By philosophy I mean the love of wisdom as it applies to understanding the spiritual synergy of language, namely the “Word” as narrative viewed in conjunction with speech that enables us to communicate our thoughts as an expression of our being. This process is outlined by linking John’s “Word in the beginning” to the creation texts of Genesis, whereby the Evangelist defines Antichrist as the negation of the divine essence of speech.
In Antichrist: A Historical Perspective, I explain that Luther singled out the Pope as Antichrist who came to power due to the backing of his wealthy banking family. During his reign, The Pontiff emphasized the material, artistic and political operations of the Church at the expense the spiritual legacy established by Simon, the fisherman whom Jesus called the rock on which he built his living Church.
In Antichrist: Theological Perspective, John’s Antichrist is described as an apostate who has turned his back on a Christian community of which he was once part. Once he left the congregation, he denied the human nature of Christ and negated that Jesus was the Son of God. Both these principles are linked by the Evangelist to the creative power of the “Word in the beginning”.
To explain the process I’ll use a practical example:
When a person reads Genesis, he or she brings to life the inspired Word of God. This process involves the reader’s utterance of God’s creative activity in the beginning of the Bible.
God’s inspiration
writer/editor
˅
Word/text
˅
reader/speaker > God’s spoken words
This spiritual experience can be illustrated in the following terms: A copy of the Bible sits on a table. The book is a external and non-existent object without the presence of a reader. A person appears and picks up the Bible. He or she opens the book and begins to read Genesis. Words become alive as the reader utters the order of syntax and reproduces God’s creative activity. What was initially an external reality becomes an inspirational and a wholly external~internal spiritual experience, linking past and present with human speech.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 Now the earth was a formless void, there was darkness over the deep, with a divine wind sweeping over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Emile Benveniste pointed out that language reproduces reality. In Genesis, God’s creation and existence is reproduced by human speech. This process transcends time and space of words that were written in the beginning. It is important to note that language should not be confused with speech. The former is defined as a communication system, while the latter is a human capacity to reproduce a reality: A spiritual experience of divine being and presence.
God is a noun. What defines God or a deity is its attribute or verb. In Genesis 1:3 God speaks and creation is formed. God’s creation consists of words~symbols like light and darkness, day and night, days of the week, the naming of animals, of man and woman. These words are essential for the world of the Bible to exist.
In this sense creationists are correct. God did create the world of the Bible. However, Genesis does not mention particles, molecules, biological or astronomical evolution, which are all acknowledged by science and scientists. The Bible presents a reality distinct from the language of science.
It is important to note that during the time of Genesis’ writing, only priests and scribes were able to read or write. This was a closely guarded family skill. Interestingly, at the center of the Garden of Eden stands a prominent symbol of genealogy; a tree. This symbol represents the lineage of priests who were responsible for teaching their descendants how to read and write, making it a closely guarded skill.
Priests were the only ones with the ability and authority (note that the word authority comes from “author”) to read the Torah to the faithful. By reading and speaking God’s words to an audience they acted as a medium between God and the assembly of believers.
The invention of the printing press changed this dynamic by allowing any reader to become a medium. This promoted individualism, contemplation, prayer, meditation and the direct communication of God’s words and presence.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The emphasis here is not on the “Word” as noun, but on the verb “was” which suggests active speech in the beginning of creation. Through speech, the reader is able to read and speak the “Word”, thereby re-creating the presence and existence of God.
Additionally, the original meaning of inspiration is the action of inhaling or breathing in. Its also means the act of inspiring or enlightening the mind and soul. In a metaphysical and mystical sense, this means the human soul is a recipient God’s Spirit. And by expiring, the breathing out by using the vocal cords, words becomes speech, the ultimate means of communication. It is worth noting that in Hebrew the words spirit, breath and wind are synonymous. Furthermore, the Hebrew language is made up of only consonants without vowels. In other words, a speaker must breathe out the spirit to vocalize the vowels with the help of vocal cords in order to make a word comprehensible.
In conclusion, the Antichrist refers to the entity or being that denies the holy origin life and the divine source of human speech without which God could not communicate His will to his or her reader or hearer of the “Word”.
