Logos
"Logos" (Greek: λόγος) is the Greek term In Greek "logos" means word, reason or speech. Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, first used the term "logos", around perhaps 500 B.C., in order to mean divine reason.
When used in connection with thought or the mind, as in John 1:1, logos means the mental faculty of thinking and reasoning. In the beginning was "logos", referring to the mind or thought of God. If wikis had existed in ancient Greece, then the meaning of "logos" might have included a wiki! Other example uses of logos in the Bible are in Luke 8:11, Hebrews 4:12, and Philippians 2:16.
In literature, logos refers to an appeal to logic, as opposed to an appeal to emotion (pathos) or an appeal to authority (ethos).
In the King James Version, "logos" is translated as follows:
- "word" - a total of 218 times
- "saying" - 50 times
- a variety of different terms - 32 times
- "account" - 8 times
- "speech" - 8 times
- "Word" as in Christ - 7 times, mostly in the first verses of the Gospel of John - St. Augustine preferred to translate logos in this context as the "Living Word."
- "thing" - 5 times
- not translated and omitted from the English - 2 times
This calls into question the translation of "logos" as "Word" in the beginning of the Gospel of John. Under the view of some biblical scholars, logos was used by John the Apostle to describe the second person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus, as the Word of God. Commentators have pointed out the inadequacy of the English term "word" to capture the full meaning of "logos".[1]
Conservapedia Bible Project
The Conservapedia Bible Project translates this term beyond others as "logic", "perfection", and "truth". These meanings cannot be found in distinguished Greek-English lexicons as Liddell and Scott "A Greek–English Lexicon" (the standard lexicographical work of the Ancient Greek language) or Lampe's "Patristic Greek Lexicon", which specializes on the Greek of the early Christian authors.
Possible Confusion
λόγος (word, reason) shouldn't be confused with logic (ἡ λογική).
See also
- Word of God
- Rhema
- Heraclitus (circa 535–475 BC)