Re: Translation for O LOGOS (John 1)?

Eric Weiss (eweiss@gte.net)
Fri, 10 Oct 1997 18:43:12 -0500

I would think that how one translates LOGOS in John 1 should take into
account how it is translated throughout the gospel - and how it's
translated in the rest of the Johannine literature. Following is a
"quick and dirty" count I did from my print concordance:

Gospel of John
LOGOS singular: 36
LOGOS plural: 4
hRHMA singular: 0
hRHMA plural: 12

1 John
LOGOS singular: 6
LOGOS plural: 0
hRHMA singular/plural: 0

3 John
LOGOS singular: 0
LOGOS plural: 1
hRHMA singular/plural: 0

Revelation
LOGOS singular: 8
LOGOS plural: 10
hRHMA singular/plural: 0

Note the very lopsided, almost exclusive use in the Gospel of LOGOS in
the singular for what might be translated "message" or the content of
what is said, and the use of hRHMA (in the plural only, and only in the
Gospel) for what would perhaps mean "words" or "sayings," i.e., the
things that make up the LOGOS. What's really interesting is how the
Revelation uses LOGOS almost equally in the singular and the plural -
and never uses hRHMA but instead appears to use LOGOS for both. I assume
this might be one feature of the Revelation people have used to argue
against it being by the same author as the Gospel of John.

--
"Eric S. Weiss"
http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htm
eweiss@gte.net