The Word Centering in Christ
By John Orr Corliss
CENTURIES before Christ appeared in flesh as the Son of Man, the Gospel prophet proclaimed the endless duration of God’s Word. Isa. 40:8. More than half a century following the advent of the Messiah, the same sentiment was uttered, with the added statement: “And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.” 1 Peter 1:25. This eternal Word is therefore that which, through the Gospel, is given for our redemption. But the Gospel itself “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” Rom. 1:16. Putting this and that together, we have the blessed assurance that the Word of God, which is the Gospel basis, is the vital power by which God reaches man in his degradation, and rescues him from eternal ruin. A Word which can do so much, must possess more vitality than appears upon the surface. It must have some secret provision of influence more potent than any earthly allurement, by which to draw men away from every natural environment of sin, and turn their faces toward a country and a service foreign to every eye but that of faith. One must look beyond the limits of earthly sovereignty to find this mysterious entity. Since no law of humanity, however gentle and persuasive, can reach its measurement, we must look for its rise in some infinite benevolence, above and remote from anything our world produces. Its seat must therefore be located in the untainted atmosphere of heaven’s fair domain. But how could so pure and powerful an instrument find its way to so debased and forlorn a region as earth became through sin?—In one way alone, and that through its Author’s creative genius. The very beginning of this world was the fiat of God: “He spake, and it was; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:9. As stated by the apostle, “The worlds were framed [took form] by the Word of God.” Heb. 11:3. This is to say that God’s Word operated to give distinct shape to the worlds, and that, too, simply by its utterance. The creative Word must therefore have been a living, perceptive force, which, when spoken, left its eternal impress in space. Indeed, we are positively assured that “the Word of God is quick [living], and powerful [energetic], . . . and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:12. The enabling by which to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart, requires more than human penetration, hence must be omniscient power. This is just what is required to regulate the movements of the planets. Who, indeed, can so well possess this faculty as He who projected the worlds into space? Yet the placing of the worlds was accomplished by the Word of God. We read that “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Gen. 1:1. But we are also told that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1. These combined texts warrant one in saying that the Word was creative power. But as tho these were not enough, the sacred narrative continues its discourse on the origin of creation: “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” To show that this Word was not an inert generalization, an advance statement follows in this form: “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” However one may, from this text, consider the personnel of the Word introduced, one thing is fixed: it is an object with life, by which man lives in the light. It is therefore an animate Being. It must be what the text says it is: “The Word was God.” In some way unknown to the earth-born mind, the attributes of Jehovah were personified—yea, more, were actually manifested—in His Word, so that the Word was recognized as God. This conclusion ought not to stagger the faith of one who can accept the further statement of Holy Writ: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14. Yes, this actual Word was made flesh—not put into flesh, but made flesh. The Word actually became flesh, carrying “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father;” and so the Word of God really did and still does center in Him who became flesh and died for our sins. This thought is emphasized still further in the following: “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.” 1 John 1:1. In explaining this statement in the following texts, the apostle makes it plain that this “Word of life” was none other than He who was with the Father, but had been manifested unto us. Christ is the Word of God, because He uttered the audible mind of God, not as a perfunctory duty, but because, being God’s only begotten Son, that Word was also the expression of His own mind, He and His Father being one. John 10:30. He being in the express image of the “invisible God,” He could but declare the mind of God, and so the Word of God was centered in Him. Inasmuch as God’s Word can not change, any more than can the character and mind of its Author, that Word must therefore still center in Christ. As He was the Word of God by which the heavens and the earth were formed, and by which man was created in the divine image (John 1:1; Col. 1:15-17); so He it is who must create anew the man “dead in trespasses and sins” (2 Cor. 5:17). But in this new birth unto everlasting life, the seed of an everlasting Father must endow the “new creature” with his heritage. This honor has been conferred upon One only, and He is introduced by the prophet as a Child born among men, who is called “Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” Isa. 9:6. Here is the only hope of everlasting life. We must be “born again,” and that from above. John 3:7. But this requires a seed deposit, as surely as is required for the natural birth. How then is this performed from the heavens, in behalf of men on the earth? An apostle states the matter thus: “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” 1 Peter 1:23. This is the only solution of the problem. Altho being bodily in the heavens, the Lord Jesus “sends the Word” from Himself, freighted with fructifying power to bring a new creature out of an old and hardened sinner. “There is no power but of God,” and so the Word-seed is still the God-Word, and centers in Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life of God.