To say just how much of the New Testament was influenced either directly or indirectly by Greek conceptions is difficult, but such influences are recognized readily in the doctrine of the Logos, which may be translated as Word or Reason; in ethical conceptions having to do with the conflict between flesh and spirit; and in the belief in immortality.
When the author of the Fourth Gospel, commonly known as the Gospel of John, begins his account of Christianity by saying "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," he uses a concept that had long been familiar to students of Greek philosophy. The Word, or Logos, which was the term used by the Greeks, has a long and interesting history. One finds it in the writings of Heracleitus, one of the Pre-Socratics whose work appears to have had considerable influence on the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. For Heracleitus, the Logos was a kind of cosmic order, or divine justice, that presides over the destinies of a changing world. Whenever either of two opposite forces operating in the world oversteps its bounds, the Logos ensures that a proper balance is restored. Light and darkness, heat and cold, wet and dry, male and female, like all other pairs of opposites, are thus kept in proper relation to one another. Nor is the work of the Logos confined to the physical aspect of nature, for it affects the moral order as well. Whenever the requirements of justice are violated, either by individuals or by nations, the Logos acts in a compensatory manner and punishes the evildoers and thus restores the proper balance of things. Plato regarded the Logos, or Reason, as the divine element that is present in human beings. Its demand for harmony among the elements, including those in human nature, provides the key to the real meaning of the good life.
In Stoicism more than in any other branch of Greek philosophy, the doctrine of the Logos was emphasized. The Stoic philosophers identified Reason with God. They did not conceive of it as having an existence apart from the world; they believed that it permeates every part of the world. By virtue of the Logos, or Reason, the world is a cosmos rather than a chaos. Reason is present in the minds of humans, and knowledge is possible because the rational element in human nature is akin to the Reason that exists in nature, the only difference being that in the former case, Reason becomes conscious of itself. So far as humanity is concerned, Reason functions to give guidance and direction to the activities of life. Because all humans are rational beings, a common bond exists between them, and this bond was recognized by the Stoics as the basis for their belief in the universal brotherhood of humanity. Reason operating in the lives of human beings made possible the realization of what constituted for them the real meaning of the good life.
