I Would Like to Know Your Favorite Bible Verse

Interesting

Very true!

"[b]Logos[/b] (Greek: “word,” “reason,” or “plan”) plural [i]logoi[/i] : in Greek philosophy and theology, the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning. Though the concept defined by the term logos is found in Greek, Indian, Egyptian, and Persian philosophical and theological systems, it became particularly significant in Christian writings and doctrines to describe or define the role of Jesus Christ as the principle of God active in the creation and the continuous structuring of the cosmos and in revealing the divine plan of salvation to man. It thus underlies the basic Christian doctrine of the preexistence of Jesus." ~ https://www.britannica.com/topic/logos

"Word" is how it is typically translated into English, but it does carry a much richer and deeper meaning than the single English word reveals. Not sure I understand why that makes you unable to like it...? Your choice, of course! :-) Just curious.

(... and not to be pedantic, or to quibble too much with [i]Encyclopedia Britannica[/i] – even its online edition! – but it's not [i][i]per se[/i][/i] "the preexistence of Jesus." As the passage quoted makes clear, it was the preexistent – indeed, eternal – divine Word ([i]Logos[/i]) that became flesh in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Thus Jesus the Christ has classically been understood to be [i]both[/i] God and Man, two Natures in one Person as expressed in the Definition of Chalcedon:

"Following, then, the holy fathers, we unite in teaching all men to confess the one and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This selfsame one is perfect both in deity and in humanness; this selfsame one is also actually God and actually man, with a rational soul {meaning human soul} and a body. He is of the same reality [[i]homoousios[/i]] as God as far as his deity is concerned and of the same reality as we ourselves as far as his humanness is concerned; thus like us in all respects, sin only excepted. Before time began he was begotten of the Father, in respect of his deity, and now in these "last days," for us and behalf of our salvation, this selfsame one was born of Mary the virgin, who is God-bearer in respect of his humanness.

"We also teach that we apprehend this one and only Christ – Son, Lord, only-begotten – in two natures; and we do this without confusing the two natures, without transmuting one nature into the other, without dividing them into two separate categories, without contrasting them according to area or function. The distinctiveness of each nature is not nullified by the union. Instead, the "properties" of each nature are conserved and both natures concur in one "person" and in one reality {[i]hypostasis[/i]}. They are not divided or cut into two persons, but are together the one and only and only-begotten Word {Logos} of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus have the prophets of old testified; thus the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us; thus the Symbol of Fathers {the Nicene Creed} has handed down to us." http://www.creeds.net/ancient/chalcedon.htm

... but I guess that is getting kinda pedantic! ;-) )

@KnightRanger: It just seems too narrow to me. We all have a quite concrete idea what a word is. You can write it down or utter it. It's normally part of a sentence etc. It seems a very human thing. Something that human beings created. "Reason", however, is more abstract, and seems to reflect better the original intention.
Also, even as a child I couldn't stop thinking "what is that word?" :-)

@Merinder: I do understand what you're saying, or at least what I think I hear you saying – "Word" as a single, discrete word, like "at" or "the"... or "chair," or "pony." Am I reading you rightly? I think the point is that, throughout the Scriptures, you have the concept of God speaking and things happening (in fact there's a whole Jewish mystical/esoteric system called the Kabbala based on that idea, but that's an aside...). Right at the very beginning, in Genesis, you have the repeated "And God said...," followed by "And God called..." God acts in the world through utterance, through "speech." Maybe not literally, as we think of speaking, but as a metaphor. What the Prologue to John's Gospel does is combines that concept with the broader "Logos" concept of Greek esoteric / philosophical thought, bringing in the elements of plan, reason, etc. I actually prefer "Logos," but since almost nobody in the Anglophone world speaks Greek (myself included, a few theologically-significant words aside), if you do that, folks look at you and scratch their heads. Or they think you're talking about a software program... ;-) But even in casual conversation, you sometimes hear things like "What's the word?" – meaning, not what is the single, individual, specific word, but "what's going on? what do you have to share with me? what's important in your life?" – that sort of thing. I hope this all makes sense! :-)

@KnightRanger: Haha I like "pony". Yes you're reading me rightly. And yes, they'd scratch their heads. Still, if "logos" was used more commonly in translations, maybe there would be less head scratching because everyone would be used to it and everyone would have put some more thought into what that very central and important word might mean?
I actually used to ask myself what that single, individual, specific word is, by the way. Couldn't help it :-)

I think we all had passages like that, when we were kids! Young minds tend to the literal... ;-) And I agree, there's a lot to be said for using the original words as much as possible. :-) And explaining, as necessary.......!