“In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The
Son of God is many times in the Old Testament called the Word, Genesis 1:1-4,
compare with Colossians 1:16 and John 1:1 where we find that God who created
all things is the Word who was with God and who was God, I Kings 6:11-13; Ezekiel
14:2-4, and in the New Testament; Hebrews 4:12 and 13 where particular
attention should be given to the pronouns in verse 13. The thing that is here
first declared is that the Word was in the beginning, this teaches us that the
Son of God is eternal, and since He is eternal then He must be God, Psalms
45:6-7 and Hebrews 1:8-12. There are other verses in the scriptures that
declare the same. In Proverbs 8:23 we read; I was set up from everlasting, from
the beginning, or ever the earth was. The same is given in I Peter 1:20 “Who
(Christ) verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you”. And in revelation 13:8 we read “And all that
dwell upon the face of the earth shall worship him (the beast out of the sea)
whose names were not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world”. From these verses we learn that from everlasting the
Son of God was, and that He was set up in office toward men. His ordination to
his many offices was of the determinate counsel of God (Acts.2:23) and the work
of the office was virtually finished in Christ’s being ordained to it, for it
is written; The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so
shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand: Isaiah,
14:24. Again it is written, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God,
and there is none else: I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end
from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; Isaiah 46:9-10.
And the Word was with God. This tells us that
the Word was with God (that is God the Father) as a distinct person from God
the Father. There is one God who subsists in three persons, God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, these three persons of the God head are of one
nature or essence, power, and glory; and the things that are attributed to
either may be and often are, attributed to the other persons of the God head,
for there is but one true and living God. The trinity of persons in the God head
is alluded to in some Old Testament scriptures and many New Testament
scriptures, Genesis 1:26 “And God said, let us make man in our image…and Isaiah
48:16; Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the
beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his
Spirit, hath sent me. In the New Testament this truth of a trinity of persons
in the God head is more fully developed than in the Old Testament, two examples
will suffice to demonstrate this truth, Matthew 28:19, Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost. A second example is found in II Corinthians 13:14, The
Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the
Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen. Also see I John 5:7.
To each of the three persons in the
God head is attributed some part of the salvation of men, and therein rests our
comfortable dependence upon God in the trinity of His sacred persons. Election
of grace is primarily attributed to God the Father; I Peter 1:2, Elect
according the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto
you, and peace, be multiplied. A second scripture attributing election of grace
to God the Father is found in Ephesians 1:3and 4, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places (or heavenly things, as the everlasting covenant of grace with
interest in Christ) in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in
love.
Next in order of nature is
redemption by God the Son. God the Father had loved his elect in Jesus Christ
from everlasting Jeremiah 31:3, with Romans 8:39, and had always purposed and
resolved in covenant with God the Son and God the Holy Ghost to save them in
Christ, Titus 1:2, and Hebrews 13:20. The necessity of salvation by Christ was
brought about by their fall in Adam. For in their natural covenant head being
by natural generation akin to Adam and through that kinship having covenant
interest in Adam they with Adam and all the rest of the race of men fell into
sin and death by the actions of the natural covenant head, Adam. But those elected
to salvation out of the race natural men, had a prior covenant interest in the
suretyship of Jesus Christ, and so all their liabilities, their sin debt, that
debt which they owed to the truth, holiness, justice, and wrath of God fell on
Christ who is the surety of the New Testament. It is the redemption that is
procured by Christ the surety that delivers the captives from going down into
the pit, and this he did by his blood shedding and death. Job 33:24. Therefore
redemption is by the scriptures attributed to the Lord Jesus Christ; two
references will be given; Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” and
Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for
many for the remission of sins.
Next to be considered is regeneration
by the Holy Spirit, for it is the office of the Holy Spirit to regenerate the children
of God. Again two references will be given to establish this from the scriptures,
II Thessalonians 2:13 “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you,
brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to
salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” In
this verse along with I Peter 1:2 it is sun beam clear that election is to
salvation (and not to office in the church as many suppose) and that salvation
is through sanctification of the Spirit. The second scripture is John 3:8, “The
wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou heareth the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of
the Spirit. The regeneration of the elect is wholly the work of the Holy
Spirit. The following three gifts of the Spirit are necessary to the work of
regeneration by the Spirit; I. The gift of
faith Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 1:29. II. A will to believe; Psalms 110:3;
Revelation 22:17. III. A heart to receive all and everything from God as a free
grace gift, Hebrews 8:9-13; Jeremiah 32;39,40.
And the Word was God. As the Father
is God, just so the Son is God. The fact that the Son was in the beginning with
the Father shows us that the Son is eternal with the Father.
The same was in the beginning with
God. John 1:2, this doubling of the assertion of the Son’s distinct person from
the Father and that the Son was in the beginning with God is to emphasize the
truth and importance of this precept. In order for the Word to be in the
beginning with God the Word must be God.
A.J. Ison
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