The Word & The Voice
Word & Voice
PART THREE
Genesis 3:8-10 NKJV.
8 And they heard the sound* (H6963) of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 So he said, “I heard Your voice* (H6963) in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”
*Notice this is the same Hebrew word H6963 qowl: voice, sound (of an instrument)
NKJV “And they heard the sound (H6963) of the Lord God”
KJV “And they heard the voice (H6963) of the Lord God”
The Word of God and the Voice of God
“…they heard the voice of the LORD walking.”
“...the word of the LORD came to Abraham in a vision saying...”
What is the Spirit of the Living God wanting us to understand? What is it the writer wants us to understand about God?
The Word or the Voice of Yahweh is uttered for the purpose of being heard and known. It is purposeful. The Voice is personal. The Voice is self-identifying and self-revealing; you can recognize a person by their voice. The Voice is a means of distinguishing oneself from all others. When you hear and recognize the Voice, it will evoke a response.
I would like to share a few passages from an English translation of the Bible developed by Thomas Nelson and the Ecclesia Bible Society; called The Voice. It is a was released in April 2012. The Voice is not a translation or a paraphrase, it is a hybrid of the word-for-word and thought-for-thought that seeks to proclaim God's voice and help believers experience the joy and wonder of God's revelation; His Word and His Voice.
The Voice took on Flesh
The Voice Translation John 1:1-4; 14:
1 Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God. 2 This celestial Word remained ever present with the Creator; 3 His speech shaped the entire cosmos. Immersed in the practice of creating, all things that exist were birthed in Him. 4 His breath filled all things with a living, breathing light—
14 The Voice took on flesh and became human and chose to live alongside us. We have seen Him, enveloped in undeniable splendor—the one true Son of the Father—evidenced in the perfect balance of grace and truth.
John’s Gospel begins not with Jesus’ birth or John’s baptism but with a deliberate echo of the creation story in Genesis. It takes us back before time began to the moment when God interrupts the silence and speaks the cosmos into existence. Only John’s Gospel names Jesus as the Word (Logos) and declares that He existed long before time was measured.
The Word of God Begotten
This is not a departure from our study, rather I want to include these familiar verses, as we consider how the writers handle and convey the knowledge of Who God Is by the terms they use.
The narrative of the Old Testament used the phrase “the word of the LORD.” The Apostles understood this as a biblical title. Through use, it became shortened to simply “The Word.” This name and title were used to refer to Him who was always with God, and was Himself God.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
— John 1:1 NKJV
The Greek translation uses the word theos for elohim. Like elohim, theos was used to refer to the Greek’s gods or goddess. It was a general name used to refer to deities or divinities. When the Gospel was taken to the Gentiles, the Greek speaking world, the New Testament writers used this Greek word to refer to Yahweh—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
— John 1: 14 NKJV
Notice the phrase “only begotten.” This is the Greek word identified by the Strong’s number G3439. It is the Greek word monogenes and it means single of its kind (one of a kind). This Greek word #3439 has often been translated as only begotten.
Please take a few minutes and read the following scriptures: John 1:14,18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9.
To translate this word as begotten leads to a wrong impression because it implies there was a time when the son did not exist—that he had a beginning. Early translators assumed the right word should be monogenas, since Jesus is the Son of God. It was not until the late 19th century when papyri were found that clearly gave the etymology of this word. It was not mono = only + gennao = to bear which they translated as “only begotten.” The etymology was mono = only + genos = class/kind.
Jesus was and is monogeses: mono = one + gene = kind, unique
Jesus is one with Yahweh. Jesus is unique among the elohim. He is the Unique Son of God. He was not created, there was not a time He did not exist. He was always with God, He always was God, and He is God. God is One.
Here is another example where this word was mistranslated.
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten (monogenes) son.”
— Hebrews 11:17 NKJV
Other translations read “to offer his only son.” Let me ask you, was Isaac Abraham’s first son? Was Isaac Abraham’s only son? No, Isaac was Abraham’s “unique” son. Isaac came by promise and supernatural intervention. He was received by faith in the eternal, immutable Word of the LORD.