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8 Colossians 1:15-20

As you can see, word and will are interchangeable. YEHOVAH’s word represents his
thoughts, which is His will. Sirach 37:16 provides us with an excellent example:

A word is the source of every deed; a thought, of every act.

Your thoughts are the source of your actions, a word (your will or wisdom) is your thoughts
expressed. This is an important definition to remember in order to better understand “The Word was
God” which we will explain in the next few pages.

It would be easier if John were here right now to tell us exactly what he meant, but in a sense
he is. He has left us so many clear verses of what he meant by “word” in his first epistle that some-
times I find it difficult to see how people have misinterpreted his gospel. Let us look at 1 John to
find the answer. In 1 John 1:1-3 it states:

“What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what
we beheld and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life – and the life was manifested;
and we have seen, and bear witness and proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifested to us. What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also.”

John 1:1 — “In the beginning was the Word.”

1 John 1:1 — “What was from the beginning, what we have heard.”

Notice that in John what is from the beginning is the word, and in 1 John what is from the be-
ginning is something that they heard (a message). Now let us tie in these other verses of John’s first
epistle —

1 John 2:7 — “Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you but an old command-
ment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have
heard.”

In 1 John 1:1 what was from the beginning is something that they heard. Here, in 1 John 2:7,
the old commandment is what they have had from the beginning, (sound familiar?) and the old com-
mandment is the “WORD” that they what? HEARD! The same as in 1 John 1:1. Your next question
should be, “What commandment is John speaking about?”

He is speaking about what Yeshua called the greatest commandment, (Mark 12:29) the
commandment of love which YEHOVAH gave the Hebrews from the beginning -- the message of
love that the proclamation of the Kingdom of God brings with it. How do we know for sure that this
is the message and/or the commandment that they heard from the beginning? Because John tells
you so in 1 John 3:11 and 1 John 3:23:

I John 3:11 — “For this is the message you have HEARD from the BEGINNING: we
should love one another.”

The Berean Voice November-December 2002