Why is Jesus called “the Word of God”?

The word Logos was well known to both Jews and the gentiles. For Heraclitus (around 500 B.C.) it refers to the universal reason that governs the world and transcends it. It was later employed by the Stoic philosophers and came into more general usage. In Hellenic Judaism, the Logos is an independent Hypostasis, the idea of which evolved over time and came to be connected to the idea of wisdom ( Sophia ) (Wisd. Of Sol. 9:1–2; 18:15).

The opening words of the Gospel of John are “In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). In the Greek language, the three sections of this passage musically counterbalance each other: the noun “ Word ” is repeated in each section, as is the verb “ was .” Here, this verb indicates continual, eternal existence that is not subject to time.

The purpose of this prologue is to introduce the reader to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the subject of the book; the eternal Word who works with the Father in creation. Being Himself God, he reveals the Father, and gives the Father to us as He gives Himself to us. He is the Word of God who speaks to us, and who offers Himself as the Word of God that we may possess the mystery of eternal life, He is the life of all, the light of every person. He who is eternal became flesh and dwelt as a human being. His own rejected Him — the Jews — despite the witness of St. John the Baptist to Him. But there were others who were faithful and who accepted Him, and so became children of God, and members of the divine family.

When we hear “the Word of God,” we ought not confuse it with human words, which emerge from the mouth, and are not connected to human nature or essence. St. Ignatius says, “there is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word [Logos], not proceeding forth from silence, and who in all things pleased Him that sent Him.”⁷¹²

St. Ambrose says, “He is called the Word, the Son, the Power of God, the Wisdom of God. The Word , because He is without blemish; the Power , because He is perfect; the Son , because He is begotten of the Father; the Wisdom , because He is one with the Father, one in eternity, one in Divinity. Not that the Father is one Person with the Son; between Father

709 St. Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Book of Psalms 144.5 (NPNF I/8:655).

710 St. Augustine: City of God, Books VIII–XVI 12.2 (FOTC 14:248–249); On Christian Doctrine 1.32(35) (NPNF I/2:531).

711 See Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, From the Commentaries and Reflections of the Early Fathers, Volume 3: Commentary on Exodus (Arabic) (Sporting, Alexandria: St. George’s Coptic Orthodox Church, 1981).

712 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle to the Magnesians 8.1 (ANF 1:62).

and Son is the plain distinction that comes of generation; so that Christ is God of God, Everlasting of Everlasting, Fulness of Fulness.”⁷¹³

St. Augustine says, “Lo, the word which I am speaking to you, I have had previously in my heart: it came forth to you, yet it has not departed from me; it began to be in you, which was not in you before; and it continued with me after it went forth to you. As then my word was brought forth to your sense, yet did not depart from my heart; so That Word came forth to our senses, yet did not depart from His Father. My word was with me, and it came forth into a voice: the Word of God was with the Father, and came forth into Flesh. But can I do with my voice that which He could do with His Flesh? For I am not master of my voice as it flies; He is not only master of His Flesh, that It should be born, live, act; but even when dead He raised It up, and exalted unto the Father the Vehicle as it were in which He came forth to us.”⁷¹⁴

The scholar Origen says, “The word comes to be, however, with men who could not previously receive the sojourn of the Son of God who is the Word. On the other hand, he does not come to be ‘with God’ (John 1:1) as though previously he were not with him, but because he is always with the Father, it is said, ‘And the Word was with God,’ for he did not ‘ come to be with God.’”⁷¹⁵ He also says, “Who will support us? Jesus Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24). Moreover, He supports us, not for a day or two but till eternity.”[ 716]

St. Athanasius the Apostolic says, “For the Word of God was not made for us, but rather we for Him, and ‘in Him all things were created’ (Col. 1:16). Nor was He made strong because we were weak, He alone being made by the Father, that He might frame us by means of Him as an instrument; perish the thought! It is not so. For even if it had seemed good to God not to make things that have a beginning, still the Word would have been with God, and the Father in Him. At the same time, things that have a beginning could not be brought into existence without the Word, hence they were made through Him — and reasonably. For since the Word is the Son of God by nature proper to His essence, and is from Him, and in Him, as He said Himself, the creatures could not have come to be, except through Him. For as the light enlightens all things by its radiance, and without its radiance nothing would be illuminated, so also the Father, as by a hand, in the Word wrought all things, and without Him makes nothing … For, even if no works had been created, still ‘the Word’ of God ‘was,’ and ‘the Word was God.’ And His becoming man would not have taken place, had not the need of men become a cause. The Son then is not a creature.”[ 717]

713 St. Ambrose, Exposition of the Christian Faith 1.2.16 (NPNF II/10:203–204).

714 St. Augustine of Hippo, Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament , Volume 2 , trans., R. G. Macmullen (Oxford University Press, 1845) 69.7: pp. 507–508, amended.

715 Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of John (Books 1–10) 2.8 (FOTC 80:96–97).

716 Origen, Commentary on 1 Cor . 1.2.52-54.

717 St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Four Discourses Against the Arians 18.31, 22.56 (NPNF II/4:364, 379) amended.