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the "Logos" is God's Likeness, by whom the whole kosmos was fashioned.-Philo Judaeus
We speak of God, of the Son [Logos], his Word, and of the holy Spirit; and we say that the Father, the Son [Logos], and the Spirit are united in power. For the Son [Logos] is the intelligence, reason, and wisdom of the Father, and the Spirit is an effluence, as light from fire. In the same way we recognize that there are other powers which surround matter and pervade it.-Athenagoras, early Christian apologist
In Hellenistic cosmology, the First Cause [God] was envisioned as transcending human understanding. In the Republic, Plato suggested that it was even "beyond Being," a notion which was to have considerable influence for well over a millennium. The Pythagoreans portrayed the first principle as the Monad, indicating that it is both a primeval Unity and apart (monas) from all other things, transcending time, space, and the multiplicity of the phenomenal world. As Clement of Alexander succinctly notes, "The First Cause is not then in space, but above both space, and time, and name and conception" (Clement of Alexander, Stromata, 5.11; in Ante-Nicean Fathers, II, 461). While all things have a relation to it [the First Cause], this primeval Source (archê) was never envisioned as a "personal God," or as a thinking and planning divinity like Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, who consciously decided to create the universe. For the Greeks, the Supreme Principle is utterly simple, and superior to conscious thought and decision-making, even though it is symbolically identified with the power of Cosmic Mind in some writings. As Origen notes, "The Word can also be 'the Son' because he announces the secrets of the Father, who is 'Mind' (Nous) analogous to the Son who is called 'Word' (Logos). For as the word (Logos=Reason) in us is the messenger of what the mind perceives, so the Word of God, since he has known the Father, reveals the Father whom he has known, because no creature can come into contact with him without a guide" (Commentary on John 1.278).
Answer for yourself: Do you remember that in an earlier article we saw that Thoth was believed to be one of the 4 major aspects of the First Cause as known by the Egyptians and was given the name "Word" and had its own theology and city devoted to the study of this "Word?" That means the original concept of the "Word" began with Egypt and not with the Greeks!
When reading these later Hellenistic texts of the early Church Fathers it is important to remember that Nous or Mind on a cosmological level represents the principle of pure Intelligence [God] itself and is superior to the activity of discursive reasoning, mental analysis, etc. Therefore, God can be pur Mind without engaging in inferior activities such as thinking, planning, and decision making; nonetheless, it is through the cultivation of divine Logos in the human soul that we are led upward toward the recognition of the Highest (God). This path requires study, meditation, and prayer upon the things revealed by the First Cause in the realm of Being from which revelationis given to mankind in this realm of Change.
Because of its abundant perfection, the Source [First Cause in the Realm of Being] unconditionally gives forth a secondary principle, the "Logos", in the same way that the sun gives forth rays of light. Now you better understand how the Sun was the picture of the Logos. The "Logos" is not the First Cause, any more than rays of light "are" the sun, but nonetheless the two are very intimately related. In this ancient teaching, the "Logos" is the first, harmonically differentiated "image" of the First Cause. The "Logos" represents the first level of real manifestation or Being made visible in our realm of Change through the actions of humanity, for it encompasses within itself all the laws and relations which are later articulated in the phenomenal universe. Since the "Logos" is the emanation of the Transcendent Absolute, it may be poetically and symbolically described as "the Son of God" [NOT TO BE UNDERSTOOD AS THE LITERAL SON OF GOD], as we see in the works of Philo, the Hermetic writings of Egypt, and early Christianity. Underlying the source of all reality, the "Logos" is related to the principle of Nous or Universal Intellect, the "repository" of all the cosmic Forms and principles on which creation is based. And as the rational image of Divine Intellect, humanity is itself the living, incarnate image of the "Logos." Notice I said "humanity" and not just one person. Again we see that humanity reflects this "Logos." Some men and women who observer and manifest the Order of the realm of Being as expressed in the Laws of the realm of Being exert a Heavenly effect upon this realm of Change (bring Heaven to bear upon Earth). Jesus was believed to be one of the best examples of this by his followers and those who knew him best. This does not make Jesus God however; only very Godly. Said another way, he revealed God the Father to men like few could. This again does not make him God or should make him the object of worship. When such was done later by those who either went to far or failed to grasp the true understanding of the "Logos" then idolatry and blasphemy results from the failure to understand properly the "Logos" doctrine as expressed in the Gospel of John and the writings of men like Plato and Philo.
According to Clement of Alexandria,
the image of God is His Word [Logos], the genuine Son of Mind, the Divine Word, the archetypal light of light; and the image of the Word is the true man, the mind which is in man, who is therefore said to have been made "in the image and likeness of God" (Clement of Alexander, Exhortation to the Greeks 10, Ante-Nicene Fathers, II, 199).
Let me say it very plainly. The Divine Will of the Creator in the realm of Being above which is the will of the First Cause, is reveaked to man in this earth [the realm of change] by the "Logos" which is the mind of God which is within every man and woman. This will of the Creator/Father can be discerned if they listen to the still small voice within or seek it themselves through study, prayer, and meditation upon the things of God expressed through His Laws. This will of God exists within humanity and the hearts of mankind and emerges to influence humanity when mankind sets his heart upon the things above and seeks God and tunes his heart and mind upon the things of God.
Invariably, the powers of Light and Life were associated with the nature of the "Logos" in Hellenistic thought, for these are among the most central principles in all of creation. Like the early Christians, the pagan cosmologists held that humanity was created in the "image" of God. To illustrate this, the Hermetic writings of Egypt present several schemes; in one of the more attractive versions, Eternity (Aeon) is said to be the image of God, Cosmos is the image of Eternity, the Sun is the image of Cosmos, and Man is the image of the Sun.' Because of these factors, the "Logos" has often been pictured in various cosmologies as Anthropos, the figure of the Perfect Man, the archetype and examplar of humanity. As said before, those who knew Jesus best knew him to be the best that humanity and Judaism had to offer. He above all others lived the Torah and the Laws of God [the First Cause] better than any other. Such Ordering Principles of Life expressed through God's Laws was not only his message but his life-style. Few if any exhibited such a pattern of the Divine among his fellow men. That is why Jesus is the Avatar of the Jewish nation and recognized such by his disciples and apostles and presented to the world in such a manner by those who knew him best (as the symbolic incarntion of the Logos).
But again Jesus as the Son of God [Logos] is to be understood in an allegorical manner and not a literal manner and worship is to be given to the First Cause and not the "Logos" manifesed in different degrees within mankind; even Jesus!
The nature of the "Logos" was also represented by the natural principle of musical harmony. Mathematically, harmony depends upon the nature of "Logos" or ratio. Both pagans and Christians alike expressed the nature of the "Logos" in these terms, for it is through the power of harmony that all the parts of creation are reconciled into a greater whole. Harmony on earth, the realm of Change, is to be manifested when the principles of Heaven are lived out by humanity.
Let us think for a moment. God demand sole worship. When we worship another, even with good intentions but unknowingly we are doing wrong and we are not aware of it, we bring disharmony and not harmony. We bring disorder and not order. When humanity suffers it manifest disharmony and disorder. When we feed the poor we bring harmony and order to bear upon disorder and disharmony. When we clothe the naked we bring order and harmony to disharmony and disorder. When we move a landmark of our neighbor we bring disharmony and disorder and not harmony. In so doing one often winds up killed and this furthers the disorder and disharmony. All the Commandments of God, both positive and negative, are the Absolute expressions of the will of the Divine Creator. We call Him God. The Laws and Commandments of the Divine Realm not only express the will of God but are manifestions of the greatest Love and Order that eminates from the Divine Realm of Being. When humanity takes upon themselves to adhere to and observe such Laws and Commandments then the Order of Heaven and the Harmony that is Heaven exerts it's influence upon this latter realm of Change. In this way the Mind of God is [Logos] is applied by mankind to the realm of matter where humanity finds its home. Then and only then does this passage find its fulfillment:
Matt 6:10 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (KJV)
From this we can also surmise that the early Christian ideal of the church or assembly (ekklêsia), the mystical body of Christ, was itself seen by some as a social manifestation of the celestial harmony, whereby all individuals might be unified and uplifted into a greater whole (Clement of Alexander, Exhortation to the Greeks 9, Witt translation, "Plotinus and Posidonius," 201).