The Prologue (John 1:1-18 and the Logos)
λόγος
The Prologue is a summation of all that follows; all that follows is to prove the accuracy of the things declared in the first 18 verses.
Great thoughts that will begin to develop as the narrative unfolds:
1. The excellency of Christ.
2. The conflict between light and darkness.
3. The deity of Christ - the "Word."
4. The witness of John.
5. The incarnation and the rejection of those who should have accepted Him.
"The gospel is a gospel about the "Word." The prologue sounds the key note. (Morris)
The Logos
Logos from ley appearing in lego, primitive meaning is to lay, then, to pick out, gather, pick up: hence logos is first of all a collecting or collection of both the ideas in the mind and of the words by which they are expressed.
It therefore signifies both the "outward form" by which the "inward" thought is expressed or the "inward" thought itself (Vincent Vol. II, pp. 25-33).
"A word as embodying a conception or idea" never simply the name of a thing or act."
In the Septuagint; 10 commandments called "oideka legoi" (δέκα λόγους) the ten words. Ex. 34:28: hence Decalogue.
Logos can signify the inward thought, the faculty of thinking and reasoning (Heb. 4:12); Regard or consideration (Acts 20:24) ; Reckoning or account (Phil. 4:15, 17; Heb. 4:13). Cause or Reason (Acts 10:29).
A. Used frequently by the Greeks.
1. An all-pervading principle.
2. Reason or thought.
3. That thought expressed, i.e. speech.
4. Not personal but a principle or force. Contrast John's use: "was with God" ("face to face with God").
5. Greek gods were detached from the world but "this God" is not.
God cares passionately and loved sacrificially.
B. Its Jewish background.
1. Gen. 1:1ff. The act of creation is effected by God speaking. Cf. Ps. 33:6. This is in contrast with all materialistic or pantheistic conceptions of creation. "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made."
2. The Word, as embodying the divine will, is personified in Hebrew poetry___Ps. 33:4; Isa. 40:8; Ps. 119:105
3. Semi-personalization of Wisdom___Prov. 8:22ff. Cf. 1 Cor. 1:30.
4. The Angel of YHWH. "The messenger of God who serves as His agent in the world of sense, and is sometimes distinguished from YHWH and sometimes identical with Him." Gen. 16:7-13; 32: 24-28; Hos. 12: 4-5; Ex. 23: 20-21; Mal. 3:1. Gen. 18-19, Judg. 6:11-24; 13: 3ff.
5. Note the use of "the Word" for God in the Targums (a running commentary used in the synagogues when Hebrew was read after it ceased to be a spoken language. Paraphrases of thought rather than mechanical translation). Gen. 39: 21; Ex. 19:17; Deut. 9:3. "The Word" then became a designation of the divine and was recognized as such by those familiar with the Targums.
6. Also the Wisdom literature between the Testaments personified "Wisdom" and the "Word" paving the way for John's idea of the Logos.
7. There was similar development in the personification of the Law, the Torah.
8. Usage in the Judaeo-Alexandrine Philosophy (Philo). Philo from Alexandria (30 B.C.--40 A.D.).
a. Eternal matter outside of God without form and void and essentially evil.
b. The mediating principle between God and matter was the divine Reason, the Logos who created the sensible world by causing the ideas of finite things to penetrate into matter.
c. Hence, the Logos appeared as:
1. The immanent reason of God
2. The outspoken word, proceding from God and manifested in the world.
3. John claims this was Jesus.
d. Philo uses Logos 1300 times, but his concept is far different from John's. His "Logos" does not create anything. Matter was eternal with him and with his idol Plato.
9. John's Logos differs from the logos of Greek philosophy:
a. New Testament: the Logos is God
b. New Testament: the Logos is personal
c. New Testament: the Logos created all things
d. New Testament: the Logos became flesh and dwelt among men. In Philo the logos is confined to creation and preservation of the world; he does not identify or connect the logos to the Messiah.
10. John used a term that would be full of meaning to men, but their thoughts would not be identical to those of John. His idea of the Logos was essentially new.
"The 'ancestry' of an 'idea' is not the idea itself" (C.J. Wright).
"This title expresses very forcefully an important aspect of New Testament Christology___the unity in historical revelation of the incarnate and the pre-existent Jesus" (Cullmann).
11. "The Logos of John is the real, personal God (1:1) the Word who was originally before the creation with God, and was God, one in essence and nature, yet personally distinct. (1:1-1, 18): the revealer and interpreter of the hidden being of God; the reflection and visible image of God, and the organ of all His manifestations to the world. Compare Heb. 1:3. He made all things, proceeding personally from God for the accomplishment of the act of creation (1:3), and became man in the person of Jesus Christ (Yeshua) accomplishing the redemption of the world. Compare Phil. 2:6" (Vincent, Vol. II, p.32).
12. "Logos" used for Christ only 4 times (in four verses).
a. John 1:1 (3 times)
b. John 1:14
c. 1st John 1:1 "the Word of life"
d. Rev. 19:13___"the Word of God."
13, After the prologue John does not again apply the specific term Logos but puts great stress on the word (s) of Jesus or of God.
a. Jesus' words are God's words: 3:34 (remata): 14:10 (remata) 14:24 (logous) 17:8 (remata) 17:14 (logon) Cf. 5:7 (remasin).
b. To abide in His word is to be His disciple --8:31 (logos).
c. Jesus' words bring life__5:24 (logon) 6:68 (remata); 8:51(logon).
(See also 6: 63, remata; 15:3 logon, 15:7 remata, 12:47 rematin, 8:47, 44, remata, 14:23 logon, 15:20; 17:6, 17 logos.)
SOME EXAMPLES OF THE LOGOS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT!
1. John 12:48___Word will judge
2. John 15:3___clean because of the Word
3. John 8:51___keep my Word
4. John 8:31___continue in the Word
5. John 17:17___your Word is truth.
6. Acts 2:42___received the Word.
7. Acts 6:4____ministry of the Word
8. Acts 8:4___preaching the Word
9. Acts 13:5___preached the Word of God
10. 1 Cor. 1:18___Word of the cross
11. 1 Thess. 2:13___Word of God
12. James 1:21___Word able to save your soul
13. James 1:22___doer of the Word.
14. James 1:23___a hearer of the Word
15. Rev. 1:9 on the account of the Word of God.
Compare with remata: John 8:20, 47; 3:34; 15:7; Rom. 10:17, 18, 8; Heb. 11:3; Eph. 6:17; Heb. 6:5; 1st Peter. 1:25 (Cf. v. 23 logos); Matt. 12:36; 2 Pet. 3:2 and Jude 17.
Note the use of Logos as the content of the Christian message. Seven different genitives which express that message:
1. The word of the gospel. Acts 15:7
2. The word of truth. John 17:17; Eph. 1:13; Jas. 1:18
3. The word of life. Phil. 2:16
4. The word of righteousness. Heb. 5:13
5. The word of reconciliation. 2 Cor. 5:19
6. The word of salvation. Acts 13:26
7. The word of the cross. 1 Cor. 1:18.