Logos

English transliteration of a Greek term for “word.” The term is significant because in John’s writings it refers to Jesus. The prologue of John’s Gospel (Jn 1:1, 14) and the beginning of 1 John (1 Jn 1:1) use logos to show how Jesus can be God and yet be an expression of God in the world. The divine Word took on human form and became a historical personage. Logos is also the title of Christ in the vision of his divine glory (Rv 19:13). Writers outside the NT, such as Philo of Alexandria, used the term but with a different meaning.

See also John, Gospel of; Word, Word of God.