4. Christ is the Word of God
Christ, the eternal Word of God made flesh, is spoken of in the Scriptures in various ways, each to manifest a particular aspect of His Person. One way to highlight His life-giving attribute is to describe Him simply as the ‘word’ [with or without capital ‘w’, in the NT Greek all are in the lower case]. In many places in the Scriptures, Christ is simply designated as the ‘Logos’ (Word.) Here are a few examples:
a. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
b. John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
c. 1Jo 1:1 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.”
d. 1Jo 5:7 “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
e. Re 19:13 “And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”
f. Heb 4:12-13: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart..”
Before you hastily discount the ‘Word of God’ (therefore ‘God’s Word’ or ‘His Word’) as referring to Christ, please consider carefully and calmly the attributes ascribed to the ‘word of God’ here, and the incredible things that are done by ‘the Word of God.’ Then consider what is said in the latter verse about this ‘word of God’ – no creature is hidden from the sight of the ‘word of God,’ all things are naked and open to the eyes of the ‘word of God,’ all must give account to this ‘word of God’ who is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the hearts of all creatures.
The ‘word of God’ is none other than a Person, even the eternal Christ; the Logos who possesses all those attributes, and does all those marvelous things. It certainly cannot refer to the preached word. Which sane preacher would dare claim that the preached word even blessed to the highest heaven possesses such attributes and accomplishes such divine feats? Those attributes and abilities belong to a divine person. He is the Word of God, the eternal Christ. “And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God,” Rev 19:13.
There are other passages but the above are sufficient to cast serious doubt on the idea that ‘His Word’ in 1689.10.1 must refer to the gospel preaching. There are other passages but the above provide adequate evidence that ‘His Word’ in the context of effectual calling unto life refers to none other than the eternal life-giving Logos, even the Word of Life, the Word of God. We need to rightly divide the revealed Scriptures of God, and distinguish the sense from the sound of a word.
What blessed truth to know, that Christ our Saviour is living and powerful, able to give eternal life to as many dead and totally depraved sinners as the Father has given to Him, that the giving of eternal life does not depend upon the ministry of the word, Acts 6:4. The eternal life given is made manifest through the preaching of the gospel.
