Greek · The Great Words

Logos: The Word

Logos is the Greek word for word, speech, and reason, the rational principle by which things are ordered and expressed, which John’s Gospel says became flesh in Jesus Christ.

The original word

How the Bible uses it

What it means

In everyday Greek, logos meant a spoken word or a reasoned account. Greek philosophers stretched it to mean the rational order running through the universe. In the Hebrew Scriptures, God creates by speaking, ‘And God said, Let there be light’, so his word is living and effective, not merely information.

John opens his Gospel by taking this loaded word and doing something no one expected with it. He does not say the Logos is an idea or a force. He says the Logos is a Person who was with God, who was God, and who became flesh. The word carried centuries of meaning; John says all of it finds its home in Jesus.

And Christ

To call Jesus the Logos is to say he is God’s self-expression, the meaning behind everything made personal and near. ‘No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son... he hath declared him’ (John 1:18). If you want to know what God is like, Christians say, do not only reason about him. Look at the Word made flesh.

Frequently asked questions

What does logos mean in John 1:1?

Logos (Greek λόγος, Strong's G3056) means word, speech, or reason, the ordering principle by which things are expressed. John 1:1 uses it as a title for Jesus: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.'

Why is Jesus called the Word?

Because John says the Logos, God's own self-expression and the meaning behind creation, became flesh in Jesus (John 1:14). To see Jesus is to see what God is truly like: the Word made personal and near.

Does logos mean logic?

Our English 'logic' comes from logos, and the word did carry the sense of reason and rational order. But in John's Gospel logos is not an abstract principle; it is a Person, with God and God, who became flesh.