Originally posted by OldShepherd
That is quite interesting but misleading. Torah means instruction. Torah is never called "the Word", even in this quote from Jewish Encyclopedia. In the New Testament Torah is always called "The Law" not the word! What then is "The Word" in Jewish thought?
Memra
"The Word," in the sense of the creative or directive word or speech of God manifesting His power in the world of matter or mind; a term used especially in the Targum as a substitute for "the Lord" when an anthropomorphic expression is to be avoided.
In the Targum:
In the Targum the Memra figures constantly as the manifestation of the divinepower, or as God's messenger in place of God Himself, wherever the predicate is not in conformity with the dignity or the spirituality of the Deity.
Instead of the Scriptural "You have not believed in the Lord," Targ. Deut. i. 32 has "You have not believed in the word of the Lord"; instead of "I shall require it [vengeance] from him," Targ. Deut. xviii. 19 has "My word shall require it." "The Memra, (i.e. Word)" instead of "the Lord," is "the consuming fire" (Targ. Deut. ix. 3; comp. Targ. Isa. xxx. 27). The Memra "plagued the people" (Targ. Yer. to Ex. xxxii. 35). "The Memra smote him" (II Sam. vi. 7; comp. Targ. I Kings xviii. 24; Hos. xiii. 14; et al.).
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=399&letter=M
There is much more at the above link. This is what John knew as a Jew concerning "The Word"when he wrote the gospel.
Interesting, but not damaging to my case.
"the manifestation of the divinepower, or as God's messenger in place of God Himself"
the 'word' can be translated as being 'godlike' or 'toward God' instead of assuming that the word is God Himself, without violating what John would have known.
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