God Beyond Religion: The real history of the Greek word Logos

 "en arche en ho logos" "In the beginning was the word." John 1:1a

The above sentence was penned by the apostle John between 69CE and 100CE. I give that range because there are plausible reasons for the dates given by scholars. This is not about the dating of the Gospel According to John, This is about the origin and use of the Greek word logos as it relates to creation., and orthodoxy has done a great disservice to the concept. However, if you ever read anything I write that should not be surprising because orthodoxy has done a great disservice to Christ and Jesus of Nazareth.

I was taught in seminary, and in all approved books for those with the evangelical focus, John’s gospel, and first century Christianity in general was the source for the spiritual understanding of Logos (the Word.) Absolutely nothing could be farther from the truth. With that statement let’s begin to look at the history and development of the Greek word logos.

First of all, one should not limit the concept to just Greek thought. So, let’s look at the definition from Strong’s Greek dictionary to get the Greek definition. “From G3004; something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation; specifically (with the article in John) the Divine Expression (that is, Christ): - account, cause, communication, X concerning, doctrine, fame, X have to do, intent, matter, mouth, preaching, question, reason, + reckon, remove, say (-ing), shew, X speaker, speech, talk, thing, + none of these things move me, tidings, treatise, utterance, word, work.” It can be seen that the meaning and use is broad, but at the base focus of it all is consciousness. Thayer defines it this way. 2) its use as respect to the MIND alone “2a) reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating 2b) account, i.e. regard, consideration 2c) account, i.e. reckoning, score 2d) account, i.e. answer or explanation in reference to judgment 2e) relation, i.e. with whom as judge we stand in relation 2e1) reason would 2f) reason, cause, ground” This is Thayer’s second definition but it is basic to the meaning and use of the term over the millennia.

It is fair to say that the definition of Logos is consciousness, conscious thought, and action initiated by consciousness. Thus, the Logos of God is god consciousness. So was the apostle John the originator of the doctrine of the Logos? Absolutely not. The doctrine of the Logos was developed by a Jewish Philosopher named Philo of Alexandria. He lived between 20 BCE and 40 CE. He was therefore a contemporary of Jesus, John, and Paul. He had studied Greek Philosophy and discovered the Logos there and set out in his writings to amalgamate the Greek Logos with the Hebrew concept of God and the Hebrew scriptures. He originated the idea that Logos was the creative aspect of God a mediator between God and humanity, and that it was the son of God for his time. I say for his time as it was actually much more ancient a concept, but he brought the idea to the first century Judeo-Christian world. I realize that evangelical theologians will get their back up on this claim, but without valid reason because the facts are inescapable. Philo wrote, lived, and died before John wrote John 1:1, and his elaboration on the Logos is extensive.

However, as I stated earlier the concept is ancient. It goes all the way back to the Egyptians and the Babylonians. Of course Logos is a Greek word so it goes back to the ancient Greek philosophers, but the concept of God, the source, having a word that was the creator, and his son goes all the way back to Thoth in Egypt. Here’s where it gets a little tangled. Pythagoras the Greek Philosopher, metaphysicist, and mathematician traveled to Egypt, studied their teachings and brought them back to Greece. The teachings of Thoth got turned into the teachings of the Greek God Hermes, and became known as Hermes Trismegistus, which means the thrice great Hermes. It was recorded in the Corpus Hermeticus. However, with the translation of the hieroglyphics it was discovered that the teaching was found on the pyramids in Saqqara Egypt and date back to 3,000 BCE.

Here is an excerpt from the Hermetica. “Who are you?' I asked. 'I am the Way-Guide, the Supreme Mind, the thoughts of Atum the One-God. I am with you — always and everywhere. I know your desires. Make your questions conscious, and they will be answered.' 'Show me the nature of Reality. Bless me with Knowledge of Atum,' I begged. Suddenly everything changed before me. Reality was opened out in a moment. I saw the boundless view. All became dissolved in Light — united within one joyous Love. Yet the Light cast a shadow, grim and terrible, which, passing downwards, became like restless water, chaotically tossing forth spume like smoke. And I heard an unspeakable lament — an inarticulate cry of separation. The Light then uttered a Word, which calmed the chaotic waters. My Guide asked: 'Do you understand the secrets of this vision? I am that Light — the Mind of God, which exists before the chaotic dark waters of potentiality. My calming Word is the Son of God — the idea of beautiful order; the harmony of all things with all things. Primal Mind is parent of the Word, just as, in your own experience, your human mind gives birth to speech. They cannot be divided, one from the other, for life is the union of Mind and Word”. ~ Freke, Tim. The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs (pp. 32-34). Tim Freke Publications. Kindle Edition.  

It is not surprising that all of the ancient Greek Philosophers wrote about the Word, Logos being the divine seed and the creative source of God. It was written about by Heraclitus, Plato, the Stoics and from them was picked up by Philo of Alexandria.

However, it was also a concept that was explored and explained in eastern thought as well. For example, here is an excerpt from the Tao Te Ching (pronounced dao de ching.) “The Tao that can be understood is not the eternal, cosmic Tao, just as an idea that can be expressed in words  is not the infinite idea.  And yet this ineffable Tao is the source of all spirit and matter;  expressing itself, it is the mother of all created things.”  ~Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching . Ancient Renewal. Kindle Edition. You can see two things here. First, the Tao is the creative source of all things, and second, when Lao Tzu writes expressing itself he is speaking of the word which is equal to the Logos in Greek. The Online Encyclopedia of Philosophy states that the idea of the Logos/word is also found in Hindu and Buddhist religions.

I hope I am making it clear that the concept of the Logos is indeed ancient, ubiquitous, and syncretistic. It fits nicely within my view of eclectic spirituality. It for certain is not exclusive and original within Christianity. It is far more broad in scope than that.