Logos

by Brandon Heckman

“Christ is identified with the Logos. The Logos is the Word of God. That word transformed chaos into order at the beginning of time. In his human form, Christ sacrificed himself voluntarily to the truth, to the good, to God. In consequence, He died and was reborn. The Word that produced order from Chaos sacrifices everything, even itself, to God. That single sentence, beyond comprehension, sums up Christianity, Every bit of learning is a little death.”

– Jordan Peterson1

The Logos

The Gospel of John begins by describing the Creation narrative of the book of Genesis from the perspective of the Logos (in English: “The Word”) and stating that Jesus was this Logos. By doing so, John is declaring the Divinity of the man he is about to write his book concerning. For the original Hellenistic reader of John’s Gospel, the idea of the Logos would have been a philosophical concept, one insinuating one of the greatest elements of persuasion (that is, reality), along with ethos and pathos which the Logos would allow for one to even realize.2  

Thus, John was not merely writing to the Jewish people, but all of mankind. The highest had been with the highest, was the highest Himself, and together, they created. Surely, Peterson is right in the quote above when he says that the Hebraic Christ is identified with the Greco-Roman Logos. But as we will discover, He was much more than either the Hebrew thought the Christ to be or the Hellenized person thought the Logos to be. The Hebrew Christ and the Hellenistic Logos were Yahweh, the sole God of Creation and Redemption.

The Trinity at the Beginning

“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 any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

– John (John 1:1-5, ESV)

In the above section, the Greco-Roman perspective on the Logos was considered, but for the Hebraic reader, the concept of the Logos being one with God would have immediately brought to their mind what was called the Shema Yisrael. The Shema Yisrael was the identifying term for Deuteronomy 6:4 in which Moses stated that God had declared: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (ESV). Thus, there must have been a cognitive dissonance for the Jewish reader in understanding how John could be stating that Jesus was both God and with God and not be a heretic. It would have been difficult enough for the Hebraic reader to accept the fact that John was utilizing a Greco-Roman philosophical term to describe God, but for John to be declaring a multiple-personality Godhead, “blasphemy!” for surely God was one.

However, the answer to the mystery of Jesus’ Divinity along with the Father can be found in the very passage, the Shema Yisrael, that could cause one to believe the Trinity to be heresy. When God’s holy names are transliterated from Hebrew in Deuteronomy 6:4, and included in their original wording, the passage instead states: “Hear, O Israel, Yahweh our Elohim, Yahweh is one.” Elohim is Hebrew’s plural for the word “God”, and while it refers here to a plural of majesty (as was customary in Hebraic language), it is also a plural of personhood, the fullness of the Deity of the Godhead.3 Thus, the doctrine of John in his reflection on the Creation is not heresy to the other Scriptures; rather, it explains the Shema Yisrael, “Gods” is one. The Logos, the Father, and the Spirit were all present at the beginning, and they were one.

The Creating Word

“If it is true that the Logos created order from chaos or Ex Nihilo (out of nothing), surely God Himself created the nothing or chaos from which He created. Yahweh is unquestionably omnipresent. We can be certain that “nothing” did not exist apart from Him in eternity past. If you removed everything in all of the created order, you would only have Him. If “nothing” existed, it would be full of Him. He was, before His created works, all that was.”                     

– Brandon Heckman

The question that could come to mind naturally is: If God is One and the Logos was one with Him and the Spirit, where then is there a distinction between the personhoods of the Trinity? I admit that much has been made of this issue throughout history and every image made by man appears to fall disappointingly short; indeed, almost all are deemed to be heretical by the Church. Fortunately, there is no need to attempt to create an illustration, the very names of the Godhead give the distinction in themselves. The Father is the Father. Jesus is the Logos. And the Spirit (or Ruach in Hebrew) is the life-giving Spirit/Breath.

Given the heights (to the ancient person, Heavens; to the modern person, dimensions) that Yahweh is higher than us, for mankind to understand exactly how these identifying elements influenced the Creation’s work would be as impossible as a two-dimensional line understanding the fourth-dimensional time-space continuum. Nevertheless, the Bible gives us glimpses into how this was done.

In the Ancient Near Eastern creation mythology, the gods were described as having slain one of their own to develop order from a co-existent god’s chaotic remains. However, the Old Testament tells a radically different story. The Logos (or Word) of God comes forth from Him and is the foundation for the Creation from which the Father creates through. He has been God, He will remain God, but He has come into the world. Through the Spirit and the Word, all things are made that are made, without them, nothing is made that is made (John 1:2).

Somehow during this process, God develops the nothing from which He creates, and He utilizes the Logos and Spirit (which are Himself) to develop this order from His created chaos which He already created from His self-existent order. He was all that is but determined to become all in everything instead. Giving up entirety, He finds Himself the Breath and Word behind everything, as C.S. Lewis states: “He was not content to be all. He intends to be ‘all in all.’”4

Of God and Man

“‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?”’ (that is, to bring Christ down) ‘or “Who will descend into the abyss?”’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’”

– Paul (Romans 10:6-8, ESV)

For the Hellenistic philosopher, the aim was to reach a sense of enlightenment through knowledge of the Logos in order to ascend to the highest heavens and bring the Word down or go to the depths and find Him and bring Him up. For the Jewish believer, the aim was to ensure God’s place in the highest of Heavens was recognized, to never allow for God to be brought down or humbled in any sense. God had a different plan. It would be the God of Heaven who brought down the Logos, the Son of God. It would be God, Himself, who brought Himself to humility, and for the sake of servitude. Man could neither bring Christ from the heights or depths, nor could he guarantee that God stay at the heights, Yahweh had better plans, plans of redemption. He intended to bring Himself down to bring us up with Him.

The first Christmas was marked by God bringing the Word near, to give Him proximity to man. As was stated in the opening quote, He came in human form, and ultimately, He sacrificed Himself for the sake of the good—that is that man may once again know what it is like to be fully human. You see, Jesus was the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). After dying and being brought to life by the Father on the Third Day, He sent the Holy Spirit as a security deposit of salvation from sin and its consequences to those who believed in Him in order to redeem the Image and man’s relationship to the Divine. God, Himself, came down and sacrificed Himself to provide a way for man to have his original Image (the Image of God) restored.

God had made mankind in His Image. Man had marred that Image. God, in response, made Jesus “in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-5, ESV). Thus, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, ESV). 

In the beginning was the Logos and in the end there the Logos will be standing in judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10), but He will also stand in place of the judgment on behalf of those who accept Him as their savior. He came to serve — the highest became the lowest to save us from ourselves. Man did not reach to bring Him down nor up. He did not stay in place at the highest and laugh at us in our turmoil. Instead, he came down to bring us up. The Logos is near, in our mouths and in our hearts.

Abiding in His Glory,
Brandon Heckman

Originally Published: December 25, 2020
Updated Version Published: September 22, 2024
Adore & Abide™

  1. Peterson, Jordan B. 2018. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. Toronto: Penguin Random House Canada, p. 223.

  2. Rapp, Christof, “Aristotle’s Rhetoric”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)

  3. Zaas, Peter. 2018. “Symposium on the Shema.” Biblical Theology Bulletin 48, no. 3: 145.

  4. Lewis, C. S. 1992.Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer: Reflections on the Intimate Dialogue between Man and God. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc, 67.