logoV (Logos – Word)
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John
faced a serious problem in writing to the Gentiles, the non-Jewish world. Most
Gentiles had never heard of the Messiah or Savior who was expected by the Jews.
The idea was foreign to them. How would John present Christ to the Gentile so they could
understand?
The
answer lay in the idea of the Word (Logos), for the Word was
understood by both Gentile and Jew. The Jews saw a word as something active and
existing. The Word of God was seen as the creative power of God, the
power that made the world and gave light and life to every man
The
Gentiles or Greeks saw the Word more philosophically. When they
looked at the world of nature, they saw that things were not chaotic, but
orderly. Everything had its place and moved or grew in an orderly fashion,
including the stars above and the vegetation below. So, the Greeks then said
that behind the world was a mind, a reason, a power that made and kept things
in their proper place. This creative and sustaining mind, this supreme reason,
this unlimited power was said to be the Word.
The
Word was also seen as the power that enabled men to think and reason. It
was the power that brought light and understanding to man's mind and enabled
him to express his jumbled up thoughts in an orderly fashion. More importantly, the Word
was the power by which men came into contact with God and expressed their
feelings to God.
So
John takes this common idea of the Jews and Gentiles, and states that Jesus
Christ was the Word (Logos). John saw that a word is the expression of
an idea, a thought, an image in the mind of a person. He saw that a word
describes what is in the mind of a person. Thus, he proclaimed that in the life
of Jesus Christ, God was speaking to the world, speaking and demonstrating just
what He wanted to say to man.
