In Christianity, the Logos ()Entry at LSJ online. is a name or title of Jesus Christ, seen as the pre-existent second person of the Trinity. In the Douay–Rheims, King James, New International, and other versions of the Bible, the first verse of the Gospel of John reads:
In these translations, Word is used for , although the term is often used transliterated but untranslated in theological discourse.
According to Irenaeus of Lyon (–202), a student of Polycarp (–156), John the Apostle wrote these words specifically to refute the teachings of Cerinthus, who both resided and taught at Ephesus, the city John settled in following his return from exile on Patmos.Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.3.4 While Cerinthus claimed that the world was made by "a certain Power far separated from ... Almighty God", John, according to Irenaeus, by means of John 1:1-5, presented Almighty God as the Creator"by His Word." And while Cerinthus made a distinction between the man Jesus and "the Christ from above", who descended on the man Jesus at his baptism, John, according to Irenaeus, presented the pre-existent Word and Jesus Christ as one and the same.
A figure in the Book of Revelation is called "The Word of God", being followed by "the armies which are in heaven" (Rev 19:13–14).
Bible
Johannine literature
Stephen L. Harris claims that John adapted Philo's concept of the Logos, identifying Jesus as an incarnation of the divine Logos that formed and governs the universe.Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "John" pp. 302–310
While John 1:1 (dated to 90-100 CE) is generally considered the first mention of the Logos in the New Testament, arguably, the first reference occurs in the Book of Revelation (dated to around 95 CE). In it the Logos is spoken of as "the Word of God", who at the Second Coming rides a white horse into the Battle of Armageddon wearing many crowns, and is identified as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords:
John 1's subject is developed in the First Epistle of John (1 John).John Painter, Daniel J. Harrington. 1, 2, and 3 John. 2002. p. 131. "The opening verse of the Gospel shares with 1 John 1:1 the important words arche, 'beginning', and logos, 'word'."Dwight Moody Smith First, Second, and Third John 1991 p. 48 "parallel is perhaps the identification of Jesus as the word (logos) in 1 John 1:1 and John 1:14."Georg Strecker, Friedrich Wilhelm Horn Theology of the New Testament 2000 p. 473 "1–2; not in this absolute sense: 2 John 5–6; 1 John 1:1, ... The subject of the hymn is the divine Logos, who is portrayed as the preexistent mediator..."Stephen S. Smalley 1, 2, 3 John 2008 p. 25 "The first clause in 1 John 1:1 will then refer to the pre-existent Logos, and the following three clauses 'to the incarnate Logos Similar to John 1:1-5, 1 John 1:1 also refers to the beginning () and to the Word (). 1 John 1 does not refer to the creation (see John 1:3) but expands on two other concepts found in John 1:4, namely that of life and of light (1 John 1:1–2, 5–7). It therefore seems as if only the first clause of 1 John 1:1 "What was from the beginning" refers to the pre-incarnate Word. The rest of 1 John 1 describes the incarnate Word:
Luke 1:1-2 Like John 1:1-5, Luke 1:1-2 also refers to the beginning and to the word:
David Lyle JeffreyJeffrey, David L. A Dictionary of biblical tradition in English literature. 1992. p. 460 "in his reference to 'eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word' (Luke 1:2) he is certainly speaking of the person as well as the words" and Leon MorrisMorris, Leon. The Gospel according to John. 1995. p. 124 "when Luke speaks of those who were 'eyewitnesses and servants of the word' (Luke 1:2), it is difficult to escape the impression that by 'the word' he means more than the teaching." have seen in "the word" a reference to Jesus Christ. However, this reference did not depict the same significant theology of the Logos as depicted in the gospel of John. In context, it is referring to the gospel message about Jesus and his teaching, rather than his title or identity.Joel B., Jeanne K. Brown & Nicholas Perrin. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. InterVarsity Press, 2013, p. 524.Dunn, James D. G. "Neither Jew nor Greek: Christianity in the Making, Volume 3" Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2015, p. 355.
Septuagint Certain references to the term logos in the Septuagint in Christian theology are taken as prefiguring New Testament usage such as Psalm 33:6, which relates directly to the Genesis creation narrative. Theophilus of Antioch references the connection in To Autolycus 1:7.Oskar Skarsaune. In the shadow of the temple: Jewish influences on early Christianity. p. 342
Irenaeus of Lyon explained Psalm 33:6 as that the "One God, the Father, not made, invisible, creator of all things ... created the things that were made ... by [the] Word" and "adorned all things ... by [the] Spirit." He added, "fittingly is the Word called the Son, and the Spirit the Wisdom of God."Irenaeus, Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, 5
Origen of Alexandria likewise sees in it the operation of the Trinity, a mystery intimated beforehand by the Psalmist David.Origen, De Principiis, 1.3.7, 4.30 Augustine of Hippo considered that in Psalms 33:6 both logos and pneuma were "on the verge of being personified".Augustine. The Trinity. Edmund Hill, John E. Rotelle 1991. p. 35
Early Christianity
Ignatius of Antioch The first extant Christian reference to the Logos found in writings outside of the New Testament belongs to John's disciple Ignatius ( 35–108), Bishop of Antioch, who in his epistle to the Magnesians, writes, "there is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word, not proceeding forth from silence," (i.e., there was not a time when he did not exist). In similar fashion, he speaks to the Ephesians of the son being "possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first passible and then impassible".
Justin Martyr Following John 1, the early Christian apologist Justin Martyr (c. 150) identifies Jesus as the Logos.Erwin R. Goodenough, The Theology of Justin Martyr, 1923 (reprint on demand BiblioBazaar, LLC, pp. 139–175. )Jules Lebreton, 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Justin Martyr.Philippe Bobichon, "Filiation divine du Christ et filiation divine des chrétiens dans les écrits de Justin Martyr" in P. de Navascués Benlloch, M. Crespo Losada, A. Sáez Gutiérrez (dir.), Filiación. Cultura pagana, religión de Israel, orígenes del cristianismo, vol. III, Madrid, pp. 337-378 online Like Philo, Justin also identified the Logos with the Angel of the Lord, and he also identified the Logos with the many other theophanies of the Old Testament, and used this as a way of arguing for Christianity to Jews:
In his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin relates how Christians maintain that the Logos,
In his First Apology, Justin used the Stoic concept of the Logos to his advantage as a way of arguing for Christianity to non-Jews. Since a Greek audience would accept this concept, his argument could concentrate on identifying this Logos with Jesus.
Theophilus of Antioch
Theophilus, the Patriarch of Antioch (died ) in his Apology to Autolycus also identifies the Logos as the Son of God, who was at one time internal within the Father, but was begotten by the Father before creation:
And first, they taught us with one consent that God made all things out of nothing; for nothing was coeval with God: but He being His own place, and wanting nothing, and existing before the ages, willed to make man by whom He might be known; for him, therefore, He prepared the world. For he that is created is also needy; but he that is uncreated stands in need of nothing. God, then, having His own Word internal within His own bowels, begot Him, emitting Him along with His own wisdom before all things. He had this Word as a helper in the things that were created by Him, and by Him He made all things ... Not as the poets and writers of myths talk of the sons of gods begotten from intercourse [with women], but as truth expounds, the Word, that always exists, residing within the heart of God. For before anything came into being He had Him as a counsellor, being His own mind and thought. But when God wished to make all that He determined on, He begot this Word, uttered, the first-born of all creation, not Himself being emptied of the Word [Reason], but having begotten Reason, and always conversing with His Reason.
He sees in the text of Psalm 33:6 the operation of the Trinity, following the early practice as identifying the Holy Spirit as the Wisdom (sophía) of God when he writes that "God by His own Word and Wisdom made all things; for by His Word were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Spirit of His mouth" So he expresses in his second letter to Autolycus, "In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom."
Athenagoras of Athens By the third quarter of the second century, persecution had been waged against Christianity in many forms. Because of their denial of the Roman gods, and their refusal to participate in sacrifices of the Imperial cult, Christians were suffering persecution as "atheists".Athenagoras, Plea For the Christians, 4 Therefore the early Christian apologist Athenagoras (), in his Embassy or Plea to the emperors Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus in defense of Christianity (c. 176), makes an expression of the Christian faith against this claim. As a part of this defense, he articulates the doctrine of the Logos, expressing the paradox of the Logos being both the Son of God as well as God the Son, and of the Logos being both the Son of the Father as well as being one with the Father,See also Plea, 24: "For, as we acknowledge God, and the Logos his Son, and a Holy Spirit, united in power—the Father, the Son, the Spirit, because the Son is the Intelligence [], Word [], Wisdom [] of the Father, and the Spirit an effluence, as light from a fire". Adapted from the translation of B. P. Pratten, Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2, being corrected according to the original Greek. saying,
Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men called atheists who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order? ... the Son of God is the Word [] of the Father, in idea and in operation; for after the pattern of Him and by Him were all things made, the Father and the Son being one. And, the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of spirit, the understanding [] and reason [] of the Father is the Son of God. But if, in your surpassing intelligence, it occurs to you to inquire what is meant by the Son, I will state briefly that He is the first product of the Father, not as having been brought into existence (for from the beginning, God, who is the eternal mind [], had the Word in Himself, being from eternity rational []; but inasmuch as He came forth to be the idea and energizing power of all material things, which lay like a nature without attributes, and an inactive earth, the grosser particles being mixed up with the lighter...Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians, 10
Athenagoras further appeals to the joint rule of the Roman emperor with his son Commodus, as an illustration of the Father and the Word, his Son, to whom he maintains all things are subjected, saying,
For as all things are subservient to you, father and son, who have received the kingdom from above (for "the king's soul is in the hand of God," says the prophetic Spirit), so to the one God and the Word proceeding from Him, the Son, apprehended by us as inseparable from Him, all things are in like manner subjected.Athenagoras, Plea for the Christians, 18