The Power of And
One of the most important words in the Bible is surely “and.”
Bear with me for a few examples…
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. (Gen. 1:1)
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. (Gen.1:27)
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matt. 22:37)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. (Matt. 28:16)
In our lives I think we take something like “and” for granted. There’s always something else, there’s always a this and that, give and take.
But what God did at the very outset of creation was show His power to distinguish and His authority to join.
What point of separating the heavens from the earth would there have been if not to distinguish heaven from earth?
He created male and female, separate but equal in value in his image. He saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so his solution was “and”.
One of my favorite verses is Matthew 22:37 (not simply for its joined supremacy with love your neighbor as yourself — also another “and” usage), but because of the “and” that combines heart, soul, and mind into the conduit of loving God. We would love in our flesh and pride to say we can fully give over our heart OR soul OR mind, so long as we can keep one of those for ourselves. But guaranteed you’ll go away sorrowful like the rich young ruler if you interpret the commandment to allow for an OR when it clearly states an AND. There is a fullness of imagining what heart + soul + mind avails in devotion to the Father.
John through inspiration joins the truth to the person to the Lord in his opening line… “and” is right there to make it a unique proposition fit for revolutionizing the world around Christ the King.
As we are made for good works, “and” is the assurance of the resurrection power in the great commission to make disciples in the midst of being sent. “And” joins the triune God into conceptual unity and so that baptisms don’t falsely recognize a limit on His holiness. “And” is the glue for the reminder that we are never alone, to the “end of the age.”
The point being that God accomplished so much with the creation of And. It’s a reminder of what the Lord set in motion, but also the succession of His creation. The creation events that follow Genesis 1:1 begin with “And” more many successive verses… because the creation event unfolded as a dynamic whole, rather than parts.
Remember the power of prayer to glorify the God who send His only begotten son to die for the sins of you AND me.