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This journal article is the first in a two-part series that examines the Prologue to the Gospel of John (1:1–18) as a Christological statement for the purpose of repudiating Philo of Alexandria’s philosophical logos. The current essay explores the use of the word Λόγος in the fourth Gospel, John’s likely rationale for using a prologue motif to open the gospel, and an exegesis of the Prologue producing ten specific statements that encompass John’s Λόγος Christology. In Part II, we exegete Philo of Alexandria’s writings for the purpose of determining his logos philosophy that may then be compared and contrasted with John’s Christological Λόγος. We conclude that John used the prologue for two important reasons. First, he used a prologue for the commonly expected purpose of summarizing the entire gospel, introducing Christological themes and first-person testimony about the divinity and mission of Christ on earth, that would be more thoroughly explored in the remainder of the Gospel. However, John also adopted the Greek prologue motif as a literary device to introduce the eternal Logos of the Christian world while simultaneously redefining the commonly-known logos of the Greek world as the Christian Logos. John accomplished this feat by specifically refuting Philo of Alexandria’s philosophical logos with his presentation of his seemingly simple yet theologically robust Christological Logos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This journal article is the second in a two-part series that examines the Prologue to the Gospel of John (1:1-18) as a Christological statement for the purpose of repudiating Philo of Alexandria's philosophical logos. In Part Two, we exegete Philo of Alexandria's writings for the purpose of determining his logos philosophy, which is then compared and contrasted with John's Christological Logos. Philo's logos is shown to be a metaphysical construct built upon the syncretization of the philosophical Greek logos with an allegorical interpretation of the Pentateuch. John's Christological Logos theology is shown to have no commonality with the Philonic logos. Further, the Logos described in the Prologue cannot be viewed, as some scholars have suggested, as merely the next logical step in the development of Philo's mythological logos writings. Thus, John's description of the Christological Logos may be viewed as a carefully constructed polemical statement opposing the Philonic logos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]