The Logos Concept: A Critical Monograph on John 1:1 -- By: Edgar J. Lovelady

Journal: Grace Journal
Volume: GJ 04:2 (Spring 1963)
Article: The Logos Concept: A Critical Monograph on John 1:1
Author: Edgar J. Lovelady


The Logos Concept:
A Critical Monograph on John 1:1

Edgar J. Lovelady

Winona Lake, Indiana

Abridged by the Author

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

The title Logos was the chief theological term descriptive of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, which was applied in the full-flowered Christology of the ancient church, being in a very distinct sense the basic content and starting-point of the doctrine of Christ. And yet Biblically this title is found only in the Johannine group of New Testament writings; here in John 1:1, in 1 John 1:1, and in Revelation 19:13. Since John presents Christ as Logos introductory to his Gospel, he reveals that this title is convenient and, more than that, absolutely essential to a proper understanding of the relationship between the pre-existent Son of God and the historically-manifested divine revelation in the human life of Jesus. With stately simplicity John introduces the Lord Jesus Christ out of the eternal ages, representing Him not only as the focal point of history, but also as the expansion of history in relation to creation, preservation, and revelation in the world.

Picture yourself as a Jewish Christian familiar with the Book of Beginnings in the Septuagint version. It begins, en arche, just as in the opening words of John’s Gospel. This would suggest John’s acquaintance with the Old Testament in Greek, as well as a conscious effort on his part, by inspiration, to take this appropriate and stimulating concept and use it to give a new genesis account, now laid bare in conformity with the One Who manifested revelation in its several forms. This leads us to several very important questions: What did John mean when he applied this title to Christ? (And he clearly did so, as in John 1:14–18.) And since the idea of the Logos was a widespread concept in the ancient world, whence was the origin of this well-known linguistic expression, and what of its function in earlier usage?

Therefore it will be our task to trace the Logos concept in most of its forms in its historical development; then to ascertain the extent and the effects of this concept in its several distinct areas upon John’s identification of the Logos; and finally, to seek to arrive at various distinctions and syntheses relative to the problem. Once this has been accomplished, a brief exegesis of the verse itself will be undertaken, on the basis of the familiar structural analysis.

Various Interpretations of the Johannine Source

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