First of all, if you haven't read these two previous pages, please do so:

 

1) Jewish Categories of Thought

2) The Jewish Conception of God and the Messiah

 

Quoting again from definition 1 of "logos" from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words:

 

"...the phrase "the word of the Lord," i.e., the revealed will of God (very frequent in the OT)...(emphasis mine)

 

Thus, for example, in 2 Kings 3:12 when it says: "He has the word of the LORD" it means that God had revealed His will to him.

 

It is generally accepted that John's "In the beginning..." is an allusion to the creation account in Genesis. The role of the "Word" of God in the creation process is paramount. God "spoke" things into existence.

 

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth...For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast." (Psa. 33:6, 9).

 

This paradigm and way of speaking is not changed in any of the New Testament writers:

 

 . . . by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water . . . But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:5, 7).

 

By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear. (Heb 11:3)

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

 

All things were made through the Word of God - John / By the word of the LORD were the heavens made - Psalms

 

These two statements are saying the same thing. There is no change from Old Testament to New Testament.

 

In Jeremiah 10:12 it says of Yahweh,

 

It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.

 

This links the content of the word, "word" when used of God's creative activity to the word, "wisdom" when used of God's creative activity.

 

In Proverbs 8, Wisdom says,

 

When he established the heavens, I was there, when he drew a circle on the face of the deep...then I was beside him, like a master workman; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always...

 

In Proverbs 8, Wisdom is not a literal being who was a master workman at the creation. Wisdom is a personification of an attribute of God. "Wisdom" in Proverbs 8 and "Logos" in John 1 are interchangeable. "Wisdom" in Proverbs 8 and "word" in Psalms 33:6 are interchangeable. John says the same thing using the same word - "word" - that Psalms 33:6 says.

 

In the Old Testament, God's word is an extension of God Himself. It is sometimes spoken of using personification.

 

He sends forth his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He sends forth his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel. (Psalms 147: 15,16,19)

 

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress; he sent forth his word, and healed them, and delivered them from destruction. (Psalms 107:19-20)

 

So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it (Isaiah 55: 11)

 

Extra-Biblical Hebraic writings also illustrate this same paradigm concerning the word of God.

 

Sirach 42:15: At God's word were His works brought into being.

 

Sirach 37:16: A word is the source of every deed; a thought, of every act.

 

Wisdom 9:1: God of my fathers, LORD of mercy, you who have made all things by your word.

 

From the Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis, Vol. 1, 912, emphasis added:

 

The noun davar [word] occurs some 1455 times...In legal contexts it means dispute (Ex. 18:16, 19; 24:14), accusation, verdict, claim, transfer and provision...[otherwise] request, decree, conversation, report, text of a letter, lyrics of a song, promise, annals, event, commandment, plan (Gen. 41:37; II Sam. 17:14; II Chron. 10:4; Esther 2:2; Ps. 64:5, 6; Isa. 8:10), language...Dan. 9:25: decree of a king; [also:] thing, matter or event. Of particular theological significance is the phrase "the word of the Lord/God came to..."...In Jud. 3:19-21 Ehud delivers a secret message (i.e. a sword to kill him)...Yahweh commands the universe into existence. Yahweh tells the truth so everyone can rely on Him. The word of the Lord has power because it is an extension of Yahweh's knowledge, character and ability. Yahweh knows the course of human events. Similarly human words reflect human nature (the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart/mind)...Words are used for good or evil purposes (Prov. 12:6)...Words can cheer, correct and calm.

 

Where, I ask, is the Trinitarian understanding of "Word" being an actual being and destined to incarnate as a human? Nowhere. That concept is completely foreign to Hebraism - the background, the paradigm, the matrix, of the apostle John, indeed, of ALL the New Testament writers.

 

From these Biblical and extra-Biblical sources we can see the Hebraic paradigm for God's word - "logos" in Greek, "davar" in Hebrew. Never did it refer to an actual being. Sometimes it is personified, as Wisdom is in Proverbs 8 for example, but it is NEVER an actual personality. In these cases it is understood as a personified attribute of the one God, who alone created the heavens and the earth and everything in them. It is spoken of as doing things, but it is understood that "it is an extension of Yahweh's knowledge, character and ability."

 

As I said previously, understanding "logos" in Greek philosophical categories and not Old Testament Hebraic categories is a huge mistake. Unfortunately, that very mistake became "orthodox" in Christianity's early history.

 

 

NEXT:

Section III: Writings from the Disciples of the Apostle John

 

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