Logos

Interpreting the Logos In Greek philosophy, the logos remains an impersonal force, a lifeless and abstract philosophical concept that is a necessary postulate for the cause of order and purpose in the universe. In Hebrew thought, the Logos is personal. He indeed has the power of unity, coherence, and purpose, but the distinctive point is that the biblical Logos is a He, not an it. All attempts to translate the word Logos have suffered from some degree of inadequacy. No English word is able to capture the fullness of John’s Logos when he declared that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Attempts have been made by philosophers to translate Logos as logic, act, or deed—all of which are inadequate definitions. God’s Logos does include action. The Logos is the eternal Word in action. But it is no irrational action or sheer expression of feeling. It is the divine Actor, acting in creation and redemption in a coherent way, who is announced in John’s Gospel. That the Word became flesh and dwelt among us is the startling conclusion of John’s prologue. The cosmic Christ enters our humanity. It is the supreme moment of visitation of the eternal with the temporal, the infinite with the finite, the unconditioned with the conditioned. Coram Deo Reflect on this truth: God became flesh to accomplish your redemption. Have you accepted His gift of salvation? Passages for Further Study John 1:1–2 John 1:15

Hearing God Open Bible

Hearing God John 10:27 ESV / 70 helpful votes My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Romans 10:17 ESV / 63 helpful votes So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. John 14:16-17 ESV / 30 helpful votes And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. Hebrews 4:12 ESV / 29 helpful votes For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. John 16:13 ESV / 23 helpful votes When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. John 8:47 ESV / 23 helpful votes Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” John 6:63 ESV / 22 helpful votes It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Jeremiah 33:3 ESV / 22 helpful votes Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. 1 Kings 19:11-13 ESV / 22 helpful votes And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Isaiah 30:21 ESV / 20 helpful votes And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV / 16 helpful votes All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. James 1:19-27 ESV / 15 helpful votes Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ... Romans 8:14 ESV / 14 helpful votes For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 12 helpful votes I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Psalm 32:8-9 ESV / 12 helpful votes I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. John 14:26 ESV / 10 helpful votes But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Luke 11:28 ESV / 10 helpful votes But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Galatians 6:6 ESV / 9 helpful votes One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. 1 John 1:7 ESV / 8 helpful votes But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. Hebrews 2:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. John 10:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. John 3:16 ESV / 8 helpful votes “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 1:1 ESV / 8 helpful votes In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 5:30 ESV / 7 helpful votes “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. Proverbs 3:30-32 ESV / 7 helpful votes Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm. Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence. Psalm 5:3 ESV / 7 helpful votes O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. Hebrews 1:1-5 ESV / 6 helpful votes Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? 2 Timothy 3:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, Ephesians 2:8 ESV / 6 helpful votes For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Galatians 5:16 ESV / 6 helpful votes But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Galatians 3:5 ESV / 6 helpful votes Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— Acts 16:6-10 ESV / 6 helpful votes And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. Isaiah 30:19-22 ESV / 6 helpful votes For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!” Psalm 119:1-176 ESV / 5 helpful votes Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! ... Suggest a Verse

sermon on gospel of John by R C Sproul

Logos “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). - John 1:1–18 The various names for Jesus tell us a great deal about who He is and what He came to do. Thus far we have looked at three different titles used for Jesus in the New Testament: “Christ,” “Lord,” and “Son of Man.” Today we will look at the title given to Jesus in the prologue to John’s gospel: “Logos.” In English translations, John 1:1 reads, “in the beginning was the Word.” The Greek term translated “Word” in this verse is the word logos. We see this word incorporated into a variety of technical terms such as biology (a word about living things) and theology (a word about God). Though the translation of the term logos is the simple term word, it must be noted that logos carried a lot of philosophical baggage in the ancient Greek world. Ancient Greek philosophy was concerned with answering the ultimate questions of reality. They were seeking to find ultimate truth. They wanted to find the ultimate reality that lies behind all other things. Over time, as the ancient philosophers pondered these questions, they came up with a term to describe this ultimate reality, and the term they came up with was logos. The logos came to be understood as that which gave life and meaning to the universe. Within the realm of Greek philosophy, however, this logos was largely understood to be an impersonal force, not a personal being. When we come to John 1, we see that the apostle has done two things with the term that would have been unthinkable to Greek philosophers. Rather than an impersonal force, the logos of John’s gospel is a personal being who can be received or rejected by other people (vv. 11–12). This logos also became incarnate as a human being and manifested the glory of God (v. 14). The logos is the personal God revealed to us in the Old Testament. John, moved by the Holy Spirit, tells us this indirectly by starting 1:1 with “in the beginning,” just as Genesis 1:1 begins. He also tells us this more directly when in 1:1 he writes, “the Word was God.” This logos, which gives meaning and purpose to all things, is far from being an impersonal principle. Rather, this logos is Jesus Christ, the very God of the universe. Coram Deo Eastern religions point to a god who is a nebulous force or impersonal substance. However, the Bible tells us that God is a personal God who gives meaning and purpose to all things. Pray that you would not let our culture’s infatuation with Eastern religions make you forget that we serve a personal God. Passages for Further Study Gen. 1:1 Mic. 5:2 Col. 1:15–17 Rev. 1:8