In Christianity, the Logos (Greek: o Λόγος, lit. 'the word, discourse, or reason') is a name or title of Jesus Christ, seen as the pre-existent second person of the Trinity. In the Douay–Rheims, King James, New International, and other versions of the Bible, the first verse of the Gospel of John reads:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
In these translations, Word is used for Λόγος, although the term is often used transliterated but untranslated in theological discourse. According to Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 130–202), a student of Polycarp (c. pre-69–156), John the Apostle wrote these words specifically to refute the teachings of Cerinthus, who both resided and taught at Ephesus, the city John settled in following his return from exile on Patmos. While Cerinthus claimed that the world was made by "a certain Power far separated from ... Almighty God", John, according to Irenaeus, by means of John 1:1-5, presented Almighty God as the Creator – "by His Word." And while Cerinthus made a distinction between the man Jesus and "the Christ from above", who descended on the man Jesus at his baptism, John, according to Irenaeus, presented the pre-existent Word and Jesus Christ as one and the same.
A figure in the Book of Revelation is called "The Word of God", being followed by "the armies which are in heaven" (Rev 19:13–14).
Bible
Johannine literature
Stephen L. Harris claims that John adapted Philo's concept of the Logos, identifying Jesus as an incarnation of the divine Logos that formed and governs the universe. While John 1:1 is generally considered the first mention of the Logos in the New Testament, arguably, the first reference occurs in the book of Revelation. In it the Logos is spoken of as "the Word of God", who at the Second Coming rides a white horse into the Battle of Armageddon wearing many crowns, and is identified as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords:
He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God ... And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "king of kings, and lord of lords". John 1's subject is developed in the First Epistle of John (1 John). Similar to John 1:1-5, 1 John 1:1 also refers to the beginning (archē) and to the Word (ho lógos). 1 John 1 does not refer to the creation (see John 1:3) but expands on two other concepts found in John 1:4, namely that of life and of light (1 John 1:1–2, 5–7). It therefore seems as if only the first clause of 1 John 1:1 "What was from the beginning" refers to the pre-incarnate Word. The rest of 1 John 1 describes the incarnate Word:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
Luke 1:1-2 Like John 1:1-5, Luke 1:1-2 also refers to the beginning and to the word:
Luke 1:1-2 ... compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning (archē) were eyewitnesses and servants of the word (lógos). David Lyle Jeffrey and Leon Morris have seen in "the word" a reference to Jesus Christ. However, this reference did not depict the same significant theology of the Logos as depicted in the gospel of John. In context, it is referring to the gospel message about Jesus and his teaching, rather than his title or identity.
Septuagint Certain references to the term logos in the Septuagint in Christian theology are taken as prefiguring New Testament usage such as Psalm 33:6, which relates directly to the Genesis creation narrative. Theophilus of Antioch references the connection in To Autolycus 1:7. Irenaeus of Lyon explained Psalm 33:6 as that the "One God, the Father, not made, invisible, creator of all things ... created the things that were made ... by [the] Word" and "adorned all things ... by [the] Spirit." He added, "fittingly is the Word called the Son, and the Spirit the Wisdom of God." Origen of Alexandria likewise sees in it the operation of the Trinity, a mystery intimated beforehand by the Psalmist David. Augustine of Hippo considered that in Psalms 33:6 both logos and pneuma were "on the verge of being personified".
Τῷ Λόγῳ τοῦ Κυρίου οἱ Οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν, καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις Αὐτῶν By the Word (Lógo) of the Lord were the Heavens established, and all the host of them by the Spirit (Pnéumati) of His mouth
Early Christianity
Ignatius of Antioch The first extant Christian reference to the Logos found in writings outside of the New Testament belongs to John's disciple Ignatius (c. 35–108), Bishop of Antioch, who in his epistle to the Magnesians, writes, "there is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word, not proceeding forth from silence," (i.e., there was not a time when he did not exist). In similar fashion, he speaks to the Ephesians of the son being "possessed both of flesh and spirit; both made and not made; God existing in flesh; true life in death; both of Mary and of God; first passible and then impassible".
Justin Martyr Following John 1, the early Christian apologist Justin Martyr (c. 150) identifies Jesus as the Logos. Like Philo, Justin also identified the Logos with the Angel of the Lord, and he also identified the Logos with the many other theophanies of the Old Testament, and used this as a way of arguing for Christianity to Jews:
I shall give you another testimony, my friends, from the Scriptures, that God begot before all creatures a Beginning, [who was] a certain rational power [proceeding] from Himself, who is called by the Holy Spirit, now the Glory of the Lord, now the Son, again Wisdom, again an Angel, then God, and then Lord and Logos; In his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin relates how Christians maintain that the Logos,
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