The Prologue of John: Post 4, Logos in Jewish Context

This post is a little bit longer. I try to cover the general idea about Wisdom, Torah and the Word of God in their Jewish historical milieu. By no means, this is an exhaustive treatment.

Part 4: Logos in the Jewish Context

Word, Wisdom, and Torah are all Jewish concepts closer to the Johannine Logos. They were all personified in Jewish circles and widely used in academic thought. Wisdom is represented as a dominant figure in Jewish literature. Personification or hypostatization was quite common among Jewish groups in reference to these three concepts. Keener notes, “Hypostatization or personification occurs frequently enough in Jewish texts to provide a context for interpreting John’s use of Logos in his prologue.” The depictions of the Word alone in OT literature are sufficiently unsatisfactory to constitute an adequate explanation of the Johannine prologue, said Keener. Most scholars agree that many things said of the Logos in John’s prologue except for its “incarnation as a particular historical person—Jewish literature said about divine Wisdom.” This background for the logos in John’s prologue is quite appealing. Even before John wrote his gospel, Wisdom was personified and functioned hypostatically as we noted above.

In the Wisdom Literature of Hellenistic Judaism, some have distinguished generally two strands of wisdom tradition: practical wisdom and prophetic wisdom. Some people contend that after the exile Wisdom was identified with the Torah and the Spirit of
Yahweh, In the Sirach, Wisdom is associated with the Spirit and the Torah. Torah is the embodiment of Wisdom .That is, Wisdom inhabits the Torah. Studying, meditating and observing the Torah leads to wisdom (Sir 1:26; 6:37). Wisdom is depicted as” a quasi-personal hypostasis in heaven, a divine agent expressing the mind of God (cf Job 1, 28; Prov 1, 8; Sir 1:24; 11QPs-a; Ba 3f; 1 Ez 5; 2 Bar 28; Wisdom, passim).” According to Nicklesburg, Wisdom was one of the two transcendent figures as Agents of God’s activity in ancient Judaism. In Second Temple Jewish Literature, the activity of Wisdom is observed practically in four major Texts: Proverbs 8, Sirach 24, the Wisdom of Solomon, and 1 Enoch 42. Wisdom is presented as the Spirit of God in the Wisdom of Solomon and so involves in human affairs (1:1-8). In Sirach 24:3, Wisdom is the creative word of Yahweh. The Wisdom of Solomon captures the salvation history of Israel. Wisdom became the guide in assisting God’s people throughout their religious experience with God. The vision of Solomon is that of one who is imbued with the Spirit of God to exercise the right kingly rule. He is given the vision of the kingdom of God (Wis 10:10). In the Parables of Enoch it is Enoch as the Son of Man about whom it is said, “in him dwells the Spirit of wisdom” (1 Enoch 49:3) so that he may reveal the secrets of God’s wisdom (1 Enoch 51:3).”
In the sapiential literature, Wisdom is given a personality (Prov 8; Job 28; Sir 24; Wis 8-9). Wisdom is a female figure (Eccl 14:20-15:8). She is described as a mother and a wife. The role of wisdom is more particular in the following texts. Note carefully, she was present with God in creation (Prov 8:22-31) and existed from eternity past (Sir 24:9). Wisdom accompanied God and was present with him when the world came to existence (Prov 8:27-30; Wis 9:9). She is also associated with divine work (Wis 8:4), “The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding he established the heavens “(Prov 3:19). As a partner in creation, “Then I was beside Him, as a master workman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him” (Prov 8:3). In addition, Wisdom was an expressive way of alluding to God’s care for his creation and provision for his people. For the author of the fourth Gospel, the historical Jesus was the embodiment of that reality, wisdom of God. From the above reading, it is undoubtedly striking that Wisdom is a very complex figure, similarly to John’s Logos. The underlying idea is that wisdom has its source in God, and indeed, comes to be viewed as a divine attribute. The author of the fourth Gospel submitted to the concept of wisdom expressed in these ancient texts (OT Wisdom and Second Temple literature) rather than in the traditions of Hellenistic or Stoic (Greco-Roman) thought.

John’s Logos is also an expression of the Word of God grounded in the Old Testament. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the “word”, as it is depicted seems to have an independent existence. The “word” (dabar) is divinely spoken of God and communicates the creative power of God. It also spoken as “deeds,” thus “dynamic” coloring of the word. In other words, God’s word is His creative act, His powerful agent. It is also used to indicate divine revelation. The following texts deal with the issue of hypostatization as each concerns the “word” of God and represent the most common verses relating to John’s Logos.

(i)Genesis 1:3, “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”
(ii)Ps 33:6, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.”
(iii)Ps. 107:20, “He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.”
(iv)Ps. 147: 15, “He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.”
(v)Ps. 147: 18, “He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.”
(vi)Is. 9:8, “The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it will fall on Israel.”
(vii)Is. 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

My Conclusion
Clearly John’s Logos doctrine has its root in Jewish Wisdom tradition, particularly in the Old Testament Scripture. It is also shown above that the clear connection of Wisdom and the Logos in John and its association with the Torah and Word of God. However, John’s prologue is best interpreted as Wisdom Christology. John saw Jesus as God’s Wisdom come in the flesh, the embodiment of God’s wisdom, mind and plan. According to Witherington, Jesus may have seen himself in the footstep of Jewish sages standing “at the confluence of the prophetic, apocalyptic and wisdom tradition. Furthermore, he writes, Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom, or even implicitly about himself, is grounded in a story, the story of Wisdom and its progress, acceptance and rejection among and by God’s people. If Jesus saw himself as the embodiment of God’s Wisdom, he envisioned himself in a storied world, and this means to understand him one must also enter and understand that storied world about Wisdom that preexisted, assisted in creation, came to earth, called God’s wayward people back to God, saved some, infuriated others, was rejected and returned to the right hand of God the Father”(The Jesus Quest, 162,195).

References
For further reading, the following sources will be very helpful.

Cornelis Bennema, “The Strands of Wisdom Tradition In Interstamental Judaism: Origins, Developments, and Characteristics” Tyndale Bulletin 52:1 (2001

Ben Witherington III. The Christology of Jesus . Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990.

_________________. The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth . Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

George W.E. Nicklesburg. Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins: Diversity, Continuity and Transformation .Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.