John calls Jesus “the Word.” In the original Greek, this is the word “Logos.” In the Greek-speaking world of John's time, this was a rich and loaded term.

Greek philosophers had been talking about the Logos for centuries. For them, the Logos was the rational principle that gave order and structure to the universe. It was the divine reason behind all of creation.

The Stoic philosophers, in particular, believed that the Logos was the governing intelligence of all reality.

Jewish thinkers of the same period had also developed a rich theology of the Word.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Word of God was powerful and creative. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made” (Psalm 33:6).

The Word of the Lord came to the prophets and set the course of history. The Word of God was not merely speech. It was divine energy, divine authority, divine action.

When John said, “In the beginning was the Word,” he was speaking into both of those traditions.

He is saying to the Greek world: the Logos you have been searching for has a name and a face. He is saying to the Jewish world: the Word that created the heavens and came to the prophets has now become flesh.

But John goes beyond both traditions. He does not describe the Logos as an impersonal principle or an abstract force. He describes the Logos as a Person who “was with God.”

A Person who had a relationship with God. A Person who became flesh. A Person who can be seen and touched and known.