Word

Young folks, when agreeing with something, sometimes simply respond, "Word." It's a cool (or whatever they're using to mean cool these days) way of saying "That's the truth."

I thought of that while reading about Jesus in John 1 (vv1-5 and 14): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

A stretch from Gen Y slang to scripture? Not at all. I think it's another amazing example of the way scripture remains relevant through time. Why should my kids be different than the Hellenistic Greeks?

You see, in Jesus' day Greek philosophy was all about trying to make sense of the world through knowledge. They pursued Logos, which we're taught in school was Logic. However, the actual translation of Logos into English is . . . Word.

In some mysterious way Jesus is the Word through which God spoke the world into existence. Just as God is Love, Jesus is the Word. And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.

So when Paul went to the Greeks to tell them the good news, he could say, "You know this Word you've been trying to understand for generations? Let me tell you about him . . . He died on a cross to save you." In addition to connecting us to creation, referring to Jesus as the living Word made the gospel relevant to the Greeks. And it gives us the chance to say to young people today, "You're right to say Word when you mean truth - let me tell you about the Word who lived among us, and who said, 'I am the Truth, and the Truth shall set you free.'"

If the Bible were just another book this would all be a stretch, but it isn't. It's supernatural; it isn't a book at all, it's God revealing himself to each of us in our own place and circumstance. The Word is there in all those words; why should we be surprised that they live and breath?