The Word

The Word is the name given to the Son of God inasmuch as he is the eternal Word of the Father. “Word” means “speech”: as a word wholly expresses the thought of the one who utters it, the Son wholly expresses what the Father is. This Word is a Person, and this Person is God: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

Logos: word and reason

The prologue of the Gospel of John was written in Greek, and the word it uses is “Logos” (λόγος). This word says at once speech and reason: it designates the word one utters, and also the intelligence and order expressed in it. To name the Son “Logos” is to confess him at once the Word that the Father utters and the Wisdom by which he thinks and orders the world.

Greek thought already called “logos” the reason that runs through and orders the universe. John takes up this word and reveals that this Logos is a Person, God himself, who became man.

When the Bible was translated into Latin, “Logos” became “Verbum”, which means “word”: “In principio erat Verbum”, in the beginning was the Word. From this Latin word comes the French “Verbe”. Latin keeps above all the sense of speech; the richness of the Greek, which united speech and reason, remains in the faith of the Church: the Son is at once the Word and the Wisdom of the Father.

The eternal Word of the Father

The Father expresses himself in a single Word, perfect and unique, in whom he says all that he is. This Word abides in God from all eternity, living and personal. The Word is thus the perfect image of the Father, the one in whom the Father knows and gives himself: “He is the radiance of his glory and the imprint of his being.” Hebrews 1:3

By whom all things were made

God creates by speaking: he says, and it is. This creative word is the Word himself, by whom the Father calls all things into being and holds them in existence: “All things were made through him, and nothing that exists was made without him.” John 1:3

The Word became flesh

The eternal Word of God entered the world by becoming man. Invisible until then, it became visible, near and audible in Jesus Christ, true God and true man: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory.” John 1:14 In him, the Word of God lets itself be seen, touched and heard.

The definitive Word of God

God spoke little by little, through the patriarchs and the prophets, until he said his last and greatest word in the Son. The Word made man is the definitive Word of God: in him, God has said all, and given all: “God, who spoke long ago through the prophets, has spoken to us in these last days through the Son.” Hebrews 1:1-2