Words on The Word

Reading the book of James this morning and something struck me....one of the differences in the writers of the New Testament as compared to the writers in the Old Testament is the amount of times the word "Word" is used in place of the phrase"The Law". Yeah, I know, you've probably already noticed that, but I'm a ponderer and sometimes it takes me a while to stumble upon things because I spend inordinate amounts of time pouring over particular words and phrases and thinking about them.

The Word of Truth
Hearers of The Word
Doers of The Word
The Word
The Word
The Word

.....but, what IS this thing, "The Word"?  I mean, it's easy to see what The Law is because it was written down thousands of years ago, both on stone tablets and then on paper.  Men could read it (or have it read to them) and turn, go, and do (or NOT do!).

Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

But, The Word is a little more difficult to nail down because at the time the New Testament was being lived out, gospel accounts being jotted down, and the letters in it being written --and thereby the admonition to be a doer of The Word was being declared-- what else was there EXCEPT FOR The Law?  These apostles, these followers of The Way, this Jesus....they were all talking about The Word, the "faultless law, the law of liberty" as it is called in James 1:25.  People were supposed to live by The Word now, walk in The Word, look in The Word as one looks in a mirror (James 1:23). But many of them had been living by The Law their entire lives, and those outside The Law were at the very least citizens who followed laws of their countries.

....but, The Word???  It's a singular term, for crying out loud.  It's not even "The WordZZZ" plural.

So, sitting here this morning, drinking my tea, I started thinking.  Okay God, if I lived in the very beginning of the New Testament age, how would I know what "The Word" could possibly mean?

And the answer came.

..."In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God."  --John 1:1
...."And The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us."  --John 1:14

Boom.

It's Jesus.  The life of Jesus.  The words of Jesus.  The actions of Jesus.

Love.
Mercy.
Grace.
Truth.
Selflessness.

Wanna know how to live?  TRULY live?  Live the eternal life that God has provided a way for, beginning right now?

Live it through Jesus.  Live it by Jesus.  Live it because of Jesus.

Read about Jesus in the New Testament.  But, you can also read about Jesus in the Old Testament as well, because the O.T. was a type a a shadow of the things to come during the life of Jesus (Colossians 2:17)

And Jesus is the expressed image --the perfect and full representation-- of the Father (Hebrews 1:3 and Colossians 1:15). So, you wanna see a true representation of who God is?  Read the life of Jesus.

The Law was good because it showed us how we could never measure up and jump through all the hoops needed, BUT Jesus gave us a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22 and Hebrews 8:6) because He does measure up!  And we can trust Him ---The Word--- and his sacrifice for us, instead of trying to trust ourselves and our abilities (and most of the time, our inabilities) in The Law.

Makes life so much easier that way, thanks be to God.

Really.....thanks be to God.