, bringing us deeper into life, shining brilliant, radiant light into the dark places of our lives, our thinking, our emotions, our relationships, and all aspects of life. No area of life is beyond the creative life and light of the God of All.
3) In what ways does John the Baptist’s actions give us a model for when we read Scripture?
John the Baptist was a Jew, son of Zechariah, a priest in the Temple of Yahweh (God). Priests were Levites and spent their entire lives in service to God at the Temple and in study of His Torah (the first 5 books of the Old Testament) and the Prophets. As Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist would have studied these scrolls from early childhood and would have apprenticed alongside his father at the temple. John had studied the coming Messiah, he knew the prophecies inside and out, and as he engaged with God’s Word, the Spirit of God directed him to respond by declaring and testifying to that Light. John responded to the Spirit by preaching and teaching about Jesus, who would come to take away our sin.
Everyday Application
1) How do we know for sure that this “Word” is actually Jesus if He isn’t named? What impact does that truth have on Jesus Christ’s identity?
Who do you say that Jesus is? Who is God? When we look to our feelings or circumstances for these answers, the ground becomes shaky and unstable quickly. Maybe He is distant, uncaring, unseeing. Perhaps Jesus didn’t exist for eternity and was created “later”, which makes God the Father, at His very core, a self-focused God as there was nothing before creation of the world to love. In fact, it makes Him not even a Father, as you must have an heir to be a Father. Suppose we are a bother to Him? Perhaps He wishes at times for those “alone” moments before He created humanity? Scripture declares these all untrue. A mystery we cannot wrap our minds around is the eternity of God as Father, Son, and Spirit. There was never a moment where God did not have the Son, He is forever Father. Neither was there a time where the two Beings were not bound and continually delighting in one another through the mighty Spirit of God, making the 3 one. Eternally Father, who loves the Eternal Son, through the Eternal Spirit, His love overflows onto His creation, who He crafted through His Son that we too might enjoy the delight shared between the Godhead. No, Sister, the Father cannot be distant, uncaring, or unseeing. He cannot be bothered by us because at His core, He is Father, forever loving the Son through the Spirit. The Son longs to make Father known to each of us that we might experience His radical, mind-blowing love through Spirit. Sink into those identity truths, and know that Scripture alone holds truth for who God is!
2) How does reading Scripture relate to Jesus being called the Word and having the attributes of creator, life, and light?
We all have areas of our lives we ache over. Hurts, wounds from the past, sick bodies, broken relationships, struggling finances, erring children, pride and arrogance where we wish were patience and unconditional love. What are your places of aching? How does knowing the core identity of God as a good, loving, pursuant Father make you feel about bringing these dark places into the light of His glorious goodness, and asking Him to make them new with His creative life? What would it look like if you surrendered these hurts instead of insistently gripping them tighter, hoping they get better on their own or even gradually disappear? Sister, God longs for your redemption, every part of your life redemption! He came to “reconcile all things to Himself, whether on earth or in Heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:20) No exceptions, He came to redeem all things! What’s holding you back from surrendering your things?
3) In what ways does John the Baptist’s actions give us a model for when we read Scripture?
John was called to much as a result of his engagement with the Scripture as he positioned his heart to hear and obey what God commanded. As he heard from God, John’s heart was moved to respond, and so it is with us. The Bible isn’t a fanciful collection of old stories with moral guidance, it is the very Word of God, intended to create a response in our hearts as we connect with Him over His Word and through His Spirit! His Word has always been purposed to create and bring new life, accomplishing His mission as it goes out to us. (Isaiah 55:11) In the book of Acts, when Scripture was expounded and shared by Philip to a non-believer, the un-believing heart of the eunuch was quickened to respond by surrendering everything to God! The next time you read God’s word, be ready to engage with God through His Spirit and listen to how He is prompting you to respond!
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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