“And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us, and we have beheld His glory” (John 1:14)
“This is the disciple who testifies to these facts and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. There are besides many other things that Jesus did, but if they were all described in detail, I suppose the world itself would not have room for all the books that would be written” (John 21:24-25)
With the above phrases, the evangelist John begins and ends his gospel. He writes about the Word—not a spoken or written word only, but the Logos, the ever-living Word of the heavenly Father, and one of the Agents of all creation. Miracle of miracles, the Word became a man and lived on earth for a brief time. John captured that marvelous event as he experienced it, yet he ends his gospel by saying that there is a wider tradition not recorded in writing. Those who saw Jesus Christ during His lifetime listened to His teachings and witnessed Him alive after His crucifixion. They shared the good news of His resurrection with any who would listen to them. Only later did they compile that glorious episode into written form. The early church communicated the events of Christ’s life orally, before there was an accepted written compilation of gospels and epistles we now call the New Testament. This bears emphasizing: The Church and its tradition of worship and shared memories of Jesus preceded the Bible as we have come to know it. We will therefore approach the sacred scriptures in ways that vary from the Protestant communions that treat the Bible as though the tradition of comprehension and use by the church can be disregarded. For them the Bible is the sole source of authority.
The Orthodox Church honors the writings of the apostles, as any will notice from the proceedings of the Divine Liturgy. The gospels are adorned with an elaborate cover, carried in procession with honor, kissed reverently and most important of all, studied with great diligence so that the contents can be comprehended and explained in ways geared to the contemporary listeners, so that the Holy Spirit may inspire them to repent and live in ways that lead them to salvation. Still, the Bible is the book of the Church, written by the apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and subject to holy tradition.
This past spring a mighty storm of protest by Muslims everywhere came about after Newsweek magazine falsely reported that pages were torn from the Koran and flushed down the toilet. Supposedly that was done to antagonize prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. Riots and “hate America” tirades, even killings, followed the news. They do what comes naturally to them. Muslims believe that Allah in precise Arabic dictated their holy book, the Koran, in the seventh century to the prophet Mohammed. It cannot be translated accurately in any other language. None of its 114 chapters or suras has been altered. All Muslims make their five daily prayers in Arabic, no matter their native tongue. The Koran is to them what the Holy Eucharist is to true Christians.
Orthodox Jews believe that God dictated to Moses their scriptures, called Torah in Hebrew, although the text may be translated into various languages.
The Torah and Koran contain the word of God, whereas the gospels contain God’s Word incarnate in the world. Jesus Christ is the living Word of God, the God-Man who came into the world on our behalf. Contemplate that radical difference and you will be humbled by the love which Father, Son and Holy Spirit have for you. More than miracle, neither Moses nor Mohammed could conceive of that incredible, inconceivable phenomenon—a Creator who found it necessary to enter creation in order to show the way He loves us humans, and proposes a way that we might begin to return that love.