λόγος I: A Prologue of The Prologue

I guess I should start from the beginning...(pun intended). I will be launching a short but succinct study of the logos/λόγος in John 1:1 as part of my Christology class for Summer I semester. The fringe benefit of having done this research paper that this writing comes from is that you the reader will also benefit from my work. I view this as all part of God's plan.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

The first thing that becomes immediately apparent when doing research on this topic is that there are a few different theories on why John uses the designation of “the Word” in the John 1:1-18 prologue, but the “who” or “what” the Word is has never been in question (except by liberal scholars). The “who” or “what” is clearly Jesus Christ in his Incarnate form. The real question is why John chose to launch his Gospel with the peculiar terminology and why he chose to call Jesus or God “the Word”. My intent in this series is to clarify the thought processes behind this peculiarity and illustrate that John’s primary motive was to show Jesus’ true identity and thereby mute potential misidentification of the Son of God. I have tried to explain the synonymous nature of the Word and Jesus as early as possible because I will be using the terms “the Word” and Jesus interchangeably throughout this series in a manner that is often times juxtaposing wordplay for effect.

Since the remainder of the posts for this study are either lengthy or very techincal I have chosen to just use this first post as a form of introduction. This is my way to explain my premise before launching into it. It is one of the more heady topics I have attempted to explain and make understandable to my readership. I am doing it because it is critical that a believing Christian understand it. I will also repeat myself a few times on the more complex areas to assure I have clearly conveyed the idea(s) I am explaining. What I am figuring is this...if I can coherently explain this topic to my readership then I may just consider becoming a Pastor/Teacher as my calling since people I respect have been trying to steer me down that path anyway. I will consider any postive repsonse to this next series of posts as a sign from God to broaden my approach to teaching also. Please give feedback with this in mind.

May God bless you and aid you in absorbing what you read in this short series.

Andy