Kingdom Ready Blog

In the introductory notes to the gospel of John in William Barclay’s New Testament translation, some interesting comments are made about the use of logos.

“Logos has two meanings, which no one English word can express. Logos means word, and logos means mind. A word is the expression of a thought. Therefore, Jesus is the expression of the thought of God. Or, to take the other meaning, in Jesus we see the mind of God. John says to us: ‘If you want to see what God is thinking, if you want to see how God feels to men, and how God thinks of men, look at Jesus. In Jesus the mind of God became a person.”

In a world in which John’s prologue has been so distorted by Gnostic interpretations, often through misleading translations, it is important to have clarity regarding God’s intended meaning of key passages of the Scriptures.

John 1: 1-5 from The Concordant Literal New Testament:

In the beginning was the word, and the word was toward God, and God was the word. This was in the beginning toward God. All came into being through it, and apart from it not even one thing came into being which has come into being. In it was life, and the light was the life of men. And the light is appearing in the darkness, and the darkness grasped it not.

When one pauses to reflect on what God is communicating about the word or logos in the beginning and since the beginning, some marvelous truths become apparent. In the momentous time of original creation (as related in the first two chapters of Genesis), there was the reality of God’s mind and heart filled with infinitely wise thoughts and purposes. Such thoughts and purposes were to be expressed or communicated. The focus of what God had in mind was the expression of Himself, the only giver of existence, life and light. Nothing exists or has existed without His mind and heart having originated it in perfect wisdom. The principle essence of life, as started according to God’s intentions, gives light against which no darkness can prevail.

Logos in John 1 is certainly parallel to the personified use of “Wisdom” as a woman in Proverbs, especially in verses 22- 31 of chapter 8. Here one can read of Wisdom’s credentials “in the beginning.” Wisdom “was there”, “beside Him, as a master workman” when everything was originally brought into existence. In the context of the first nine chapters of Proverbs, it is seen that “Lady Wisdom” persistently cries out now so that people (for their own good) turn from folly to true understanding. Wisdom is contrasted with another personified “woman” throughout these chapters: the adulterous, evil, foolish, foreign, strange woman, who seductively leads people into destruction.

When one meditates in Genesis on God’s creative acts and the simple, repeated phrases, “Then God said…,” it is evident that the Creator of all flawlessly produced what He had designed in an infinitely wise heart. He purposely began to reveal Himself; He continued to do so through powerful acts, spoken words, and written words throughout generations. A special, ultimate revealing of His mind’s eternal purpose would be the creative sending of the Messiah, the subject of “part 2″ of this article.

Revelation 4: 11 (A translation by Wm. Barclay)

‘Our Lord and God, yours is the right to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and it was through your will that they came into being, and were created.”