1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:1-5 (NASB)
All in Christ belong to the living God. He gave all of them to the Son (John 6:37). Each of them comes to the Son and is saved. There was a time before God shattered my religious idols back in 2004 that I was sure in my mind and my understanding that genuine Christians believed like those in my church. They had to have responded to the Gospel as I had done. There was no way that a person could be Christian, I thought, if they belonged to certain churches that were way too formal according to my ‘standards.’ Also, genuine believers were religious in a certain way and that way looked a lot like the way my church did it and how all those churches I had been part of growing up did it.
As I stated above, in 2004 God shattered all of my idols. He crushed the pieces that remained and swept my heart clean. I was amazed to learn as I began studying theology more and more that there were some very fine Christians who were not part of my old denomination. In fact, the more I researched, prayed, and repented the greater my Lord became in my heart. I soon began to realize that religiosity in the Church in our time has become a huge, deceptive idol. Just like riders to a Bill in the House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate, we have attached innumerable idols to our “religion.” Our focus is on these things rather than on our Lord, who He is, and what He has done. Let us look again at whom our Lord really is and what He has done for those given to Him by the Father.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 1:1-5 (NASB)
In v1 we read a passage that echoes the opening phrase of the book of Genesis, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” So we know that the Word was there at creation. He was with God and He was God. The Greek word John used that we translate as “Word” here is λόγος (lógos). John’s use of λόγος conveys the notion of divine self-expression or speech. God’s Word is always effective. When God speaks, things come into being and by His speech he relates personally to His people. Through John’s use of λόγος to describe our Lord he is confronting the Greek philosophical concept of it as an impersonal principle of Reason, which is how they conceived the creation of the universe. John is telling us that our creator is God Himself.