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God / Jesus has many names which reveal something of His nature / character, e.g.:

  • Son of God (reveals His divine nature)
  • Son of Man (reveals His human nature)
  • etc.

But "The Word" is more puzzling to me. Why is Jesus called "The Word" and what does it reveal about Him?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

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This question shows research effort; it is useful and clear. – Robert Haraway Sep 1 '11 at 16:29

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John 1:1 begins the same way that Genesis 1:1 does. In the Genesis passage, God speaks the world into existence. This tie emphasizes that The Word was present in creation. A Jewish reader would recall the plural collective name of Elohim used in that passage along with the "Let us make man in our image..."

God the Son is co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, so the name Jesus/Yeshua (The Lord saves) was given to Him when He became a man and entered into His own creation.

Jesus is the One who reveals/discloses/unveils God. In that sense, He is God's message/word/declaration. "No one has ever seen God (the Father), but the Monogenes/only begotten/one of a kind Son of God has declared Him."

So, "The Word" ties back to Genesis 1 to indicate Jesus' presence in creation and also describes His role in revealing God to mankind.

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In this video Rabbi Tovia Singer explains why Elohim is "plural": youtube.com/watch?v=MhVD1DKaIbY – Bob Black Sep 3 '11 at 17:29
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Yes, that is the position of Jews who reject Jesus as Messiah. However, Jesus fulfilled all the Messianic prophecies, begin born in the right city, at the right time in history, of a virgin, was "God with us", performed miracles, died and rose again as Isaiah 53 foretells. Also, creation bears the image of the Creator--even the image of the trinity: we are body, soul, and spirit. The physical universe is time, space, and matter. Time is past, present, future. Space is length, width, height. Matter is solid, liquid, gas... – Narnian Sep 6 '11 at 12:18
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By Greek word being translated to Word is "Logos". Both Jews and Gentiles would have taken significant meaning from this.

For Jewish readers, Logos is how God achieved his will and is the personification of God's revelation to them.

For Gentile readers, Logos would have been understood as an intermediate entity through which God created and communicated.

By calling Jesus "the Word" in John 1:1, he is saying Jesus is God's will and God is communicating through him. He is also saying that Jesus is a part of God, therefore anything which comes through Jesus, even though it is through the flesh, is directly from God.

Reference

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In the greek the word for "Word" there in John 1:1 is lógos and according to strongs

Lógos

A word, being the expression of a thought; a saying. 3056 /lógos ("word") is preeminently used of Christ (Jn 1:1), expressing the thoughts of the Father through the Spirit.

To me this means that Jesus is the manifestation of the Father's heart.

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