Cosmic Christ | Jesus as the Logos Explained | Paul Anleitner

In my recent conversation with Paul VanderKlay & John Vervaeke, Vervaeke invoked the Greek word "LOGOS" so I thought it might be helpful for me to share a basic introductory primer on how the Bible (specifically John 1) uses that concept and applies it to Christ in some very profound (and controversial) ways.

This is from a talk I gave in August of 2021 on the unique contributions of John's Gospel to the New Testament portrait of Jesus.

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About:
Paul Anleitner holds degrees in history from the University of Michigan & a Master's in Christian Thought from Bethel Seminary (St. Paul, MN) where he graduated with highest honors.

He's taught theology, philosophy, and biblical studies courses for over a decade and is a pastor with 15 years of experience working in a variety of denominational contexts.

For the past 3.5 years, he's hosted a podcast called "Deep Talks: Exploring Theology & Meaning-Making" available wherever you subscribe to podcasts.

To support this channel and the Deep Talks podcast:

[andyman]

I had a vision of this. And I searched it on YouTube. And here you are.

[prismkite]

There was some new things in your sermon I didn't know about. It was interesting to hear about the logos more in depth and "The One" from the Greek perpective. Thank you.

[tiscerano]

Excellent Information! Do you have the full talk available?

[neerajkumar-vpyu]

Lord Jesus says I Am not of this World (Logos)Amen!!God bless you

[malpais]

Really good. I think this way too about Jesus Christ. A new Genesis. Combinatory explosive without being destructive or chaotic

[Chase_Istre]

This may be an odd statement if one isn’t well-read in eastern philosophies and traditions but I wonder if Jesus were to have been in or associated with the area or cultural ideals in India for example, would John have equated Jesus to the Atman, or Brahman. If in China, would he have been equated to the Eternal Tao, or in a Buddhistic area, maybe as the “Tathagatagarbha”. If in a vedantic area, again, “That Brahman”, and so on. It seems he was equating him to the logos to bridge connection between Jesus and the One, as to bridge connection to the Greek ideals and the a Jewish ideals, an idea of the Absolute at the origin of all, presiding over all. So again, these ideas of Brahman, Atman (Paramatma), the Tao, Uncreate (Buddhism per Shurangama Sutra, also called the Absolute Reality, Dharmakaya, Buddha Nature, Tathagatagarbha, etc.), and so on all equate to such an stance and if in a time or place surrounded by such philosophical ideas of thought, would John have equated Christ to such too?

[raycosmic]

God = Life

Jesus = Humane Humanity

Christ = at One with Life

From the beginning of Philosophy was the Word of Truth (Logos), and the Word of Truth was with (faithful, loyal, true, isomorphic) to Reality (That which is/That I am), and was Reality manifesting as the metaphorical Light of Wisdom and Understanding unto the darkness of ignorance and folly; yet those dwelling in the darkness of their ignorance comprehended not the metaphorical meaning of the Word of Truth and continued in the folly of their justification of literalism.

[raygsbrelcik]

YES---Jesus speaks on behalf of his FATHER ( GOD).

[adrianthomas]

Philo of Alexandria is a remarkable thinker - Logos from the Jewish/Greek perspective.

[khajazakirhussain]

Facts of religion.
Peace, patience, deeds here and salvation hereafter
. Do good be away from bad deeds
. There is life after death good ones are awarded and bad ones are punished
. Recognize? Creator of this beautiful universe and be grateful to him

[deusvult]

I have the same understanding. There is one all powerful source of creation from which everything comes into being. Jesus is like the offspring of that source. He was born in miraculous way directly from the source or God. In the old testament we have representatives of god. The lower case gods or angels. A different creation that left during the flood .

[hereforit]

This makes me feel like we are in a simulation

[Dr.Bitterbrains]

In the beginning elohim created the aleph-tav which is the Hebrew alphabet the fist letter and the last letter the Alpha and Omega so the Hebrew alphabet is there god

[russelldavis]

Jesus said repeatedly he is other than God. Case closed. If John meant Jesus came down, he would have said Jesus. The Word is the Holy Spirit, God's wonder working power that rested upon Jesus and gave him Godly power on Earth.

[wfqsfg]

'I've been trying to get a grasp on this concept for the last 4 years. It is very hard to find written material about it. I've looked for web sites and books that hit on the concept that Greeks and Greek speaking Jews understood and believed in the first century. There isn't much written on it that I can find. I have been coming to the conclusion that John was reconciling this Jewish/Greek belief with Christianity/Judaism. I can't find many people who agree with me on this and there are dozens of different interpretations of John 1:1. The Jehovah's Witnesses think the Logos is and angel.
I have always found it hard to explain to people. The belief, to the best of my ability to explain was the "One" was too holy and pure to interact with a physical universe. It was a nature of Him or a part of Him called the Logos that created and dealt with the physical universe. The Logos and the One was "One" were one. That is the best I can explain what I have been researching.

[Mike]

Scripture does not support the idea of a hypostatic union. Jesus made it clear his miracles were from the Father working in him. They were not done by his power. Plus, he did not know the time of his return. If we say he didn't know in his human nature only, then his natures were not united, as Chalcedon maintained they were, right? Rather the Logos, who was God, was made a man, and did his works by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Father working in him. He always had his spiritual identity as the Logos, the Word of God, so he was always God in identity. But it was the Father working in him that did his works. As it says, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him"

[AgrippaPetronius]

Johns analogy of god as light or pure spirit offers a ponderous cross reference to the not so perfect god of Israel, a riddle perfectly encapsulated in the gospel of marcion, a cosmic god indeed, “ By there fruits one shall know them” Jesus as the incarnation of another order of being, an undifferentiated consciousness, in which every reference to father is by source an invocation of god as spirit.

[Meta_Myself]

This makes me consider Physicalism as espoused by Nancy Murphy.

Dualism, regardless of its veracity, can lead one to disregard the involvement of creation in our salvation.

Perhaps form is the concession between matter and spirit.

Murphy assures us that Physicalism could remain nonreductive:

[williamoarlock]

But 'Christ' and 'Logos' are terrestrial words.

[ElijahSeeker]

It was a good sermon, but I think you have a very misconstrued idea of Gnostic Christianity. It doesn't say the material world itself is evil, just that it's an inversion of the true reality.