Day 2, Read John 1:1-3,14

Greek philosophy had a two-story view of the universe.  Downstairs was nature, what you sense, the material world.  Humans, with our bodies, live downstairs.  Upstairs lived something that gave meaning to everything downstairs: the gods perhaps, the unseen, or the “soul”.  This was called “the LOGOS”, Greek for word, reason, or concept.  Some “Mind” or “Reason” was the secret to life.  The philosopher’s task was to discover the Logos.

·        For “Epicureans” the Logos involved feelings.  Excess was condemned.  Retirement from the world and a simple life, free of ambition, free of pain, was advocated.  Happiness and avoidance of pain were the chief ends of life. 

·        “Stoics” were fatalists.  The Logos was a divine force that worked in both stories so that neither man nor “god” was free.  Man’s role was to simply adjust himself to the role assigned him by fate.

·        The Jewish philosopher Philo saw Logos as the image of God, the first form of God, or the Second God.  Yet for Philo, Logos was still “it”, not “him”. 

Now you might consider this philosophy lesson a bit tedious.  But may I say that every man lives out of a “logos”.  Everyone has something that makes life worthwhile or gives a reason to live.  You may not have thought about it but it’s true.  What gives you significance?  This is an important subject.

 “Logos” appears three times in John 1:1 and again in John 1:14.  

·        The Word/Logos was in the beginning.  He did not come into being but simply “was”.  The Word is eternal. 

·        The Word/Logos was with God, indicating a relationship alongside God.  The Word is not an “idea” but a “person”, in relationship with God.

·        The Word/Logos was God.  He was not “a” God as if there were more than one.  He was in essence God!

This is the “upper story”, that which gives meaning to all things.  But it is not simply an idea.  He is the eternal, personal Word.  He is God.  And now hear the most amazing thing: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (v14).  He left the top floor and came to the bottom floor if you will.  He made Himself at home here, living as we live.  Neither the Greeks nor any other thought-system of man ever conceived of this.  But this is what the Incarnation is all about.

The Infinite became finite.  The Invisible became tangible.  The Transcendent became imminent.  That which was far off drew nigh.  That which was beyond the reach of the human mind became that which could be beholden within the realm of human life.  Here we are permitted to see through a veil that, which unveiled, would have blinded us.  ‘The word became flesh.’ He became what He was not previously.  He did not cease to be God, but He became Man. (A. W. Pink, p32)

The Bible says Jesus, the Word, gives meaning to life.  What, or “who” gives you a reason to live?  Is it working?  Will it get you through life, and death?