Logos and Rhema Meaning

Logos

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. -John 1:1

In John 1:1 we see the term word used 3 times. Each time the original Greek term is logos. Logos encompasses the entirety of God’s word. My lexicon defines it as sayings of God, decrees, mandates, order, moral precepts given by God, OT prophecy by the prophets, discourse, doctrine, teaching… In short, we can simply say that logos is the whole counsel of God’s word.

**Why Is The Word (logos) Of God So Important To Us?**

Being a Christian is about a relationship, not about being part of a religion or following a set of rules. According to John 1:1, Jesus is the Word (Logos). John 1:14 tells us that Jesus is the Word (Logos) made flesh. Jesus is God and He embodies everything that ever came from the mouth of God.

His word (logos) is how we know God and relate to Him. His word teaches us who He is, what He likes, doesn’t like; it tells His story and how God related to others before us. Hebrews 4:12a tells us, For the word (logos) of God is living and powerful. In other words, the Bible we hold in our hands is not just an old book with antiquated stories of long ago.

The Bible is the very breath, nature, character, and person of God that He has given us in tangible form to know Him. I submit to you that the Bible contains the greatest, and sadly, the most untapped experience with God and knowing Him that we can humanly have. At the point that we begin to know God through His word and He starts speaking to us, we can never get enough. God speaking to us through His word will light a passion within us that stirs us deep within to continually pursue Him.

This continual coming to and pursuing Jesus is what Jesus spoke about in John 15:4 when He instructed His disciples:

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself,

unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

John 15:4

Abiding is continually coming to Jesus to hear Him. In our coming to Him, Jesus transforms and reveals Himself to us through the Logos.

Rhema

Rhema is another term for word used in the Bible. A simplistic definition of rhema means a specific spoken word. My lexicon defined it as “a saying of any sort as a message.”

The first time we see Jesus use rhema is in Matthew 4:4.

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word (rhema) that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:4

Let’s take that verse and insert the actual original rhema meaning into the verse.

‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every specific spoken word

or message (rhema) that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:4

Matthew 26:75 has another example when rhema was used after Jesus’ arrest. First, let me set up what happened prior to Matthew 26:75. Before Jesus’ arrest, Peter declared he would die for Jesus. Jesus responded with a specific word to Peter that he would deny Him 3 times before the rooster crowed. Peter’s denial happened just as Jesus told him it would. The next moment Peter remembered Jesus’ specific, spoken word to him.

And Peter remembered the word (rhema) of Jesus who had said to him,

"Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." So he went out and wept bitterly.

Matthew 26:75

Notice not only the specific-ness of a rhema word, but also the personal-ness. Experiencing the stimulating delight and life of a rhema word is where God gets really personal. This is where even the challenge and conviction of the logos becomes our delight because to experience the personal-ness and specific-ness of a rhema word is breath to our spirit and the absolute fullness of life.

Rhema words only come to us in the continualness of relationship with Jesus – abiding in Jesus.

Learning to Abide

Three years into my journey with Jesus when I was learning to abide, was the first time Jesus spoke a specific and personal word to me, a rhema word, while I was reading His word (logos). From the time of my initial salvation, I read my Bible 2-3 times a week, and I was growing in knowledge and in my relationship with Jesus. However, I had never opened His word (logos) and heard a specific spoken word or message (rhema) from God. Until, of course, one day I did.

I want you to hear me say that we cannot expect to open our Bibles and immediately get an amazing revelation or a rhema word spoken to us. We must learn to abide, to continually remain in His presence and to continually seek after Him.

Most Christians know and love Jeremiah 29:11, as do I.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord,

thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11

But do we know what Jeremiah 29:12-13 says?

Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:12-13

Taste For Yourselves

God wants us to pursue Him with all of our heart before we get those rhema words spoken to us. BUT, Jesus speaking a rhema word to us will light a fire within us that we can never get over. The psalmist knew what it meant to hear a personal and specific word from God. That is why he wrote,

How sweet are Your words to my taste, Sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 119:103

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!

Psalm 34:8

The psalmist knew the blessedness and delight of hearing a personal and specific word from God and he wanted others to encounter God the same way. I feel the same. Once I experienced God speaking to me a specific and personal word, nothing else satisfied. So, I continually went back for more.

Over the past twenty-seven years, God has spoken to me repeatedly. He guided me when I needed guidance, encouraged me when discouragement almost drowned me, and convicted me when I leaned too far from His way. God used His Holy Spirit and His holy Word to transform my life into something I never thought it could be. Because of the powerful and personal effect of God’s word in my own life, I also want others to know the delight and blessing of hearing God’s word personally and specifically.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation! Selah

Psalm 68:19