My Lord and My God

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’

John 1:1

The context shows that it is God’s Son who is the Word. Just as a person’s mind remains unknown and unknowable except as he gives utterance to his thoughts, so the eternal, invisible God is only known through the Son who is His utterance or Word. John says in his Gospel, ‘In the beginning the Word was’. He does not say, ‘In the beginning the Word came to be’ or ‘In the beginning the Word was created’. The Bible clearly says that when time began, the Word was already in existence. The Word existed eternally. The Word never had a beginning.

‘The Word was with God’ is the second statement John makes. The Word is distinct from the Father. Distinct and not the same person. ‘The Word was God’. The Word or Jesus was and is God. The Bible teaches that Jesus (the Word) is God the Son. The Word became flesh and lived among people (John 1:14–18). The Word is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. When the risen Christ appeared to His disciple, Thomas said to Jesus, ‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20:28).

What think ye of Christ? Is the test
To try both your state and your scheme;
You cannot be right in the rest
Unless you think rightly of him.
As Jesus appears to your view,
And he is beloved or not,
So God is disposed to you –
And mercy or wrath is your lot.

Some take him a creature to be –
A man, or an angel at most,
But they have not feelings like me,
Nor know themselves wretched and lost;
So guilty, so helpless am I, I durst not confide in his blood,
Nor on his protection rely –
Unless I were sure he is God

                                                                               John Newton