LOGOS

The Word ; from the Greek ὁ Λόγος . A title given to our ble ed Lord and Saviour ; so designated not only because the Father first created and still governs all things by him, but because, as men discover their sentiments and designs to one another, by the intervention of words, speech, or discourse, so God by his Son discovers his gracious designs to men. All the various manifestations of himself, whether in the works of creation, providence, or redemption, all the revelations he has been pleased to give of his will, are conveyed to us through him; and therefore he is, by way of eminence, called the Word of God .— Tomline. The word appears to be used as an abstract for the concrete, as St. John employs Light for enlightener , Life for giver of life ; so that the expre ion means speaker , or interpreter . So, (John i. 18,) “No man hath seen God at any time; the Only Begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father , he hath declared him.” In the first verse he is described as the Word which “was with God in the beginning, and was God .” (See Jesus and Lord .) As to the reason of this name or title of the Word , given by the evangelist to our ble ed Saviour ; he seems to have done it in compliance with the common way of speaking among the Jews, who frequently call the Me ias by the name of the Word of the Lord ; of which I might give many instances; but there is one very remarkable, in the Targum of Jonathan, which renders the words of the psalmist, which the Jews acknowledged to be spoken of the Me ias, viz. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, . , thus, “ The Lord said unto his Word ,” . And so likewise Philo the Jew calls him “by whom God made the world, the Word of God , and the Son of God :” and Plato probably had the same notion from the Jews, which made Amelius, the Platonist, when he read the beginning of St. John’s Gospel, to say, “This barbarian agrees with Plato, ranking the Word in the order of principles;” meaning, that he made the Word the principle or efficient cause of the world, as Plato also hath done. And this title of the Word was so famously known to be given to the Me ias , that even the enemies of Christianity took notice of it. Julian the apostate calls Christ by this name: and Mahomet in his Alcoran gives this name to Jesus the Son of Mary. But St. John had probably no reference to Plato, any otherwise than as the Gnostics, against whom he wrote, made use of several of Philo’s words and notions. So that in all probability St. John gives our ble ed Saviour this title with regard to the Jews more especially, who anciently called Me ias by this name.— Archbishop Til lots on. See the very learned article on the word Λόγος (under its 16th head) in Rose’s edition of Park hurst’s Greek Lexicon .