"The Word"

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not” (John 1:1-10).

Earlier this year as we started our course of study on the New Testament, these verses quite certainly were considered. In your respective classes, who was given credit for initially referring to Jesus Christ as being “the Word” and in addition for bearing witness of His ante-mortal Godship? A thoughtful reading of the first chapter of the Gospel of John should cause the reader to question if much reported there was experienced firsthand by the writer, John the Apostle, the Beloved, the Revelator, himself. The cause for concern relates to the manner in which the Savior’s baptism is reported. For the writer of this gospel most certainly was not present for this event, yet his words make it appear as if he had been.

In the spirit of giving credit where credit is due, we ought to recognize that the symbolic representation of the Lord as being “the Word” was the creation of John the Baptist and not John, the author of the fourth Gospel. If we are aware that John apparently had access to the writings of John the Baptist, then the first chapter of John’s Gospel becomes quite understandable. The only hurdle in this line of reasoning concerns the existence of the Baptist’s writings.

In light of these issues, Section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants is very instructive. This revelation was given to Joseph Smith in May 1833. After bearing witness of himself, the Lord told the Prophet that “John saw and bore record of the fulness of my glory, and the fulness of John’s record is hereafter to be revealed” (6). The Lord then quotes from the writings of John the Baptist in verses seven through seventeen. In verse eighteen, we are promised that if we are faithful we “shall receive the fulness of the record of John” at a later date. Given that we have the relevant writings of the Apostle John including his Gospel, three epistles, and the Book of Revelation, the record we await in the Lord’s good time given the subject matter He quoted therefrom is that of the Baptist.

The Lord considered the following verses important: “I saw his glory, that he was in the beginning, before the world was; Therefore, in the beginning the Word was, for he was the Word, even the messenger of salvation--The light and the Redeemer of the world; the Spirit of truth, who came into the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men and the light of men. The worlds were made by him; men were made by him; all things were made by him, and through him, and of him. . . .” (See verses 7-17). What was the Lord’s intended purpose in quoting the Baptist’s words?

In verse nineteen, we find the answer. Here, the Lord reaffirms a fundamental truth concerning the salvation of men. To the Prophet Joseph Smith He said, “I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of his fulness.”

If we have any hope of obtaining eternal life, the life that Elohim’s lives, and thus one day to become as our parents in heaven are, we must know who it is that we worship, and we must know how we are to worship. If we are mistaken on these points, our worship will bring us to an unintended end. We have the Lord’s testimony on this point.