THE WORD FROM THE BEGINNING.
By W. E. Videto
W. E. VIDETO. (Agnew, Mich.) “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.” 1 John 2:7. The phrase “from the beginning” calls our minds to the time of creation, when all things were created by the word of the Lord. The word of God called every plant and animal into existence, but all created things were not alike. Life was manifested in a wide diversity of forms. Each species existed first in the mind of God, and the spoken word called into existence the species exactly as it existed in the mind of God. The creating word spoken to each plant and animal has continued operative all the time since creation. Every created species has retained the characteristics of the word spoken at the beginning. The word which spoke the white oak into existence still continues to make white oaks. “The word of the Lord endureth forever.” What was the thought expressed in the word when man was created?—“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” In making man, the Creator expressed in the creating word His own form and nature. That creative word, like all the other words of God, must be always in force. What kind of men would this word, spoken from the beginning, create, if its workings were unhindered?—Men full of love; for God is love, and He spoke His own nature into man. So the gospel word “is the commandment that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.” 1 John 3:11, margin. The reason that the working of the Word is not universal is because of unbelief. The word of God works effectually in those that believe. 1 Thess. 2:13. The new birth is simply the reception by faith of the word spoken from the beginning, and creating in the likeness of Him who is love. We are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” The word will be as fully manifested in us as it is in any created being, when we surrender fully to it.