Hi Pastor Ron!
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question again… I’m looking forward to sharing your response with my small group. I already posted this question in the small group’s “Knowing God” discussion board.
So here it is…
I’m in the middle of reading chapter 5… am I understanding correctly that in the Triune of God, Jesus is the Word and therefore the work of God?? So, Jesus is then the agent of creation? And then that is also the reason why Jesus took human form too??? Because he is the “work of God”???
I know I mentioned this to you after class but I just wanted to share again that… MAN am I LOVING this book!!! The more I am learning about God the bigger God continues to get. It is amazing! GOD IS AMAZING!!!
Thank you, in advance, for your insight and I look forward to hearing back from you!
Jill
Jill,
Thanks for your email. Really glad you and your small group are reading through Knowing God. Very cool. So to answer your questions….
You are right in saying that Jesus is the Word of God and that Jesus is the “agent” of creation. In Genesis 1 we are introduced to God the Father (1.1), God the Holy Spirit (1.2) and as God’s Word goes forth in Genesis 1:3 we are introduced to God the Son. John tells us that “the Word” (Jesus) was with God in the beginning and, in fact, “was God.” John then confirms that Jesus was the “agent” of creation when he writes, “through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3).
I would not describe Jesus as the “work of God.” This phrase seems to say that Jesus was created by God. But Jesus—God the Son—is not created, rather he, like God the Father and Spirit, is an uncreated and eternal.
Jesus is not only the agent of creation, but the agent of our re-creation. In Jesus, God become man (Incarnation). Jesus was fully-God, fully man. Man is a sinner and cannot save himself. The penalty of his sin resulted is spiritual and eternal death. But God so loved the world that He sent His Son to remedy the situation. Only the death of Jesus could pay the penalty. Being God His death was not for His own sins and being man He could die as a perfect substitute on man’s behalf. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the “power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
God is amazing! And you are right—the more we learn about Him the bigger and more amazing He gets.
Thanks for your great questions.
Ron
Tags: agent, beginning, believes, creation, death, Devotional, Father, Genesis 1, God, Holy Spirit, Jesus, John, Knowing God, power, re-creation, response, resurrection, Romans 1, Ron Moore, salvation, Sermon Series, triune, Word, work
