Growing up on North Dakota I learned four things.  In the morning, we had breakfast, at noon, we had dinner, in the evening we had supper and any thing in between these meals was lunch.  I though that everyone had breakfast, dinner and supper until I met Emily.  Emily used different words for her three meals; she used breakfast, lunch and dinner.  This was the cause of great confusion when we were dating because if she asked me to come over for dinner, I would show up six hours early at noon instead of at six o’clock.  In fact, we still have not figured out which word to use consistently.  Words are wonderful little creatures, but deciding which word to use can be painfully deliberating.  I have often wondered if St. John spent hours or months deliberating on what word to use in John 1:1 before he decided on the word “logos,” which is Greek for “word.”  How many other options or choices did St. John have?  How many rough drafts were thrown away with different words? St. Augustine also wondered about St. John’s use of Logos, saying “Did not those words which we uttered sound and pass away? Did God’s Word, then, sound and come to an end?”[1] A word, when spoken, dies with its fading sound, so why did St. John used the word “logos?”

There have been some theologians who have suggested that St. John was influenced by Greek philosophy.  Heraclitus (5^th century BC) was first Greek philosopher to impregnate the word “logos” with philosophical meaning.  He believed that the Logos was the unifying rational principle holding the world together.  Another group of philosophers, the Stoics, followed Heraclites and believed the logos was the unifying principle of the world, but they also believed the logos to be the source of all things that exist and also was the natural law.  Now there are aspects of this Greek philosophy that are true.  Jesus is not the unifying principle, but the unifying person holding the universe together, as St. Paul said in Colossians 1, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (vs. 16b, 17) Jesus is the source of all created things as we read in Hebrews 1, “He made the worlds.”  However, some theologians have been too fond of reading Greek philosophy into the scriptures and thus have read John’s Gospel to speak about the incarnation of Heraclites or the words of Plato made flesh.  Furthermore, St. John was an uneducated Jewish fisherman, who would have more likely been influenced by Jewish theology then by Gentile philosophy.[2] Therefore, while there are interesting analogies between Jesus as Logos and the Greek Philosopher’s Logos, St. John’s most likely source of inspiration would have been Jewish theology.

In Judaism, there were three theological strands concerning God’s word or the Logos.  First and most obvious, the Word was involved in creation.  St. John clearly wants us to understand this strand because he began his Gospel with these words, “In the beginning was the Word” which clearly echoes Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  God’s word, the Logos, called creation into being, as St. John explicitly said, “Through [the Logos] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”  Thus, the first strand of Logos theology, which St. John drew upon concerned creation, the Logos was God’s powerful word that has created all things.

The second strand of theology is found in the Aramaic Targums, which are paraphrases of the Old Testament used in Synagogues.  The “word of God” was used as a substitute for references to God’s presence.  The Targum on Exodus 3:12 paraphrases “I shall be your help” with “My Word shall be your help.” In addition, the Targum on Exodus 19:17 paraphrases, “Moses led the people out of camp to meet with God” with “Moses led the people before the Word of God.”  In the Targum tradition, God’s word, or God’s logos was a synonym for God’s presence.  St. John builds upon this tradition saying that the Logos is not just God’s presence, but a pre-existent eternal person who was God, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Thus, the second strand of Jewish Logos theology built upon by St. John was that the Logos was God’s presence, who as St. John said took upon flesh and dwelt among man.

Our third strand of thought comes from the prophets, to whom God’s word was revelatory that is to say; it was God’s way of communicating with his people.[3]  A word is something physical, just as physical as a painting or statue.  Words form when we force air through our vocal cords, which create a serious of vibrations that travel through the air.  Words are something tangible, they can be felt by placing our hands on our neck when we speak and they bounce off various parts of our ear vibrating our eardrums.  Take the word “God” for instance.  Three letters that correspond to three sounds are made by my vocal cords.  These sounds travel through the air, are directed to your eardrum by the shape of your ear.  These sounds cause your eardrums to vibrate, these vibrations cause three tiny bones to vibrate, and nerves transfer these vibrations to your brain, which then deciphers this pattern of vibrations into a word that has meaning.  The physicality of communication is glorious and St. John’s use of the word “logos” suggests that the glories of communication are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, God’s very word that took upon flesh and dwelt among us.  Just as a word clothes itself in the physical body of a sound wave, so Jesus Christ clothed himself in a physical body so that we may know God, see God, and touch God.

Why did St. John use the word “logos?” Only he and Holy Spirit who inspired him know, but there is no other word he could have used that simultaneously meant God’s creative power, God’s presence and the glory of God’s communication.  However, what of Augustine’s statement that a word dies with it fading sound?  The Word of God, Jesus Christ has never stopped speaking, his voice never cracks or fades.  His voice was heard at the beginning of all things, his voice sustains creation, when he died his voice loudly proclaimed his victory over sin and death and upon his resurrection and ascension, and his voice is always mediating on our behalf.  His voice is always speaking us into existence as children of God, is it always reminding us of his forgiveness when we mess up.  His voice is always calling us toward him, just like my mother’s bell called us in for supper.  So hear his voice calling you, calling you out of darkness and into his light and calling you to see him and hear him in the Eucharist.