The Word

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

What a beautiful way to start a chapter. In the beginning...not an actual time...but eternity...WAS the Word. So, the Word was there in the beginning...the Word was there before time began...the Word was there from the beginning. The Word is eternal.

"The Word was WITH God." So this Word which is eternal is also coequal with the God the Father. The only way to be coequal with something is to be the same.

"The Word WAS God." So we see this Word is not only co-eternal with the Father, and co-equal with the Father, we see that the Word is God.

The introduction that the Gospel of John makes here is an incredibly deep resource of Theological material. John states that Jesus is the Word. Jesus was there from the beginning of time. Jesus is God in the flesh. John doesnt start off his Gospel by stating geneological facts, but instead shows that Jesus is eternal. This concept goes much deeper than the other Gospels because from the very start we see that John is stating that this Jesus-man was in fact the God-man. We dont have to wait to find out, we know from the start.

Its like reading a book, but sort of starting at the last chapter. Jesus is the eternal Word who is co-equal with God the Father because he is God the Son.

In the Beginning:

We serve a God who has always been! He has always been! Our God was there when time began, so He is all-powerful. "Nothing was made that wasnt made in Him." He is the Creator. C.S. Lewis stated that "where can look for help if we cant look to something that is greater than ourselves." Because our God was there in the beginning He can be trusted to protect and guide us in the present.

The Word:

Our God is also the Word. This is a difficult concept for us to understand, because John is directing this term towards the Theolofical climate of his day. People understood this term as a living being. So Jesus not only the pre-existant, eternal one, He is also the One who became a man and lived an actual life. Too many times we forget that Jesus was an actual human being, with feelings and desires and emotions. He was tempted. He knew hunger and thirst and pain. He wept. He was misunderstood by his family and friends. He was betrayed.

...but He was perfect.

Because Jesus lived an actual physical life He knows what it is like to be in our shoes. He is not a cold distant God but an up-close-and-personal God who understands us. He is sitting at the Father's right hand interceding for us, because He understands us.

Was God:

Jesus became a man, but he was always God. When Jesus became a man he just added humanity to his divinity. Jesus became a man...but he was God. Because he was God, when he died he paid the upmost price for us. His death was a death of a man, but also of God. Because he was God, his death actually meant something. Because he was God, when he died he actually accomplished somethign. Jesus was God and when he died he conquered Satan, Sin, and Death.

Because...He WAS God.

As John so wrote some 1900 years ago..."In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Need nothing be said.

Helpful Books on the Cross

Helpful Books on the Cross: Compiled by Mark Driscoll in
Death by Love.

This is a beautiful book written by Mark to members of his church regarding the crap that they are dealing with and how it relates to the Cross of Christ. It is painful to read because you relize that people are dealing with some heavy stuff, but you rejoice because you come to understand different ways that Jesus has dealt with their crap by His supreme Sacrifice on the Cross.

Compiled by Mark Driscoll

Beilby, James, and Paul R. Eddy, eds. The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views.
Boice, James Montgomery, and Philip G. Ryken. The Heart of the Cross.
Demarest, Bruce. The Cross and Salvation: The Doctrine of Salvation.
Denney, James. The Death of Christ: Its Place and Interpretation in the New Testament.
Hengel, Martin. Crucifixion in the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross.
Hill, Charles E., and Frank A. James, eds. The Glory of the Atonement: Biblical, Theological, and Practical Perspectives.
McDonald, H. D. The New Testament Concept of Atonement: The Gospel of the Calvary Event.
McGrath, Alister E. The Enigma of the Cross.
Morris, Leon. The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross.
——. The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance.
——. The Cross in the New Testament.
Nicole, Roger. Standing Forth: Collected Writings of Roger Nicole.
Piper, John. Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die.
Smail, Tom. Windows on the Cross.
Smeaton, George. The Apostles’ Doctrine of the Atonement.
——. Christ’s Doctrine of the Atonement.
Sproul, R. C. The Truth of the Cross.
Stott, John R. W. The Cross of Christ.
Tidball, Derek. The Message of the Cross: Wisdom Unsearchable, Love Indestructible.
Wallace, Ronald. The Atoning Death of Christ.
Wells, Paul. Cross Words: The Biblical Doctrine of Atonement.

Five Christian Books that Everyone Must Read.

This is a list of Christian books/works that have made an impact of who I am in my ministry.  These books are Classics that every Christian should at least take the time to read:

5.  The Radical Cross, A.W. Tozer  

4.  On Christian Doctrine, Augustine

3.   Desiring God, by John Piper

2.  Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis

1.  The Ninety-Five Thesis, by Martin Luther

There are so many more amazing books that have meant a lot to me, but these are a great starting point to anyone that wants to expand their knowledge in Classical Theology.