Digging Deeper

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 1:1-5 (KJV)

If you’ve been reading our posts for very long, you know that the Word spoken of in this passage is Jesus Christ. He was with God in the beginning when the world was made- and He was and is God. Before He was known as Jesus, He was called the Word. Jesus and the Word are one and the same. The Apostle John is telling us that Jesus came to a dark world as the life and light of God, and the darkness could not “comprehend” it.

What does John mean by this? Is he telling us that the darkness did not understand Jesus, the Light? Not quite. While the devil did not fully understand the plan of God in sending Jesus, the word that has been rendered as comprehended is actually incorrectly translated by the King James translators. They did their best, but they were limited by the fact that it is often difficult to translate concepts in Greek using just one English word, as well as the fact that they were under certain political pressures to translate in certain ways to please the king. In addition, there have been changes to the English language and we simply have some problems correctly understanding the intention of the Scriptures using old English words and phrases. This is why it is important to look things up in the original language in which it was written.

Comprehended is the Greek word katalambano, which means to take eagerly, to seize, to possess, to overtake. It paints the picture of energetically taking possession or control of something. This tells us that the darkness was unable to seize, to possess, or overtake the light. That is drastically different than what we would understand by just reading the word comprehended. Thus, we see that Jesus came to earth and brought the light of life to the darkness of a sinful world, and the darkness could not win against it. Light wins- every time. As we walk in the light we walk in victory.

He who has ears for the truth, let him hear. Matthew 11:15 (The Voice, VOICE)

This example shows us that we should not just be doing surface reading of the Word. We are to search, research and dig deep to get the true meaning. The use of a good concordance such as Strong’s is of great help with this. Truth is often hidden and only if we have “ears to hear” the truth will we truly understand. Start digging, and see what hidden gems you find!

It is God’s privilege to conceal things and the king’s privilege to discover them. Proverbs 25:2 (New Living Translation, NLT)