Logos

Biblical Text

The clearest use of logos as a title for Christ is in the prologue of the Gospel of John (John 1:1-18), which opens: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). The prologue goes on to say that all things were made by him (1:3) and declares, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (1:14). The same expression appears in "the Word of life" in 1 John 1:1 and in "his name is called The Word of God" in Revelation 19:13. Elsewhere in the New Testament, logos is usually used in its ordinary senses of "word," "teaching," or "the word of the gospel."

Background and Meaning of the Word

The Greek word logos has a broad range of meanings, including "word," "account," "principle," and "reason." It was also an important concept in Greek philosophy. Heraclitus called the order that pervades the world the logos, and Stoic philosophy understood it as the rational principle permeating all things. Philo, a first-century Jewish philosopher of Alexandria, described the logos as the mediator between God and the world.

The term also has an Old Testament background. Representative examples are the refrain "And God said" in Genesis 1, which presents God as creating the world by his word, and Psalm 33:6. Proverbs 8, which celebrates the wisdom that was with God at creation, is also frequently cited alongside these passages. Scholars differ over whether the Logos of John's Gospel stands closer to Greek philosophy or to Hebrew thought.

Significance in the Whole of Scripture

Three meanings overlap in the Logos of John's prologue. First, the Logos is the one who took part in creation. Second, he is the revealer who makes God known (1:18). Third, he is the one who became human, which is the meaning of the Incarnation. Hebrews 1:1-3 and Colossians 1:15-17 do not use the word logos. Because they speak of creation and revelation through the Son, however, they are read together as part of the same strand of Christology.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

The second-century apologist Justin Martyr used the concept of the logos to explain the points of contact between Greek philosophy and the Christian faith. In the fourth century, the Arian controversy arose over whether the Logos was a created being. The Council of Nicaea (325) confessed that the Son is of the same essence as the Father, and this confession became the foundation of the doctrine of the Trinity. In Korea today, the major denominations—Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, Full Gospel, and Anglican—all accept this confession.

In Korean Protestant churches, an explanation that distinguishes logos as "the written word" from rhema as "a word given to an individual" has been widely used, especially in Pentecostal and charismatic preaching. This explanation has met with objections on the grounds that the two words are used interchangeably in the New Testament. For example, logos appears in 1 Peter 1:23 and rhema in verse 25, both referring to the same "word of God." On this basis, many scholars and pastors hold that a strict distinction between the two words is not something the text itself states.

In the Korean Church

In Korean churches, the Logos is a frequent theme of Christmas sermons, together with John 1:14. The word is also commonly used in the names of Korean Christian publishers, mission organizations, and educational institutions. Korean Bibles have translated the term as malsseum ("Word"), whereas the Chinese Union Version renders it as dao (道).