I

The Whole Sacred Scripture treats of the Lord; and the Lord is the Word

We read in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men: and the light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehended it not.

Further,

The Word became 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. John i 1-5, 14.

In the same,

Light is come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John iii 19;

and elsewhere in the same,

While ye have the light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.... I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. John xii 36, 46.

From these passages it is evident that the Lord is God from eternity, and that God Himself is the Lord who was born in the world. For it is said that the Word was with God, and that the Word was God; also that without Him nothing was made that was made; and again, that the Word became flesh.... and they beheld Him.

Why the Lord is called the Word, is but little understood in the Church. He is, however, called the Word because the Word signifies Divine Truth or Divine Wisdom; and the Lord is Divine Truth itself or Divine Wisdom itself. For this reason He is also called the Light, which likewise is said to have come into the world. Since Divine Wisdom and Divine Love make one, and in the Lord had been one from eternity, it is therefore also said, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men": the life is Divine Love, and the light is Divine Wisdom. This oneness is what is meant by the statement that in the beginning the Word was with God, and that the Word was God. With God means in God, for wisdom is in love, and love in wisdom. So also in another place in John:

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. John xvii 5.

With thine own self means, in thyself. Therefore it is also said,

"and the Word was God"; and elsewhere, that the Lord is in the Father, and the Father in Him; and also that the Father and He are one.

Now, as the Word is the Divine Wisdom of the Divine Love, it follows that it is Jehovah Himself, and thus the Lord, by whom all things were made that are made; for all things were created from the Divine Love by means of the Divine Wisdom.