The Word of the Lord
Word for the Week: Word/rhēma
Yes, I’m still stuck on “word” because a) there are too many original language words presented and b) words matter. These words have really come to life for me in new ways! If you thought you were already a word nerd, hold onto your everything because we’re about to really nerd out here.
The Word: Word (rhema/dabar)
The last word study focused on the Greek word, logos, which we translate to “word” in English, and as we discovered, “word” is just sincerely insufficient. I digress.
We also considered the Hebrew word, peh, which, in all reality is not as closely related to “word” as what we’ll uncover today. As we saw, peh really is more akin to “mouth.”
In Greek, one of the original words translated as word is rhēma, and it appears 70 times in the New Testament.
Strong’s G4487 | rhēma (hray'-mah)
an utterance — a word, speech, discourse, the word of God in reference to the gospel, a command, a statement
rhēma comes from the root word G4483, rhêō which holds the idea of pouring forth.
In contrast to logos, rhēma stands as a more singular word or assertion. For instance, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” from the armor of God passage in Ephesians 6:17 is referring not to the Bible as a whole, but rather “to the individual scripture which the Spirit brings to our remembrance for use in time of need.”1
“For He whom God sent speaks the words of God; for He does not give the Spirit sparingly.” John 3:34
John the Baptist is talking of himself, as a witness of the Christ, chosen to prepare the way of the Lord and speak the rhēma of God.
This can be seen in parallel to how we understand the coming of Christ who spoke the rhēma of God constantly in His time on earth.
I read part of an introduction to John that said “Jesus spoke more than he did,” and I found that a fascinating thing to consider!2
While Jesus was logos—the word made flesh—what Jesus actually SAYS matters. Without Christ’s spoken words, we would not know Him as thoroughly, if at all. Rhēma is the result of Jesus’ life that we now know and can hold in our hands today because He spoke weighty words that change everything.
Jesus warns us of the importance of our words in Matthew 12:36-37.
“But I tell you that for every careless word that people speak, they will give an account of it on the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Simply put, our words have the power to bring life or death, justification or condemnation—not just to others, but to ourselves. Without words, our faith is rendered useless for the sake of righteousness.
“But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching..” In this verse from Romans 10:8, Paul recites Deuteronomy 30:14 where the Hebrew equivalent to rhēma is dāḇār.
In Hebrew, word is translated from dāḇār 1,439 times in the KJV Old Testament.3
Strong’s H1697 | dāḇār (daw-baw')
word, speech, or matter
specifically, this word is associated with the spoken word—often referring to the literal words of the Lord, esp. spoken to prophets
“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; our reward shall be very great.’” Gen. 15:1
The Ten Commandments—“commandments” is dāḇār—are the literal 10 words of the Lord.
When we looked at pé last week, we saw that it packed more action in the meaning of “word” as in the blowing out of sounds. Where pé is more often the action of speaking or the vessel used to speak (mouth), dāḇār is the meat and potatoes. Throughout Scripture, God is reminding His people that WHAT we say actually matters. It makes or breaks our relationships, our words define the way we love others.
Rhēma and dāḇār are insightful examples of the power of our words themselves, and logos and pé give significance to living out and acting upon such words.
Which original Hebrew or Greek word for “word” did you find most meaningful?
Scripture I’m Meditating On
“I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” Psalm 16:8 (NASB)
Song On Repeat
Any Ted Lasso fans out there? My husband discovered this artist, Sam Ryder on Tik Tok, but then he sang this song for one of the final episodes, and it’s basically been on repeat in our house/car since then.
Saying I Can’t Stop Thinking About
“Biblical wisdom INCLUDES truth. But it understands timing, how to speak, and the moment that we’re in.” — Gabe Lyons
“Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the [logos] will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it was also with you..” 2 Thessalonians 3:1 NASB
“But [Jesus] answered and said, 'It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every [rhēma] that comes out of the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4 NASB
“His [pé] was smoother than butter, But his heart was war;
His [dāḇār] were softer than oil, Yet they were drawn swords.” Psalm 55:21 NASB
If you have a word to suggest for an upcoming Word for the Week email, comment or reply and let me know! Also, you can always refer back to the previous words here.
NASB Keyword Study Bible, New Testament Dictionary, 221
NASB Keyword Study Bible, 1396
*Reminder that this word in Hebrew is translated differently in different spots, so it’s only translated as “word” in English 807 times in the KJV, but can be translated as “speech,” “commands,” etc elsewhere.
This was amazing 🤩. I love both versions of Word. Spoken and action.