The Word – Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment.

Today is leap day, February 29, and we could take the day off, but the Holy Bible is the most important book ever written and too important to ignore, even for a day. It is the word of God.

May I suggest we go back to the beginning.

The three chapters chosen for today are Genesis 1 ,John 1 and 1 John 1 (click on the chapter to begin reading)

Both Genesis 1 and John 1 start with the words “In the beginning”. , Genesis 1 deals with the physical creation, but with a spiritual emphasis, laying the groundwork for spiritual understanding of how and why we exist. The gospel of John then deals with creation spiritually.

We are existing in time and space. The question is: What was there before time and space existed, before the beginning?

Answer: God, existing in three persons, God the Father, God the Son (the Word) and God’s Spirit, (the Holy Ghost).

They alone are eternal, everything else, including time and space, is created.

1 John 1 then starts from the beginning and deals with how we should live today, in time and space, with an eternal perspective.

Alone in the world the New World Translation (Jehova’s Witnesses) claims that “the word was a god”. But then again, JW do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as one person of the triune God.

Tekna – teachable ones, not just sons

Verse 16 is very interesting. The second half reads in Greek “και χαριν αντι χαριτος” which literally translates “and grace instead of grace” King James translation reads “and grace for grace, which lost a lot in the translation. The first “grace” is in the accusative, the second in the genitive. A better translation would be ” and proactive, dynamic grace instead of grace more like mercy. The Old Testament concept of grace is more like mercy, the New Testament concept of grace is best expressed in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”