In this message we shall consider further aspects of Christ in the Godhead.
In the Godhead Christ is the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Word is the definition, explanation, and expression of God; hence, the Word is God defined, explained, and expressed.
God is mysterious. He needs the Word to express Him. Christ, as the Word, defines, explains, and expresses Him. Therefore, Christ, as the Word, is the definition, explanation, and expression of God. This Word is actually God Himself, not God hidden, concealed, and mysterious, but God defined, explained, and expressed.
The Word is eternal; that is, the Word is self-existing, without beginning. This is contrary to the heretical teaching that says the Word, the Logos, was created by God. According to the revelation in John’s Gospel, the Word was not created. John 1:1 says that the Word was in the beginning. This reveals that the Word is eternal. This eternal Word is a living person, Christ, the Son of the living God (Rev. 19:13). Such a Word signifies the mysterious and invisible God defined and expressed.
This Word as the definition of the Triune God is for God’s speaking. The fact that this Word is the entire God means that it is for the speaking of the Triune God. This Word became incarnate as a man, and that man was God’s speaking. This means that the Man Jesus Christ was God’s Word, God’s speaking. He spoke God not only with clear words but also with what He was and what He did. He is altogether the Word of God and the speaking of God. Sometimes He spoke with words, and at other times He spoke with actions. All that He was and all that He did spoke God.
John 1:14 says not only that the Word became flesh, but also that the Word tabernacled among us. The story recorded in the four Gospels is a story of God incarnate tabernacling among us. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us in order to declare God, express God, explain God, and define God in many practical ways. The incarnate Word is the speaking, the expression, and the definition of God. As the Word, Christ is the defined God, the explained, expressed, and revealed God, the God made known to human beings.
Christ is the expression of the Father. As the Son He is the issue, the coming out, of God, and He is also the expression of the Father. Because the Son expressed the Father, the Son is the expression of the Father.
Christ’s being the Word is mainly to express God the Father by declaring, defining, and revealing Him (John 1:18). The more the Son speaks, the more God the Father is expressed.
In the Old Testament God spoke in the prophets, in men moved by His Spirit (Heb. 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:21). In the New Testament He speaks in the Son, who is God Himself expressed (Heb. 1:2-3). God the Father is hidden; God the Son is expressed. No one has ever seen God, but the Son as the Word of God, as the speaking of God, has declared and expressed Him. Whereas God spoke through the prophets in the Old Testament, He did not have Himself expressed. But in the New Testament God speaks in the Son, who expresses Him. Formerly God spoke through the prophets indirectly, but now He speaks directly in the Son, that is, in the One who is the expression of the Father.
John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” Here we see that the One who expresses the Father is the only begotten Son of God, who was in the bosom of the Father from eternity past and who is still in the bosom of the Father after incarnation. The only begotten Son was, is, and always will be in the bosom of the Father. The words of John 1:18 are simple, but the meaning is profound. The dear, only begotten of the Father is continually in the bosom of the Father to declare the Father. This is the way He declares the Father and brings us into the enjoyment of the Father.
God is expressed in Christ, and with Christ we have grace and reality (John 1:14, 16). When we come to Christ, we enjoy grace and participate in reality. According to John 1:18, as the only begotten Son of God, Christ is in the bosom of God the Father. Thus, when we enjoy Christ in an intimate way, this enjoyment of Him will bring us to the Father. In other words, this enjoyment of Christ brings us into the bosom of the Father.
Christ is the expression of God in the same way that grace is the expression of love and reality is the expression of light. When we enjoy Christ as grace and reality, this enjoyment brings us into the bosom of the Father where we enjoy God as love and light. Love is the hidden source of grace, and light is the hidden source of reality. When grace brings us into love, we reach the source out from which grace flows. When we trace grace back to its source, grace becomes love. Likewise, light is the source out from which reality flows. When we trace reality back to its source, we arrive at light.
The Father’s only begotten Son expresses Him by the Word, life, light, grace, and reality. The Word is God expressed, life is God imparted, light is God’s shining, grace is God enjoyed, and reality is God realized. God is fully declared in the Son through these five things. The essence of them all is God Himself. Although no one has ever seen God, the Son of God declares Him, expresses Him, in the way of being the Word, life, light, grace, and reality. The more we receive the Word and have life, light, grace, and reality, the more God will be declared to us. To declare God means to express Him. Christ has expressed God by being incarnated as the Word with life, light, grace, and reality.
In the Godhead the Father is the source, and the Son is His expression. As the expression of the Father, the Son is the Accomplisher. The Father is the Initiator, the Originator, the Planner, and the Designer, and the Son carries out what the Father has initiated, originated, planned, and designed. Hence, the Son, the expression of the Father, is the Accomplisher.
According to the Gospel of John, Christ the Son came in the Father’s name (5:43), worked in the Father’s name (10:25), did the Father’s will (6:38), spoke the Father’s word (3:34a; 14:24; 7:16-17; 12:47-50), and sought the Father’s glory (7:18). As such a One, Christ also expressed the Father (John 14:7-9). He did not express Himself; He expressed only the Father. He was the Son, yet He expressed the Father.
Because the Son expresses not Himself but the Father, the Son’s expression is the Father’s expression. Therefore, when we see the Son, we see the Father. This is proved by the exchange between the Lord Jesus and Philip in John 14. In verse 7 the Lord Jesus pointed out to the disciples that if they had known Him, they would have known His Father also. Then He said, “Henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.” However, Philip replied, “Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us” (v. 8). To this the Lord Jesus answered, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How is it that you say, Show us the Father?” (v. 9). In the Son the Father is expressed and seen, for the Son is the expression of the Father. If we have seen the Son, we have seen the Father because the Father is embodied in the Son to be expressed through Him.