The Search for Christ - Part 1

The purpose of these entries will be to try to bring a greater understanding of Christ and His church by using scriptural entries and teachings. The main source of this will be the Greek New Testament, in particular, the Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece. It is my true hope that for those who read this, a greater understanding and a closer relationship with God will be achieved. So to begin....

First of all, if you don't understand what scripture is, you will NEVER get it, understand it, or become closer to God. Scripture is not a group of stories that were written by people and put together in a book. Scripture is a set of historical documents, letters, and instructions written by several authors for the purpose of instructing Christians upon how to live, and the meanings of the Word of God. These are not just stories someone wrote, this is how history was recorded before the days of news, media, and the internet, people wrote their words upon scrolls and they were as accurate and as true as anything ever. ALL scripture was at the beginning inspired of God, and it was the Holy Spirit moving upon men which caused them to record this history of Jesus Christ and His words, as well as the teachings of His Apostles in bringing the church to life, and finally ending with the promise of the truth of what will happen to us in our future. This is indisputable, and if you can't believe in the scripture, you cannot possibly believe in God. Yet for those who believe in God, we have an understanding of HOW we can see His existence, an understanding lost on those who cannot see, cannot accept, and would rather NOT believe due to personal agenda. I will start you off with this Verse from the Gospel of John, verse 1:1 -

"Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος."

Translation: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word."

This verse gives us the ultimate starting point to understanding Christ: The beginning. IN THE BEGINNING is clear, precise and direct, it is the start, the beginning of all and at that most original point was the Word. But the verse also tells us that most basic of all answers: The Word WAS God. It was not just something heard, or written, it was GOD. The beginning and the end, the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega. The Word of God IS God. This is the first and most basic premise you MUST understand if you are to go any further. This is the verse that also gives us the understanding of the trinity. The word was WITH God. A separate entity, yet still GOD. In first reading this verse it is difficult for one who does not know scripture to understand what this means or has to do with Jesus. First, let's clear up ANY misunderstanding. Some try to translate this verse to read "the word was A god." This is absolutely incorrect, the main culprit of this is the bible put forth by Jehovah's Witness bibles, as it is how they have based their doctrine on who Jesus was, which is to deny the divinity of Christ. Because the first use of the word ‘God’ in John 1:1 (‘the Word was with God’) clearly refers to the Only True God, the Eternal Pre-existent Creator, more than likely John would have used a different Greek construction than he did if he had meant for this next phrase (‘and the Word was God’) to refer to a ‘lesser’ god, and did not want us to confuse this with the True God he had just mentioned. So, it seems that by the Greek grammatical structure in this statement, John is indicating that the Word is the same essence and nature as God the Father. And in John 1:14, we see the Word is identified as Jesus. Jesus Christ is the Word (and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us). Once we see that Jesus is 'the Word', we can see through verse 1 that the Word IS GOD. The verse also shows that Jesus, although GOD, is also distinct from the Father (the Word was WITH God) so that He is established as a separate being, yet still GOD. This is the foundation of the teaching of the Trinity. God is three distinct beings, but ONE God, all related and as one, but separate.

So to sum this up, Jesus Christ is not only the person He was, but also GOD. This is the basis for what we will look at throughout this study. We will stop here for now, please think about this and again, ask for understanding and try to find the significance of this and the importance to YOU as well. This ends the first entry.