"In the beginning was the word" (Jn 1:1a)

Brian Swedburg brian at discoveryhills.org
Tue Feb 22 19:30:00 EST 2000


Greetings,
    I thought I would just dump my three cents in here. The ring of Gen 1:1, which
it appears that the author intends his readers to here ringing as a backdrop to this
introduction to John's gospel, suggests to me that the "Creative Word of God" of
Genesis 1 is the semantic referent for "LOGOS" in Jn 1.  vs 2 and 3 may be
considered to echo and support such an approach.  This suggestion is even more
plausible if you hold that the author of John was a monotheistic "Torah" loving boy.

Thanks
Brian Swedburg
Western Sem Student


Jason Hare wrote:

> By saying << it does not refer to a "word" (in its narrow sense) >> you
> admit that "word" has a wider sense in which to be understood.  Therefore
> it is not such a "limited" means of expression and is acceptable as is.
> Cf. my reply to Polycarp.
>
> Jason
>
> On 02/22/00, "Steven Craig Miller <scmiller at www.plantnet.com>" wrote:
> > To: Jason Hare,
> >
> > << We are all taught in the most basic Greek that LOGOS means "word,
> > statement, purpose, etc." That is no shock. I think what you have said
> > makes sense, but why are you against the translation "word?" What do you
> > have against it? >>
> >
> > The only thing I have "against it" (to use your phrase) is simply that it
> > is possible that the English term "utterance" might do a better job of
> > expressing the author's intent at John 1:1 than the English term "word."
> >
> > Also, I suspect that, even in other passages where we find the English term
> > "word," it does not refer to a "word" (in its narrow sense) but is most
> > commonly used metaphorically. For example, at Mark 2:2, we find: << ... and
> > he was speaking the word to them >> (Mark 2:2d NRSV). I think it fairly
> > obvious that here TON LOGON refers to a spoken message. Mark 2:2d might be
> > better translated as: "... and he was speaking the message to them."
> >
> > -Steven Craig Miller
> > Alton, Illinois (USA)
> > scmiller at www.plantnet.com
> > FWIW: I'm neither a clergy-person, nor an academic (and I have no post-grad
> > degrees).
>
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