THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 3, NUMBER 31, AUGUST 31, 2003

 QUESTIONS

            Can you explain John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God?”

            To answer this question we must go back to the beginning.  Now we might ask, “What beginning?”  The answer would be the beginning of creation, the beginning of time.  John starts his gospel with the same phrase used by Moses in Gen. 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

            At the “beginning” the Word already was.  The significance of that is that the essential elements of time are a beginning and an ending.  With the Word already existing at the beginning of time, it is inescapable that the Word must have been “timeless”.  It had no beginning.  The Word existed at the beginning of creation and hence was not created.  The Word is eternal.

            Not only was the Word eternal, the Word was “with God”.  The phrase, “with God” means a great deal more than simple co-existence; it conveys the idea of active communication and sharing.  By affirming that the Word was “with God”, at least three things are shown.  They are: (1) The Word was co-existent with  God in a personal way, as the presence of one person with another; (2) The separate personality of the Word and God is emphasized; (3) The inseparable relationship of Christ with God is emphasized.

            Yet another point is brought out in verse 1.  Not only was the Word eternal and co-existent with God in a personal way, the Word was God.  Now we must notice that John does not say that the Word was “a god”.  He does not say that the Word was “the” God.  He says the Word was God with no definitive article.  That is very important.  The Word was eternal, co-existent with God, and “was” God.  That affirms His absolute Deity, but recognizes separate personalities.  Also, it affirms that the Word was God in His nature and His being, having all the power and attributes of Deity.  The Hebrew writer expressed it in this way in Hebrews 1:3, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person.”

            John 1:14 tells us, “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.”  This Word was Jesus.

            What is the significance of calling Jesus “the Word?”  According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, the basic meaning of “logos” or “word”, is “the expression of thought – not the mere name of an object – (a) as embodying a conception or idea…”  As it relates to Jesus, the title “logos” or “word”, would imply the “personal manifestation, not of a part of the Divine nature, but of the whole of Deity.”

            Is a local church without elders a New Testament church?  In Acts 14:23, Paul ordained elders in every church.  In Titus 1:5, Paul left Titus in Crete to set things in order that were wanting and ordain elders in every city.  If it isn’t a New Testament church, can we have fellowship with them?

            When a congregation is completely and scripturally organized, it will have members, deacons, and elders (Philippians 1:1).  But if we look at Acts 14:23, we find Paul and Barnabas returning to places they had been where they had preached the gospel and churches had been established.  Until the return of Paul and Barnabas and the ordaining of elders mentioned in the verse, those churches existed with them. 

            It is apparent with Titus as well that there were churches existing that did not have elders, and the appointment of such was one of the things that Paul wanted Titus to do.  So it is possible for a congregation to exist and function without elders and deacons.

            However, all congregations are to work to be completely organized as the Lord designed them to be.  While a man cannot be appointed to the office of elder unless he meets the qualifications for that office set forth in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, there are congregations that have no elders because they do not want elders.  Such are in rebellion against God.  Some make the qualifications so restrictive, much more than the Lord meant them to be, that no one could qualify. 

            The Lord wants His congregations overseen by a plurality of elders.  That is His design; that is His plan.  When a congregation chooses not to do that when it has qualified men, I believe that at some point the Lord will “remove their candlestick”.

            Would you consider Adam and Eve to have been “vegetarians” (non-meat eaters) based upon Genesis 1:29 and Genesis 9:3?

            Not only do I believe that Adam and Eve were “vegetarians”, I also think the animals were as well, based upon verse 30 of Genesis 1.  It truly was a paradise in which not even the “beasts of the earth” preyed upon each other. 

            After the flood, Genesis 9:3 indicates that man’s power over the animal world was enlarged to permit an animal diet by man.  If man before the flood ate the flesh of animals, as far as I can tell, they did it without divine authorization.

                                                                        Greg Litmer