LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Logos and Rhema
In Greek, the language in which the New Testament was written, there are two words that have been translated into English as “word”. One is logos, and the other is rhema. Although the general meaning is word, in Greek, the two words above have slightly different meanings that are not reflected in the English translation.
Logos is the Word of God that has been spoken once. Rhema is the Word that has been spoken a second time. The entire Bible is the Word (logos) of God. It is what God has already spoken in history; it is the word of truth, a complete, comprehensive revelation of God's will for man.
But the Bible is not the rhema of God, because rhema is what God speaks to us a second time, through the Holy Spirit, in a specific way, to our hearts. Logos is the objective Word; rhema, on the other hand, is the subjective Word. When Mary received the angel's visit, he brought her the rhema of God. That is why Mary was able to say, ‘Let it be done to me according to your word (rhema)’ (Luke 1:38). God had spoken to her specifically.
God's rhema is not independent of the logos, for it is based on it. When God speaks to us specifically, the Holy Spirit will use the logos to do so, and He will do so by applying it to our present situation. A fragment of the logos will be transformed into the rhema for us and will supply our need. When the Lord answered Satan in the wilderness, He said, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word (rhema) that proceeds from the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:4). The Lord had received the rhema from God; that was his food. Therefore, he did not need to turn stones into bread.
It is God's rhemas that encourage us, exhort us, and edify us. It is God's answers, coming from his Word, that fill our hearts with certainty, joy, and peace. There is a story about a young woman who was very fearful and could not stand the dark. When she became a Christian, she overcame her fear by placing her Bible under her pillow at night. But one day God spoke to her: ‘Do not be afraid’. And she discovered that this expression appears 365 times in the Bible. So she thought it was God's answer, to overcome her fear every day of the year. From then on, she was no longer afraid: she had received a rhema from God.
How is the church purified today from the impurities of the world? ‘By the washing of water by the word’ (rhema) (Eph. 5:26). How important this is! Oh how we need God's rhemas!
Now, how do we obtain these rhemas? First, we must be very familiar with the logos. We have to fill our minds and hearts with the Bible; that way, the Holy Spirit will have provision to speak to us in specific situations. The Holy Spirit will take the letter of the Word (logos) and transform it into spirit, for the Word (rhema) is spirit and life; it is the living word of God.
If we open ourselves to the Word of God (logos) so that it abounds in our hearts, the rhemas will also abound in our lives, and thus the Word will gradually be incarnated in us. In other words, we will be transformed into the very image of our Lord Jesus Christ.