The Finished Word

The fullness, grace, and truth of God are found only in the Word that became flesh, namely, Jesus of Nazareth  – John 1:14-18. The Prologue of the  Gospel of John  introduces key themes that are expanded in the book, including  Life ,  Light ,  Witness ,  Truth , and  Grace .  Jesus is the light of the world, the source of grace and truth, the true tabernacle in which God dwells. He alone is qualified to interpret the unseen God since only he has seen the Father.

The life, words, and deeds of Jesus echo key events from the History of Israel. He brings the things God began in the past to their intended fulfillment. He is the  Greater Lawgiver  foreshadowed in the story of the Exodus from Egypt. By presenting parallels between Moses and Jesus, the  Gospel of Matthew  prepares us for the teachings of Christ, especially as represented in his ‘ Sermon on the Mount ’.

The  Letter to the Hebrews  next demonstrates the superiority of the  sonly word  by comparing it to Moses, Israel’s Great Lawgiver. Implicit in its argument is the priority of the “ word spoken in the Son ” over even the Mosaic legislation, and at this point in the Letter, the comparison is most appropriate. Moses certainly did mediate God’s law to Israel and was the greatest of the prophets. Nevertheless, the “ Son ” surpasses even him in status and glory.