“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (John 1:1-5).
This New Testament passage is very well-known in Christian circles, but it is not widely understood. What does it mean to say that Jesus is “the Word” (in Greek, the logos)? The logos is a concept in Greek philosophy which describes the divine reason underlying the cosmos which gives it order and purpose. However, we also find it in Jewish thought, and this Jewish background is likely just as essential, if not moreso, for understanding what John is saying.
Psalm 33:6 says, “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made.” This Psalm emphasizes what is already stated in Genesis chapter 1–God spoke the universe into existence through His Word. In time, as Jewish thinkers reflected on this teaching, they began to conceive of God’s Word having a personality which was distinct from God, but tied directly to Him. In the Rabbinic mind, the transcendent God of the universe could not interact with us personally. But how could He do so? There needed to be an intermediary–His Word.
The Targums were Aramaic translations of the Tanakh (Old Testament). However, they also often included commentary that the translators thought better explained the text. Though the Targums are dated after the New Testament, they likely reflect ideas and traditions which are earlier. In the Targums the “Word” of God (referred to in Aramaic as the memra) having personality and an identity distinct from God, but still identified with Him, is further developed.
For instance, here is how two Targums rendered Genesis 3:8:
“And he said, The voice of Thy Word heard I in the garden, and I was afraid, because I (was) naked, and I would hide” (Targum Onkelos, J.W. Etheridge translator).
“And they heard the voice of the Word of the Lord God walking in the garden in the repose of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from before the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, J.W. Etheridge translator).
We see here the Word distinguished from God and having elements of personality such as speech and the ability to take on physical form and move about through space.
We also read in the Targums about the Word of God taking on the attributes of God, such as the creation of man, hearing prayers, and being placed on the throne of God. For example:
“And the Word of the Lord created man in His likeness, in the likeness of the presence of the Lord He created him” (Genesis 1:27, Targum Jerusalem, J.W. Etheridge translator).
“For what people so great, to whom the Lord is so nigh in the Name of the Word of the Lord? … the Word of the Lord sitteth upon His throne high and lifted up, and heareth our prayer what time we pray before Him and make our petitions” (Deuteronomy 4:7, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, J.W. Etheridge translator).
Note that this last verse in particular both gives the Word the attributes of God but also distinguished Him from God.
Many scholars looking to understand the Word concept in John have not looked to the Targums, since they are dated later and in a different language, but to Greek, and particularly Jewish Greek understandings of the logos. Philo of Alexandria, a first century Jewish Greek-speaking philosopher, is often at the center of this discussion. He referred to the Word as “the second God,” “mediator,” “firstborn,” “Name of God,” and “Archangel.” He also seemed to connect the Word with the Messiah when he said, “for that man is the eldest son, whom the Father of all raised up, and elsewhere calls him his first-born, and indeed the Son thus begotten followed the ways of his Father…” (Philo, De confusione linguarum 4:45).
Later, the Zohar (a Jewish book of mysticism that is the center of Kaballistic teaching) teaches specifically that the Messiah is part of a Triune Godhead in its commentary of Deuteronomy 6:4:
“Why is there need of mentioning the Name of God three times in this verse? …The first (name of God) is the Father above. The second is the stem of Jesse, the Messiah who is to come from the family of Jesse through David. And the third one is the Way which is below and these three are one.”
Thus, we also find some strong Jewish support for the Messiah (who is the Word of God) being identified with God.
Though dating some of these developments can be tricky, it is apparent that John chose his words carefully and is filling Jewish categories and concepts (and probably Greek philosophical concepts as well) with Christological meaning.