LOGOS (λόγος, lat. Verbum)
Title attributed by St. John the Apostle to the Only-Begotten Son of God, who became man in the Incarnation (v.).
Etymologically, λόγος derives from λέγειν (in Latin, legere). In Greek, the semantic evolution moved from the root idea of legi and logic to those of "to choose, to understand, to reason, to count, to recount, to speak." Among profane writers, the original meaning of λόγος (collection) survives in compounds (σύλλογος "assembly," παλιλόγος "gathered again," etc.). The isolated term λόγος occurs with derived meanings of "reason," "account," in phrases such as "to render reason" or "to render account," and among philosophers in the more complex sense of "reason," the intellectual faculty, or another intellectual entity; among all, in the most common sense of "word," with nuances of "discourse," "conversation," "utterance," etc. In the Greek version of the Septuagint (v.), λόγος sometimes translates the Hebrew *dabbar* (word), "thing." In the New Testament, it occurs both in the meanings of profane Greek and in Christian senses of "word of God," "divine commandment," "biblical saying," "Revelation," "evangelical preaching," and in St. John, with the meaning of "divine Word" six times (Jn 1:1 [three times]; 1:14; 1 Jn 1:1; Rev 19:13; 1 Jn 5:7 is not to be considered; V. COMMA GIOVANNEO).
### I. THE TEXTS
It is fitting to examine first the texts in which the term occurs with some specification.
In Rev 19:13, a crowned rider appears, with "a name written that no one knows except himself. He is clothed with a mantle dipped in blood, and his name is called: the W[ord] of God (ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ)." Here the W[ord], or Word of God, is clearly presented as a Person, identified with Jesus Christ, who shed His blood in the Passion and now reigns gloriously in Heaven. Christ risen and glorified is also alluded to in 1 Jn 1:1: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word (ὁ λόγος) of life" (ibid., 1:4).
In the prologue of the Fourth Gospel (Jn 1:1-18), the W[ord] is presented in its relations with God, with the world, and with men. Here are its salient features: in V. 1, the term λόγος occurs three times: "In the beginning was the W[ord], and the W[ord] was with God, and the W[ord] was God," that is: the W[ord] is eternal (it existed already before creation, cf. Gen 1:1), is a Person distinct from God the Father, of whom He will be called the Only-Begotten (Jn 1:14, 18), is God (ὁ λόγος ἦν θεός). The anticipation of the predicate (θεός) emphasizes this characteristic of the W[ord]: its consubstantiality with the Father. V. 2 recapitulates, in parallelism, the truths indicated in V. 1. Vv. 3-5 present the W[ord] as the creator of the universe and as the source of life and light for men. The creative action of the W[ord] extends to all things, none excepted. "In Him was life (cf. 1 Jn 1:4), and the life was the light of men" (v. 4). This refers especially to spiritual, supernatural life and light, which will later (v. 14) be called "Grace and truth"; "the darkness did not overcome" the light of the W[ord] that came into the world.
The precursor John the Baptist (v.) was not the true light, but only a witness to the W[ord] as light (vv. 6-8). "There was the light, the true light, which enlightens every man who comes into the world" (v. 9). "The world," that is, worldly men, and even "His own," the Jews, did not receive Him, but to those who did receive Him the W[ord] "gave power to become children of God," infusing into them the life of Grace by which they are "born of God" (vv. 10-13).
V. 14 reveals the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word: "And the W[ord] became flesh (καὶ ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο) and dwelt among us." The W[ord], who is God, a Person distinct from the Father, subsisting in Him, without undergoing change, became man, that is, He assumed in the unity of His divine Person complete human nature (soul and body).
Here, as in his first epistle (1 Jn 1), the Evangelist proclaims his testimony and that of the Apostles: "And we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-Begotten from the Father, full of Grace (divine life) and truth (divine light)" (v. 14).
The precursor attests to the divine preexistence of the W[ord] (v. 15), and the Evangelist adds: "And of His fullness we have all received, and Grace for Grace (χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος, V. 16)." Our grace derives from His, corresponds to His. "For the Law was given through Moses; Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (v. 17). Here the W[ord] is clearly identified with Jesus Christ, a historical personage: He is God and man together.
The prologue concludes by presenting the incarnate W[ord] as subsisting in the intimate divinity of the Father, of whom He is the only-begotten Son, and as the revealer of the Godhead: "No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten God (μονογενὴς θεός, this is the best reading of the Greek), who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known" (v. 18).
### II. THEOLOGICAL DOCTRINE
The theological doctrine of the Johannine texts on the W[ord], and especially in the prologue of the Fourth Gospel, is exceedingly rich. The central point of this doctrine is the identification of the divine W[ord] with the historical Christ, the Savior. In the rest of the Fourth Gospel, Jesus is never called the W[ord] (it is evident that the Savior never expressly appropriated this title), but in their historical context the same truths expressed in the prologue recur.
The eternal preexistence of the W[ord], affirmed in the prologue (Jn 1:1), is attested for Jesus Christ in the Fourth Gospel both by John the Baptist (ibid., 1:30) and by Jesus Himself (ibid., 8:58). His personal distinction from the Father (ibid., 1:1) is proclaimed in passages of the Fourth Gospel that present Jesus as the Son proper of God. This, indeed, is the explicit purpose of the Gospel (ibid., 20:28; cf. 1:37; 3:17; 35, 36; 5:19-26; 6:40; 8:35-36; 14:13; 17:1). The identity of nature (ibid., 1:1), or consubstantiality between the W[ord] and the Father, is clearly attested by Jesus Himself (ibid., 10:30; 17:22).
That Jesus is life and the source of spiritual, supernatural life for men is clearly taught in the Fourth Gospel (ibid., 3:15; 5:24; 26, 40; 6:27-51; 8:12; 10:11; 13:25; 14:6; 17:2-3; 20:31). Jesus is light and the source of light (ibid., 3:19-21; 12:9; 5:12, 35-46) and of truth (ibid., 5:33; 14:6; cf. 1 Jn 1:6-8; 3 Jn 3). The Incarnation is attested in Jesus' discourse with Nicodemus (Jn 3:13-21), where the characteristic titles of Only-Begotten (Μονογενής: ibid., 3:16, 18), of light of truth (ibid., 3:19-21), of the descent of the Son of God from Heaven (ibid., 3:31-36) recur, as announced in the prologue.
The Greek λόγος, rendered by Tertullian and by ancient Latin versions as *Sermo* or *Ratio*, and better by the Vulgate as *Verbum*, lends itself excellently to expressing the theological doctrine concerning the Son of God made man.
The theologians, following St. Thomas (Sum. Theol., I, q. 34), develop the analogies between human *logos* and divine *Logos* thus: just as man, by knowing himself, generates intellectually an interior *logos* (λόγος ἐνδιάθετος, *verbum mentis*), a concept that is like an image of him, so God the Father, by knowing Himself perfectly and all things in Himself, generates intellectually, from eternity, His interior *Logos*, the Only-Begotten God (Jn 1:18), who is His most perfect image (cf. 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). In man, thought is a transient accident; in God, it is a Person, subsisting eternally in the one divine nature common to Father and Son. Just as in man the spoken word (λόγος προφορικός, *verbum oris*) is the means by which he manifests his thought, so, analogously, in the Godhead the incarnate divine *Logos* is the revealer of divine mysteries, communicates the light of truth, the life of Grace (Jn 1:14-18).
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### III. INFLUENCES AND DEPENDENCIES
Before investigating possible dependencies on profane sources, it is useful to examine the inspired writings, which certainly were known to St. John, for any possible sources of his teaching on the Word.
Various texts of the Old Testament give special prominence to the divine Word. In Gen. 1:1–27, creation is described as the work of God’s words, with the repeated formula “And God said.” This concept is reiterated in Ps. 32(33):9: “He spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it was created” (cf. V. 6; Sir. 42:5; Wis. 9:1–2 with the term λόγος). Elsewhere, the “word of God” is described as sent by him: “He sent forth his word, and healed them” (Ps. 106:20; cf. 147:14–18; Isa. 9:8; 55:10–11). These are rhetorical personifications, yet they allowed for deeper insights. The “word of God,” under the title of λόγος, is more strongly personified in Wis. 18:4–5: “When... the night was half spent, thy all-powerful Word (λόγος) leapt from heaven, from thy royal throne, a stern warrior.”
In the New Testament, the mystery is clearly revealed. Of interest are the connections between the writings of St. Paul and the sapiential texts of the Old Testament. The concept of reflection (splendor) and image applied to the divine Wisdom in Wis. 7:25–26 is taken up in Heb. 1:3, applied to the Son of God made man, and more clearly in 2 Cor. 4:4 and Col. 1:15. The latter text, in its entire context (Col. 1:13–17), has undeniable affinities with the Book of Wisdom and with the prologue of St. John; there, “image” corresponds to the Word, and Jesus Christ is clearly presented as the Son of God, preexistent, creator, made man, and redeemer. Col. 2:9 and Phil. 2:6 correspond to John 1:14. In these passages from the Pauline epistles, the doctrine later systematized by St. John in his prologue is already clearly taught, in which the eternal Word dominates, distinct from the Father, God, creator, incarnate Jesus Christ.
Other elements recur in 1 Pet. 1:23: “You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” The Word of God that regenerates, of which St. Peter speaks, pertains to preaching, and perhaps to the formula of Baptism; yet it is symptomatic that this coincides with John 1:13 regarding supernatural birth. “The earth was formed out of water and by water, because of the word of God” (2 Pet. 3:5); this runs parallel with John 1:2, which speaks of the creative Word.
In these inspired texts and in the living word of the divine Master, who, even in the Synoptics, attests to the perfect mutual knowledge between the Father and the Son (Matt. 11:27) and his Trinitarian life, St. John must have drawn the essential elements of his doctrine. Some hold that John drew from Greek philosophers elements for his Word.
According to Heraclitus (v.), the Word would be a kind of divinity immanent in the cosmos, a universal, eternal cosmic law, identifiable with fire (considered the rational element); this Word would determine the destiny of all mutable things (cf. M.-J. Lagrange, *Le Logos d’Héraclite*, in *Revue biblique*, 32 [1923], pp. 96–107).
Plato (v.) Aristotle (v.) did not incorporate these doctrines of the Word into their systems. However, some Platonic elements regarding the intelligible cosmos, considered as the exemplary and efficient cause of the sensible cosmos, the soul of the cosmos, and the secondary gods, had some influence on the later history of the doctrine of the Word. Likewise, the Aristotelian concept concerning nature as the immanent principle of motion, conceived as a divine rational force that holds the universe together, provided the Stoics with elements for their doctrine of the Word.
Later Stoics applied the title of Word to the so-called “soul of the cosmos.” For Seneca (*Ad Helviam*, 8:3), the Word is “a divine spirit equally diffused in all things, great and small, which forms matter, turns it, governs it, and is the universal law that guides all things to their appointed end; human intelligence is a participation in the universal Word.” When a man speaks, he manifests through the uttered Word (λόγος προφορικός) what is communicated to him in the inner Word (λόγος ἐνδιάθετος; cf. Zeno, in Galen, *De Hipp. et Plat. plac.*, 2:5).
The influence of Greek philosophy on the Johannine doctrine of the Word, advocated especially by rationalists such as M. Lidzbarski, R. Reitzenstein, B. Bauer, and W. Bousset, does not withstand objective analysis. The only point of contact between John and this philosophy consists in the use of the term Word and in attributing to it some special relationship with divinity and the world. But none of those philosophers, not even the Stoics closest to John (Epictetus, Seneca), consider the Word as a special wisdom of God, much less as a person or as an intermediary through which God acts in creation.
Others, following A. Loisy, sought the sources of the Johannine doctrine of the Word in the writings of Philo (v.).
Despite some similarities, the substantial divergences are such as to exclude any true dependence.
Both Philo and John call the Word God and Son of God; for both, the Word influences the formation of the world; it is a mediator between God and men and a revealer. Yet Philo’s Word is an abstract idea, devoid of personality; it is called God (ἐσχάτως) in the broad sense of a divine being, not in the proper sense; it is also called Son of God by participation, as the world is the “younger son” of God, while the Word is the “elder son.” For St. John, however, the Word is the Only-Begotten Son of God in the proper sense; it is a divine Person who assumes human nature in himself; it is Jesus Christ Himself. Philo’s Word is merely an organizer of matter, which is presupposed as preexistent, whereas John’s Word is Himself preexistent to matter and the true creator of all things. Philo’s Word, unlike John’s, is not at all a source of supernatural life and light, nor is it the light of the world.
Others sought the roots of the Johannine doctrine of the Word in Jewish writings that personify the Law (Tōrāh), the Cloud (Σκηνή), and especially the Word (Mēmrā) of the Lord.
The formula “Mēmrā of the Lord,” which could correspond to the Word of the Lord, appears only in the Aramaic paraphrases of the Bible, known as Targums, written after Christ but already transmitted orally before Christ. H. L. Strack and P. Billerbeck (*Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch*, II, Munich 1924, pp. 302–33) count 179 instances in the Targum of Onkelos, 321 in the First Jerusalem Targum, and 99 in the Second (p. 305 ff.).
But an analysis of the passages in which this formula appears (sometimes replaced by the synonym “dibbūrā of the Lord”) shows that it is merely one of the many rabbinic devices to avoid pronouncing the name of Yahweh. To avoid anthropomorphisms, the targumists, instead of “God” or Yahweh, write “Word of the Lord” (Mēmrā of the Lord). This substitution occurs even where the Bible says that Yahweh walks, speaks, acts outwardly, governs the world, reveals Himself, or creates. It is possible that the use of Mēmrā among Palestinian Jews is a version of the term Word used by Alexandrian Jews, especially by Philo; sometimes the Mēmrā is also personified as a divine hypostasis or, more frequently, as a divine emanation transmitted to the prophets. Yet even in these cases, it is a matter of rhetorical personifications. When the rabbis spoke of the “word of God,” they meant “God.” Moreover, the rabbis never qualify the Messiah as the Mēmrā of the Lord.
Others bring into play as supposed sources of this doctrine the syncretism found in the mystery religions, Hermetic writings, or Mandaean texts; but these are merely verbal similarities with quite different ideas. The Mandaean religion (v. MANDEES AND MANDAEISM), moreover, underwent influences from Christianity, not the other way around.
The essential doctrinal elements contained in the prologue of the Fourth Gospel derive from the Revelation conveyed, in a rather obscure form, in the Old Testament, and more clearly in the living word of Jesus and in the writings of the apostles Paul and Peter. From these revealed data, the Evangelist has condensed into the marvelous hymn that opens his Gospel the fruit of his contemplations.
One may suppose that the choice of the word L. rather than another (image, wisdom, splendor of God, or pūmā, vōs, lēsēs) was due either to a special revelation, or, more likely, to an intentional choice on his part, with the aim of conferring an unmistakably Christian significance upon the term λόγος, which was so often abused in the Hellenistic philosophical and religious world. It offered cultured Hellenists a means to channel their speculations up to the summit of the divine mystery.